Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Seis.
Hunter, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have had a passion for food since I was little. For my 12th birthday, my parents gifted me my first set of knives and chef coats. In 2012, I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Austin, TX with an Associates in Culinary Management. After graduation, I set off to Wyoming, where I worked a season in The Grand Teton Mountains at Flagg Ranch in Moran, Wyoming.
After meeting a few wonderfully inviting people, I headed off to the Pacific Northwest. In Portland, I worked under the critically acclaimed Chef Aaron Barnett at St. Jack. After learning about the locally sourced product and honing those traditional French techniques, I moved on to Chicago.
I soon fell in love with the big city, Midwest feel, of Chicago. Where I worked for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group at Green River. Green River is where I fine tuned not only my fine dining skills but also my pastry skills.
Soon after, I climbed to Sous Chef at Presidio Restaurant in Wicker Park. His drive for a locally sourced product pushed him over to Floriole Bakery and Cafe in Lincoln Park. It was here he became the Chef de Cuisine. He was fully submersed in locally sourced products and true hyper-seasonality. Now I am the Executive Chef for a healthy vending company called Alvo. We are a small start-up company that is making big movements in the healthy realm of food.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been an easy road getting to where I am today. The culinary roads have it’s ups and downs. Working on your feet for 10-14 hours a day, no break, no sunlight, and intense working conditions will do things to your ego and sanity that other jobs wouldn’t do. Late night shifts, opposite work hours, and the alcohol don’t exactly make for a healthy environment for a relationship either. Working on holidays, missing family hasn’t always been easy. Although, the struggles that I have encountered have shaped who I am as a person and as a chef. These factors have made me see that life ain’t easy and if you don’t work for it, you will never get it.
Nevertheless, without the help and support of my friends, family, and coworkers, along the way, I would not be where I am today. They hold me up and keep me afloat even on the days that seem like they are never going to end.
Please tell us about Alvo.
I work for a startup company called Alvo, based out of Chicago. Alvo specializes in healthy prepackaged food served out of a self serve, smart, vending machine. We are proud to bring healthy, fresh, delicious items to apartment complexes, business offices, and places where getting healthy food is few and far between. We are different in just the way our machine interacts with you. With a see-thru LED screen that plays an animation on how the machine operates, to a no change/ no card charging system, we are paving the way and setting a standard on what it means to be healthy vending.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My 14th birthday, I cooked ribeyes and tiger prawns for my friends, family, and myself, of course. It was one of my first experiences cooking with a whole protein like that and prawns bigger than I had ever seen.
Contact Info:
- Address: 946 W Windsor Ave, 3E, Chicago, IL 60640
- Phone: 9729896167
- Email: hunterseis33@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seistheday/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hunter.seis
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HunterSeis
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