Published in the Fall 2023 issue of the A-B Tech Education Journal
From concocting homemade sausage to cooking a delicious three-course meal in record time, A-B Tech’s 2023 student culinary team has many skills that paid off this past July, earning second in the nation at the American Culinary Federation (ACF) National Finals in New Orleans. Behind the team’s success are two men who helped to guide them to the finish line: certified chef instructors and team coaches Chris Bugher and Stephen Hertz played key roles in shaping the student chefs over the course of two years of study. Though they share a creative flare and a passion for food, the two chefs bring very different backgrounds and influences to the table.
From the Bronx to Maui
Hertz, who grew up in New York City, began helping his single mom cook at age 7 when he learned to make a mean scratch marinara sauce. His repertoire expanded when an Italian cook at a pizza restaurant taught him how to spin a pizza. As a teenager Hertz’s family moved to Hawaii and his skills expanded when his Boy Scout troop leader began asking him to cook monthly meals on camping trips for the entire troop.
Despite his natural kitchen skills, Hertz chose to pursue stage lighting, sound, and set design in college. It wasn’t till he was a student at Brevard College that Hertz saw friends working in restaurants and began to think of cooking as a viable way to make money so he could afford his own apartment. He found, however, that landing a restaurant job wasn’t easy without any formal experience. Finally, after visiting one Italian restaurant multiple times, Hertz told the manager he knew how to spin a pizza.
“She was like alright, well, show me,” he recalled. “So, I threw the pizza, and the owner was walking through and he’s like, ‘Hire him’.”
Hertz stayed at the restaurant for five years and was running the kitchen by the time he left. After graduating, he initially “never wanted to see another kitchen again”, but after several years of working at the Flat Rock Playhouse doing seasonal design work, he found himself back in the kitchen supplementing his income in a fine dining restaurant. Working in an upscale atmosphere for the first time ignited his appetite to learn more.
At his mother-in-law’s suggestion, he checked out the renowned A-B Tech Culinary Arts program and was inspired to apply. Hertz went on to win a silver medal with the student culinary team in 2011 in Dallas and after graduating landed a job as executive chef at the Champion Hills Club in Hendersonville. While working there, Hertz stayed connected to A-B Tech, returning each year to help judge student capstone projects. When a teaching position opened in 2017, he decided to apply. Having started a family, he found a teaching schedule allowed more time to be with his wife and young daughter.
When not teaching first-year students, Hertz spends his free time perfecting “the perfect homemade Tabasco sauce” from a blend of hot peppers he buys locally and grows himself. He also likes to challenge himself by competing in national recipe competitions, most recently one for Kikkoman soy sauce where he made Spam Musubi, a Hawaiian favorite.
Asked if he’s surprised by where he’s landed in his career path, Hertz smiled. “Cooking is one of those things that came naturally so it makes sense that that’s what I ended up doing,” he said. He also said the time he spent in theater school has not gone to waste because the drama and creativity found in the kitchen often mirror the process of theater production.
“I’ve always been into art and making things, and restaurant work is its own type of theater,” he said. “ You have the dining room that’s a stage and your food on the plate where you give your guests an experience. It’s a storyline with ebb and flow. You start with something spicy and then mellow it out and take them on a journey.”
West Virginia Roots
Like Hertz, Bugher’s path to professional cooking was circuitous. Born in Winston-Salem, he grew up in Huntington, WV, where he studied zoology at Marshall University. While in school, he began working at an Italian restaurant to pay his bills and found that he thrived in the kitchen’s fast pace.
“It’s got this certain glamour to it that’s better when you’re younger,” he reflected. “You go to college during the day then at night go in and cook and it’s a big rush, get out at 11 or 12 and have a nightlife as a college student.”
For fun, Bugher decided to take an eight-week cooking class along with his science classes, and the rest is history. Smitten with the culinary bug, Bugher enrolled full-time in Marshall’s culinary program. “I really loved the teamwork, being on my feet behind a stove, and all the excitement that comes with being on a line,” he said. “I was able to have a creative outlet, make money, and build lifetime friendships.”
While still in the program, he began working as an adjunct professor and banquet chef, working his way up to running a retail space for students and faculty. He went on to start a catering company doing private events for several years, then worked in corporate healthcare managing a kitchen and food for four hospitals, a job that required a pager and 70-hour weeks. Having his first child in 2014 prompted a change in lifestyle. Eager to spend more time with his family, Bugher jumped when he saw an ad for a full-time chef instructor job at A-B Tech that also involved coaching its nationally ranked student culinary team. “I’d always seen A-B Tech when I was doing competitions and they’d always won,” he said. “So, when I saw an opening, I was like ‘I want to go there and be part of that winning program.’”
For Bugher, cooking is a creative outlet, and the second-year instructor keeps himself challenged by competing. He began competing as a student and has continued individual competition over the years, as well as coaching seven A-B Tech student teams to the ACF National Finals. In 2018, he won ACF Southeast Chef Instructor of the Year and competed in ACF Nationals. Last year, he received an ACF Presidential Medallion and competed in the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg. This past May, he won the title of Global Vegan Chef of the Americas at the Worldchef’s Global Chef’s Challenge in Santiago, Chile, and will compete in the international Global Vegan Chef Challenge next fall in Singapore.
Traveling to another culture where he’s pushed to use local ingredients and flavors satisfies his desire to grow as a chef, and feeds his teaching. “It's a huge adrenaline rush being in a foreign country where you can’t speak the language and you have a set time to cook and compete,” he said. “I’ve learned more competing than I have in any restaurant I’ve ever worked in.”
When not teaching, Bugher also runs a small catering business, Apex Culinary, doing pop-up events at local breweries, which will help fund his trip to Singapore. He’s also busy with planning and will soon begin testing recipes to determine his competition meal. He recently tapped a special chef assistant for the contest, former student culinary team captain Josh Waters, an Asheville native who earned Culinary Arts and Baking & Pastry Arts degrees and a Therapeutic Culinary certificate from A-B Tech. Waters also won the Culinary program’s prized Global Cup, which is awarded to the student who prepares the best international meal.
The two chefs will work side by side in the kitchen to prepare their self-designed meal, an American dish with a Singaporean twist. Waters, 23, who works as kitchen manager of High Vista Country Club in Mills River, said he considers Bugher a mentor and was honored that he was chosen to accompany him to Singapore.
For special recipes from Bugher and Hertz, visit Recipes.