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Wednesday, August 30, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
SHS graduates taste culinary success
By Jodi Schneider McNamee
Correspondent
Wil and Kris Hansen met
during the seventh grade at
Sisters Middle School and
became good friends, and
by senior year during high
school they were dating.
They were both in the Sisters
High School graduating class
of 2003 and in 2006, they
exchanged marriage vows.
This summer, White
Pepper, the Hansen’s Pacific
Northwest catering business
based out of Portland, was
voted number-one caterer in
Portland by Oregon Bride
Magazine.
The highly antici-
pated annual awards honor
Oregon’s top wedding pro-
fessionals, voted on by brides
and grooms and their peers.
Research shows that the
person you marry can have
a dramatic impact on job sat-
isfaction and career success.
The Hansens discovered the
key ingredients for a success-
ful team.
Kris, with a degree in
interior design, contributes
to White Pepper using her
expertise to display food in
elegant style. And as a chef,
Wil works with local farms to
create custom menus featur-
ing fresh, local, and seasonal
ingredients.
In 2009 the Hansens
moved from Tennessee to
Portland where Wil kick-
started his culinary career at
Western Culinary Institute in
downtown Portland.
“We got some schooling
under our belt and lived in
Tennessee for about 6 years
after graduating high school,”
Wil said.
“Portland is where our
passion for food really started
to reveal itself with accessi-
bility to the amazing food cul-
ture and incredible seasonal
farmers markets. Portland is
a booming culinary industry,”
Kris explained.
After graduating from
the culinary school, Hansen
landed an internship at
Laurelhurst Market, that had
just been named one of Bon
Appetit’s best new restaurants
in the United States.
He continued to work for
the restaurant and other eat-
eries owned by Laurelhurst
Market. But Hansen quickly
realized the he had a desire
for his own business using his
own culinary creations.
“It was a marriage
between his management/
operational skills and a cre-
ativity with seasonal foods,”
Kris said. “Catering felt like
a natural fit for us as a newly
growing family. We had our
first daughter in 2012 and
with our own business we
could start slowly on the side
while Wil kept a day job at
the restaurant.”
As White Pepper grew,
Hansen made the plunge and
left his restaurant position to
be able to operate their busi-
ness full time.
To see all our hard
work come to this point
of recognition was an
incredible feeling.
— Wil Hansen
With a staff of about 30
employees that work full-
and part-time, White Pepper
has grown a bit in the four
years since conception. The
Hansens rent space in a com-
missary kitchen and do some
of the preparation work there
and then bring the food to an
event. White Pepper also has
a cargo van with a trailer full
of equipment to cook on site
so they can preserve the qual-
ity of the food.
“We are at the wedding
from start to finish,” Wil told
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“Catering is just some-
thing I really enjoy. It’s
fun for me to plan events
in advance and put menus
together tailored to what my
clients want,” said Wil.
Eighty-five percent of
White Pepper’s business is
catering weddings.
“We both love weddings
just because there is such joy
during that time and people
are glad to be there, it’s a
fun celebration,” Wil said.
“Food helps perpetuate the
celebration.”
PHOTO PROVIDED
Wil and Kris Hansen have built a successful catering business in Portland.
The Nugget. “We are the first
ones to arrive and the last
ones to leave.”
Last March the Hansens
found out White Pepper was
nominated for No. 1 caterer
in Portland and attended the
annual awards show.
“We were very excited to
find out we won over three
other caterers at the end of
the ceremony! To see all our
hard work come to this point
of recognition was an incred-
ible feeling,” said Wil.
“Our goal is to keep cre-
ating wonderful experiences
for clients, and one way that
we do that is to focus on local
foods by supporting local
farms. We also focus on tak-
ing care of our staff in the
midst of this crazy industry
that is catering, as well as
providing impeccable service
for our clients.”
The Hansens come to
Sisters at least twice a year to
visit Kris’s parents.
“In our five-year plan
we’d like to open up a Central
Oregon division of White
Pepper. We feel like there is
a similar market for this in
Bend and Sisters,” Wil said.
To find out more about
White Pepper visit www.
whitepepperpdx.com.
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