HISTORY
A Marriage of Passion and Professionalism
By Kay Orde
Jean Hull, CEC, AAC, 76, was just 15 when
she began preparing meals full time for her
parents and five siblings. “I was passionate
about cooking at home from an early age,
reading any cookbook or magazine I could
find to help me prepare meals for our
family,” she says.
Hull had a solid background in culinary, even
then. As a young teenager, she worked in
a restaurant owned by her mother’s family,
Zehnder’s, in Frankenmuth, Mich. She went
on to attend Michigan State University in East
Lansing, and majored in food science. She
continued to research and develop cooking
techniques and flavors for the next 12 years
while raising a young family in Northern
California. Then, she taught food science in the
Palo Alto Unified School District, designing a
curriculum to entice college-prep students.
She developed a benefit that has raised,
since 1989, more than $800,000 to support
students in the culinary arts. And she began
a longstanding involvement with ACFEF’s
Chef & Child Foundation. “My involvement in
Chef & Child was predicated on one of my
major thoughts as a food science major in
college: How can we help people—and later,
children—make better food choices for a
longer quality of life. CCF became a simple
means to reach out into the community and
help children give themselves a gift that lasts
a lifetime by making wise food choices.”
In 1995, Hull designed ACFCCF ‘Q’uisine
of Hearts, a chapter benefit that nets about
$9,500 each year to allocate to nutrition
awareness programs in Kona and to various
activities and festivals that reach about 2,000
children a year.
Hull
hard it was in foodservice. “I did tell them
they would have a career that offered them
every opportunity to use their talent and skill
to advance within the industry. I believe they
understood my passion for the industry as we
interacted each day in class or in the kitchen.”
In 2000, Hull was awarded the Kunimoto
Memorial Award for top educator from the
University of Hawaii Community Colleges.
She was inducted into the American
Academy of Chefs in 2007, and is a member
of Les Dames d’Escoffier, Honolulu, and
the International Association of Culinary
Professionals. She received the 2010 ACF
Western Region Hermann G. Rusch Chef’s
Achievement Award.
“As I approached my 40s, I determined
to soar a bit higher,” Hull says. “Finding a
successful restaurant, only a year old, on the
market, I mortgaged my house, sold some
small stocks and paid cash for it. I was the
chef/manager, and after eight years of high
profitability, I sold the restaurant, remarried
and moved to Hawaii.”
On the Big Island of Hawaii, Hull applied
to teach at a small outreach certified
culinary program at the University of Hawaii
Community Colleges—West Hawaii. The
provost asked if she would consider taking
over the program. “And so I created higher
culinary education in West Hawaii, a first, with
excellent enrollment and retention,” Hull says.
Each year, the chapter sends 20% of net
profits from the benefit to ACFCCF to
assist with national projects, Hull says. The
chapter also supports the work of Chef
David Wasson, who works with malnourished
children in Mindanao, Philippines, and gives
money for equipment to the culinary program
at the University of Hawaii—West Hawaii
and Mala`ai, the culinary garden at Waimea
Middle School.
Hull continues to contribute to a profession
that has served her well. As owner of
Hospitality Consulting by Jean, she consults
for small startup food establishments, and has
helped to set up a large-scale patisserie that
today is the leading bake shop on the island.
Hull’s involvement with ACF began when
she joined ACF Kona-Kohala Chefs
Association. “Little did I know that I would
realize an incredible partnership with our local
chapter and ACF,” she says. “My passion and
professionalism had found their soul mates.”
It has been seven years since Hull retired
from teaching, but she remains engaged with
students. “I encourage them to be involved
in the many community activities I perform
with the Chef & Child program. I have placed
and continue to place many students in
the industry at restaurants, properties and
in catering. Present students and former
students seem comfortable contacting me
with job inquiries.”
“I have had a rich and blessed life in the
foodservice world for well over 60 years,”
Hull says. But she has never considered
the possibility of retirement. Over the next
two years, she will work to raise $1 million
to equip the kitchens at the University of
Hawaii Community Colleges new campus
at Palamanui.
But when asked for advice, she says the
one thing she never told students was how
“There is so much to do. And with my
wonderful connections to the hospitality
industry on the Big Island, as long as I can
be a contributing member as a volunteer or
a consultant, I will stay active. My abiding
passion is to cook, to entertain and to share
my culinary knowledge and skills.”
