Other
Chris Ford
Pastry chef
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Florida native Chris Ford works desserts as constructed objects: breakable chocolate pieces, tightly designed sweets, and a finish that treats presentation as part of the craft, not decoration after the fact. The effect is deliberate. His plates move between texture, polish, and controlled drama, with each element carrying weight in the final pass.
Coming Up
Pastry kitchens with exacting standards shaped Chris Ford’s early career one step at a time. He began as pastry chef at Norman’s at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Florida (from 2005), where the demands of a luxury dining room set the pace. The next moves took him into similarly polished rooms in California: pastry chef at The Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California (from 2015), then pastry chef at Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California (from 2016). By 2019, he was pastry chef at The Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California, closing that run of high-profile addresses. Read in order, those roles show a career built in places where dessert has to arrive with control and consistency. The common thread is precision: kitchens that ask for discipline in plating, confidence in finish, and comfort working at the level where small details register. That emphasis on presentation and exactness became the basis for his own project, shifting that same standard into an independent setting. Today, Chris is founder / solo project owner of Butter Love & Hard Work, a name that tracks the two sides of the work itself: indulgence and labor, play and structure. The project extends the same craft logic that ran through his kitchen posts, with sweets treated as objects of design as much as desserts.
Where They Are Now
The framing gives away the brief: a place built to be experienced, not just visited. Chris Ford describes Butter Love & Hard Work in terms of atmosphere and encounter, using comparison to signal scale, finish, and material presence. The pastry and chocolate side carries the food; the museum-like tone speaks to display; the approachable register keeps the room from becoming remote. That balance is central to the project. The setting is meant to lift dessert into a more considered space without losing the directness that makes it usable. The result is a continuation of the same discipline seen in his kitchens: controlled, expressive, and attentive to how food is received in the room.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Chris
What is Chris Ford's current role?
As of 2026, Chris Ford is founder / solo project owner of Butter Love & Hard Work.
Where did Chris Ford work before?
Chris Ford's earlier career included Norman’s at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, The Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills, and Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire.
What recognition has Chris Ford received?
Food & Wine Best New Pastry Chef (2012).
