Joanne Chang

Joanne Chang(born inHouston, Texas) is an American chef and restaurant owner. She is the owner of Flour BakeryinBostonandCambridge, MassachusettsandJames Beard Foundation Awardwinner for Outstanding Baker, 2016.  In announcing the award, Devra First of theBoston Globewrote that Chang was "on her way to becoming theSusan Lucciof the Beards."She is known for her sticky buns.In 2021, Chang appeared as a judge onNetflix'sBaking Impossible.
Chang's parents were immigrants who met while studying in Houston.She was born in Houston circa 1971.As a child, she grew up inOklahomaandTexasand enjoyed cooking and baking.Her family consumed a diet of "traditional Chinese cuisine at home" and preferred to avoid sugary sweets.However, she enjoyed baking chocolate chip cookies with her mother.Chang was the valedictorian of her high school class.
Chang is an honors graduate ofHarvard College, Class of 1991, with a degree in applied mathematics and economics.While studying at Harvard, she initially studied astrophysics before switching to applied mathematics.In college, she began selling chocolate chip cookiesfor the dormitory grill and became known as the "Chocolate Chip Cookie Girl".
After graduation, Chang worked as a  management consultant  at theMonitor Groupin Cambridge.While working at the company, she created a business plan for a company called Joanne's Kitchen and prepared cakes and cookies for her co-workers.After two years of working there, Chang realized that consulting was not the best career for her.Instead of applying to anMBA programor moving up the corporate ladder, she took a year off and applied for work as a chef,despite having limited culinary experience.
Chang began her professional cooking career as a garde-manger cook at Boston'sBiba restaurant(she was initially hired to run the bar-food program but was soon promoted byLydia Shireto making appetizers and salads),followed by stints as the pastry cook at Bentonwood Bakery in Newton, and in 1995, the pastry chef atRialto restaurantin Cambridge.In 1997, she began working at the cake department of Payard Patisserie in New York City,following a schedule of working from "4 a.m. to midnight, six days a week."Returning to Boston a year later with dreams of opening up her own pastry shop, she brought her French and American training to Mistral where she was the pastry chef until summer of 2000.
In 2007, Chang appeared onFood Network'sThrowdown! with Bobby Flayand became "nationally known" for beating him at making sticky buns.In 2015, she created a frozen yogurt flavor forPinkberry.
As of 2020, there are 10 Flour Bakery locations across Massachusettswith over 200 employees.Flour promotes the idea of "fresh, handmade bakery foods"and employees are taught to treat products with "Pastry Love".Honored for its signature sticky buns,Flour is about the experience a customer has when they come through the door. Joanne differentiates Flour and Starbucks as one being an "experience" and the other as a "convenience".Flour, as its name indicates, seeks to provide a simple pleasurable experience for their customers.Quoted in flour's mission: "we focus on all aspects involved: great food, gracious service, warm atmosphere, heady aromas, and irresistible displays".Chang hopes that every customer "comes in and leaves happier".
In 2007, Chang and her husband, Christopher Myers, opened Myers + Chang, an Asian fusion restaurant in Boston's South End.The pair created Myers + Chang because, as Chang put it, "Boston needed a restaurant like what we knew we could create: Asian inspired, warm spirited service, genuine hospitality, stylish and fun, a place where everyone would relax and have a great meal".
James Beard Foundation Awards
2016 Outstanding Baker
2018 Outstanding Chef 2018 Semifinalist
Chang met her husbandChristopher Myers (restaurateur)in 1995 while they worked together at Rialto, Cambridge Boston.Together, they opened Myers + Chang in 2007, which was "inspired in Chinese and South Asian street food, in the South End",and co-own the restaurant.She ran everyBoston Marathonbetween 1991 and 2006.Chang is a supporter of the No Kid Hungry organization, which seeks to eradicate childhood hunger,and the Family Reach organization.