Aug. 2, 2024

The owner of a new food truck in Canton has trained at culinary and pastry schools across the world, including Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

Richard Hamm started his career with Hyatt, worked for luxury chain Vail Resorts, served as a corporate pastry chef for Holland America Cruise lines and then spent 15 years as a private chef at private hunting and fishing lodges across the United States. A couple of years ago, he and his wife, Suntheary, moved to Canton.

Now, they’re running Sunny’s Eat Place, which is based outside the former Garden of Eat’n restaurant along the highway through Canton.

Hamm is focusing on Neapolitan-style pizzas — with a crust that takes him three days to prepare – hot and cold sandwiches and desserts.

“We’ve been doing that and have had a great reception. We’re starting to get people from Tea, Lennox and Sioux Falls come here, and we’re serving the town,” he said. “We desperately need restaurants down here.”

Hamm knew pizza would be a welcomed offering after the town’s Pizza Ranch closed recently.

The Sunny’s trailer has two pizza ovens that can heat up to more than 800 degrees.

“We can do pizzas in a minute and a half. You can get a hot, fresh pizza and don’t have to wait 20 minutes.”

In addition to 12-inch traditional pizzas, Hamm offers a smaller version on focaccia bread.

Toppings range from traditional pepperoni and sausage to a garlic mushroom and a smoked pork belly with caramelized onions.

Hamm is committed to using quality ingredients and making everything from scratch, which takes time but is worth it for the flavor and the control of knowing “everything that goes into it,” he said.

Sandwiches rotate with offerings like Hawaiian Kahlua pulled pork, chicken salad and Mexican stuffed buns.

Recently, “I did a Greek grilled chicken sandwich on homemade pita, with tzatziki sauce, oven-dried tomatoes and lettuce that went over well,” Hamm said. “People are very smart in this area. They know what’s good, what’s fresh and what’s not, and they’re willing to pay a little extra for something good.”

Desserts range from brownies and blondies to triple chocolate mousse and frozen chocolate-dipped cheesecake.

Hamm and his wife have been married for almost a decade.

“I was all over the map, and marriage never entered my mind,” said Hamm, a former professional ski racer who later sold high-end ski equipment when he wasn’t working at private lodges.

When he met Suntheary, she worked for the Ministry of Finance in Cambodia.

“She had her career already going and had no intention of getting married. It was like two odd people getting together,” he said.

She worked with him as they traveled around cooking at private lodges. Now, she helps him on the trailer and takes care of running social media for the business.

Hamm owns the property where the food truck is parked. He bought it when the Garden of Eatn’ owner decided to retire, and he started to renovate it for a restaurant, but after breaking his back last year, abandoned that idea and opened Sunny’s instead. The building is back on the market.

The food truck is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. — sometimes a little later — Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday. For updates on hours and the menu, check out Sunny’s Facebook page. Find photos and videos on Instagram and YouTube.

“We plan to go as long as the weather holds,” Hamm said. “I think at least Halloween. We could go into November with no snow. Once it gets colder, I’m going to bring out hot soups, chowders, stews. I love making soup.”

They are ready now to start booking events like festivals and farmers markets.

Hamm, however, will always be happy to serve Canton.

“After the floods, everyone just got together to help out everybody,” he said of the disaster in June. “That was amazing. It made me proud of being in a town of 3,500 people and seeing what they could accomplish. That’s why I wanted to keep the food truck here.”

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