‘An obvious choice for numerous reasons’

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

December 30, 2024

GREEN BAY – After hosting one of WLUK’s longest-running programs for 16 years, Amy Hanten is hanging up her apron and passing the FOX 11 LIVING whisk to professional chef and local business owner Jyll Everman.

“She’s done an incredible job of cultivating this audience who trusts her and who she relates with so well,” Everman said of Hanten. “She’s talking to busy parents, busy professionals who need to get dinner on the table or great breakfast ideas – that’s exactly how I cook.”

As a chef with 20 years of experience, Everman said she is excited to bring her expertise and love for food to the people of her hometown through FOX 11 LIVING.

“When I moved (back) to Green Bay eight years ago to open Gather (On Broadway), it was always the goal to end up with a show,” she said. “Whether that was a morning show, a weekend (or) Sunday morning show, whatever it was, the goal of moving here was to open this business, get it up and running and work toward (having) my own show.”

Everman said Hanten was excited for her to take over as host of FOX 11 LIVING and has been encouraging as she prepared to step in front of the camera and into Hanten’s shoes.

“She’s been texting me the most wonderful, supportive messages,” Everman said. “To know that there’s someone who’s handing over the reins to this 16-year legacy and is excited for me – boy, does that make a humongous difference.” 

Everman said Hanten isn’t the only one she’s received support and encouragement from either.

After WLUK announced Hanten’s exit and the change in hosts, Everman said the feedback she saw from the community was overwhelmingly positive.

“I knew I was excited, but I didn’t know if I was nervous,” she said. “When I saw the reaction, I would say 95% of (people) online (and) in-person were genuinely happy for me and excited for what I was going to do, which really built my confidence.”

Everman said she also credited her occasional appearances next to Hanten as a guest on FOX 11 LIVING for the community’s positive acceptance of her entering into the role of host.

“I just never thought she was going to retire because she’s so successful and does so well,” Everman said. “So when she announced her retirement, I must have had 50 people within an hour send me a text message, a Facebook message saying, ‘Oh my gosh, did you see this? You have to interview.’ So I just knew right away – I think I jumped on it 10 seconds after it was announced.”

Making it taste good

After completing her culinary education in Los Angeles, meeting her husband and having two children, Everman – a Green Bay native – said her family’s goal quickly became moving back to the Midwest.

“Neither of us were in the LA business,” she said. “We weren’t acting, we weren’t directing, we weren’t doing things like that. So once we started a family, it only made sense to move back to the Midwest and build a life for ourselves here, and we never looked back. It’s been the best decision we’ve ever made.”

Once back in the dairy state, Everman said she and her husband Tommy opened their joint venture, Gather On Broadway.

“It’s an event venue where food and hospitality are our number one priorities,” she said. “We really want(ed) to bring something completely different to Green Bay that they haven’t seen before.”

After working as Gather’s executive chef for eight years, Everman said she’s excited to bring that experience to the studio kitchen at WLUK while remaining part of her team at Gather.

“I will always be an incredibly involved owner of Gather,” she said. “My husband’s going to be taking over 90% of the day-to-day things… I will be hands-on with public events (and) will be coming in constantly to work with my kitchen staff to make sure we’re still doing a fantastic job there.”

Over her decades-long career as a professional chef, Everman said there’s one lesson she’s learned that she’s excited to introduce to the LIVING audience.

Working for “a very angry chef” at age 22, Everman said she asked if he would like more Dijon in a vinaigrette they were making.

“He looked at me and yelled at me, ‘Make it taste good!’” she said. “For some reason, that clicked with me.”

That motto, now known by her staff at Gather as “MITG,” Everman said, has since been a driving force in her actions and decisions as a professional chef.

“If we’re making something on the show and we’re tasting it, going, ‘it’s okay’ – stop – how are we going to make it taste good?” she said. “It is a simple concept, but something I think a lot of people don’t think about.”

Everman said her authenticity in the kitchen is part of the reason why she thinks people are responding positively to her taking over as the host of FOX 11 LIVING.

“I’m very authentic in the way that if I screw something up, well, I screwed it up,” she said. “If a chef of 20 years can mess this up, so can you. How are we going to fix it? MITG.”

Lights, camera, action!

Armed with 20 years of recipes, Everman said she’s not concerned about creating content for the show – and plans to draw inspiration from her own family.

“I have two goals,” she said. “Taking everyday foods you love, and just elevating them… (and) finding foods that picky eaters will love, but the foodies in your life will think are fantastic.”

Everman said both her young sons and her husband are picky eaters, so over the years, she’s had to learn how to cater to their palates while also making the food interesting for herself.

“That’s been my whole life for the last 16 years with my husband,” she said. “Trying to find foods he will eat, but yet, I’m super excited to eat as well, and I feel like that’s an issue with families everywhere.”

Taking her expertise on camera is not a new endeavor for Everman either – having appeared on the Food Network, the Today Show and with popular television chefs, such as Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay.

“It’s something I’ve always known – that I’ve loved teaching on camera,” she said. “Even when I didn’t do well on the Food Network, Bobby Flay would say to me, ‘You’re really good on camera. Who taught you that?’ It’s just fun for me.”

Though a sought-after and fun experience for Everman, she said being a live TV host comes with its challenges as well.

“You’re on for the whole show, and you’re talking to nobody – there’s no (in-studio) audience,” she said. “It’s a little bit draining, but I’m definitely down for the challenge.”

WLUK’s General Manager Jay Zollar said when the station began its search for a new FOX 11 LIVING host, Everman was an obvious choice for numerous reasons.

“She’s got a very good, strong local connection here… and a living show is all about local connections and gathering together,” he said. “Certainly, she’s got great energy. So she’s going to be a really great on-air talent for us.”

With a new host comes new content as well, Zollar said – adding that he’s excited to slowly, but surely, expand the FOX 11 LIVING brand with the addition of Everman.

“A lot of it is going to be based on Jyll and what she thinks,” he said. “We want to freshen it up, but at the same time, this is a market (where) tradition means a lot to people. So change is good, but… a little bit slower is better.”

Everman said she’s taking over the show at “an amazing time” when everyone is a foodie.

“I want to be talking to the up-and-comers, the foodies, the people who have had a revelation of ‘I don’t want to be picky anymore and I want to try new foods,’ but here’s how I’m going to ease you into it,” she said. “This new generation coming up has truly embraced the foodie scene and the people that are… the long-time fans of Amy are also looking to elevate their everyday traditions and their everyday foods. So it’s really a win-win.”

The cherry on top for her, Everman said, is that she can host FOX 11 LIVING and operate her business in Green Bay.

“It’s a wonderful place to raise a family, and especially with so much family around my kids are getting such an amazing village of people helping to raise them, and they’re just the happiest kids on the planet,” she said. “So just for that alone, it’s been so beneficial.”

For more on FOX 11 LIVING and Gather On Broadway, visit fox11online.com and gatheronbroadway.com, respectively.