What can the graduate do for the school? Says Chef Sorgule, the proper question should be, What can the school do for the graduate?

By Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC

Considering the ongoing questions about the value of a degree and the ever-changing landscape of the food business, I am constantly giving thought to how administrators of culinary programs can increase the perceived and real value of an education in food.

Everyone is certainly aware of the pressure pertaining to value being passed on to institutions from accrediting bodies, especially those preparing students for technical trades. The answer moving forward might very well be in shifting how we look at a degree.

For far too long, earning a college education was a two- or four-year process that students went through in pursuit of a degree. In other words, students passed through the college experience, incurring significant debt, with closure coming on graduation day.

The connections that continue to exist between the college and the graduate are limited to alumni newsletters, reunions and gift requests from the Institutional Advancement Office. We might invite an occasional graduate back to speak to a class or provide a demonstration, but, for the most part, the theme is: “What can the graduate do for the school, rather than what can the school do for the graduate.”

High-school culinary-arts programs in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Batavia, N.Y., earn honors for exemplary practices in—and innovative teaching of—ecological sustainability.

Kendall College, Chicago, and the Annapolis, Md.-based Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ) presented 2015 CAFÉ/Kendall College Green Awards to two secondary hospitality programs during a June 18 reception at CAFÉ’s 11th-annual Leadership Conference for foodservice educators at Niagara Falls Culinary Institute, Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Among dozens of submissions from secondary and postsecondary programs nationwide, Kent Career Technical Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., received this year’s top award. According to chef-instructor Sarah Waller, who teaches advanced baking and pastries at Kent, the $1,000 grant from Kendall College will help fund the high school’s goal to become the first water-bottle-free secondary school in Michigan.

On Monday, May 11, fine-dining connoisseurs are invited to enjoy the modern French cuisine of Mélisse (www.melisse.com), a Michelin two-star restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif. Event proceeds will benefit Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) Los Angeles, a nonprofit dedicated to preparing underserved students for college and career opportunities in the restaurant and hospitality industries.
 
Guests will have the opportunity to dine in the chic ambiance of the famed restaurant while relishing chef/owner Josiah Citrin’s intriguing season-driven menu. Mélisse has been voted as Zagat’s No. 1-rated restaurant in Los Angeles since 2003, and Forbes Travel Guide named Mélisse “One of the Finest Five Star Properties in the World.” Citrin has been named one of the “Best Chefs of the Year” by Los Angeles Magazine and is also co-owner of the popular Los Angeles eatery, Lemon Moon Café.

Peter “Pete” Mondavi, Jr., scion of one of Napa Valley’s leading winemaking families, was keynote speaker at the March 27, 2015, graduation ceremony for the Accelerated Wine and Beverage and Accelerated Culinary Arts certificate programs at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif. Mondavi advised graduates to use their newly honed skills to help people’s dining experiences become a break from the fast-paced cell-phone world.

“We can’t alter the pace of life here, but we can dedicate ourselves to making sure that fine food, wine and beverages are not the casualties of that pace, but a way to escape from it,” Mondavi told 45 certificate recipients. “Your challenge is to find a way to bring America back to the dining table, to show Americans how to remove their electronic tethers and enjoy the remarkable cuisine and beverages that you and your fellow graduates have learned to prepare and serve.”

Idaho^® potatoes­—the term refers to their source of origin—are renowned for quality and reliability in all 50 states. While most consumers and foodservice operators associate the Idaho trademark with russet potatoes, Idaho growers are seeding fields with new varieties to meet a burgeoning demand for reds, yellows and other niche varietal potatoes.

To help all Idaho potato customers find the variety that best fits their menu needs, the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) has created “Bringing Variety to the Plate,” a full-color brochure that details the qualities, characteristics and applications for almost 30 potato varieties. For example, the commercially successful Russet Burbank is a late-maturing variety, oval shaped and thin skinned with a distinctive, earthy potato flavor. It bakes fluffy, fries crispy and is well suited to all applications.

To order a complimentary copy of “Bringing Variety to the Plate,” contact the IPC at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To research menu concepts using all the Idaho potato varieties, visit the IPC recipe database at foodservice.idahopotato.com/recipes. While on the site, check out the helpful size guideand Idahopotato preparation tips, and find answers and solutions to operational and culinary FAQs. 

Washington, D.C.-based Green America, a national nonprofit organization working to create a green economy, issued the following statement on April 27 in response to Denver-based ChipotleMexican Grill’sannouncement of removing GMOs from its foods:

“Chipotle’sannouncement that they are removing genetically engineered ingredients is [a] majorstep forward for the company and an important milestone in creating a safer andhealthier food system for all Americans. Increasingly, it is clear thatconsumers want food without genetically engineered ingredients, and have alreadyrewarded Chipotle with increased sales for its growing non-GMO commitments.

“Evidence shows that GMOs are increasing the use of toxic herbicide use due to the development of herbicide-resistant weeds. Most recently, Glyphosate, which is commonly used on GMO crops, was deemed a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Consumers are increasingly concerned about the impacts of GMOs on the environment and human health and it is time for the restaurant industry and other food companies to make a change. Chipotle has shown that it is possible for a large fast foodchain [to] adopt a more sustainable food supply.

Say a menu item doesn’t sell. Is it overpriced, poorly described, not satisfying to the customer or a combination of these? To understand the basics of restaurant-performance management systems, here are three key teachings that would be part of any 101-level course on the topic.

By Dave Bennett

In the restaurant business, competition is fierce and plenty. Owners use various types of operational strategies to stay ahead of the curve and keep profits streaming in. Measuring restaurant performance is a critical ongoing activity—to see how operations are going today, and to reveal opportunities to improve customer satisfaction and unit profitability in the future.

Strong restaurant performance-measurement systems require vast amounts of data. Your data tells you how things are going, and you, in turn, use that data to make decisions. For instance, let’s imagine that your data is telling you that customers aren’t ordering a certain menu item. Is it overpriced? How does it taste? How is it described on the menu? Armed with that knowledge, you can decide how to respond: Remove that item from the menu, which will also streamline your inventory; offer it as a limited-time offering with a new menu description; or lower its selling price to see if that boosts sales.

Serving a term of 18 months, Carroll is joined by John Sloane of Macau as vice president of the global organization serving 10 million chefs from more than 105 nations.

Charles Carroll, CEC, AAC, executive chef of River Oaks Country Club, Houston, was recently named president of the World Association of Chefs Societies, or Worldchefs.

Worldchefs, founded October 1928 at the Sorbonne in Paris, is a global network of chef associations dedicated to maintaining and improving the standards of global cuisine. An elected executive committee and a board of continental directors that oversee the regions of Asia, Europe, Africa, Pacific and the Americas govern the organization.

“Worldchefs spans over 105 countries and 10 million chefs, and I am proud to be a part of this great team,” said Carroll. “The board is focused and excited about the next 18 months and we are dedicated to all our members around the globe.  I encourage everyone to visit www.Worldchefs.org to learn more about what we are doing and our next congress in Athens, Greece, September 2016.”

Hot sauce is becoming ubiquitous in homes and at foodservice outlets, according to recent NPD Group research. And while the classic Louisiana type still rules, it’s by far not the only hot seller, evidenced by spreading-like-wildfire sales of fruity habanero and chipotle varieties.

Hot sauce, the hotness of which is often ranked by quantity of flames or symbols of hell, is, well, hot right now, says The NPD Group, a leading global information company. Fifty-six percent of households have hot sauce on hand in their kitchens, and Sriracha, a relatively new Asian hot sauce, is already stocked in 9% of total U.S. households and 16% of households headed by someone under age 35, according to NPD’s recently released audit of U.S. kitchens.

The popularity of hot sauce also extends to away-from-home dining experiences. Cases of hot sauce shipped from foodservice distributors to restaurants and other foodservice outlets increased by double digits over the past two years, reports  SupplyTrack^®, a monthly tracking service that tracks every product shipped from major broadline distributors to their foodservice operators.

Classic Louisiana-style hot sauce is still the leader in terms of case volume shipped from distributors to U.S. foodservice outlets, but shipment growth has tapered off because of the wide variety of hot sauces now available, finds NPD. Case shipments of some habanero hot-sauce flavors, particularly habanero with fruit flavors such as mango, grew triple digits in the year ending December 2014 compared to same period a year ago. There were double the cases shipped of chipotle hot-sauce flavors and Sriracha in 2014 than in the previous year, finds SupplyTrack. 

The 10 best-selling categories have shifted since just 2013, and today, cheese is still tops, but refrigerated pasta, functional beverages and nut and seed butters show big gains. Why should we care? Because foodservice is an increasingly important sector to that industry, with growth of nearly 31% since 2012.

The specialty-food industry is a bright spot in the U.S. economy. In 2014, sales of specialty food topped $100 billion for the first time, with retail and foodservice sales reaching a record $109 billion.

Retail sales of specialty-food sales grew 19% from 2012 to 2014 versus a tepid 2% increase for all food. The industry, fueled by small businesses, now boasts 15 segments that exceed $1 billion in sales, including cheese; coffee; meat, poultry and seafood; chips, pretzels and snacks; candy; and yogurt.

These findings are from a new report from the Specialty Food Association produced in conjunction with research firms Mintel International and SPINS/IRI. The report, “The State of the Specialty Food Industry 2015,” tracks U.S. sales of specialty food through supermarkets, natural-food stores, specialty-food retailers and foodservice venues. Specialty foods are broadly defined for the report as products that have limited distribution and a reputation for high quality.