Editor’s Note: This special feature focuses on professional chefs from various facets of the foodservice industry. Culinarians answer questions delving into their views of current foodservice developments and how culinary students can obtain positions within different industries. Introduce your students to a plethora of foodservice career options. Click here to view the previous profiles.

In what foodservice area do you work?
Culinary consulting with marketing boards, suppliers and Top 500 national restaurant chains.

Describe two current foodservice trends you are seeing right now.
Number one is a labor reduction in soft-skill positions, such as service and line cooks. I also see labor growth in hard-skilled positions such as management, strategy and logistics. The second trend I see is the growth of digital or virtual restaurant concepts, such as ghost kitchens, virtual kitchens and a larger, overall digital brand footprint.

What steps would you advise culinary graduates to take in securing a position in your industry?
There are a lot of opportunities in food and beverage, so students should go after companies, people and roles that inspire them. Networking early in your career is more important than salary, so work for the best, travel, be a sponge, build your network and focus on your craft.

Please describe one surprising event that made a valuable impact on your career.
As cliché as it sounds, your network = your net worth. Expand your network as much as possible and the opportunities will follow.

About Adam Moore
Adam Moore is chef and president of Flashpoint Innovation, a food and beverage innovation network, located in Chicago. Over the course of his food-focused career, Adam has owned his own restaurant and innovated new products with Fortune 500 companies around the globe.

At Flashpoint, Adam marries his experience with a trusted network of chefs, scientists and strategists to provide culinary support, product development, supply chain and foodservice strategy services to quickly turn ideas into reality.

Adam has been a past recipient of the Research Chefs Association’s Most Innovative Product Award, National Restaurant Association’s FABI Award and BIIC Award of Excellence from Bunge North America. Adam currently sits on the Board of Experts with Flavor and The Menu magazine and is an ambassador of Children of Restaurant Employees, a charity benefiting employees in the food and beverage service industry with children who face a medical crisis, injury or natural disaster.