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? 
I work in a culinary role for a product manufacturer, Kellanova Away From Home. 

Briefly describe your position.
My current role is Senior Manager of Culinary Innovation. I am a chef. I primarily work as a partner and team member with our National Account Sales Managers and Commercial Strategy and Insights team as the culinary expert, ideating and creating menu items and recipes for large national account foodservice customers. I also plan and execute culinary activations for internal events at off-site venues. Additionally, I plan the culinary activations at national trade shows such as the National Restaurant Association show, the Sweets & Snacks Show, etc. 

I develop recipes using our products as an ingredient and I present the recipes to our customers at culinary presentations, usually in our customers’ culinary centers. I also create ideas for branded innovation for transformative (new) products that may be exclusive to a specific customer, such as the Cheez-It Tostada for Taco Bell, Cheez-It Pepperoni Pizza for Pizza Hut. I also do “proof of concept” work to test out the possibility of “if” and “how” our product will perform if used in a specific way. 

An example would be how long will our Cheez-It crackers stay crisp when a hot or cold topping is placed on the cracker? How do our Eggo Waffles hold up when used as a sandwich carrier for a juicy hamburger? How do Rice Krispies Treats taste and feel when broiled? How do Pop-Tarts hold up texture-wise if it were crumbled and used in a milkshake? 

Another part of my job is to act as the culinary liaison between the customers’ operational needs and our R&D scientists when developing a custom product. I help troubleshoot, such as navigating back-of-house restrictions for the product to perform or investigating what type of equipment operators will use to heat and hold the product. 

Describe two current foodservice trends you are seeing right now.
The two trends I see that are at the forefront now are:
Value: Operators are focusing on delivering value to their guests. This doesn’t mean lower-cost menu items but rather increasing the value of their menu offerings to guests.  

A return to the basics: Getting back to the basics means focusing on core menu item improvements, streamlining operational complexity and driving higher repeat business with current core customers. Allowing operators to focus on delivering to core guests with fewer LTOs, which will cut out expenses and guest noise. 

Please describe one surprising event in your professional life that made a valuable impact on your career today. 
The biggest single event for me that had an impact on my career was accepting a surprise offer from Buster Corley to join his six-unit (at that time) Dave & Buster’s restaurant & entertainment chain. 

The offer came as a surprise after asking Buster if I could use him as a reference for my next gig after selling my restaurant. Buster and his wife, Leacy, had been regular customers in my restaurant and I was unaware that they were also in the food service industry. When I called Buster for the reference, he told me to come by the corporate office and he’d be happy to provide me with it. I think we arranged a 10 am meeting the next day. 

After talking with him about my plan to become a consultant, he spent the next couple of hours talking me out of it and offered me a job with him instead. He didn’t know exactly what the role or title would be, but he wanted me to get into his kitchen and just apply all my skills wherever I saw the need. I started work and loved it! After about two weeks, when he was walking through the door, he beckoned me off the back line where I was training a quicker prep method for bacon wrapped jalapeno stuffed BBQ shrimp kabobs. He told me my title was going to be “Corporate Executive Chef.” 

Buster and Leacy were the BEST mentors I ever had and challenged me on levels I hadn’t experienced before as we worked together to grow the chain from six to 55 units when I left. I had the opportunity to make decisions and mistakes. Buster said, “If you are not making mistakes, you are not making enough decisions.” He trusted me to make them. That was a valuable lesson. 

Years worked in the foodservice industry? 
I have worked for more than 50 years in foodservice, starting my career helping out in my family’s Café at age 14. I never left the industry.