CMAA and Club Benchmarking release club industry 2012 Economic Impact Report.

The Club Managers Association of America based in Alexandria, Va.,announces the recent release of the 2012 Economic Impact Report in conjunction with Club Benchmarking. This report details the economic impact of the 2,500 clubs managed by members of CMAA in 2011.

Statistics at a Glance

 • The total income for clubs in 2011 was $18 billion.

 • The total direct economic impact for clubs in 2011 was $19 billion, including all tax    revenues generated as a result of club activities.

 • Clubs employ 326,000 employees, with payrolls equaling $9 billion.

 • Clubs serve between 1.7 and 2.0 million members.

 • Clubs raise and contribute $124 million in funds to charitable causes.  

 • Clubs distribute $12 million in student scholarships.

 • Clubs spend $2.4 billion on goods and an additional $1.7 billion on services in their local communities.

 • Clubs as a whole pay $2.6 billion in total taxes; $1.6 billion of which are local and state taxes.

Although the trend in the United States was thought to have run its course in 2011, the number of American adults eschewing gluten is growing, making “gluten free” the health issue of the day.

About a third of U.S. adults say they want to cut down or be free of gluten in their diets, the highest percentage making this claim since The NPD Group, a leading global information company, began asking the question in 2009. NPD’s Dieting Monitor,which continually tracks on a biweekly basis top-of-mind dieting and nutrition-related issues facing consumers, reports that 30% of adults—or roughly one in every three—claimed to cut down on or avoid gluten completely in January 2013.

In celebration of The Bocuse Restaurant opening in February at The Culinary Institute of America, Paul Bocuse made a special trip from Lyon, France, for the star-studded inaugural dinner cooked by CIA students.

Culinary luminaries such as Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Charlie Palmer, David Burke, Michel Richard, Jerome Bocuse and the restaurant's namesake, famed Chef Paul Bocuse (named Chef of the Century by the CIA in 2011), gathered at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., on Feb. 15 to celebrate The Bocuse Restaurant’s inaugural dinner. In addition to the restaurant opening, attendees also celebrated Paul Bocuse’s 87th birthday, his decorated career and his incomparable contributions to culinary education throughout his lifetime.

The U.S. renaissance in charcuterie coupled with diners’ love of sausage makes housemade sausages a customer-satisfying, brand-building notion.

By Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, HAAC

More and more chefs at U.S. restaurants, hotels and clubs are wowing diners with interesting sausage inspirations that perfectly balance savory, sweet, spicy and smoky. Americans’ ever-increasing desire for good sausage is why culinary students enrolled at the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts in Chicago learn sausage-making during their first year of study.

Indeed, today’s sausages—as links, patties and crumbles—can showcase any ground meat combined with sufficient animal fat and any combination of a vast array of seasonings and other flavoring ingredients.

Thanks largely to chefs’ sausage inventiveness, the homemade-sausage trend is also propelled in part by growing consumer interest in enjoying fresh, locally grown and raised ingredients. European and other heritage sausages are enjoying a renaissance, too.

Good news for graduates this year is that foodservice in healthcare and B&I is projected to expand, says Technomic.

Even though most of the focus in the foodservice industry is on major restaurant chains, the noncommercial sector is also a thriving realm for foodservice. Noncommercial operations accounted for 34% of total U.S. foodservice sales in 2012, garnering more than $200 billion in sales (retail sales equivalent).

In 2013, Technomic expects the strongest (nominal) growth in the healthcare (4.5%) and business & industry (4.0%) segments. As a whole, noncommercial foodservice operations are forecast to grow 3.7%, representing many and varied opportunities for suppliers to the industry.