Ryan receives Innovation Award at Restaurant Industry Conference.

Acknowledging Dr. Tim Ryan’s leadership and commitment to the food and restaurant industry, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) honored the president of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) with its 2013 Innovation Award. Ryan received the award at the UCLA Extension Restaurant Industry Conference on the university’s campus on April 3.

“Recognition by such an outstanding institution as UCLA testifies to the excellence of our college’s educational programsand industry conferences,” Ryan said. “We are proud of our continuing innovations, including new majorsand concentrationsthat will further prepare CIA students to shape the future of cooking and the foodservice industry.”

The award recognizes highly influential leaders who have greatly contributed to the evolving landscape of the food, beverage, and restaurant industry. Previous award winners have included Jose Andres, Wolfgang Puck and the Hillstone Restaurant Group.

“Dr. Ryan has earned this honor through his many commitments to the industry and its future, and UCLA Extension is thrilled to name him as the recipient of the 2013 Innovation Award,” said Van Anderson, program director at UCLA Extension.

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.