Sullivan University is the first accredited culinary program in the United States to elevate catering to a stand-alone degree within its hospitality and culinary-arts program. Its faculty will share techniques ranging from buffet designs to menu choices and pricing. Topic areas will include innovative buffet and buffet-station concepts, impressive desserts that are manageable as well as profitable, discussing how sous vide can work for both on-site and off-site catering and tips on preparing the waitstaff.

Michael Roman is widely regarded as the nation’s foremost educator on catering. Under his leadership, Catersource has grown into the largest internationally recognized catering membership organization. With 15 years of hands-on experience managing his family's catering business in Chicago and a master’s degree in education, Roman is a natural teacher. He has assisted some of the nation’s largest hospitality companies as well as hundreds of entrepreneurial catering businesses to accelerate their catering success. The CAFÉ workshop will begin Friday afternoon with Roman’s speech followed by a reception modeling several innovations in the catering industry.