Power of Words

When you think of chefs you may not think about them as wordsmiths. Be sure that we are a group greatly entrenched in language.  We have a long history and our own lingo. This realm of terms, definitions, and understanding both describes and confines us. Chefs notoriously use language that some find offensive as a daily ritualistic release of tension.

The language of food is important and chefs rely upon it to convey clarity when speaking about a food request. Having said that, I am a chef who is rubbed the wrong way when people misuse a culinary term but expect to receive exactly what they have envisioned instead of what they have asked for to eat. If you asked for the Tomato Florentine soup, you can't be upset by the presence of spinach, for example, as Florentine means spinach in the kitchen.

Recently, I was on a mini-vacation and was looking for food fair. I called the near-by Cracker Barrel and asked if their were gluten-free options on the menu. They said yes, but when I arrived the menu did not have gluten-free pancakes or waffles nor biscuits, they brought an alternative menu that gave both nutritional information and pointed to some menu items as safe for my consumption. Offering me a bowl of oatmeal, fresh fruit, or steak and eggs, is not offering me options. I found it insulting that this was all that was offered and I didn't need them to tell me the fruit was gluten-free. By the way, the oatmeal was amazing and I had an order for dinner later on that weekend, but that is not the point. When I think of Cracker Barrel, IHOP, Original Pancake House, or any other breakfast spot it should not be difficult to make adjustment for alternative eaters, and shame on those who have the boldness to offer me fresh fruit as if I don't understand what gluten-free means.

Re-branding food items under new labeling is a funny thing these days. Every trip to the grocer has me laughing as the things that should be relied upon to be gluten-free have redesigned packaging to inform us of this new revelation of food category. I don't need anyone to tell me that unpopped whole popcorn is gluten-free, what's next, gluten-free water?

Language can bind us together with a common ground of understanding and communication but also can divide us with a loss of clarity or misunderstanding. For many consumers who purchase gluten-free items, not all of us must buy these items for health reasons like I do, but rather buy these items because the term is trendy and new-ish. I'd even bet there are some who couldn't accurately define the term but swears that it is bad for your health. No, no, no... It isn't good for my digestion, not everyone's. 

Entrepreneurship Isn't for Everyone: Part #2

Not everyone is able to become their own boss. Not everyone has the skills needed to make your own company efforts successful. It dose take some fearlessness and definitely takes skills. I have always wanted to be an owner of my own business, not just a paid employee. Therefore, when I would be offered some new position or opportunity, I looked at it as a chance to learn more about the working positions that I hoped to one day hire and manage. Not understanding how a job works when you are managing the workers who hold that position can be very costly. Making demands of your workers needs to be done with knowledge of how the position works. If you are a manager and demand an item be prepared and restocked in a half hour, but what you are asking for takes an hour to bake, let alone prep and packaged, you will be disappointed and/or a conflict will arise between you and the employee because you are asking for the impossible.

Not understanding the type of work and/or the skills needed for this or that position is very costly. Some find themselves hiring the wrong people over an over again because they don't fully understand what is needed. This effort to advertise and recruit staff can end up dragging your whole staff down, as they are working harder and harder to take up the slack left by being too short staffed. This effort to get new people takes manpower away from other activities, especially if you have to do it again and again. An employee that is underpaid, overworked, or see no chance at advancing, will eventually disappear and you will have to hire someone else to do the job.

It takes two to make a thing go right... Sometimes it takes a village. Opening your own food spot, from greasy spoon to fine dinning, takes not only culinary genius, it also take a vast amount of support. A good chef knows that they will need investors, workers, bookkeepers, lawyers, customers, market research, advertising, networking, licensing, insurance, and location support. Offering the wanted products in a area that is willing to buy from you regularly is key to your location efforts. If you are not at a good area for your business, your customers are less likely to go out of their way to give you their business.

On top of all that, there are no guarantee that success will come. You can offer the best products at reasonable pricing in a area that doesn't have a lot of food business and still fail. It's sad but true. Sometimes you capture lightening in a bottle, other times, closing your doors and perhaps trying again is the best solution.

O.A.N.: Let's discuss money, both inside and outside of your business. There are a couple of money issues faced by all companies, how much is this item worth, and what are my customers willing to pay for it? Both of these answers are quantifiable but the best of calculations can still end on a sour note. There will always be competition in the market place. For example, I create custom cakes and cookies, and sometimes potential customers get sticker shocked when they ask me for a quote. The most commonly heard complaint is "I can just buy a Walmart cake". Often this reaction comes from a customer who hasn't ever ordered a custom cake and does not understand the difference or the reason that the cost has been set. Many customers may wish to buy a cake that looks like it is right out of a magazine but don't have the budget to order such items. Therefore, a business that is concerned with longevity needs to take the temperature of the marketplace from time to time to see if they are pricing themselves out of the market or if they are not charging enough and losing potential profits.

Part #3 is upcoming..... stay tuned

If you are enjoying this blog, please follow us and check out our sister podcast on Blogtalkradio.com under the same name.

Entrepreneurship Isn't for Everyone: Part #1

I was born into two families, as we all are, my elders had long work records that highlighted a dedication to a blue collar workforce and style of life. Therefore, I was taught the ladder to success was in working for a company or the government for 40 plus years, put your kids in school, get the gold watch, and retire in peacefully.

Entrepreneurship wasn't what they understood or felt that it also could lead to success. Elders with that type of mindset cannot teach a child that starting their own business is a good thing. Most think it is too risky to attempt. They see that a stead job with benefits is the way up the ladder and business ownership is a ladder with missing rungs.

It takes a different mind to attempt such risk and you have to be somewhat fearless do to it. Business is always risky, no matter where you stand with the company, owner or employee.  The same company that pays you from payroll is taking a risk that the company will survive and taking you with them. It is just as easy to get laid off or fired from a company than it is to own a business and make it successful. So why don't you take a hold of the course your ship is headed?

With high risk comes high rewards, taking no risk leaves you with very little rewards and tied to other's fates. While you are working hard for another person or company, you are making them rich and taking a small percentage of the benefits. As an employee your labor belongs to another. Lots of people have used the innovation that employee #37 created while working for a company. Work in that mode is the "work product" of the company. If you invent the next big time comic book character, for example, while working for Marvel or D.C. the company owns it, not the one who created it. You have traded your rights to the innovation you created for a paycheck and nothing more than that. No royalties, no copyrights, nothing but a small check.

When you are working for yourself, it isn't easy, you must be knowledgeable, skilled, and dedicated to the company. But isn't that the same expectation that your boss has for you everyday? Owning a company means that it's your reputation on the line. You have to rely on your staff, manage your budgets, inventory, and everything else.

It takes much more than the efforts of one person to run a successful food business, it can take a whole village. Good chefs know their weaknesses and hire experts to lend a hand at those things they are not adapt with handling. Tons of people, every year, decide to try their hand at running a food outlet. They take their savings or take out a loan and jump into the deep end of food operations with little experience and training. The failure rate of independent food operations is very high, and opening can be very risky even when you have the skill and training needed. http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/03/infographic-failed-small-businesses.html

Business is much like the food chain, the big fish can swallow the little fish whole. Who is your big fish? Are you at the top of the food chain, swimming, and making decisions, or are you following the school of fish that you help to create? Have you researched the demographics of the area? Do you know what your customers want or are you selling what you like? Can you differentiate your business from all the others? Have you acquired the needed capitol, equipment, staff, and décor that drives customers to you or away from you?

There are so much to discuss on this topic that I am splitting it up over a few posts for ease of reading....

I'm Okay if You Say No.

Everyone that knows me understands that I don't like missing out on opportunities and I especially don't like leaving money on the table. I keep multiple streams of income going and I have always had a high octane can of energy.

It took me a while to get into the place where I am comfortable when potential clients pass me over and chose another vendor for their events. I admit that I once would be sad when friends, relatives, and associates would have an event and I wasn't even asked if I would like to be their supplier for the evening.

I am a dedicated person who works hard in my field and I strive for excellence in everything I do. I say this to what end? I no longer let being passed over upset me. There are tons of reasons that people may want a different vendor or service and those reasons may not actually have anything to do with me personally, my pricing, or other such reason.

I have had clients who wanted me to cut my pricing, given them the 'hook up', questioned why my prices are what they are, tried to guilt trip me into lowering my price, or just wasn't a good client to have at that time.  Just as clients have a choice of who they want to work with, I too have the same choices about what customers I want to work with or not.

Just recently, I did a tasting for a clients in short notice. The party planner that booked me is one in which I have worked with for several years, and she was confident that this event would be one that the client would have loved to have my service. Alas, this was not the case and I suspected so once I had met them at my door. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The party planner emailed me with a list of concerns that the client expressed to her after our meeting. I simply responded that I didn't wish to prove or disprove the issues expressed in the email because I felt that it would be a waste of my valuable time. They declined and that's okay.

Most of the 'issues' expressed were not fair, not understandable, and not relevant to the question of weather or not I was able to satisfy their needs for the event. The biggest issue, and the only one I will cite here, was that I have a pet and she was lose in the house. After having asked if they had any aversion to my cat and/or wanted her to be in her kennel, they said no. Therefore, how was this on their list of reasons to decline.

I provide excellence at every turn possible, and when I don't think that I can provide it, I have no issues expressing my concerns. Getting to this mental and professional state only came to me with my growing maturity. Beforehand, I often would kick myself about someone passing me over, or I would feel the tug and pull to give price concessions just to secure that I would win the order. Every time I  stuck my neck out for someone else's event, without a doubt, I regretted it. I once worked up a menu for a so-called friend's birthday and I didn't earn a dime for my efforts, only to have her make a list of complaints afterwards. She knew there was no where else, and nobody else, that would have done such things for that small amount of money.

Such is life, you live long enough, you will learn to value your work and time as a precious commodity worthy of honorarium. Cash talks and b.s. walks.

Going Live

Just like with live television, broadcasting a live podcast can run into problems. Last week, and a couple other time as well, we planned a live broadcast on Blogtalkradio.com only to run into problems. As I have had the opportunity to mess around with my options, I had a plan B. Since it is a program with very little visuals, I quickly went to a taped conversation that I uploaded after the conclusion of the conversation.

There are a few ways that you can create content for your podcast if the server is too busy or something interrupts your scheduled show. I often tape my shows from Freeconferencecall.com. This service allows callers to chat and record the conversation easily. All participants call into a common phone number and the host can use its tools to make a mp3 of the meeting. Most laptops and PC's have options for recording voice recordings. Sometimes the feature may not have options to change the format of the recording, so please check. If you record a conversation in a format not recognized by your broadcast service, you may need a converter software to get the recording in a format the you can use.

I enjoy podcasting. The conversations heard on my show are very similar to conversations I have offline and in real life. The food news, food culture, chef conversations, and the culinary industry are apart of my everyday. And I hope my audience agrees....

We set the goal of one podcast a week, and I hope to always go live on Saturday afternoons, however if we run into issues, we got to tape and upload later. The other reason that may force us to go tape is the availability of our guest. I'd rather tape a podcast with a dynamic guest whenever is best for them than not to get the conversation with the guest.

I got one scheduled for today, so catch us if you can:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon/2016/04/24/episode-16-maurice-miles-wy-dolphin-and-foodie

Good news, tonight at 10....

I try to stay non-political mainly because I don't like politics. I have lived my whole life in Chicago, a place of many scandals and imprisoned officials. We created a system of doing things known as machine politics, a unique style of corruption. I don't like what happens here and I don't like our current disposition in the capitol.

Anyway you cut it, food is political and increasingly so over the last many years. Corporations who manufacture food, food deserts, malnutrition, school lunch programs, charity food banks, inhuman slaughterhouse practises, factory farms, junk and fast foods, obesity rates, junk science around fad diets, culinary education, nutritional supplements, electronic exercise devices, access to health care, supplemental food programs, all boil down to economics and a dividing social structure that is eliminating the middle class. Unfortunately, food is political and often times it is unfairly distributed, wasted, horded, abused, and can often be misunderstood.

Politicians have proposed legislation to drug test supplemented food receivers, to limit 'luxury' food purchases such as steak and shrimp, and mandate sticker income verification making it harder to qualify for assistance. Hunger is always political, especially when working parents are not earning enough to adequately feed their families. Battles over raising the minimum wage are closely tied into the issue of feeding, if workers working full-time still qualify and need nutritional and housing assistance, then the minimum is no longer adequate.

Present day Chicago, we all are anticipating a teacher's strike, have seen and participated in rallies over minimum wage, police brutality, and racial profiling. It's like we are sitting on a powder keg while staring at a short fuse. I hate politics because of the inherent inequality and greed. Call me a revolutionary liberal, if you must, but no matter the label, I hate the political world around me.

Basic, the very least, everyday common human needs are required to be met, food, shelter, water, safety, and education. There should not be any debate over how we, as a society, a family, a government, make provisions for these needs. This major metropolis has a untold number of homeless people, kids that lack adequate nutrition both at home and at school, low graduation rates of our teens from high school, lack of employment opportunities for young people just entering the workforce, some of the highest taxes in the country, and several other obstacles that make living here difficult.

That's the bad news, now let's discuss the other side of the coin.  There are hundreds and thousands of our residents that are doing well, achieving, striving, and assisting others along their paths. But where is the news coverage of the awarding of diplomas and scholarships. Were are the press corp when our kids and young adults achieve despite the hardships, when they leap over the hurdles, and bust out of the barriers to success?  Who will show the world how talented, brilliant, and strong we are? What is the intent of the press to show so little of the great things that happen everyday? Are we being manipulated into believing all hope is lost?
 

Respect Yourself, even if no one else does.

A lot of the time, if you talk with chefs who have been in the industry more than a couple of years, you will hear a few horror stories about bad practices, bosses, and/or jobs. There are some that will stay in a job until the bitter end. This position of not wanting to do a job search and interview procedures can lead you in position where it is no longer beneficial to yourself and/or the company. Waking each day with a dreadful disposition and coming home the same is not healthy, no matter who you are professionally.

Respect yourself enough to understand when it is time to move on and stop being afraid to step forward into something new. Fear of the unknown and fear of rejection can keep the best of us from making changes in our lives. But if you are not in a place that you can nurture and it nurture you, then the place you are occupying is killing your spirit and in turn you are probably throwing shade on other people instead of uplifting them.

I have been guilty of these negative actions myself. Dragging my own pitiful butt out of the bed every day, dreading what I was possibly walking into, and knowing that I would not be happy at all at the end of the day. Why torture yourself and others?

Even if no one every tells you your worth, still respect your value. You have trained and studied to become who you are, so why do you think less of yourself? Take little time out of your day to do a job search to see what opportunities are available. Sometimes you will find that you didn't know that your own company has put out ads to hire new people and sometimes the job of your dreams is out there waiting for your resume to get on their interview list. Yes, you need to act upon your own abilities, knowledge, ego, faith, financial needs, or whatever else it takes to get you motivated enough to seek out your destiny.

I was taught to adhere to a very blue collar outlook at the job site. Keep your nose clean, do your work, don't let co-workers know too much about you, don't date at the job, and stick there until you earn that retirement package and the gold watch. Unfortunately, most of that wisdom isn't valid anymore. Chefs, especially, find that they will be on to the next position in about 5 years time, often. The company doesn't have a lot of benefits offered, might not be totally full time, and with the fickle customer base, they don't want to have such continuity. Is the whole industry like this? No, but it is a fairly consistent experience within and outside of the culinary world. Most of us chefs can have a hard time writing a resume that is limited to 1 or 2 pages.

Please understand that the same skills that got you hired in your current position, are the same skills that will get you hired elsewhere, and if you have added to your skill base since you were hired, then your stock price has gone up and you maybe a more qualified candidate than you were before. Add to this, if you are seeking new ground while still employed, you are not as pressed for time as you would be unemployed.

I have skills that are needed by organizations, families, communities, and what have you. I have worked for homeless shelters, schools, charities, churches, restaurants, hotels, sport arenas, and a few bars. I have ever starved working in this food city and in this industry. I have been paid less than I am worth, I have worked with horrible people, bad bosses, and ungrateful companies. But, know this, they can take away your employment but no one can take your skills and knowledge.  

Exhaustion

Singing.... "I'm tired. So tired."

Those of you who have been following this blog will notice that my schedule of a post a day, has been disrupted. I have been pleasantly very very busy of late assisting our population of students competing for scholarships in two different programs. Needless to say, I have been running around helping make the experience for the students as well done and enjoyable as possible.

The end result were phenomenal, and that is all the really matters. Watching the students walk in their fate and upcoming careers, taking on their adulthood, is very important to them and us as well. I tend to look upon them as a parent should, knowing their childhood is nearly over and the adults that emerge in their place, can be a very different person altogether.

C-Cap awarded over $400k worth of scholarship assistance this year and NAACP ACT-SO is preparing for our trip to the National Convention in Cincinnati Ohio, were they will compete for National medals and scholarships. Spring is blossoming in new life and academic success.      

Culinary and Chemistry

As I sit in the school library, it becomes painfully obvious that cooking and chemistry is one and the same.  Cooking is more applied science than others courses of study, add in a bit of alchemy and you are square in the middle of chef life.

 

The same skills of formulations, testing, observation, and trail and error, ever present in the kitchens all over the universe.  Even in cases where the chef or cook is cooking from a recipe, all of the steps apply, as good cooks never rely on an untested source when feeding their audience.  Some of us can review a written recipe and spot of it is accurate or not. Others must try it to discover the faults or the accuracy. In either case, mistakes can teach you more than your triumphs in the kitchen.   

The ability to test, modify, mix and remix, ingredients and turn the simple into the worthiest of dishes, let alone into art, is what chefs strive to achieve. Science and art culminate into a type of jazz, painting, sculpture, and architecture. The best of us climb to towering heights and can earn a type of immortality that gives lasting effects on the culinary world. Julia Child will always be with us through her teachings, books, and television broadcasts. The ladders she built will be scaled for generations to come.

We whisk up acids and bases, apply heat or cold, emulsify, extract, concentrate, dilute, expand, divide, and blend, all to achieve the awe inspiring creations. We live for the oohs and awwws that are created by our work. We lose sleep, forgo stopping to tend to our own needs, work odd hours, long hours, and miss out on the simple things, like events we are invited to attend, and even daylight. We arrive in the dark hours of the night and leave again after the sun has gone for the day. We talk more with our co-workers then our families and friends, some times. We can share our story with our loved ones but often they can't really understand who and what we have endured during our work. 

Sometimes I have encountered people who either don't understand what it is we do, or they act as if our work isn't important or not a profession like their's. The amounts of learning and training needed to work at my level can be greater than many other profession and less than others. It is often hard to adequately describe what we do, and how we do it, as many who cook think that they can do my job, or that it can't be that hard, or couldn't possibly take the amount of  hours that it really does. Sometimes my commitment to my work can require me to miss some events in my own children's life for the sake of other celebrations or needs. I don't like that aspect but my food magic show is what puts a roof over their heads.

Mixing magic with nutrition, art with taste, building constructs and designs for the eye, enticements for the nose, and specialties of taste can be very demanding. I love my work and I love teaching kids to think about and improve their options within the kitchen, that can improve their lives and the lives of others around them. 

International Home and Housewares Show

Hey everybody.  This weekend was very busy and rewarding, and I hope that the days that I didn't post will be forgiven.  In conjunction with Harold Import Company (HIC), a major supporter of our Careers though Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), we have been working very hard. The convention opened Saturday and runs until Tuesday. 

C-CAP staff, students, and alumni manned the HIC booth and provided food to all the visitors conducting business with HIC. The mornings, offered omelets, sweet treats, and coffee. In the afternoon, our stations offered up made-to-order stir-fry.

Friday night there was a great event of drinks and dinner at Bin 36 wine bar. Sunday night was the C-CAP fundraiser where we broke our previous record collecting nearly $42,000! The proceeds go to support our culinary student scholarship program. Super exciting.

I attempted to conduct two live broadcasts on my blogtalk radio channel but apparently doing it from my phone and maintaining a signal did not work out.   Both times I tried it sounded like we were good to go but it ended abruptly without me hearing it stop. Oh well, I deleted the messed up broadcasts.

The show was jammed packed with all the china, glass, knives, cutting boards, small appliances, laundry aids, baking and decorating products available. I love this show. I also try and get out each year to the National Restaurant Association show to see and sample all the newest innovations.

Working a convention is some of the hardest work I have done, and I have worked many. It's full of tons of moving parts, long hours, guest needs, being the most bright and shinny you can be, all the while standing on the concrete floors.  Phew. This show had me sporting my newest item from the Forrest Gump collection of knee braces. I was super styling and preventing some of the damage that the long hours on my feet could create.

Yesterday we wrapped up the event and packed everything away. Many of the vendors at the show often donate their goods to our staff and students along with other organizations within the city. We are always grateful for the shinny new tools. 

http://www.hickitchen.com/

http://www.ccapinc.org/

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search?q=giant+fork+spoon
http://www.housewares.org/show/

Gadget, gadget. Go Go Inspector Gadget!

If you remember where that title comes from then you are true geeky person like me. Although, I won't call myself big fan of the show, I did watch it as a kid. Psst.... we are both showing our age. LOL

So on with my point... This weekend is the International Home and Housewares Show at McCormick Place and I am super excited to see all the new product offerings. I went/worked the show last year and had a ball. I like conventions when I am working more than when I am just attending. I don't really don't know why as it should be the opposite. Who knows?

https://www.housewares.org/show/future

This year will again be stocked to the gills with a ton of innovations and new ideas. While new kitchen gadgets and home products are cool to see before they come to the local stores for sale, I am always very skeptical to buy the next new thing on a whim. For me, since I have a limited budget for the next new thing, and since I don't like a lot of extra clutter, I am very selective about what I will and won't buy for my kitchen. My kitchen space is relatively small and it houses both my cake decoration tools and my regular kitchen tools, so it can get out of hand very quickly.

A kitchen gadget has to do two things for me to be really interest in buying: first it has to be useful for more than one task and secondly must make my work easier or uniquely. If the only thing that I can use the tool for is to peel and core an apple, it is three foot long and two foot wide, and hard to store then I will not be likely to buy it. I am well stocked with the essential items that any kitchen needs, and some more besides. Now if I find a new and improved version of something that is a nice improvement of the model I already have, then I may just trip over my own feet to purchase it. For example, no baker ever wants to be out of measuring cups and spoons. A couple of years ago, manufacturers began producing a lot of items in silicon since the improvement of silicon was put into use. The new material is heat and cold resistant and can be molded into a great many styles. So at first, we started seeing cake pans in silicon, then other items followed like a collapsible colander which is a huge space saver in a cabinet. But my favorite of them all are the collapsible measuring cups. The older metal style measures were too small to put in a cabinet but a bit too large for a drawer so you would end up with them wedged in a manner that would prevent the drawer from opening or the drawer would damage the cups. The silicone ones smash down to less than a third of the size of the same metal version. This made chef very happy. They are durable and versatile.

It is easy to get excited by the new and sometimes the improved, but I try and temper my need to procure them, so that I don't end up with a whole pile of things that I only use once or twice a year, and they sit and collect dust the rest of the time. Stay tuned... I will be featuring some of the new finds from the show. Wish me luck.

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How I got my life back....

When I began working in the industry I was 18 years old, in the age of dinosaurs, and I committed to working hard, working long hours, and never turning down an opportunity to learn. I was successful in my pursuits as the hospitality work is never ending.

I was lucky that one day one of my professors at Roosevelt University took me by the hand to the Palmer House Hotel where he was the Food and Beverage Director. He set a meeting for me to get introduced to how that organization operated and I was quickly hired by the Exec. Chef. I was placed in the party department and began to expand my craft. I failed to realize the good fortune in its fullness, at the time, as that department allowed all the team members to work a steady shift 90% of the time. We were on the 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. shift. Employees could use the hotel gym that included a sauna. There was an employee cafeteria where we could eat for free.

With the goal in mind, to never turn down an opportunity to learn, I soon found myself also working as cocktail waitress, a couple nights a week, in the hotel bar. This gave me some very nice additional income and taught me more about good customer service. When I would work a shift in the bar, I would get off work at 4:30, grab some food, maybe even hit the gym, and then change from one uniform to another, starting a shift starting about 7 p.m., and work until the bar was dead quite or ready to close at 3 a.m. Afterwards, I would take a cab home, nap, and come back to work at 8 a.m.

This hamster wheel kept on turning for about a year and a half. I enjoyed it. I like talking with customers, I especially liked the extra cash, and I was single and living alone with my cat, so I didn't need a good work/life balance. I needed the money and I was, and probably still is, a adrenaline junkie. I was young and able bodied so the industry opened up for me and gave me as much as I thought I could handle.

With age comes wisdom, and aches and pains. I got married at 27 years old and was immediately pregnant with my eldest daughter. At that time, I was working in the social service arena, and that job was rewarding and wonderful, as I could adjust my schedule for the needs of the pregnancy. I had PTO hours and a standard 40 week, so I often worked 10 hour days so that I could have a 3 day weekend often, giving me some needed downtime. The pregnancy changed a lot of my career habits. Being a parent made me make different choices about how, when, and where I worked. I love being a chef but the 80 hour work weeks were too difficult to maintain while parenting small children. I wanted to parent them myself, we didn't have the aid of extended family members, as some do, for childcare. I was the mommy and the wife. I wanted to be these things so I had to make changes in the way I worked to do it.

I think it is sad that I had to find alternative places to work ,and use my skills, so that I could take care of my life and those people in it. So I worked for a homeless shelter, then a church organization, then as a grocery store bakery department manager, a teaching and demonstration chef, a pastry cook at a university, and lake dinner cruise company, all so I could have an adequate family life, and even so I was sacrificing more than mothers that had a standard work week. My career as a chef was diminished, slowed down, and almost derailed. I lost my connections, I had to use differing skills because working in a production kitchen requires too much time and physical endurance. If I hadn't make the choices that I did, I would have kids that I hardly ever spent time with when they needed me the most.

Some male chefs do not put their careers on the back burner like I did, and some would say it is easier for the guys to do this than us ladies. I have never been a guy but it does seem likely. Chefs do often get divorced and are all work and all play. The habit of chefs to unwind after a huge long day is to go to a bar and unwind. There is usually a spot where the whole crew goes and shut down the bar. Heavy drinking, smoking, and some drug abuse are all present in this lifestyle. In order to handle the stress and chaos, in order to keep going for 18 hours or more, in order to get up and do it all again the next day, in order to handle the chauvinism, the racism, the misogyny, the demanding customers, and all the big egos, many of us turn to chemical assistance to get them through it all. Some who do this can find it ruling them instead of them controlling their life.  

I love my career, I love what I do, I love serving my customers, and I love teaching these skills to others. Now that I am a lot older, as my eldest is now in college, and my health is a super bumpy road, I once again found a need to move away from the love of my life, a professional commercial kitchen. When I began I wanted a great big career, and company ownership, but also wanting a family meant something had to be sacrificed because the industry didn't have the ability for me to do both.

The chef life is as complex as some of the finest meals and most people have never seen what is happening on the other side of the kitchen doors. I have had relatives shame me that I couldn't attend this or that event because I was working. I have been accused of lying about my need for their help because there is no way that I needed to work a 18 hour shift. I have had the argument with an upset child about the recital I missed because I didn't get off work until 8 p.m. I now teach kids after school and therefore I don't finish up until 7 p.m.

Think about this: whenever you want to party, whenever you want to eat, whenever you need to celebrate, that's when chefs need to work. We work weekends, holidays, late days and early mornings. We are not the bank teller type of folks and working an 8 hour shift leaves us feeling like we are forgetting to do something more. Work/life balance in our world is a quick way to stunt your career unless you do something other than production work.

I am not the only writer talking about this subject, check out this article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2016/02/29/why-working-restaurant-industry-can-hard-your-mental-health/NaqWdSHvKJtZQCoberbLjP/story.html

Oh goody goody...

This weekend Chicago hosts one of my favorite conventions, the International Home and Housewares Show at McCormick Place! This convention is the place to be to view all the new innovations in kitchen wares, laundry aids, pots, pans, measuring tools, shopping carts, storage solutions, packaging, cooking demonstrations, baking ideas, decorating tools, gardening new products, and just about anything that you would need to use around the house.

This annual show runs from 3/5/16 to 3/8/16 it hosts over 2,000 exhibitors with everything from Contact Paper to kitchen knives and cutting boards. I will be broadcasting from the show floor on Saturday and Sunday afternoon on our podcast: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon so tune in and hear from our C-CAP team members and students. If you can, come on down and meet us in person. Here's the ticket information: https://www.housewares.org/show/register-plan.

This event helps to support our educational culinary program, Careers through Culinary Arts Program, http://www.ccapinc.org/, we will be working the booth, along with their fabulous team at Harold Import Company, http://www.hickitchen.com/. The support that comes from Harold Import Company make our teaching efforts possible so we invite some of our students to work the show and help to feed the clients that stop-by the booth.

Also, there will be a fundraiser event on 3/6/16 where our students from several of the CPS high school's culinary programs will be serving up their unique food fare for our guests. https://www.ccapinc.org/locations/chicagobenefit2016/.

These efforts help to endow our students with the skills and knowledge that will take them into their professional chef careers. C-CAP conducts an annual student cooking competition and awards the winners with scholarship money to attend culinary school.

I can't wait to share all of this from the floor of McCormick Place. Hopefully, I won't have any signal issues and will be able to go live on the air, if not, I will tape and broadcast a bit later on. It's going to be a long week but the excitement of all that is shinny, new, and inciting to chef's everywhere will be at my fingertips to explore.

Oh boy!

A Sweet Finish

Ending your dining experience on a high note is the best way and us pastry chefs strive hard to make that happen. Therefore, I never understood some that are willing to create a five star meal and end it with a Walmart cake. I have worked for a couple of major grocery store chains, and I can tell you from first hand experience, that those cakes are chocked full of preservatives and the icing is just wet sugar. I am convinced that the sale of this type of product has gotten a lot of consumers believing that they don't like buttercream, when in fact, most of them have not tasted real buttercream.

Even for those among us that don't much care for sweets, having a wonderful ending to highlight a memorable dinning experience is vital. I'd rather not have a dessert if the dessert can't hold a candle to the meal. For me, it is the equivalent of wearing a designer dress with Payless shoes. I am not advocating for any significant change to your everyday meal time routine, but when you are celebrating the happiest of days in your life, don't skimp.

Most of my pastry clients do not hesitate to order a custom cake for a kid's birthday but don't treasure the special moments for the adults that make living memorable. Eat dessert everyday? Probably not. But when something special is on the horizon, do yourself the honor of something extra special.

Is it important to eat a dessert made from quality ingredients? Of course it is, but many have a attitude that says 'its dessert and it isn't healthy so why worry about it'? But healthy eating is about all the foods consumed, not just the meals and snacks, but ALL of the food calories and nutrition. Making cakes and desserts from real food, quality chocolate, the best butters and flour, makes for the most delicious products and much easier on your digestion and overall health.  

Where are the Minority Chefs?

I have worked as a chef in Chicago for over 20 years and I have always worked with Hispanic, Black and Caucasian chefs, more Hispanic than Caucasian, and always mostly men. There is no shortage of Hispanics working in kitchens all over the city, cooking a wide range of food stuffs including Sushi.

Food television is not as full with minority chefs as the kitchens happen to be, there is a sprinkling of Black chefs, and not much more in way for Hispanic. Why is this?  We are doing the heavy lifting and earning the skills to make things pop, fry, and sizzle, so I know having the skill isn't the problem. Yet in still, the Italian chef, the White Southern chef, the French chef, are all the standard image of what a chef is, and most of the time they are male as well.

While we may not be able to lift as much weight as the fellow, we do hold up our share of the work in a production kitchen and I would like to see more representation of our efforts. There is no shortage of food outlets that are black run and often black owned in a city like Chicago. I have served dignitaries that were surprised at the amount of minority representation at the venue, and expressed as much.

While the average black population in this country is about 13% of the overall population, we do make up a much higher number of working chefs in this city and our Hispanic compadres may actually make up a bigger percentage of the kitchen staff. It would be nice to see more of us in the media as chefs. Whenever there is a cooking show, television series, or movie about chefs, there is a whitewashing of the kitchen, unless they are in the kitchen of an Asian restaurant, then the whole staff is Asian and does not speak English.

Am I asking too much? I don't think so. And while waiting for the media to catch up to our reality, I won't be holding my breath. And I am not the only one asking the question.... http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/black-chefs/

In this article, they mention not only that there is a rise in minority enrollment into culinary schools but that there is a lack of managing or executive minority chefs. So in outlets where a multitude of different people work together, few of them are in lead positions.

Are we Jim Crow kitchens? Are we continuing prejudices in our industry? Or am I expecting to much? Isn't it accurate to expect to see a shift in the kitchen management and media representation reflect the populous? We are graduating and training up fantastic chefs of all races and genders so how long, or when, will we see a superstar minority female chef? I am not saying that their isn't any to use as inspiration, Carla Hall comes to mind, but I ask who else?

Movable Merriment

Each year Chicago undergoes two distinct seasons, Winter's bitter days, and Summer's sultry nights. Each of them have their pro's and con's, issues and errors, but for a great many of us natives we look forward to the fairs, carnivals, concerts in the park, parades, festivals. Any chance we get to enjoy the wonderful scenery and feel warm air on your skin, Chicago takes the horse by the reigns and runs with it. We burst at the seems with music, mayhem, mysteries, rides, fireworks, and of course everyone who attends wants something in their bellies while the fun is being had.

Most customers either want the familiar or to be introduced to something new and exciting. Fairs are great for offering up some new treat like the fried Oreos, or a alligator on a stick. Other's can be street fairs highlighting the cuisine of the neighborhood. Greek fest, the Taste of Chicago, Fiesta Del Sol, or anytime people are in a celebratory mood, Chicagoan's do it up in style and eating is always a part of such merriment. Sights, sounds, and circuses are soon to be had once again in my beloved city.

The Mayor's Office of Special Events has the large task of permitting, scheduling, and overseeing all of the events in this large place. The weather will brake for good soon and our residents and tourist will once again turn thoughts to being outside as much as possible, shed off the layers of winter clothes, and run bare feet into sand and grass.
http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/festival_events_dates.html

Most don't give a second thought as to how all of these things work, take place, get permitted, ordered, and produced for their pleasure. The machinery involved just to get any type of food to these events is complicated and everyone involved must be extra careful in their efforts. Controlling food temperature in a remote location is not an easy tasks. Hot boxes and ice chests are needed if the location has limited electrical access but even if there is electrical you have to plan for refrigeration and lights, gas hook ups, and potable water.

Foodborne illnesses can multiply quickly, especially out doors on a hot Summer's Day. You also need to be careful of insects that can contaminate foods, then there is garbage removal, and hand washing. Lots of moving parts to make an event special. All food sales at these type of events are highly regulated and monitored. Food service handler licenses, food service business licences, and up to date health inspections must be earned in order to sell food on a food truck, carnival booth, or in a food cart.

There are so many things to account for before venturing out of doors to sell food. How much food should we be prepared to sell? What items should we sell? Do we need to be restocked once a day, three times a day, or all at once? What kind of staffing will this require and how many? Even if you are not selling food, such as at a church function or family reunion, these concerns are just the same.

Don't believe me? Just volunteer at your next opportunity to help cook at a BBQ at a park, and you will quickly see how complicated it can be just for your friends and family, let alone to be selling to the public. It's a good thing that there are people to handle all the logistics at a city celebration.

I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to going down to the lakefront again, walking outside without a coat or the 20 layers of clothes that Winter demands. Check out the list of upcoming events all over this city soon.

Michelin Star Rating System

Most people in the food business has at least heard of the Michelin star rating system, however, most probably don't know its purpose or history. From time to time, I will hear culinary students wish to make the attainment of owning a Michelin star rated restaurant one of their career goals, but often they don't fully understand what it is that they are setting their sites upon. To wit, I always ask them what it means and how they plan on achieving this goal.

I personally never set my sites on this benchmark. My career goals are smaller in scope but never too small to be significant. I have always thought of myself as a work in progress, I strive to achieve progress everyday, to be better tomorrow than today, while hoping to become a owner of a nice bakery. I love food exploration and education. I love to occasionally expand my talent and knowledge while keeping up to date on the industry and in touch with colleagues who have helped me along the way. I had to teach myself how to work with fondant as it was not a medium that was available while I was studying my craft. I took to television and online tutorials to figure out how the medium work and some tricks and tips.

Chicago is a very fabulous city to work in food as we mid-Westerners have always taken pride in our food scene. This city is among the most segregated cities in the world as most folks cluster up in neighborhoods by ethnicity, but at the same time we have such a wide list of diverse groups that you can find all sorts of food offerings to satisfy your cravings. Mexican, Puerto Rican, Chilean, Brazilian, Thai, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Chinese, Polish, Irish, Italian, Egyptian, Palestinian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Russian, Ethiopian, and I am sure I have not named them all. Chicago has its issues but we here often commune with each other plate by plate.

If you think you have heard the Michelin name before but it didn't have anything to do with food, you are right. Michelin stars rating system began with the Michelin tire company. The owners of the tire company wanted a way to encourage long road trips because the more worn out tires, the more sales the tire company could earn, makes sense. So they thought about what people would need in order to drive longer and longer distances. They concluded that a traveler would need to know two very important pieces of information, where they could sleep comfortably and where they could eat. So around 1900, they began issuing star ratings for restaurants to highlight excellent locations to visit.

In American history there have been 173 stars awarded, a small number over the last 116 years, and in that list of American stars, Chicago has only been awarded 22. Earning a Michelin Star can dramatically change the way the world looks upon your restaurant and its chefs. These ratings can literally push your efforts into the stratosphere and adds your name to the list of the most accomplished in your craft.

Is having this as a goal as a student a good idea? I will never ever discourage anyone from striving to be their absolute best, however, I do tell students to get a plan in place to make this dream a reality. 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.' Do your research, find out how the chefs before you have earned their stars, figure out where you should study to give you the best odds of earning one, find a great place to intern in order to get some hands on experience with a great chef, look into who invests in restaurants and may want to help you open your own doors after a long period of study, figure out new ways to reach the gourmet audience, understand your skills well, be honest with yourself about where you are is light of where the heavy hitters are, know your audience, seek answers about what your limitations are. Every chef must, not only figure out what others can teach them, also understand what tasks they do best and what work they should leave for other chefs to do as no one chef can do everything perfectly.

Just getting in to a culinary program and graduating can be hard to do for some students. I have seen some who were cocky going into a culinary training program and washed out before completion. I have also seen chefs graduate from a study course with enormous egos and confidence in their skills but got a wake up call at their first real job in the industry as others chefs ended up deflating that ego because they didn't know what they didn't know.

In the last few years, we have witnessed a enormous boon in the number of colleges that a chef can study. The popularization of food related television has made our jobs more attractive to the common watcher. And while thousands of kids, instead of a few hundred in years before, actively seek a place to start their food careers, not all programs of study are equal. Some interns that I have had the pleasure to work with don't all finish their education with the same amount of skill, ability, knowledge, and experience as all the others.  Hell, some do not possess the right personality traits to survive in a professional kitchen.

No matter if you want to swing your bat in the big leagues or if you want to be a small business owner, DO YOUR RESEARCH. These careers do not materialize over night nor are the dropped in your lap because you have a culinary education. The restaurant business is VERY competitive and the amount of time you need to put in at work to become the best chef you can be is HUGE. This industry seldom allows you to have a good work/life balance, especially in the beginning, and a chef never stops learning. Once a chef becomes proficient with producing the master sauces, they still don't have mastery of the yeast bread, for example. Customer demands change all the time and the food outlet that is the hottest ticket in town today can have a empty reservation book tomorrow because the food or diet fad has changed course.

Work hard, study hard, never stop learning, and dream big. BUT, do your research, write a plan, rewrite it often, make it plain, and plan, plan, plan. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. It is a fool that doesn't do their homework before jumping into the pool. Is it shallow or deep? Is it clean water or contaminated? Are there rocks at the bottom? Be deliberate and sure of what you are shaping before the sculpture collapses.

Here are some links that may help you investigate the Michelin star ratings: http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-michelin-guide-2014-10

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Michelin_starred_restaurants#United_States

Food Delivery Services

In our modernized age, everything from clothes to tech can all be had online, so is the way with groceries. Peapod, Instacart, Door to Door organics, Home Chef, Amazon, Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and many more all have the ability to get food to your door from your online requests.

Here in Chicago, the most commonly seen delivery truck in these parts is the big lime green trucks of Peapod. I have had them deliver to me for about 3 years now, on and off, and I have always had a good experience.

Peapod was established in 1989 in Evanston Illinois, making it the oldest company of its kind. Since then, their reach has expanded to other cities such as Boston, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The service is available by zip code and they have a very large pool of available items including their own product label of goods. They sell, in addition to food, flowers, alcohol, cleaning products and paper goods.

Customers can place orders online or via their app. Then their order is hand picked and packaged for delivery. Delivery options can be chosen by the customer by time and date, and as early as the next morning they can have things at their door to restock their kitchen. My favorite part of ordering from Peapod is that they had pick fresh produce that is perfectly fresh and high quality. Our family is in love with their seasonal fruit packs, these boxes of assorted fruit come carefully packed, and I have never had a bad apple in the bunch. There are two sizes of these items and my kids always get excited when it comes like it a wrapped box under the Christmas tree.

The big green delivery truck is refrigerated and the frozen items are kept with the aid of ice packs. You can set your customer options to include text messaging to notify you that you are the next delivery on the route. The very friendly delivery staff unloads and brings in your order to your kitchen or wherever it is needed. If there is ever a problem with an item, invoice, or delivery, the customer service department is top notch at handling the issue quickly.

While there have been other companies to enter this type of service arena, I have not used them. There are now services that I consider more like a chef services, where customers can order a meal set-up. These come to your door as a meal. The food and the recipe information are ordered so that the customer can create a gourmet meal at home. I like this concept as it teaches the customer new culinary skills, allow them to get all the items required, even the harder to locate items, perfect for a nice dinner at home without take-out pizza or the delivery fee and limitations.

If you have a chance, you may want to check out these options in your near future.

Whole Foods, good?

Here in Chicago, we have about 20 Whole Foods outlets. They have expanded their reach and audience rather rapidly over the last few years and are currently building a new one in the infamous Englewood neighborhood. So the question comes to mind, is this a good thing?

The Englewood neighborhood has been historically black and under-served for generations. The area is infamous for having some of the poorest residents of Chicago and a legacy of violence. These recent years, the city has been dedicated to improving the infrastructure in this area. There was a extremely dilapidated shopping district at the heart of the area which has been demolished and is being replaced. Abandoned properties have been knocked down after sitting idle for years and the available public housing has been revamped and repurposed. Kennedy King College, a long standing city college, has built a new campus in the neighborhood which was well over due.

Right near one of the busiest intersections of this area, Whole Foods is rapidly building a shopping center and their store is slatted to be the anchor. This outlet is across the street from the new college campus. Many residents are curious to find out if this will a profitable venture. I would agree that the area needs a grocery store of better quality than the other available offerings nearby, made up of mostly liquor stores with some groceries and a few low cost store chains. But is this the right move for the area?

Englewood is one of a few food deserts present in Chicago, and it has been that way for a while now. Residents have had to go outside of the neighborhood to buy groceries of quality for as least as I have been a resident, I am 45 and lived here all my life. The difficulty of living in a food dessert is two fold, the residents that can travel outside the neighborhood quickly, mostly by car, are spending their economic power in another neighborhood which keeps the other area vital and their area continues to degrade. Secondly, the residents that can't travel by car regularly to do their shopping are left with little option that to buy substandard food offerings which will degrade their health and leaves little economic improvement in their own area.

It is wonderful that there is an effort to make a course correction in this matter. However, Whole Foods has been among the priciest offerings available in this city, and the organic and other high priced food offerings are not familiar to the population of the area. I support the revamping efforts to bring that location back to being a vital and strong location. What no one knows yet, is if this will be successful. Many people are questioning if this is a signal that the city is not just improving the area that has been in such need or are we seeing the first signs of gentrification? Will the current residents embrace and be able to afford to support the store? Or is the store building there ahead of a change in the racial and economic shift in the residents? In Chicago, when a neighborhood makes changes like these, it usually means that the minority residents who have lived in that section for generations, will be pushed out and replaced with non-minority residents with much higher incomes.

The stroller crowd has been rapidly moving into a area of Chicago that is known as Boy's Town, it was a heaven of activity and housing for our LGBT people. With that shift in population, the area is being forced to close some long standing business and the lots of its residents can no longer afford the increasing property values since the area became popular and desirable.

Will the same shift happen in Englewood? Or will Whole Foods fail to improve the health and options of the residents? If the neighborhood is gentrified, where will poorest of the residents be push into next? If Whole Foods fails, will any other chain store be willing to build in the area and keep from having yet another closed store sit idle? I think, everyone wants the area to be improved, but how do you do this successfully??

Food Education and the Minority Chef

Everyone should learn to cook. I say this not because I am a chef, but because every life spent on this rock has the need to eat often and most of us will have a part of their lives in which they may not live with others.

Lots of food educations began in the kitchen with a parental unit. Stir the pot, roll the dough, bang the pots and pans, it all starts in a home kitchen. Many of us get to advance as we age, and some go on to cook for others. Culinary colleges have, in recent years, sprung up all over the place. Back in the Stone Age, when I went to culinary school, there were just a few American schools in which you could gain formal training in the arts. In fact, my alma matter, Lexington College, shuttered its doors.

Washburn Culinary College was a long standing institutional trade school of differing skills in the Chicago area. It has a rich history and the culinary college training program grew to be the best of its program offerings. In order to uphold that excellence, the culinary program is now apart of the City Colleges network residing in the Kennedy King College in Englewood neighborhood. It's original location was on the West side of Chicago and during the years after 1940, the West side changed its racial identity when Chicago's African American population began to take up residence in the area. Therefore, the student entering the trade school began to shift with the neighborhood residents.
http://forgottenchicago.com/articles/the-last-days-of-washburne/

During the years before the racial unrest of the civil rights movement, white flight, a trend of white people selling their homes once black faces became their neighbors, further changed the racial complexion of the area, and greater numbers of blacks began training at Washburn. Some of Chicago's best trained chefs were graduates of the Wasburn Culinary program. Since then a great number of colleges either added a culinary program or opened doors as only a culinary program.

It has been my experience that there is no shortage of minority representation in professional kitchens around Chicago, but the question is, how many of the top chefs, executive chefs, are from a minority background? We have always been in the fight for excellent food offerings in this city, and in many cities around the globe, Blacks and Hispanic workers are often more numerous than the non-minority workers. Hard working people with excellent food skills and dedication to the art are not limited to one group exclusively. But does the leadership of these fine outlets reflect the racial identity of the whole body of workers in the industry?

Add to this discussion, the lack of professional organizations such as fraternities, networking groups, and social societies for chefs, let alone minority culinarians. I am not saying that there aren't any but their aren't many, that's for sure. But why? Why is the default image of a chef the cartoon pizza chef with the chubby cheeks? I recently did a search online for clip art and logos of chefs, and very few were female and even fewer were minority females. I had to create my own version for my logo as none that I had found were in no way suitable.Why is it not uncommon to have a white male executive chef in charge of large numbers of chefs who do not look like them? Is the only female chef images limited to the Aunt Jemima pancake icon?

The recent boom in culinary schools opening, and now beginning to close, infused a large number of new graduates hungry for a position in a professional kitchen, and as those numbers of trained personnel grew, one must ask the question, where did all the black chefs go? Did the number of minority students increase with the advent of all the new outlets available to gain training? I am sure it did, even if just slightly. http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/black-chefs/

I live in one of the most segregated cities in the world, Chicago. We still have homogeneous neighborhoods all over this city. However, this city does have a wide wide range of differing ethic groups from around the globe. So, I ask, where is the great executive level chefs who's parents hail from India, Micronesia, South America, Mexico, and who are descended from our American Native groups or from the descendants of African slaves?

During the colonial years of this nation, a very large percentage of the meals cooked for the slave owners, and the Yankees too, were made by dark hands in servant quarters all over this nation. The traditional servitude positions were most often filled by dark or mixed members of society and this was one of the most readily available work for minorities after slavery, during the reconstruction, all throughout the civil rights movement, and many of us remain in these type of service oriented positions. I am not ashamed of what I do, but a large number of the upwardly mobile young professionals are quick to be dismissive once they ask you the $1,000,000 question "and what do you do for a living".

Here's the thing that most misunderstand about the civil rights movement and the feminist movement, in my opinion, the original goal of both of these movements was to expand the opportunities for women and minorities. The version of this in practice, done by a majority of people today, look down upon our profession as if we are just hired help with little dignity or professionalism. This is no different than a ERA movement member shaming her adult daughter's choice to have kids and a traditional marriage instead of becoming a CEO of a fortune 500 company. When attempting to gain equality, balance, just social order, stop thinking of us as less than for choosing a different path than yours. We chefs are highly skilled, and keep on gaining knowledge to keep up to the ever changing demands of our customers, diverse group of exacting professionals willing and able to make your events special and memorable.