CHAPTERS SUPPORTING CHAPTERS

By Howard Riell

The goal of ACF’s two-year-old work group-turned task force, Chapters Supporting Chapters (CSC), is to build membership and leadership by making chapters increasingly valuable to current and potential members across the nation.

It’s a worthy goal.

“During COVID, when everybody was wondering ‘What’s going on?’ I had a call with a chef out of Cleveland talking about the ACF and how we can still be doing stuff,” recalls ACF Chef Jason “Jay Z” Ziobrowski, CEC , board chair of the ACF Chefs of Charlotte chapter in North Carolina. “‘What do you think’s going on? What is going to happen? We chefs need to be out there for our families.’ We said, ‘Let’s get more people involved.’”

Forming CSC was “a collaborative hive mind,” explains ACF Chef Susanne Ebacher-Grier, CEPC , culinary arts educator at Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Indiana, and immediate past president of ACF’s 118-member Greater Indianapolis Chapter. “We were speaking about our struggles as chapter leaders and members, and it just organically happened. The big impact of what we started was really seen at the first national convention after COVID, where Chapters Supporting Chapters was able to present and mingle.” That convention took place in Orlando in July 2021.

During the pandemic, Chef Ebacher-Grier recounts, help consisted of “connecting on ideas and concepts to support our chapters during a time of no contact.” Indianapolis quickly pivoted to doing Zoom meetings, and other chapters followed suit. “We utilized other ACF chefs and beyond to keep programming going for membership, often collaborating with other chapters.”

Some chapters have gone “practically defunct due to a variety of issues,” says Chef Ebacher-Grier. “CSC has given new ideas and concepts that have given new blood to some chapters.”

ACF Chef Autumn Patti , president of the 181-member ACF Harrisburg Chapter, and program director and associate professior for the Culinary Arts and Baking and Pastry Arts programs at Harrisburg Area Community College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, says she was onboard when CSC was first pitched. “There was going to be a collaboration of chefs through our leadership team. It really started with the chapter presidents. I was not planning on going to the convention that year, but when I heard about it I thought, ‘This is what we need,’ so I changed my family vacation plans so I could go to Florida.”

Chef Patti’s experience with chefs supporting chefs also came about during the pandemic, when she and so many other culinary educators had to figure out how to instruct students outside of the classroom. “We had to quickly come up with ways to teach our students when they weren’t in the classroom so I spent hours upon hours searching YouTube videos on cooking demonstrations that I thought were appropriate (no swearing) and professional,” says Chef Patti, who first collected videos from other schools and organizations like the National Restaurant Association. When other ACF members caught on to what she was doing, they started sending her links to videos they had found or made themselves. Chef Patti collected those links into an educational resource library (acfharrisburg.com/ online-learning-resources) on the Harrison chapter website, where they still live today.

How CSC Came Together

CSC began with Chef Ziobrowski and ACF Chef John Selick, CEC, CCA, AAC , having conversations about establishing a grassroots movement to support fellow chefs and members. That led to many other ACF leaders jumping on board.

“It began with phone calls, then Zoom meetings,” Chef Ziobrowski says. “Then we started getting ACF National involved. We started talking to them about, ‘Hey, you’re going to hold an event in 2021 — this is great. We want to have a room that we can bring people together in.’ The next thing you know, at the conference in Orlando we held a small reception of all the chapter leaders that are out there, coming together, and started talking.”

The chefs shared stories and ideas, Chef Ziobrowski says. “We actually held a class that was straight to the point: what it’s about. How to run a good meeting. How to get sponsorships. How to make a flyer that helps you in attracting the people to your meetings. Maybe change the word meeting to meet-up, so now you are meeting up with your members, not having another meeting. Who the hell wants to go to another meeting after being in all these Zoom meetings during COVID? We tried to change terminology, and to give chefs out there in the chapters advice on how to spice it up, change it up and share their thoughts.”

The gathering went well — so well that at the following year’s conference in Las Vegas, CSC was provided with additional time for meetups in order to keep the networking going. “Smithfield Culinary sponsored a dinner for all of the chapter leaders to get together,” Chef Ziobrowski says. The event was a success. “We had an amazing (event). We thanked everybody for all their hard work in bringing the chapters together and sharing their ideas. It was amazing.”

New Concepts and Ideas

“I attended the first meeting and was amazed at the ideas and collaboration among chapter presidents from all over the country that occurred,” says ACF Chef John Casto, CEC, AAC , executive chef for the Good Eating Company, a Sodexo-branded concept, and the president of ACF’s 111-member Pikes Peak Chapter in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The food industry was the hardest hit by the pandemic, and ACF’s national office recognized this and offered all the support and resources at its disposal, Chef Casto points out. “They offered members grace periods if membership or certification lapsed, and a monthly payment schedule if you could not afford to pay. This was unprecedented.”

Additionally, ACF offered free mental health counseling and connections to networking groups like CHOW (Culinary Hospitality Outreach and Wellness), Chapters Supporting Chapters and more. The group has proven “a tremendous resource to chapter presidents all over the country,” Chef Casto says.

Collabs and Partnerships

Chef Casto says that thanks to CSC he has made lifelong friends and connected with many great chefs around the country. “We share ideas and resources, and gain inspiration and mentorship.” This has led to chapters becoming more engaged with individual members as well as ACF’s national office, and is in part responsible for the current growth taking place. Chef Casto’s chapter recently held its most successful fundraiser, donating $3,000 to CHOW and $2,000 to Ronald McDonald House in Colorado Springs.

Chef Ziobrowski says he has had chapter presidents tell him “they can’t get anybody to sponsor their chapter, and they don’t think ACF is worth it.” The proper response, he has found, is to talk to them about programs that can be created in a collaborative nature.

“In Charlotte we work with Piedmont Natural Gas,” says Chef Ziobrowski, noting that the sponsor simply wanted more education about cooking with natural gas, which the chapter incorporated in some of its meetups.

While CSC was formed to help chapters thrive rather than to teach kitchen techniques, Chef Ziobrowski says that some chapters may need just that. “Maybe you need to mentor chefs in the kitchen, or talk about alcohol and drugs. Maybe it’s about wellness. It could be so many different things. You just give ideas and try to open up heads.”

Local Support

ACF Chef Derek Ivancic, CEC , regional executive chef for Jack Entertainment in Cleveland and president of the 200-member ACF Cleveland Chapter, says he would like to see more effort specifically oriented around helping smaller or growing chapters to execute certain initiatives or programs.

“To me, the most important thing (CSC) can do is share useful information with chapters that maybe don’t know where to go, or how to get things started,” says Chef Ivancic. “There are so many resources, but it can be daunting without guidance and mentorship on how to get things going. The strength in certain chapters is the diversity of training that they offer, and a new or smaller chapter may not know where to begin to offer different programs in their area.”

For example, Chef Ivancic says, “If it’s a chapter that wants to do a competition but has never done one before, that’s where Chapters Supporting Chapters should be able to help, to outline how to do a competition. Also, how to get a certification exam

CSC Task Force

Autumn Patti (Chair)

Gabriel Rosado, CEC (Central Committee Member)

Derek J. Ivancic, CEC (Northeast Committee Member)

David J. Durante, CEC, CCA (Southeast Task Force Member)

Chris Tanner, CEC, CCE, AAC (staff liaison)

The CSC Task Force is currently looking for a Western Committee Member started. All these things that chapters don’t know how to begin, other chapters that have been successful can show them how to go about it.

“Our goal is never to simply increase membership,” he continues. “We don’t necessarily go out and do membership drives. Our goal is to make the chapter stronger, more engaged and more valuable to its membership. Because of what we do, people want to be a part of it. Where CSC can help is, ‘How do you do these different functions? How do you start a competition? How do you get sponsorships?’”

Modeling the strategies and tactics of successful ACF chapters around the country must never be confused with simply adopting a cookie-cutter approach — a fact that Chapters Supporting Chapters goes out of its way to emphasize.

“We’re not all cookie-cutter, we’re all different,” insists Chef Ziobrowski. “I think that’s a great way to talk about grassroots. You can’t do it the same way that Tampa does it. You can’t do it the same way that Atlanta’s chapter does it. We have to do it our own way, take ideas from what Tampa and Atlanta are doing, and now make it our way. That’s what we’re teaching.”

The goal is “getting best practices from other chapters, collaborating with each other,” according to ACF Chef Barry R. Young, MBA, CEC, CCE, AAC , culinary arts coordinator and associate professor in the School of Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio.

When a chapter is struggling, teaming up with a nearby chapter to see what that chapter is doing is wise. “We’ve got chapters all over the Northeast like Boston, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, that are doing group meetings,” Chef Young says. “And they are bringing vendors in, and getting people involved that way.”

CSC’s Future

Where does Chapters Supporting Chapters go from here? ACF President René J. Marquis, CEC, CCE, CCA, AAC , “sat in on our meetup in New Orleans,” Chef Ziobrowski says, “and he said he was extremely impressed. He sees the value of these gatherings, and he’s like, ‘I want this to be bigger and better.’”

Chef Patti notes that Chef Marquis was one of the presenters at that first CSC meeting in Orlando, during which he talked about how to put on various fundraising events. He’s since made a push to host CSC meetings during more “prime time” hours during the day rather than just during evenings at convention. At this past convention, there were two CSC meet-ups where Chef Patti estimates about 60 to 75 members attended. Given the popularity, at press time, CSC had just been formalized into an ACF Task Force (see CSC Task Force sidebar).

Chef Young also sees more emphasis being placed on CSC in the years ahead. “I think that with the board and the support of the officers, there is going to be a groundswell from the bottom and the top coming together,” he says. “I think it had been put on the backburner in some ways, but now the chapters and the leaders of each region are getting with their VPs and actually bringing events together so that we talk to each other. We can’t be siloed in Boston or Columbus or New Jersey or Seattle. If we are going to grow, we’ve got to step out of our little pockets.”

This year, Chef Ziobrowski and his colleagues focused not just on reaching out but on working to mentor a new generation of leaders. “That way it’s not just a few of us, it’s multiple people,” he says. “We are grooming the next generation of chapter leaders to take over the class and share their thoughts and feelings.” Chef Ziobrowski says the group uses a group chat on Facebook to share those thoughts, feelings and ideas — all have been focused on the positive.

“I love that this is 100% organic and created by the membership, for the membership,” Chef Ebacher-Grier says. “We want to cultivate it to also set an example of a succession plan, and not have the same people in charge over and over again. When recognizing agents of change you foster that ability, and pass the torch on to them.”

CSC Resources

To register or find a registered ACF chapter, visit acfchefs.org/ACFSource/Membership/Chapters

For a list of ACF partner organizations willing to collaborate on events, visit acfchefs.org/ partnerships

For a list of health and wellness resources, visit acfchefs.org/ACF/Resources/Wellness

For a list of ACF educator-approved online videos created by various industry organizations and ACF chefs around the country and compiled by ACF Chef Autumn Patti, visit https://acfharrisburg.com/ online-learning-resources

Says Chef Patti, “As chair of the new [CSC Task Force], I am honored and excited for the opportunity to keep what began as a grassroots movement going. My term is through 2025, and I remain committed to working with other ACF Chefs around the country to make an impact and keep our movement going.”