HOWARD HUGHES CORP AND JEAN-GEORGES TEAM TO REIMAGINE HISTORIC FISH MARKET AS CULINARY MECCA NEW OPENINGS
The deal marked the largest stake taken in a realgrouprestaurantbyasingleestatecompany.
NEWS
T he highly anticipated col laboration of The Howard Hughes Corporation with their real estate market acumen and the legendary culinary fare of chef Jean-Georges Vongeri chten have come together in New York City. Hughes is the owner of the Tin Building, paying for its develop ment and construction and leasing it back to Vongerichten. The Seaport’s historic Tin Build ing has been transformed into a sprawling culinary marketplace complete with grocery markets, 6 full service new restaurants, 6 quick service counters, 4 bars, retail and private dining offerings unlike any thing New York City has seen before. Every inch of the 53,000-squarefoot market has been thoughtfully reimagined by Roman and Williams Buildings and Interiors and careful ly curated by Jean-Georges to create an immersive and expansive culi naryAfterexperience.asoftopening with limited hours last month, the Tin Building features two levels of one-of-a-kind offerings including Central Market, the heart of the building, offering an array of locally sourced seafood, meats, cheeses, fresh produce and specialty items, as well as multiple restaurants, bars and retail shops. The opening comes on the heels of Hughes paying $45 million for the minority stake in the Jean George business, and another $10 million for an option to buy an additional 20 percent of the company down the road. The deal marked the larg est stake taken in a restaurant group by a single real estate company. The management team of JGR will retain control of day-to-day operations of the company. Hughes plans on pro viding capital to keep growing the restaurant group around the globe. The Tin Building project required the approval six years ago by The Landmarks Preservation Commis sion for the conversion of one of the former homes of the Fulton Fish Market. Hughes sold off $2 bil lion worth of “non-core” assets two years ago, but has seemingly put all of its chips towards the success of its developments in the Seaport. Last year, Hughes scored final ap proval for a mixed-use project at 250 Water Street after years of bat tling neighborhood activists. The 26-story project will include 270 rental units above a five-story base with office, retail and community space. The $850 million project will include 70 affordable housing units. continued on page 96
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SPECIAL EVENTS
Periodicals Postage paid at the post office, Greenwich, CT and additional mailing offices. Additional entry at the post office in Pittsburgh, PA. Subscription rate in USA is $36 per year; single copy, $3.00. Postmaster: Send address changes to Total Food Service, P.O. Box 2507, Greenwich, CT 06836
A premier industry event, AJC’s Food Service & Hospitality Division Dinner draws nearly 400 industry professionals every year for an evening of celebration, camaraderie, and tribute. For many, it’s been a must-attend event for decades. This year’s November 15 tribute, at the New York Botanical Garden, will carry forward a tradi tion of publicly applauding highly respected industry leaders.
Dana Thompson photo by Nancy Bundt
AJC’s 2022 honorees are Fred Ras mussen, Market Vice President Bun zl R3 Metro, North and South; An drew Rigie, Executive Director, The New York City Hospitality Alliance; and Morgan Tucker, Vice President of Marketing, Singer Equipment. You can register for the tribute here: https://bit.ly/3RArVF0
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Editorial Interns Karen Jones Claudia Giunta Brian O’Regan WyattZacharySemenukKitayJacksonHart Phone: 203.661.9090 Email: tfs@totalfood.com Web: www.totalfood.com
— Morgan Tucker
Total Food Service ISSN No. 1060-8966 is published monthly by IDA Publishing, Inc., 282 Railroad Ave., Greenwich, CT 06830. Phone: 203.661.9090. This issue copyright 2022 by IDA Publishing Inc. Contents in full or part may not be reproduced without permission. Not responsible for advertisers claims or statements.
Rick Maier, Senior VP, Bunzl East ern Division, will present the AJC In novative Leadership Award to Fred. Carolyn D. Richmond, Chair, Hospi tality Group, Fox Rothschild LLP, will present the AJC Industry Champion Award to Andrew. And Fred Singer, President and CEO of Singer Equip ment, will present the AJC Legacy Award to AnthonyMorgan.Meyer, Associate Chair, AJC Board of Trustees and imme diate past Chair of AJC’s Board of Governors, will deliver a special address. He’ll speak about the in dustry’s 60-plus years of generous partnership with AJC. He’ll also offer an overview AJC’s nonstop outreach efforts. Among the world’s leading global advocacy organizations, with 22 U.S. offices and 13 overseas, AJC combats antisemitism and hate in all its forms and defends democratic values for all. Among other roles in business and philanthropy, Meyer serves as President of Ocean Road Advisors, a privately held investment manage ment company. “The food service and hospitality industry has been continued on page 102
AJC SET TO HONOR INDUSTRY
NEWS
SCOOP News Editor and Senior Contributing Writer Joyce Appelman Contributing Writers Cherry FrancineDumaualCohen
Fred Rasmussen Andrew Rigie Morgan Tucker continued on page 102 Main Office 282 Railroad Ave. Greenwich, CT 06830 Publishers Leslie & Fred Klashman Vice President of Sales and Marketing Michael Scinto Art & Web Director Mark Sahm
Subscribe to the TFS YouTube channel Follow @TotalFoodService “Our industry is rooted in generosity, but how the AJC tribute uniquely brings together colleagues and competitors alike is what makes this event so memorable.”
STARS RASMUSSEN, RIGIE AND TUCKER AT 61ST ANNUAL GALA
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Y was living in S.t John in the US Virgin Islands, working as the Executive Chef for a beach front restaurant on one of the most beau tiful and well-preserved islands in the Caribbean. I know - sounds like a dream job, right? Well, let’s just say it’s not as glorious as it seems - there are definitely perks - like gorgeous weather 95% of the time, immacu late beaches, and a laid back vibe that is a little too easy to settle into - but that’s a whole other story.
Period.Undoubtedly, Facebook and Instagram have played a pivotal role in building brand awareness and creating an impactful relationship with your customers in the pastbut the “game” has changed, and it’s time your social me dia plan does too. This article will explore why your restaurant needs to be on the platform, the unri valed opportunity, and some unique content ideas to pro mote your brand. Let’s dive in! The Basics TikTok is the fastest-grow ing social media channel on the planet, with more than 1 Billion monthly active us ers. During the pandemic, TikTokers and restaurants found each other, fell in love, and the content has taken the world by storm. Food and cooking-related videos consistently rank amongst the top 10 content categories on the platform. Some creators have even launched new careers and concepts - making Tik Tok perfect for restaurants, bars, ca terers, food trucks, and coffee shops to attract their core audience and generate new business. And let’s be clear - TikTok isn’t just for kids.
TikTok allows its users multiple ways to engage in your content. When you’re just starting, use those features to connect with accounts similar to yours and watch your au dience grow. The best part is - that you don’t even have to have a large following to get a ton of engage ment.
Attract New Customers
YES, YOUR RESTAURANT NEEDS TO BE ON TIKTOK
The most recent data shows that the platform continues to age up, with the fastest growing segment being users ages 40 and up. Short-form videos (15-60secs), with customizable filters and ef fects, paired with trending sounds or music - allow you to get creative. Plus, unlike other platforms, Tik Tok’s algorithm still has a significant organic reach, meaning a wider au dience will see your video without spending any money. However, and maybe most importantly, under stand that this is not Ins tagram. This means that videos of even your most enticing food won’t get as much traction as on Insta gram. The platform and its users like to see a person ality (or two) consistently. They want to connect to other users, and your res taurant is the ideal back drop. And please, don’t stress it - the more genu ine and authentic you are, the better. TikTok is also known for being forgiving, allowing your multiple “atbats” while perfecting your content. The Why So, let’s take a deeper look into the benefits you can get by leveraging this platform and how TikTok will help your restaurant gain exposure and help you create a community of “raving fans.”
A 12-year restaurant veteran, Kyle Inserra is the Director of National Advisory at Zelnik & Co., specializing in the strategic growth and nurturing of emerg ing restaurant brands nationally. His insider perspective of being a restaurant operator day in and day out allows him to relate to his clients’ ever-changing needs. His expertise includes everything from site selection, lease negotiation, demographic and psychographic analysis, competitor analysis, and zoning regulations. Kyle is also the host of The National Restaurant Owners Podcast, a show focused on bringing value to restaurant owners across the country by sharing his insight and experience with a wide variety of guests. Con tact him at kinserra@zelnikco.com continued on page 98
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You need to be on TikTok if you’re a restaurant owner.
First and foremost, TikTok helps you attract thousands of potential customers in minutes. The simple 15-second video created, in a way that highlights your staff, and tells a story, can not only keep your exist ing customers entertained and en gaged but help to attract new ones. Another benefit of the platform is that the content is geolocated, al lowing users in your market to see your content more frequently. More people engaged with your video content leads to more conversions in the form of in-house dining or online orders. If fact, one of the first things you should do, is put your di rect ordering link or link to your res ervations page directly in your bio. High Engagement
RESTAURANT BRANDING + STRATEGY
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When the Glass Makes All the Difference
CRAFT
While most drinks can be poured into just three types of glasses, many bars stock up to ten varieties of cocktail glassware. Each glass can help to create a memorable drink ingBarsexperience.andrestaurants with up scale cocktail menus use appropri ate glassware to elevate the look of their drinks. For spirits, whiskey, or Scotch, a rocks glass is the obvious choice. The tall and narrow Collins or highball glass is ideal for drinks requiring a lot of ice and non-alco holic mixers. Ultimately, the cock tail glass improves the presentation, taste, and guest enjoyment. The V-shaped martini glass has been unseated as number one by the coupe glass that tends not to slosh the drink as the martini glass does. In addition, the coupe sports a stem that prevents heat from pre maturely warming the drink. Mar garitas, along with their salted rims, are perfect in two-tiered coupe glasses. Visually, both glass types boast eye-catching displays that en tice the curious patron. With the lineup of glasses cov ered, it’s time for specialty ice to shine. Cold and Cool Factor in One Drink presentation has never been more important. With special ty cocktail prices on the high end and increasing, competition has in tensified for the trendy cocktail dol lar. Bartenders, owners, and man agers everywhere are pulling out their secret weapons to stand out. The third must-have for memo rable cocktails is specialty ice. Ice can add a twist of elegance and distinction to even the most tradi tional drink. Specialty ice comes in many sizes and shapes, from sphere to nugget, and makes a meaningful difference in both drink presenta tion and Specialtyenjoyment.iceisnot simply for aes thetics. Ice plays a considerable role in making or breaking the perfect cocktail, as the shape and size of ice impacts factors like chewabil ity and how fast it melts and waters down the cocktail. A high-end bar stocked with top-shelf liquor may fall flat if it serves decadent drinks over everyday ice. Keep reading to avoid that fate.
MIXOLOGY STRATEGIESNEWS
Article contributed by John
Square Cube: Classic Rocks
COO, Easy Ice THREE KEYS TO
rendy drinks with clever names earn high price tags that delight bar and res taurant owners. But their success factor is about more than a unique recipe or a punny name. Ev ery detail counts when it comes to craft cocktails – even the ice. Don’t be the bar that serves deli cious cocktails but fails in the dis play or drinking experience. In stead, serve discerning patrons a libation they’ll remember. An estab lishment’s cocktail reputation relies on three must-haves: proven drink recipes, appropriate glassware, and specialty ice. After hiring a skilled mixologist to create custom drinks that please the palate, serious bar managers or owners turn their eye to the other two. Here’s how to make the most of glassware and ice choices.
T
The square cube is perfect for premium straight pours and signa ture cocktails. This slow-melting ice keeps beverages cold and ro bust while maintaining the classic look of a drink on the rocks. Square cubes are a must-have for any booming bar. continued on page 99 Mahlmeister, QUALITY COCKTAILS
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The search for creative menu additions has become essen tial as restaurateurs and food service operators search for that spark for their menus. A number of local chefs have looked into the proverbial crystal ball and found that Indian street food and the increas ingly popular Indian Pizza are at the top of the list of significant menu trends according to research released byTheDatassential.ThreeSisters, an all-woman led company based in the United Kingdom, has made adding those key spices to restaurant and foodservice menus simple. The company’s spice box and spice blends range make cre ating on-trend menu items a breeze by offering essential spices used in Indian cookery, housed in traditional, easy-to-useSpokespersontins. and creator of the joint sisters’ company, Sereena Walk er, said their custom spice tin – Ma sala Dabba, comes with a specific 13 spices that takes the guesswork out of menu planning, making it easier to re produce authentic Indian flavors, and these are flying off the shelves like hot cakes. “The masala is the spice,” Walk er explained. “The dabba is the box it comes in. This is a staple item in many Indian homes. One is usually gifted or handed down through generations. I myself was given one once I was mar ried. This makes it more of a symbol, than a simple cooking aid. A symbol of togetherness, family cooking, and community. It is these values we hope to share with people through our com pany and crafted products.”
The Three Sisters’ Masala Dabba includes several spices that are most often used in Indian cuisine – Chili powder, turmeric, cumin, bay leaf, mustard seed, and ginger. The spice tins are also uniquely designed to al low for ease of selection even for those with limited knowledge around the kitchen. “We decided to label each in dividual canister with lasers,” Walker continued. “This way people can learn as they go. We also created a cookery book that complimented the spice tins, with over 100 family recipes, us ing just the spices provided in your set. This served as a guide for the profes sional, and new chef alike. We’re just giving you the tools to make cooking and experimenting with spice easier.” According to Walker, to arrive at the requisite 13 spices, “we went through hundreds and hundreds of recipes, and the key combinations were always around these 13 spices.” Of course, the arrangement of spices housed in masala dabbas for everyday cooking differs across South Asia. As Sereena says, “We felt our combination of spic es displays the true hybridity of mod ern Indian cookery, embracing the variety of regional spices, and styles of Originallycooking.” from the Kashmir region of the Himalayas in India, Walker said her family migrated to the UK in the 1970s. “We moved to the UK when I was quite young and in the UK at the time Indian food was rarely around. My Mom and Dad had to go miles looking for various vegetables and spices,” she explained. But their cre ation of the Masala Dabba makes it easier for people anywhere around the globe to access these spices. “I had the idea that I should try and market our product in the USA. I did the market research and found that there were pockets of America that adore Indian continued on page 110 THREE SISTERS PROVES THAT “13” IS A LUCKY NUMBER FOR THE CULINARY PROFESSIONAL
“Our combination of spices displays the true hybridity of modern Indian cookery, embracing the variety of regional spices, and styles of cooking.”
— Sereena Walker, Company Founder
INTERNATIONAL MENU STRATEGIESNEWS By Karen Jones
THE
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Laura Craven is the Vice President, Marketing & Com munications at Imperial Dade. Laura oversees marketing and corporate communications for Imperial Dade, a national distribution company head quartered in Jersey City, NJ. Her responsibilities include marketing communications, brand and reputation manage ment, internal and external communications, experiential marketing events, and me dia relations. Laura has been with the company for over 18 years and has contributed to the organization’s growth and brand awareness. A LEED AP, Laura consults on sustainabil ity initiatives and as a GBAC Trained Technician she assists customers develop cleaning programs. It has become clear over the years that the best ideas come from thanveterans,industryratherprofessionalspeakers.
While we have embraced technol ogy, there’s simply nothing like the opportunity to be face-to-face once again as an industry and a commu nity. Those interactions that simply cannot be duplicated via Zoom. With that said, I am particularly ex cited about our upcoming Imperial Date Innovations Expo at the Mead owlands Exposition Center in Secau cus on Wednesday, September 21st. Building the agenda for our shows, we identify our customers’ current pain points and choose guest speak ers who can address those issues. It has become clear over the years that the best ideas come from industry veterans, rather than professional speakers. Among the highlights of this show will be our Imperial Dade Women’s Leadership Panel, which was the most popular breakout session in 2019. I’ve been involved in industry organizations that focus on the ad vancement of women’s professional growth in cluding the ISSA Hygieia Network, the Women’s Foodservice Forum, and Women in Network. I’ve experienced the positive impact of their programming which was the inspiration for our Women’s Leadership Panel. This year’s theme for the panel is Leading Through Change. We’ve as sembled a diverse group of women representing manufacturers, service providers, non-profit organizations, and distributors. Each panelist is an expert in her field and commit ted to DE&I in the industries within which they work. Our Marketing Operations Manager Lauren Belskie is managing our educational ses sions this year. She has developed a thought-provoking list of questions for our panelists that address many of the issues that leaders face today. It is sure to be a lively discussion with different perspectives and plenty of ideas for the audience to take away. Our panelists include Kim Price of Georgia Pacific. Since joining GP Pro in 2015, she has risen through the ranks in various roles in pricing, field continued on page 106
A long, hot sum mer is coming to an end. I hope every one enjoyed the season as many traditional activities finally resumed. With fall fast approaching, kids are back in school and foot ball season has officially started.One of the highlights from a business perspec tive has been the return of the trade show. From na tional shows like ISSA and the NRA to our regional Imperial Dade In novations Expos, it’s simply great to be back. In Atlanta last year and Fort Lauderdale earlier this spring, we had the pleasure of welcoming our customers and our supplier partners for the first time in over two years.
WITH LAURA CRAVENREOPENING STRATEGIES
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IT’S GREAT TO BE BACK ON THE SHOW FLOOR
The Imperial Dade Women’s Leadership Panel includes (L-R): Kim Price, Dr. Felicia Townsend, Valerie Burd, Nicole Goulet, and Sonali Pillay
Snap the QR above for more information about registering for the Innovations Expo
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 13 waringcommercialproducts.com @waringcommercial
Robert Fiorito serves as Vice President with HUB Internation al Northeast, a leading global insur ance brokerage, where he special izes in providing insurance services to the restaurant industry. As a 25+ year veteran and former restaura teur himself, Robert has worked with a wide array of restaurant and food service businesses, ranging from fast-food chains to upscale, “white tablecloth” dining establishments. Robert can be reached at 212-3382324 or by email at hubinternational.com.robert.fiorito@
The following are 5 ways to reduce risk in a volatile insurance marketplace: As the global economy grapples with a potential recession, organiza tions need to prepare for potential premium hikes and take steps to make their businesses a more attrac tive risk. Organizations should: 1. Improve their properties’ risk profile. With shrinking capacity in many property insurance markets around the country, hospitality businesses need to stand out as “best in class” risks. Incorporate mitigation tools, such as installing water leakage alarms, improving security monitor ing and scheduling regular main tenance of higher-risk equipment, such as HVAC systems and fire sprinkler systems.
A s restaurants and all busi nesses in the hospitality industry continue their journey to recovery from the ongoing and lasting effects of the pandemic, a focus on organizational resilience has never been more im portant. The continuing effects of COVID-19 have dominated over the last several years and these challeng es have also had a major impact on insurance. Add catastrophic losses from hurricanes, hailstorms, and wildfires to the mix and you’ve got a pile of costly claims. In addition, surging inflation, sup ply chain delays and the rising cost of goods have increased the cost of doing business nationwide. Replace ment costs for buildings and vehi cles have jumped 27% since the end of 2021, labor costs have risen more than 5% and extended supply chain delays have increased logistic costs for business by more than 20%.1
STRATEGIES TO REDUCE INFLATION’S IMPACT ON INSURANCE PRICING FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY BUSINESS
FIORITO
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continued on page 104
These challenges, coupled with ram pant inflation,2 have insurers raising premiums and reducing limits to cope with the rising cost of claims. The current state of the insurance market requires businesses to have present themselves in the best pos sible light to enable their brokers to present the best-case scenario to insurers. This means that in partner ship with your insurance advisor, demonstrate to the marketplace why they should want your business (i.e., a good loss history and corrective measures taken to prevent similar losses from reoccurring, proactive risk management/transfer prac tices, proper safety protocols, and property upgrades.)
2. Prioritize exposures. In these economic conditions, or ganizations will likely need to take on more risk. Reassess and evaluate deductibles, limits, and insurance program structures to identify areas ON INSURANCE
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 15 Soft and delicate, with a slightly sweet, milky flavor, BelGioioso Burrata is made with hand-crafted Fresh Mozzarella filled with Stracciatella, a mix of soft mozzarella shreds and cream. Enhance your menu by creating a deluxe Caprese salad with spooned sections of Burrata beside ripe tomatoes and fresh basil, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Or enrich your pizza or pasta by topping with a garnish of this fresh, creamy cheese just before serving. BURRATA belgioioso.com/Foodservice For more info and samples, please contact:Available877-863-2123foodservice@belgioioso.comin2oz.,4oz.and8 oz. Burrata balls, 4 oz. balls with Black Truffles, and 8 oz. and 1 lb. Stracciatella.
“At the same time, students are returning to campuses to enjoy the “on-campus” experience. They are looking at moving away from classes offered remotely by Zoom and other services. They want to be in the community again and connect with fellow students and professors to form lifetime memories around the campus experience.
Kerry Paterson
Q&A WITH KERRY PATERSON PRESIDENT, NACUFS; DIRECTOR OF CAMPUS DINING AND CATERING, UNIVERSITY HOUSING & DINING SERVICES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY, CORVALLIS, OR
What lead to the opportunity at Oregon State?
When did you get involved with NACUFS?
I first became involved with NACUFS via the Culinary Challenge. I competed in the regional challenge held at the University of Northern Colo rado in 2002. From there, I have held various volunteer positions over the years up to and including my current role within the organization.
NEWSMAKER
How has NACUFS helped you grow?
NACUFS has allowed me to de velop a network of peers to utilize for support and as a knowledge bank. It has educated me on a num ber of various topics over the years, including food trends, culinary and leadership skills, and construction and renovation trends. It has given me access to a large base of ven dors for knowledge on the latest
A mong the more innova tive segments of food service is college and university dining. That has never been more true as higher education dining managers were forced to quickly pivot over the past two years as large student popula tions had to be fed. For some it was how to feed students in quarantine, while others handled the quick re turn of students to campus life. With that in mind, Total Food Ser vice wanted to get a read on what’s next from NACUFS (National As sociation of College and University Food Service). At the association’s recent annual convention in Spo kane, WA, we were able to visit with the newly elected NACUFS presi dent, Kerry Paterson. The veteran University Housing & Dining Services executive came to Oregon State University in 2013. Paterson has more than 25 years of culinary experience and started his career in New Zealand where he trained in culinary arts. He came to Oregon State after 13 years of expe rience and leadership as an execu tive chef and an assistant director of dining services at University of Colorado’s Boulder campus. While at OSU, he has brought innovation to the Corvallis, OR campus that in cludes the use of food delivery robots in full service dining. With that in mind, TFS visited with Paterson to get his per spective on “what’s next” in campus dining. Can you talk about your background?
After working for a number of years at UC-Boulder as an associ ate director, I realized my next move may be at another university. When the position of director of campus dining and cater ing at Oregon State opened up, I decided this would be a good move for me. So, I put my name forward. I knew a bit about OSU’s food service operation and its high stan dards. The campus visits dur ing the interview process con firmed this; it was a good move for me.
Dining plays a major role in that.”
I was born and raised in New Zealand. Studied culinary in New Zealand. Worked as a chef in various locations world wide, including a Michelin Star restaurant in England. Been in the USA for just under 30 years and have been in Col lege & University foodservice for the past 21 years. 12 years at the University of Colorado – Boulder as the Associate Di rector Dining: Culinary/Ex ecutive Chef. Came to Oregon State late 2013 to take on the role of Di rector of Campus Dining & Catering
continued on page 90
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1. Stop the bleed ing. Make a sales tax plan today. While you will need to address the back sales tax owed, put a plan in place for cur rent sales tax today. If you don’t ensure that current sales tax is being accounted for and paid, you may be creating an end less cycle of late or missed payments. Sales tax salestomatesPOSintegratesautomationwithyoursystemandautheentiretaxprocess.Perhaps most im portantly, apps like DAVO Sales Tax set aside the funds collected from sales tax each day and then use those funds to file and pay sales tax when it’s due – automatically.
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WITH
2. File all past due returns to de termine what you owe. Once you have a plan in place to manage current sales tax liabilities, determine how much you owe in back sales tax. File back sales tax re turns – even if you cannot pay right now. While it may be painful to take this step, filing the returns shows a good faith effort with the State rev enue department.
t’s no secret restaurant owners are busy people. From back of fice tasks to managing employ ees to ordering food, the list goes on and on. Calculating, col lecting and paying sales tax doesn’t always make it to the top of the todo list. Yet, the penalties and risks associated with not paying sales tax areFallingsteep. behind on sales tax hap pens to more businesses than you might think. Cash management can be challenging for restaurant owners and many may not have the funds set aside to pay sales tax when it’s due. In fact, our records show that about 60% of merchants were behind when they started us ing DAVO Sales Tax to automate their sales tax. You are not alone, and there are steps you can take to get back on track and out of debt to the State. 4 tips to get back on track with sales tax payments
3. Use your sales tax plan as le verage in negotiations. It’s important to show a good faith effort that you’re trying to pay back taxes. Showing that you have a sales tax plan in place, whether it is DAVO or your own manual sales tax man agement, can be beneficial in ne gotiations with the State. We have heard from some sources that tax officials like to see that a merchant is using DAVO because automation ensures that sales tax will be paid accurately and on time. With a plan and good faith effort to pay, you can put yourself in a better position to work on a mutually beneficial ar rangement with the State.
SALES TAX SOLUTIONS 96 David Joseph,DAVOco-founder,byAvalara
By
4. Determine a repayment plan. Even if you pay just a little at a time initially, start to pay back what you can. Then, spend some time re searching repayment options that offer favorable terms and interest rates. Many POS systems offer loans that can be repaid directly from a percentage of your sales, so you pay more when sales are good, and pay less when sales are slow. You may also consider a personal loan or even a plan directly with the State. The more good faith you’ve built with the State, the better chance you have of negotiating favorable outcomes. Keep in mind, if you need ON TRACK SALES TAX PAYMENTS
I
4 TIPS TO GET BACK
NEWS continued on page
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 19 Meadowlands Expo Center 355 Plaza Drive | Secaucus, NJ 07094 September 21, 2022 9am-3:30pm Register at ImperialDade.com or scan QR code MOVING FORWARD 2 0 2 2 All businesses welcome to attend Free admission 200+ Seminarsexhibitors Product ThousandsRefreshmentsdemosofproducts on display Find new products from industry leading manufacturers Foodservice Packaging Janitorial Supplies Restroom Supplies GreensafeIndustrialEquipmentChemicalsPackagingProducts Hold the date for next year’s Expo - September 20, 2023
W e all know “Mur phy’s Law “and “The Peter Principle”, but those who attended last month’s Virtual Breakfast Ses sion (VBS) were treated to a phrase that will stick in our heads for a long time. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” noted New York Hospitality Group’s Peter Herraro.
All past VBS’s can be seen on You Tube: uSJeecFoUt-IM9pbEplaylist?list=PLKxCb_1N0zgNaYq1https://www.youtube.com/
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VIRTUAL BREAKFAST BYTES
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”.
The veteran White Plains, NY res tauranter joined industry notables during last month’s Virtual Break fast Session, “Squeezing $1.25 out of every $1 spent”.
NEWS
The Virtual Breakfast Sessions (VBS), co-produced by Total Food Services and L. Sashin & Associ ates is a cutting-edge interactive series of online, Zoom based, open mic roundtable discussions. Un like most web-based web presenta tions, the VBS is targeted to reach small to medium sized opera tors. A 2nd differentiator allows the audience an opportunity to participate in the discussion in real-time. Although the topics discussed are food service and hospitality based, the problems areHerrarouniversal.was joined on the VBS roundtable by Vegan Chef, blog ger and TV Host Charlise Rook wood, Sean Wheaton- Chef and VP of Culinary Services for Cui sine Solutions for a spirited dis cussion on squeezing value out of everything done or used. Tips and techniques were shared that every operator can adopt. Rookwood talked about her initiative to cut waste. In an event she produced for NYC Mayor Ad ams every bit of the fruits and veg gies she had on the Vegan menu was used…including the pineapple skins.Wheaton and Herraro then picked up on the money saving importance of portion control and the multi purpose use of every ingredient that is adopted. To cut down the expense of prep time, unless an ingredient appears in multiple recipes, it’s re placed by one that is.
Highlighting the upcoming VBS schedule is a VBS Live presentation at The Plant Based World Expo on Thursday, 9/8/22 at 10:30 am. With a theme of “What Are They Eating Over There?, the session at the Javits Center in New York city will delve into the the correlation between a diner looking at a plate being served at thenext table and an increase in people in seats and a higher ROI? “Our panel will illustrate that cor relation and lay out a step-by-step process to get diners to notice veg an/vegetarian dishes and give them the chance they need to help you expand you diner base and increase your ROI,” explained VBS’s Larry Sashin.TheVBS virtual program is set to resume 9/14/22 at 9:00 am with “The Promoters”. “Have you heard the one about the highly qualified political candidate that that let his credentials do all the speaking for him, Sashin asked. Of course, you didn’t! That would be suicide!!! So why do we continually hear: we’ve been here for many years; we grow through word of mouth or when business slowed down, we cut our marketing budget.” Sashin continued,”Halfhearted efforts don’t work, but a well thought out, targeted and executed campaign will. If you’re not actively marketing you’re leaving yourself open to someone who will. Our goal is to replace the I ran an ad last month and nothing hap pened or advertising is a waste of money comments with a well thought out outbound marketing strategy.”Restaurant and food service professionals can register for the 9/14/22 VBS event by searching “Total Food Service” or “Virtual Breakfast Session” on Event brite. “It’s all about creating a fast paced, mind-blowing hour of in teresting anecdotes, valuable info and fun for our industry commu nity,” Sashin concluded.
— Peter Herraro
ALL STAR PANEL TACKLES SEARCH FOR 25% RESTAURANT OPERATING PROFITS AT VBS SESSION
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WITH JOYCE APPELMANTREND TALK
Q&A WITH MATT SARTWELL MANAGING PARTNER, KITCHEN ARTS & LETTERS BOOKSTORE
Founded by Nach Waxman (he passed away suddenly in August of 2021), it’s been a staple on the Upper East Side for nearly 40 years, housing over 12,000Matttitles.Sartwell is Kitchen Arts’ man aging partner. He’s been with the store for more than 30 years, helping discerning professionals, especially those seeking out unusual books from around the world and in many languages. The store has grown from a brick-and-mortar location into an active web presence, reaching cus tomers around the world. In addition to new books and out-of-print titles, they have popular food magazines, hard-to-find journals (Petits Propos Culinaires), foreign periodicals (Api cius, Fool) and industry glossies (Art Culinaire) alongside even more un usualSartwellfinds. has been a member of the James Beard Foundation’s Book Awards committee and its chair for three years and also served as a mem ber of the IACP’s Culinary Classics committee.TotalFood Service caught up with Sartwell to discuss the state of book stores, trends, the challenges, and op portunities that lie ahead. Tell us about your professional life before joining Kitchen Arts & Letters bookstore. I was an editor at Penguin for about six years. I didn’t work with food books: I kept cooking separate from the daily grind of marketing meet ings and battles over acquisition bud gets. But I was the guy who cooked for office parties. What do you do in your role as Man aging Partner?
id you know that there are 16 dedicated cookbook stores across the United States and New York’s Kitch en Arts & Letters is the oldest of them?
Joyce Appelman is the SCOOP News Editor and Senior Con tributing Writer for Total Food Service and previously the Na tional Communications Direc tor for C-CAP, Careers through Culinary Arts Program. An industry leader supporting education and scholarships, she has been instrumental in opening career opportunities for many young people in the foodservice industry. Email her at joyceappelman@gmail.com
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The main thing I do that isn’t done by anyone else here is select the new books to carry. I may ask my colleagues for their input, “Have you heard of this author?” or “Do you care about this technique or ingredient?”, but I’m the one with more than 30 years experi ence selling food and drink books, so I’m the one who has to be impressed. Who is your customer base and how do you select your offerings?
The biggest, most loyal part of our base is the professionals. Chefs, cater ers, bakers. They need good books in a way that home cooks don’t. Home cooks may love a new book, but pro fessionals have to keep investing in their livelihood. They may come look ing for practical information, like an innovative book on fish butchery, or continued on page 107
Matt Sartwell sits inside the Kitchen Arts & Letters Bookstore in the Upper East Side, New York City.
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INNOVATIVE OILCHEF SOLUTION BRINGS BIG SAVINGS TO OPERATORS AND LOCKS IN FLAVOR
24 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
“Installing the OiLChef device allows even restaurateurs who purchase cheaper oils to vastly and noticeably improve the quality of the fried food they serve to their patrons.” — Sean Farry
COOKING EFFICIENCY STRATEGIES By Jackson HartNEWS
R educing a single expense by upwards of 75% may seem like a pipe dream, but Sean Farry’s OiLChef, a new oil management system, proves that it can be accomplished. Through its revolutionary ability to prolong oil life and improve food quality, which, together, promise to save consumers more than half of their monthly oil expenditures, OiLChef is a game changer. CEO Sean Farry details the product’s in teresting inception, its simplifica tion of kitchen expenditures, and its’ amazing savings possibilities. Despite its innate ability to opti mize the frying process, OiLChef’s inception was, as detailed by CEO Sean Farry, accidental. Initially conceptualized as an apparatus to improve the running efficiency and lifetime of chemical engine oil, OiLChef, instead, worked fantasti cally with cooking oil by achieving the same intended benefits but with a different medium. Farry, after testing the product out with cook ing oil, found that OiLChef slowed down the process of oil oxidation, allowing for longer oil life and im proved food quality. These benefits led the CEO to approach the French Master Chef of the Loews Hotel Group in Montreal with a request to trial the oil preserving system and provide feedback. Expecting the same poor performance that had come from testing competi tive products, the chef was amazed by the capability of OiLChef. Farry recalls that the chef also requested the rights to market the product to every French-speaking country in theOiLChef’sworld. unexpected and aweinspiring success has led Farry to dub it “the Godshot,” and the de vice’s benefits are likely to incite agreement from restaurant owners who’ve installed his oil filtration solution. “You need to understand that this technology was never in tended for use in the food service industry,” Farry noted. To achieve the same levels of efficiency touted by OiLChef, many restaurants had previously used additives, includ ing chemical powders, or additional appliances like separate oil man agement systems which remove particles from the liquid. While these approaches can improve oil quality and life, OiLChef points out that they involve recurring costs to purchase or maintain, and also in crease the occurrence of serious ac cidents due to heavy involvement with hot Instead,oil.OiLChef is “a simple plug and play system, which when in stalled does not have to leave your fryer for three years,” Farry ex plained. “Additionally, the technol ogy works with any cooking liquid: if it’s a cooking medium and liqui fies when heated, our device works with it,” promises Farry. Installing the device allows even restaurateurs who purchase cheaper oils to vastly and noticeably improve the quality of the fried food they serve to their patrons “By focusing solely on the cooking oil,” explained the execu tive, “our focus has shifted towards food quality and not the oil itself at all.” This shift in focus, in turn, has revolutionized the act of frying by reducing reliance on additives, cut ting costs, and improving kitchen safety.The real power of OiLChef can be measured by its ability to reduce monthly oil expenses by 50 to 75%. The device’s ability to extend oil longevity and improve oil quality, estimates Farry, can save restaura teurs a minimum of 35% per month on oil purchases. Even better – 90% continued on page 108
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The
The best of fruit, ready to use. 100% ready to use, 100% taste quality and no added sugar. Les vergers Boiron ready-touse purées are the product of 80 years of expertise. Once you’ve tasted our strawberry, raspberry, mango, passion fruit, blackberry and peach flavours, you’ll understand why they are so popular among chefs and mixologists for their instant preparations. To discover our recipes, visit my-vb.com
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2. Learn to delegate and trust your team: The truth is that by trying to do everything yourself, you’re cost ing yourself a lot of money. What is it costing you to do it all and not trust and not delegate? You’re leav ing money on the table each year, you likely have a high turnover rate, you aren’t growing, and it’s costing you in quality of life for yourself. To have freedom from your restaurant - whether it’s financial, physical or mental - you have to have people who do the work. And to have people who do the work, you have to stop doing it for them.
SYSTEMS! When you document whatever task needs to get done, you suddenly become in control of everything down to the smallest de tail without having to lift a finger to do it Theseyourself.are the three restaurant business principles operators get wrong and how I coach restaurant owners to fix them. They are also the three principles I help restau rant owners correct in my 24-week premium coaching program. The program’s curriculum is planned specifically to meet the needs of the restaurant owner who has a desire to run a standout and exceptional restaurant, but one that doesn’t de pend on them to be in it for all the shifts and all the hours. If you think your frustrations with your restaurant business have anything to do with one or more of these three principles, I encourage you to think about what you can do right now to start making change. Starting now gets you that much closer to your goals.
here are three restaurant business principles op erators get wrong that get in the way of them hav ing a life outside the restaurant. The consequences of getting these principles wrong is they are prison ers to their restaurant business and not making the money they deserve.
David Scott Peters is an author, restaurant coach and speaker who teaches restaurant op erators how to take control of their businesses and finally realize their full potential. His first book, Restaurant Prosper ity Formula: What Successful Restaurateurs Do, teaches the systems and traits to develop to run a profitable restaurant. Thousands of restaurants have worked with Peters to trans form their businesses. Get his three principles to restaurant success at three-key-principles.https://dsp.coach/
Let’s talk about the business prin ciples operators get wrong and then how to fix them.
3. Let the systems lead you: Here is what I know that not everyone wants to admit. You don’t actually have to be a natural leader to be a great leader. But you do need to become a leader to accomplish those things AND be profitable without burning yourself out. So what are the greatHoworientednaturally-leadership-not-peopletodo?doyoubecomealeadersoyoucan give your customers what they want and get what you want in return?
WITH DAVID SCOTT PETERSRESTAURANT EXPERT 3
PRINCIPLES RESTAURANT OPERATORS GET WRONG AND HOW TO FIX THEM
1. Lead your team: If your restaurant’s daily opera tion is dependent on you being in it, then you’re fulfilling the wrong role as an owner. You’re showing up as a doer instead of a leader. Burning the candle at both ends is not the secret to a successful restaurant. The se cret to running a successful restau rant is for the restaurant owner to lead the team to success. All you’re doing is burning yourself out and driving out your best employees. If you are tired of being a prisoner to your business and not making the money you deserve, you have to start leading your employees in stead of doing their jobs for them.
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Bake or Break Award-winning Pastry Chef Stephanie Boswell helps failing bakery owners save their strug gling businesses. Their buildings are in shambles, their recipes are stale, they’re bleeding money, and customers just aren’t coming in. Boswell has the sharp eye, razor wit and loving compassion to help struggling bakery owners save their businesses. She teaches bakers how to turn their stale product lines into fresh and fast-selling goodies, and with the help of great designers, she completely transforms their unap pealing shops into beautiful baker ies. When they reopen, emotions run high as old and new custom ers pour in and everyone’s lives are sweetened for the better.
Matt Sartwell, Managing Part ner, Kitchen Arts & Letters Bookstore in New York City shares his book reviews... Core by Clare Smyth Clare Smyth’s Core opened in 2017 and earned a full three Michelin stars by 2021. Much of her career had been spent at Michelin-starred restaurants, including a stint as chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Located in London’s Notting Hill, Core was designed by Smyth to of fer distinctly British fine dining, one that relies less on imported luxury ingredients and draws on the is land’s own food systems. That can mean reinventing oldfashioned staples, such as jellied eel, which Smyth serves with toasted seaweed and malt vinegar, Her Cor nish turbot is served with smoked mussels, red apple, cabbage, and cider. And the possibilities of sus tainably conceived dishes are repre sented by a dish which offers lamb, hogget (lamb aged between one and two years), and mutton. While some dishes do incorporate ingredients from elsewhere, there is no mistaking the distinctiveness of Smyth’s approach. And after several years in which books from major British chefs have been scarce or shied away from their actual restau rant fare, this is a refreshing, excit ing new Phaidonarrival.Books’ design of this book is crisp and simple, allowing Nathan Snoddon’s photography to effectively convey the elegance of Smyth’s approach. continued on page 30
MEDIA CORNER READING:WE’REWHATWATCHING:WE’REWHAT BOOKS, TV, FILM, AND PODCASTSWith Joyce Appelman LISTENINGWE’REWHAT TO:
Selena + Chef Selena Gomez’s cooking show Selena + Chef Season 4 was inspired by Gomez spending more time in the kitchen during the pandemic. She heads to the beach with her friends and family, where she con tinues to learn the joys of cook ing with all-star chefs in a beauti ful Malibu beach house. Featured chefs include Adrienne Cheatham, DeVonn Francis, Gordon Ram say, Kristen Kish, Ludo Lefebvre, Matty Matheson, Nick DiGiovan ni, Paola Velez, Priya Krishna and Rachael Ray. As in the first three seasons, each chef will highlight a differ ent charity. To date, the series has raised $400,000 for 26 nonprofit organizations.
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Hosted by Melissa L. Jones, this podcast amplifies the voices and stories of people of color making changes within their communities and the greater food system. Recent episodes have covered food security and eating disorders, and wildcaught fishing practices.
Editor’s Note About PodcastsListen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, includ ing on Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Pod casts, Audible & more.
Turning Chickens and Breaking Dishes Davide G. Martins, the Ex ecutive Chef of the European Union Embassy in DC discuss es how people and cultures re late to food. Each episode in cludes guests with background in food and beverage. Edible Activist Edible Activist brings to gether growers, farmers, and creators to share their stories of activism and transformation in food and agriculture spaces.
30 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com So Good #28: The Magazine of Haute Pâtisserie by PublishedVilbo twice a year, So Good is a showcase for talented pastry cooks and chefs from around the world. Many of the contributors have not yet published books of their own, so the magazine is a chance to get a glimpse of their work years ahead of the moment when they might have their own book. Beautiful photography helps highlight just how creative many of these dishesAmongare.the chefs in this issue: • Kirsten Tibbals • Philippe Conticini • Dimitri Economides • Samira Saade • Yusuke Aoki • Karl de Smedt • Romain Dufour
from page 28MEDIA CORNER
• Less grain will be exported from Ukraine due to the ongoing war with Russia. Before the war, Ukraine ex ported 6 million tons of products, in cluding grain, monthly to the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Now, they’re only exporting 15-20% of these goods. As a result, an increased 47 million people will likely face acute food insecurity this year.
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• The US will produce fewer crops due to extreme weather. Extreme drought conditions are wreaking havoc with California’s produce, while the Midwest, which produces three-quarters of our nation’s corn, is facing the opposite problem, with frequent floods washing away pre cious soil.
• One-third of Dutch farms may close. Their government dictated a 30% reduction in livestock numbers in an attempt to meet environmen tal targets, but this decision will have radical implications for local farms and the food they produce.
Article contributed by Kari Hensien, President of RizePoint o one could have predicted the pandemicCOVID-19and the enormous disruption that ensued. The food in dustry wasn’t prepared for shutdowns, supply chain disruptions, product short ages, and rising prices that resulted from the COVID crisis, and we didn’t have backup plans to deal with theManyfallout.restaurants didn’t survive the crisis. Those that did had to demonstrate tremendous flexibility, resil ience, and creativity to nav igate uncharted waters. The key lessons that we learned during the pandemic – piv ot to different menu items when certain products are unavailable, reduce waste, lower food and labor costs, etc. – will also be essential as our in dustry faces a new set of threats. Today, simultaneous issues are negatively impacting our food supply.
• Be prepared and resilient. A big takeaway from the COVID crisis is that food businesses must proac tively ensure that their suppliers all along the supply chain are prepared and resilient. We saw what happened when the world wasn’t prepared for a global crisis, as we faced simultane ous product shortages, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and in flation. Prepare now for future food disruptions by making continuous efforts towards sustainability and resilience, finding alternate food sources, and embracing a circular supply chain.
FORECAST
HOW TO PROACTIVELY PREPARE FOR THE NEXT FOOD CRISIS STRATEGIES on page 88
• Use tech tools to man age your supply chain. Digital solutions allow you to audit and evaluate your supply chain’s sustainability and resilience. These inno vative tools help you get a better handle on your supply chain, organizing supplier certifications into a system you can see and manage.
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Develop backup plans. If we learned anything over the past two and a half years, it’s the need to be proactive. What’s your backup plan if you can’t get Califor nia produce or midwestern corn due to extreme weather conditions? Do you have alternate suppliers in case your usual vendors can’t provide the products you need? And how are you researching and vetting these Plan B suppliers to be certain they meet stringent safety and quality stan dards?•
As these concurrent crises come on the heels of the COVID pan demic, restaurants would be wise to:
Tech tools – which have be come extremely affordable, accessible, and user-friendly – provide necessary trans parency through every step of your supply chain, which is essential with the various threats impacting our food supply.•
Rely on local suppliers. As we’ve seen, the Ukraine/Russian conflict is disrupting the global food supply, as multiple countries are unable to get their usual Ukraine exports. A
NEWS continued
• Crates of food are rotting in ship ping containers, warehouses, and trucks because of the labor short age – there simply aren’t enough workers to get the food to their final destinations.
Ruggiero Seafood, Inc. PO Box 5369 Newark, NJ 07105 - info@ruggieroseafood.com - www.ruggieroseafood.com
“In previous generations, food trucks really had the perception of a ‘roach coach’, not being inspected, sort of flying under the radar, and gen erally having a bad reputation,” noted Connie Baugher, President and Chief Growth Officer of One Fat Frog. “To day, we see the opposite — there has been a significant move towards a so phisticated kitchen being seen in food trucks. Everything we would be doing in a brick and mortar we are now do ing in food trucks, from mall kiosks to fine dining restaurants.”
BAUGHER LED ONE FAT FROG REIMAGINES FOOD TRUCK INDUSTRY
One of the constants both Pre and Post Pandemic has been the contin ued growth of the food truck. A prop erly designed truck with a simple menu has become the industry’s most impactful solution for a wide variety of operators. From the new standalone home for chefs moving from five-star resorts to their own food truck business to a satellite extension for an existing restaurant brand, these mobile kitchens have changed how the foodservice professional create exciting dining solutions.
With the growing expectation and ability to get things delivered to our door so easily, food trucks are another way food can be brought to the con sumer. “The beauty of the food truck life is the ability to mold it to what you as an operator want to be. You are not lied to in a locality and can go where the people are. As long as you are true to who you are and are putting in the hours, intent, and elbow grease you willOnesucceed.”FatFrog’s clients have been able to tap into the recipe for success that the Florida based firm has docu mented through its hundreds of suc cess stories. “You would have to think like a manager, not an employee, and be able to integrate menu planning and costing. When it comes to adver tising and booking events, both have to be done for a food truck. Some op erations take advantage of using food trucks in lieu of a brick and mortar lo cation so they are not restricted to one place. Many operators only do special events and feed 10,000 people in a single day. There are so many differ ent shoes that fit a food truck opera tor. Only can work during the day, the evening, seasonable? That’s all doable with the travel benefits and specialty services that a food truck business provides.”Thetypes of menus and concepts that Baugher has seen succeed in the food truck industry share a common thread. “The simpler the menu, the better. You are selling what your high est profit items are and what you can expedite to continually produce con sistent quality.”
“The simpler the menu, the better. You are selling what your highest profit items are and what you can expedite to continually produce consistent quality.” — Connie Baugher
FOOD TRUCK STRATEGIES
One of the key advantages of Food Trucks is the ability to continually seek locations that reflect how neigh borhoods are evolving. “From a new dorm on a college campus to the need for foodservice in front of a business that needs to replace their cafeteria, our trucks have flexibility,” Baugher continued on page 104
By Claudia Giunta
34 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com The Post-pandemic, vision for dining experiences has evolved as a result of the changes of how the nation now dines. The last two plus years were marked by skyrocketed takeout and delivery orders while fine dining restaurants with white tablecloths were put on the back burner.
NEWS
“This is all about an unprecedented entrepreneurial opportunity whether it be for a Mom & Pop operator or market or a larger scale operator,” Baugher continued. “What is unique is that although foodservice experi ence is helpful, it isn’t necessary as many of our new to the industry op erators have found success.”
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Dana Thompson, Co-Owner/COO, The Sioux Chef; Executive Director, NATIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Sys tems) (Photo Credit: Jaida Grey Eagle.)continued on page 38
As co-owner of the compa ny The Sioux Chef, Dana Thompson, is a lineal de scendant of the Wahpe ton-Sisseton and Mdewakanton Da kota tribes. The company’s flagship restaurant Owamni, the highly ac claimed Indigenous restaurant on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant in a ceremony in Chicago earlier this year. Owamni, which had been planned for many years and was one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in the Twin Cities this decade, opened during the pandemic. From day one, reservations were hard to come by. Thompson and her partner Chef Sean Sherman, aka Sioux Chef, and his business founded the restaurant focusing on using ingredients indig enous to the United States — so noth ing brought to the area by colonists. That means no wheat flour, cane sugar or dairy. It’s a challenging prospect for chefs and diners, but the thought-pro voking meals have continued to draw attention locally and nationally. The lifetime Minnesota native, has been working within the food sovereignty movement for the past six years. With in that time, she has traveled exten sively throughout tribal communities engaging in critical ways to improve food access. Dana jointly founded the non-profit NATIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems)
ExecutiveTheCo-Owner/COO,SiouxChef;Director, NATIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems)
THOMPSONDANA
36 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com EXCLUSIVE FOODSERVICE INTERVIEWQ&A
ROBERT GORDON forager
WWW.STEELITE.COM
Forager by Robert Gordon is designed with a carefully applied reactive glaze that free-flows over each shape to create a unique finish that is different on every piece. From the creator himself, Robert “Andy” Gordon, he compares the signature tray design to “tree bark once used to gather things such as forage seeds, berries, and roots for the forest”, hence its namesake, Forager. Unlike any other, these enduring & functional shapes are finished with a stamp of Andy’s handwritten signature and will enhance any foodservice presentation.
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Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com for which she is acting Executive Di rector. Through this entity, she is fo cusing her expertise on addressing and treating ancestral trauma through decolonized perspectives of honoring and leveraging Indigenous wisdom. Total Food Service sat down with Dana to learn more about traditional Indigenous foods, where we may en joy them and the new Minneapolis Mississippi riverfront park project, Water Works. How did the Sioux Chef mission come to pass? It started with Chef Sean. Sean has been a chef for many, many years, and learned all of the different types of cui sine, working in restaurants in Minne apolis, French, Japanese, Spanish, Ital ian, different types of cuisines from all over the world. And, at one point, he had taken a little break after he’d got ten burned out and was down in Mex ico and was watching the Indigenous communities down there, working with their own ancestral foods. And he thought to himself, wow, how do I not know anything about my own ances tral foods? What were my great grand parents eating? What were my great grandparents handing down to my grandparents and my parents? And then he realized the reason that that knowledge was removed was because of the genocide and the forced assimi lation that happened through the US and Canadian govern ments. Please help our read ers understand a sen sitive topic: Institutions like The University of North Dakota were known as the Sioux for decades, but were asked to replace the name brand. Your com pany has, in fact, embraced and cel ebrates that tradition. Can you help provide some insights on where we are today in terms of how we look at the pride and celebrate what the Sioux and Indigenous tribes are all about? Absolutely. The question is about how people identify themselves, and the definition of appropriation is when a dominant culture goes into another culture and profits from that culture. It’s honestly just about a cul ture that’s been oppressed, a culture that has been through extraordinary horrors, being honored and being able to use their own identity in the way that they feel is most respectful. And in sports specifically, there’s a lot of charac terizations of Indigenous people. From the Cleveland In dians to the Washington Redskins and on and on through to college since high school, it can be very painful for Indigenous people. And so, we’re in support of Indigenous people using the word if they want to, we used it because it’s a pun and sounds like that dad jokes. But it’s just a very funny, lighthearted way, because we don’t brush the hard history under the rug, but we want to address it, point to it, and then move on with positivity. What is Native and North American cuisine? And what’s the history of it? When we look at the Native cuisine throughout North America, which is our focus, we don’t look at the colonial lines of the US and Mexican, Canadi an borders. We don’t even look at the states, we look at the original language maps of Indigenous people, because there’s over 500 tribes in the US that are federally recognized, over 600 in Canada, and 20% of Mexico identifies as Indigenous, that’s a lot of people, a lot of different types of communities and a lot of diversity. Owamni is pri marily the focus of the foods of the Da kota, which is this specific land space. But there’s all these different types of foods all over North America. And so,
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DANA THOMPSON , from page 36Q&A continued on page 40
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Tooth decay, crazy, boy that is nuts: You’re thinking about what it’s doing to the gum tissue, thinking about what it is doing to the heart, thinking about what it is doing to the different parts of our body that we can’t really see. It’s profound, and using that discipline, we thought, there are so many amaz ing flavors all over the country, let’s re move the other proteins that were not here before Colonialism. We do not use beef, pork or chicken. There was no beef, there was no pork, there was no chicken, what we use for proteins are things like bison, turkey, quail, duck, all the different lake fish in our region. There’s ocean fish, of course, and all sorts of different types of crus taceans on both coasts. We’ve got rabbits, there are all sorts of different types of proteins, including insects, and insects are one of our most popu lar things. The crickets that we use at Owamni have become one of the most popular dishes, especially with kids, so, think about that. And, the protein is one thing but we’re really primar ily plant based, 75% of our menu at Owamni is plant-based foods, we don’t use a lot of beef, pork and chicken, we use a lot of wild greens, a lot of berries, a lot of different types of tubers. And it’s just a lot of flavors that are nutrient dense, high in fiber, high in things like magnesium, which are painfully miss ing in American diet. And so, it’s fun to play with these flavors and show peo ple that it can be healthy and delicious at the same time.
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our work is to go and to look into these other communities and say, what do you want? How much access do you have to your ancestral foods? And how can we help promote that? What resources do you need? What barri ers are there for you to access your own ancestral foods? Because these foods, these culturally relevant foods are healthy physically, emotionally and spiritually for communities. And it’s also way more sustainable for the Earth itself. What about in terms of the types of signature dishes? Are they beef based, poultry based? Are they plant based? Sure, let me help. In North Ameri ca, before Colonialism, there was no wheat flour, there was no dairy and there were no refined sugars, when sweeteners were required, maple was used, honey was used, and agave was used, sometimes berries were used. There’s that as a discipline, we don’t use those things. And when you re move those three ingredients, you drop the glycemic content down so low that the food becomes literally medicine. And it removes the food borne illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, cancer, all these inflammatory diseases, even tooth decay, there was no tooth decay in North America before these ingredi ents were introduced.
What are some of the signature dishes that you’ll find?
One of our most popular dishes is the white tepary beans spread with lake trout, that comes with these nix tamalized tortillas, tortillas that we make by grinding the corn itself down into flour and then making these handmade tortillas that are so deli cious. We put wojape on the plate with it, which is a traditional berry sauce that was used by the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes. And so, we make this beautiful design on the plate, and then the white tepary beans are fun because the tepary beans are grown in the Southwest actually, but they’re re ally small and drought tolerant and it takes twice as long to cook them and because of that they have this nutrient density that’s really fun. But we use a lot of different types of beans that are local as well. We have bison pot roast that people really love. I think one of the most popular vegetables on the menu is the sweet potato. We have the sweet potato with a chili sauce that people go crazy over, we’ve got green bowls that are packed with all sorts of different types of vegetables, wild greens, different types of fruit, we’ve got berries on them, we’ve got one with crickets. People love those salads. And then I would say one of the other really popular things is the venison tartare. We source the venison locally, and it is the best tartare I’ve ever had in my life, it just literally melts in your mouth. When you went into planning to open a restaurant to celebrate Indigenous fair, what went into finding the right location to fit this concept? What went into doing the ROI in terms of what it was going to cost to serve and create some of these things, etc.? I’m kind of curious because this is a very different type of approach. Sean and I have had our business for eight years now. We ran a catering company for a long time, Sean was ex ecutive chef at a couple of restaurants and so he had that experience, I had run events, programs at different res taurants, and had been in the music industry for a long time, we had just a lot of different perspectives about how to run a business and how to be entre preneurial. And, we have these disci plines like I just mentioned, and we had been requested by the park board to be the vendor down in this space, down on the park board, brand new park, which is called the Waterworks Park. And we decided to just create the concept through these disciplines, us ing the strategy that is really different than a lot of other restaurants. As far as the sourcing goes, which is how we get all our food, we purchase first from Indigenous producers, because we want to drive that out back into tribal communities if we can. That sounds great but how do you create a distribution solution that works? Through our catering company, we’ve been building these relation ships for years. We’ve been really working with these communities that are producing food to kind of ramp up their production to be in prepara tion for Owamni and future concepts that we’ll have. Keeping in mind that we can only work with what we have, sometimes we run out of wild rice, and we must go to a different producer or something like that. It’s a little bit like the game of Whac-A-Mole, but we are continued on
page 42 DANA THOMPSON , from page 38Q&A
The Owamni menu prioritizes purchasing from Indigenous food producers locally and nationally. They have removed colonial ingredients such as wheat flour, cane sugar and dairy to present a decolonized dining experience. Menu items include the bison pot roast entree (top) and venison tartare (Photos by Dana Thompson)
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As the restaurant celebrates its first year, what has made it an awardwinning success? We’ve built our brand up year over year for the last eight years. I’ve man aged the PR and strategies for the company and Sean is the brilliant chef and speaker. And we have leveraged an organic fan base that has built up year over year to try to get emotional buy in from a lot of different types of groups. Of course, we want to be rel evant, and hitting the mark really well with tribal communities, because we don’t represent every tribal commu nity but, on some levels, people are having their first experience with in digeneity through us, so we have very high expectations of how we present ourselves. And then second, we work with a lot of different foodies, a lot of food organizations. People all over the country and all over the nation and even the world look to us, because the plates are so beautiful, the food quality is so beautiful, and it has such a deep meaning of sustainability. We look at that indigenous wisdom as a way to understand our interaction with the soil, and the land, and the water and all of the different aspects of the world that gives us all of these foods and all of this richness in beauty, and I think that through that discipline, it’s just created a brand that is really relatable for a lot of different organizations and demographics. You mentioned the plate and the food, did you go to somebody like Steelite and say, this is the look that we’re af ter in order to plate this stuff? How did you create and execute the table top look, and execute the tabletop? Yes, we did talk to Steelite. And US Foods offers different plating mecha nisms through their group, they have Robert Gordon and a couple other ceramics producers, we tried to work with some local ceramic’s produc ers, it was a little bit cost prohibitive, as you have to be careful when you’re opening a restaurant, because it was pretty expensive and we didn’t have any money, Sean and I don’t come from wealth at all. It was a little tenu ous, but we got there actually using Steelite and Robert Gordon primarily, and we love the look that its got, we’re going to continue to look for local ce ramic producers, as well, and we’ll kind of see how that transforms over the years.
First, we purchase from Indigenous producers, second, we purchase from local producers, we purchase from BI POC producers, next, all over the na tion. BIPOC which is Black Indigenous people of color. And then fourth, we purchase from organic producers, which is basically in Minneapolis, we’ve got an organization called CPW, Co-Op Partners Warehouse and they serve food, or they bring in the food for all the co-ops, and they have a lot of organic options, those are basically the four things that we purchase. Ev ery now and then we use US Foods and larger distributors for chemicals and different things that we need for the restaurant. But other than that, we’re able to source all the food we need from those four disciplines.
making it work using this discipline.
One of the things that’s fascinating us is that you get people to come in, and they have this wonderful and special experience. How do you get them to come back? And how often will some body come back to something that’s different like this? It’s funny, the moment that we opened the restaurant, we would re lease a couple of weeks of reservations shop.gourmetsweetbotanicals.com
What was your approach to the de sign of the kitchen to handle your menu? We tried to get live fire back there, we really wanted to produce the kitch en with live fire. And it turned out that the way that the kitchen had been de signed, it wouldn’t accommodate that. We pivoted to a more traditional kitch en design and worked with the knowl edgeable team at Boelter to specify an equipment package that reflects the menu. We tweaked the menu to be able to prep Indigenous foods, in a modern context.
@gourmetsweetbotanicals ELEVATETHEEXPERIENCESHOPATGOURMETSWEETBOTANICALS™ MICROGREENS, EDIBLE FLOWERS, TINY VEGGIES™ & MORE Ships Directly from the Farm SCAN TO VISIT OUR RECIPES PROUDLY OFFERING FRESH ORIGINS PRODUCTS MICRO MIREPOIX MIX™ ON WILD STRIPED BASS, PRESERVED HONEYCAP MUSHROOMS, CARROT PURÉE CREATED BY CHEF SHOLA OLUNLOYO DANA THOMPSON , from page 40Q&A continued on page 44
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DANA THOMPSON , from page 42Q&A through our reservation system, and they would just fill up within 24 hours. Every time we open reservations, we fill up again within 24 hours. It’s a mix, but what’s interesting about it that I think you’ll find compelling, is that ev ery day, and I’m not exaggerating, this is truly, truly what happens, every day we get people through that restaurant that are coming with their suitcases, they’re flying in from another state or country just to see Owamni. We have been buffering in 10% of the seats just to try to accommodate from walk in from the neighborhood because we were getting some unhappy neigh bors that were saying that they had a gift card that they’ve never been able to use or whatever it is because the reservations are so hard to get, so we just changed that and we’re buffering in about 25% of our seats, to be walk in to be able to accommodate people locally. And we’re still just as full as can be. Your mission ties into the commu nity that the restaurant lives in as you talked about using gift cards, etc. Talk a little bit about that immediate community that you share with your neighbors and talk about what your attitude is and what that relation ship needs to look like. It’s a very diverse community, be cause we’ve got the local neighbors and all the condos that are around Owamni right down there on the river. We’ve got a lot of local arts organiza tions and restaurants and different entrepreneurs that are nearby that we really love and we want to support so much. We’ve got the local Native com munity that we love serving and a lot of our staff are Indigenous people, and their families love to come in, which is exciting for us. A lot of foodies that come in from the city and from the suburbs, and from all over the Mid west, to eat with us, and just to have the experience. We have a lot of people that are also really interested in just the culture. I think we meet every one of those communities where they’re at. Our staff go through kind of an extraordinary training system so that they’re able to have extra time at the table to share their story, and to help the peo ple that are sit ting in the seats have a chance to really get to know them, and understand why they’re emotion ally invested in our work, and why they com mit to us. Be cause our staff is the heart and soul of our orga nization. So, talk about how you’ve built that staff and talk about some of those stories. We really leveraged social media. We didn’t use any recruiting firms to reach the tribal community. We just really leveraged Instagram and Face book and Twitter and put out a call for resumes. And it was a flood, a flood of resumes. And we have been able to keep 75% approximately Indigenous staff members and the last 25% are just people that are really committed to the mission and are allies. We have people from Red Lake, waiters, people from Lower Sioux and Upper Sioux, we’ve got people from the Mexican community, the indigenous Mexican community that have worked with us and that we just really cherish. The di versity of indigeneity through our staff has been really humbling and beauti ful and they bond very quickly. They just absolutely love each other and that’s really exciting to see.
The restaurant has a bigger mission too with NATIFS. Can you share your goals and mission for that platform?
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NATIF has two missions. One is to bring back indigenous foods culture and the other is to bring back Indig enous education, and both were sys tematically removed. It is nonprofit, it has a culinary training center at the Midtown global market. We were originally going to put a restaurant in a training center, and then we got mowed down by the pandemic, and we decided to pivot. Our next initia tive was to open our first market, which is kind of a threefold area right across from the culinary training cen ter. It’s scheduled to open in October. We have a space that is truly a market where people can come in and buy in gredients and foods from Indigenous producers. On the other end of the market, we’ve got a classroom that is actually like a video production space, so that we can capture the technique and the flavors and the different types of foods from different areas where we’re going to bring in chefs from all sorts of different tribal communities to archive their creating of these plates so that we can share that open source with tribal communities. We’ll also do different types of classwork there that speaks to the culture and builds up the native culture, which is differ ent and includes beadwork or seed keeping, braiding sweetgrass, under standing how to have ethical forag ing, and soil management, all sorts of different types. In the center of that kind of organization or that organism, and based on global market, we have a thing called a Spirit Kitchen, where we’re going to be producing food, if an entrepreneur comes through, and they want to build up their own en trepreneurial skills, they can operate
Sean hasn’t really been in the kitch en a lot for several months. We’ve built an original team, Sean put together an awesome team. We’ve had sev eral team members move from other states to join our team, we have hous ing here, we’ve got people from Red Cliffs, we’ve got people from some of the Dene tribes down in the southwest the Navajo Nation, we’ve got people from Mohawk communities, Cana dian communities that have come down to work with us. And, we just re ally love making them feel like they’re part of the family, part of the commu nity, and they’re able to offer their own culinary perspectives from the foods of their grandparents and their great grandparents, and modify the menu as they see, to offer different tasting profiles, flavor profiles, so that people can test it out. And I think the menu will constantly be evolving because of that, it’s certainly going to be influ enced by the staff that we have.
Located in Minneapolis, MN, Owamni is a modern Indigenous full service establishment.. Their mission is a com mitment to revitalizing Native American Cuisine and in the process they are re-identifying North American Cui sine and reclaiming an important culinary culture long buried and often inaccessible. (Photo by Heidi Wigdahl) continued on page 46
Nice. What about in terms of building your culinary team? Does Chef Sean work alone? What does the back of a house look like?
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DANA THOMPSON , from page 44Q&A
46 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com food out of that space. And we’re go ing to have resources to support them in any way that they need, whether it’s how to understand how to build a pro forma, how to test flavors or try to figure out how to create a menu, what equipment might they need? Do they understand how to get financing? How to talk to a bank, how they get the credit score figured out. There are just a million different things when it comes to entrepreneurship and that’s what that space is going to be for.
What I’m curious about is, when I think of this type of fare, there are an awful lot of casinos, most casinos are Indian owned, Indian managed, etc. Is there energy and synergy there of any type? Absolutely. I think that that could be a really great option, but through the nonprofit we really want to build entrepreneurs up so that we can get these culturally relevant foods into all the different communities because we can’t do this all ourselves. We want to build people that are interested in re ally taking the ball and running with it and we’re willing to help. The point of the nonprofit is to create a nationwide movement.Keepinmind, this isn’t about build ing another Owamni, it’s about a res taurant that reflects each local Indig enous culture with awesome healthy foods. And we hope that the team at the nonprofit will be able to really sup port them too. Whether it’s Sean and I through a for profit model, the future has yet to be told.
What are your thoughts on receiving national recognition by winning a James Beard Award? When we were nominated, we were excited about the splash that we were going to be able to make and the com munities that we were going to be able to get our mission out to. It was such an honor and a joy to be included in that group of people that opened new restaurants in the middle of a pandemic.Veryhumbling and I wish that we could have spent more time getting to know those people. We were so excited to go to Chicago for the ceremony with some of our staff. It was so exciting to win and to be able to share with our team. When we won, it just kind of blew the top off of everything, it was just such an honor. We’re so humbled and grateful to be able to just share the mission of what we’re doing, because there’s so many different facets of why what we’re doing is important. How will national recognition expand your horizons beyond Minneapolis? Sean and I are really focused right now on just taking the first year of baseline numbers out of Owamni and see how we’re doing and how we can do better and what works well. Labor costs are so high right now, everything has changed in the restaurant indus try. Labor costs are so much higher than they used to be, inflation has im pacted us greatly with food costs and other things, just trying to figure out how we can have a good model, be cause Owamni is the first proof of this concept, and we’re building entrepre neurs through the nonprofit, Owamni has to be successful, and it has to be sustainable. We really want to drill that down, so we are not prevented from moving into any other fields right now, before we really get that happen ing, because we want to be cognizant and really responsible, we have to get it right. And then secondly, we’re si multaneously opening this market NATIFS through the Indigenous Food Lab, global market. Once we get that up and running and get a couple of months under our belts, I think that’s going to be really helpful for us to un derstand what we’re going to do there. But we have been approached by a few other entities in different states that are interested in this concept coming into their area. And it’s really exciting for me, I really have a lot of wonder ful ideas. Sean and I have talked about some great opportunity there and I think that we can consider that prob ably closer to the winter of this com ing year, we could think about maybe committing to another project, but it would be a two-year long project.
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There’s so much to consider if you want to get it right like COGs, bar style, location, labor costs and more. And your location, or the kind of bar you run – freestanding, or part of a restau rant or hotel program- impacts your menu decisions as well.
Jason Swar ingen, Director of Director of Bars and Beverage at Hyatt Centric Buckhead Atlanta notes how Spaceman – the hotel’s 15th floor indoor-outdoor roof top lounge and bar - reaps the ben efit of working hand in hand with the back of house, “Whenever possible, I like to work closely with the kitchen team; I always strive to have our cock tail menu compliment the flavor pro files reflected in the food. Having our cocktails structured based on the food menu also allows us to cross utilize components and maximize our poten tial to repurpose any biproducts from either department.” His colleague, Philipp Martens, Di rector of Restaurants, Bars and Events at Hyatt Centric Buckhead, further ex plains how working in tandem not only allows for maximizing profitability, but also creates a story to share with guests as he says, “A more food centric per spective is the zero-waste approach. In the production process, our various work steps require only certain parts of our ingredients (i.e., citrus zests for garnishes), which leaves a major part of the ingredient behind, so we look for ways to use as much of the raw mate rial as we can. A fully zested lemon, for example will get juiced for fresh lemon juice. Or an orange that was only half used for orange wheel garnishes may be sliced and dehydrated, and thus made shelf stable for future use. In our kitchen, we collect the stems of any leafy herbs after preparation, and blend them with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic, so it becomes a tasty herb spread.”While not every bar has the benefit of a brigade in the kitchen, the same methods can apply in an indepen dent bar. Sustainability has its place in every bar, and using juicing hacks, or turning spent kitchen ingredients into second use products, like syrups or oleo saccharum is easy to do, easy to work into your program and better for your bottom line. Julia Petiprin, who owns and operates Homemakers Bar and Fifty Fifty Gin Club in Cincin nati has seen this approach work well for her since she opened right before the pandemic and has managed to stay in business. At Fifty Fifty they infuse red apples into the Mattei Cap Corse Blanc and then once the spirit is infused those apples get fished out, cooked down with some spices and turned into a jam to accompany the charcuterie.ForJuliait doesn’t stop there. She’s as focused on presenting bottom-linefriendly drinks as she is maintaining a standard of quality. Especially at her two bars where people have come to expect a craft experience. She explains her approach to costing cocktails, “We’re picky about the spirits we use; our guests trust that we’re going to use quality products. Think about using the crafty expensive spirit as a modi fier.Eli Servance III, Bar Manager at Ced ric’s at The Shed in Hudson Yards con curs that working with expensive spir its can throw your profit margin out of whack, “It’s fun to be creative and try to incorporate gastronomic and scientif ic practices but when you’re spending hundreds on obscure ingredients and thousands on high-end equipment and you hit an inevitable slow season, it’s important to think long term when spending.”Thinking ahead when planning out the new seasonal menu is the number one bit of advice from Nick Kokonas, Author of Something and Tonic and Bartender at Avondale Bowl in Chica go. He advises making sure everything works on the spreadsheet, recognizing that going into fall your warmer brown and stirred or gin and stirred drinks that are more spirit forward will likely dominate the menu and end up being more expensive for cost of ingredients. He says, “When I look at these fall drinks specifically instead of reaching for the bottle in bond brand maybe it’s more cost effective to use the 80-proof option instead. That’s going to save us $.15-20 in the long run and over the entire cocktail menu that’s going to save the bar a lot of cost.” He continues, “Looking at your menu and seeing where those high costs are and looking at supplemental items and realizing their flavors going a longer way can be good for the bottom line. For example, if you use a bolder flavor liqueur or amaro a ¼ oz. will take you a long way vs. a dry vermouth or aromatized wine at a ¼ oz measure in a drink. So, you have to think about how to balance flavors in lighter cock tails by using bolder ingredients.”
SPIRITED NEWS
WITH FRANCINE COHEN+ VIEWS
FALL INTO
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o, if the kids are back to school, and football stadiums are filling up all weekend… what bar time is it??? It’s time to start thinking about implementing your seasonal menu change.
Another Chicago bar, Billy Sunday, is also making some bold moves with their menu ingredients that they are already seeing pay off. Beverage Di rector Jef Tate made a move this sea son to build a rooftop garden for the bar that they will incorporate into the fall menu. It’s a first-time endeavor for Tate, but he planted the herbs he chose – bergamot, lemon verbena, cardamon and more – with the flavor profiles of his fall menu in mind. He says, “It’s important in that it’s more than just continued on page 50
Just like the NFL teams are trying out different combinations of players, determining who is going to excel and lead the team to victory, your fall menu deserves the same sort of detailed analysis to make sure you’re maximiz ing profits while engaging your bar tenders and delighting guests.
Francine Cohen is an awardwinning journalist covering the business of the f&b/hospital ity industry, and a proud native Washingtonian (DC). In addi tion to her work as a journalist she keeps busy fundraising for Citymeals on Wheels, Les Dames d’Escoffier, NY Women’s Culinary Alliance, and the USBG Founda tion and serves as chief storytell er and brand steward for clients in the food and beverage sector by providing them with strategic marketing and business growth guidance. She has never met a cheese or beverage she does not like, and lives with her husband in New York; leaving him behind to visit New Orleans every summer. (Except 2020-21. Darn pandem ic.) You can reach her at francine cohen@mindspring.com A NEW MENU, PROFITABLY
Cocktail images courtesy of Homemakers Bar/Fifty Fifty Club
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novelty. As an amaro bar so much of the amari are predicted on the terroir they’re coming from. Being able to offer something grown hyper locally and offer alongside amaro and provide guests a snapshot footprint of where they’re coming from piques interest in people who would otherwise might not be our demographic.” Tate also knows that while the roof top garden is a great way to draw in new business it’s also saving money on waste every night. He shares, “Having the stuff growing on the roof helps the bottom line. I have been supplement ing buying herbs from purveyors by garnishing from the garden and being able to stretch things from the garden is great because it would go bad while purchasing in bulk from a vendor. I can go up and pick a scotch bonnet pepper that’ll last two-three weeks vs ordering a pound of them and having to use before they expire. And whatev er I put them in you’re on a time clock; with the roof garden you have more control over that.”
Whatever it takes to delight guests and keep them coming back or recom mending your bar to their friends is an important element of planning for the new fall menu. Tastes change with the weather and the setting. What works in Julia’s gin bar may not work as well in Jef’s amaro bar or at Hudson Yards where Servance III notes, “I have always been a friend of the underdog, so I tend to use local/small batch distilleries and breweries. If you source this out cor rectly you can find amazing spirits like Hiatus and ALB Vodka at reasonable price points.” So, knowing your setting and your customer base, even if they’re highly tourists vs. locals like Servance III encounters, is important. Ultimately, a reasonable price point, plus making a point of satisfying all sorts of palates, including those look ing for non-alcoholic drinks is what you need to keep in mind. Or, rather, price point + creativity + guest delight equals a very profitable and delicious bar menu every time you kick it off this fall.
Just because the summer is over doesn’t mean your summer pool side/waterside/porch and patio drinking has to stop. Keep it easy with these bottled cock tails. Staff or guests can literal ly just shake in this beautifully designed bottle and pour over ice. It looks good sit ting there, tastes great goingJosedown.Chao, President and CEO of Coppa in the Americas shares, “The core four flavors are proven favorites of our target consumers, and Coppa Cocktails are true to the experi ence they have come to love when made by ex pert bartenders in their favorite bars and restau rants. The other flavors are iconic classics that are seeing a resurgence today. For example, the Cosmopoli tan, Long Island Iced Tea, and Sex on the Beach are what I call ‘Hall of Fame Cocktails’; Coppa Cock tails makes them using high quality, all-natural ingredients to match or exceed those made on-premise. Obviously, we do not want to replace bar tenders; but the on-prem ise often needs a fast, no-waste solution, par ticularly pool- or beach side, on golf courses, at festivals, etc. This is just as true for bars or restau rants that may not have – or may not want to run – blenders. Coppa’s beautiful, glass packag ing is at home on elegant back bars. In brief, Coppa Cocktails are a way for ac counts to offer high-qual ity cocktails quickly: just add ice.”
SIPS TO SAVORfrom page 48FRANCINE COHEN
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The main takeaways from these two decisions are that New York courts (1) are disinclined to allow a catering company to contract away wage and hour liability through an indemnification clause in a nego tiated agreement with the staffing agency who is the actual employer of those employees, and (2) will not give significant deference to the parties’ agreement parties to define whether the staffer is an employee or independent contractor, and instead will use the facts of a particular situ ations under the more expansive definition of employee under the New York Hospitality Wage Order.
FROM
Lois Traub, Esq. is of Counsel in the Labor & Employment prac tice group of Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP. Lois has wide-ranging experience in the representation of management in labor and em ployment litigation. Her expertise includes representation of man agement in employment discrimi nation, unfair labor practice pro ceedings at city, state and federal agencies and in state and federal courts as well as the National La bor Relations Board, wage and hour cases including class action litigation, and ADA website and ac cessibility litigation. Ms. Traub has represented employers in labor ar bitrations, negotiated and drafted labor contracts, employment and separation agreements, and per sonnel policies and advised clients on state and federal labor law com pliance. Lois Traub can be reached at LTraub@egsllp.com or via phone at 212-370-1300.
The consequences of failure to comply with the New York labor laws can be severe, including a class ac tion going back six years, including third party staffers if deemed a joint employer, loss of a tip pool, tip dis gorgement, double damages, attor continued on page 110 ELLENOFF GROSSMAN & SCHOLE LLPLEGAL INSIDER BEWARE! THE LIMITATION OF INDEMNITY CLAUSES
ndemnification clauses appear in nearly all commercial con tracts including agreements between catering companies, hotels and restaurants and staffing agencies who provide workers for events. They are an essential risk allocation tool between parties. In demnification clauses may allow a party to protect itself from damages and lawsuits. Generally, New York courts enforce the parties’ clear lan guage in a contract. That is, except those agreements that implicate employees’ wages and gratuities, if related to indemnification obliga tions. Two recent judicial decisions illustrate that hospitality employers cannot rely upon contracts with in demnification provisions alone, to shift liability, or to define a work re lationship.Inonedecision, a New York appel late court voided an indemnification clause in a contract shifting liability for wages and gratuities from a ca tering company to a staffing agency. The issue arose in the context of a plaintiffs’ class action lawsuit al leging misappropriation of gratu ities. The staffing agency had agreed to indemnify the caterer “for any claims for violation of federal and state wage and hour laws, includ ing overtime,” and the defendant catering company filed a third-party complaint seeking indemnification based upon that agreement. The staffing agency moved to dismiss the third -party complaint, which the trial court granted. The defendant appealed the decision to the Appel lateTheDivision.Appellate Division agreed with the trial court, holding that the contractual indemnification lan guage violated public policy and was unenforceable, as employers have no right to seek indemnification for a claim for violation of the wage and hour laws, specifically. The Court reasoned that where employers can contract away their obligations un der statutes designed to protect em ployees, it would undermine the em ployer’s willingness to comply with those laws. The Court reached this result even though the staffing agen cy was the employer of the service workers at issue. In another recent decision, the Appellate Division denied summary judgment to a hotel despite the plain language of the contract’s indemnifi cation clause detailing the status of the staffing agency as the employer, and the staffing agency’s agreement to indemnify the hotel for all claims arising from the services performed by workers, including claims by its employees. Despite the parties’ clear agreement as to worker clas sification and indemnification, the Court found the hotel to be an em ployer of the staffing agency work ers for the purposes of the litigation which alleged claims under the New York Labor Laws. The Court based its decision as to the workers’ em ployment status upon the defini tion of an employee in the New York Hospitality Wage Order, not on the agreement between the parties. That broad definition states that “any in dividual suffered or permitted to work in the hospitality industry by the operator of an establishment or by any employer”, is an employee.
I
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Plant-based breakfast is one of the PLANT BASED + TRENDS
I’ve spent over 20 years as a chef, working primarily with colleges and universities and, most recently, at the Humane Society of the Unit ed States. At the HSUS, my team worked with foodservice companies to develop plant-based menus for their unique business models. This is where I first had the opportunity to work with Sodexo. When the Di rector of Culinary Innovation op portunity became available, I want ed to help lead the way in creating delicious, trendsetting plant-based recipes on campus.
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What can students anticipate? What will be new? Innovative? Culinarily diverse?Forinsightful answers, on behalf of Meatless Monday, I reached out to Jennifer DiFrancesco, Sodexo Campus Director of Culinary Inno vation. In her role, Jennifer drives plant-based developments and sustainability actions through So dexo Campus menus with the goal of helping achieve the company’s commitment to make 33% of menu offerings plant-based by 2024.
WITH CHERRY DUMAUAL
Cherry Dumaual is the Partnerships Director, The Monday Campaigns / Meat less Monday. She oversees PR and partnership develop ment for the initiatives of The Monday Campaigns (TMC), in cluding Meatless Monday. She has forged partnerships with leading organizations, such as C-CAP (Careers for Culinary Arts Program), the American Institute of Cancer Research, and New Jersey Healthy Kids Initiative, Prior to joining TMC, Cherry served as svp for lead ing PR agencies and worked with major food and healthcare clients. Passionate about learn ing and cooking international cuisines, Cherry has traveled to more than 50 countries where she and her husband explored local food markets and restau rants. She earned her commu nications degree cum laude at Hunter College, CUNY.
WHAT’S TRENDING ON PLANT-BASED COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY FALL MENUS?
Jennifer DiFrancesco, Sodexo Cam pus Director of Culinary Innovation, drives plant-based developments and sustainability actions through Sodexo Campus menus Sodexo Campus’ Tofu Poke Street Bowl and the Sweet and Smoky Tacos (Lentil Cho rizo) are delicious interpretations of globally inspired dishes.
Think plant-based breakfasts, globally inspired dishes, fermentation and more!
Could you tell us more about So dexo Campus? How is it transform ing plant-based dining on campus?
Jennifer, as director of culinary in novation for Sodexo Campus, you lead the development of enticing student menus. How did you land this exciting role?
In this Q&A, Jennifer talks about campus trends, addresses challeng es for foodservice operators and of fers effective solutions.
continued on page 100
ore plant-based options are coming to menus of hundreds of colleges and universities this fall.
NEWS
Sodexo Campus Director of Culinary Innovation Jennifer DiFrancesco shares insights
At Sodexo, our role is to be a trust ed partner on campus, bringing deep consumer insights and a range of innovative services to align our offerings with unique campus needs and continuously evolving student lifestyles. Plant-based menus are a big component of this, especially as we continue to experience in creased demand from students. Ex panding plant-based menu options is also central to reducing the car bon footprint of both our campus partners and our company. Sodexo has a global goal through our Better Tomorrow 2025 commitment to re duce carbon emissions by 34%, and our supply chain and animal-based food purchases play a large role in this. The campus segment is lead ing the way in meeting company commitments to make 33% of menu offerings plant-based by 2024. Our chefs are already making great strides and Sodexo was recently awarded an “A” as the #2 ranking in the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Protein Sustainability Scorecard. What do you see as the top plantbased trends for campus dining this fall?
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September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 55
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September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 57 Simplot Good Grains™ Cilantro Lime Rice & Fire-Roasted Corn Fiesta Nutritious whole grains and colorful vegetables in delicious combinations. Eclectic menu, youFreshSimplotsay?Harvest™Avocados A premium topping that you can upcharge for.CompanySimplotJ.R.©2022 potatoes | avocados | fruits | vegetables | grains Get a FREE sample and recipe ideas at www.simplotfoods.com
W ith supply change challenges and a chance to reset menus as their inrestaurant patrons return, the na tion’s premier plant based show takes centerstage this month at the Javits Center in NYC. Plant Based World Expo (PBW), North America’s only 100% plantbased event -- designed exclusively for foodservice and retail profes sionals, distributors, investors, and manufacturers -- returns for the third time to New York September 8-9, 2022 at the Javits Center. PBW is the official trade show for the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), the pioneering trade association for plant-based food companies.
The show will feature aisles of new product innovations and solutions to taste. The educational track will enable attendees to become experts on plant-based food and help shape a healthier, more sustainable food system.Plant Based World Expo combines a world-class conference with an exhibition showcasing thousands of innovative plant-based food prod ucts and brands from around the world, plus high-level networking and tasting opportunities. More than 4,500 people are expected to attend thisThisyear.year’s opening keynote is Eve Turow-Paul, an author, globally-rec ognized thought leader, and founder and Executive Director of Food for Climate League. During her engag ing and informational session, From Functional Foods to Sourdough: The “Why” Behind Today’s Food & Life style Trends, Turow-Paul will discuss our shared human needs and how they shape food and lifestyle trends in the plant-based world and be yond. During the hour, Turow-Paul will walk through the connections between food choice, mental health, sustainability, and the impact of CO VID-19. Attendees will be introduced to a framework that will help them decipher not just past and present trends, but also anticipate the trends of tomorrow.
NEWS
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RESTAURANT AND FOODSERVICE PROFESSIONALS SET TO SOURCE PLANT BASED SOLUTIONS AT JAVITS EVENT PREVIEW
Building on a tremendously suc cessful 2021 event, this year prom ises to be even better with a larger expo floor space, double the number of sessions, the return of the Culi nary Theater, even more exhibitors from around the world, and groundbreaking plant-based products. “We’re thrilled to be heading back to New York for the third Plant Based World Expo! Our highly curated B2B event is the must-attend industry event for food service profession als, retailers, investors, buyers and brands to do business, learn and connect,” said Chris Nemchek, Gen eral Manager of Plant Based World Expo. “We look forward to offering important educational sessions and showcasing the latest plant-based products that will help companies excel in this exploding category, improve their bottom line and offer customers the very best in plantbased food options.”
“We look forward to offering important educational sessions and showcasing the latest plantbased products that will help companies excel in this exploding category, improve their bottom line and offer customers the very best in plant-based food options.” — Chris Nemchek continued on page 108
The Plant Based Show lineup will enable attendees to learn about the latest consumer trends, data, and research on plant-based foods.
EVENT
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A sampling of the high end culinary output from golf & country club chefs and mixologists include (L-R): Baby Octopus with Pickled Mustard Seeds, Garden Tomato Pico, Compressed Watermelon, Crispy Plantain and Petit Greens, recipe by Anthony Capua, Executive Chef at Sycamore Hills Golf Club, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Campfire Old Fashioned , recipe by Jeremy Bland, Mixologist at The Club at Carl ton Woods, The Woodlands, Texas; and Raspberry Tesseract with Raspberry Syrup, Raspberry Mousse, Raspberry Macaron, Raspberry Jam, Buttercream and Jaconde Sponge, recipe by Mike Trabel, Executive Sous Chef at Sycamore Hills Golf Club, Fort Wayne, Indiana. continued on page 92
You will learn all facets of culinary operations from breakfast, lunch, fine dining, wine dinners, tournaments, events, and banquets. You will be able to give input and ideas if you find the right club. The club life brings some challenges with the current staff short ages, but what you will find if you are the right personality type is a second home that will help you to succeed in your career. Will I be fairly compensated at a club?
PRIVATE CLUB INSIGHTS is the President of Golf Kitchen Magazine. She has traveled to 48 countries searching for the finest culi nary teams in the Private Golf and Country Club Industry. The Golf Kitchen portfolio includes a 568-page coffee table book, a bi-annual magazine, the Golf Kitchen Culinary Excel lence Awards and Invitational at GlenArbor Golf Club, and the new Certification of Culi nary Excellence. She resides in Stamford, Connecticut.
THE BENEFITS OF A F&B CAREER IN THE PRIVATE GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB INDUSTRY
I am noticing that the younger executive chefs in the business are learning about mixology and wines to better master menu creations. This knowledge is passed on to all interest ed in learning, staff or members. Wine brands are starting to take notice; what better-targeted market could you find if you are a smaller but presti gious wine brand?
The club indus try has come a long way in the last 12 years; no longer is it acceptable to have a mediocre culinary team. Having worked for NY Restaurant Insider in the 2000s, I learned a lot about the restaurant culture and what great days they were. It is sad to see that culture restructured during the pandemic.Privateclubs had to adapt as mem finding alternative places where they could meet with their friends. With this greater demand came a greater need for unique culinary experiences, and clubs excelled. Clubs were a great option they may have never consid ered before 2020.
Will I have any opportunity for awards, or accolades? At GlenArbor Golf Club in Bedford Hills, we have created several new industry initiatives. We have the an nual Golf Kitchen Culinary Excellence Awards, The Wine Program Award, and a Private Club-targeted Wine Review
WITH DIANA DELUCIA
Why work in a club?
What is so different at a club?
The pay is much higher at a private club with health benefits and other perks; many include staff housing or rental and gas allowances depending on the location. Career advancement opportunities are available if you seek them. Many chefs study to become club managers, which in turn contin ues to improve the culinary culture.
I am interested in a career in wine and mixology is there a place for me at a private club? Mixologists and sommeliers now have a new field for career advance ment nationwide. With the influx of new and younger members comes the demand for artisan cocktails and fine wines. Wine dinners are the lat est must-have at the club, wine lists are being overhauled, and the need for a club wine director or sommelier is growing. Members’ demand for high er quality wines and wine education is driving this.
Isn’t that where chefs go to retire?
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MEDITERRANEAN MENU TRENDS
Little did I know that those flowers would become the eggplant I loved so much!Asthey grew into the eggplant, my family would never let my siblings or me eat the flesh closest to the stems, because they told us it was poisonous. As it turns out, nightshades contain alkaloids, including solanine, which can be toxic. Solanine protects these plants while they are still develop ing, which is why the concentration of it can be found near the stem. The good news is that solanine is only toxic when consumed in large quantities, but many people are sensitive to its presence which is one of the reasons for people’s nightshade intolerances. Eggplant Origins Though eggplant is not a native plant of Greece, it arrived sometime between the 12th and 13th centuries after coming through the Middle East from India and China. It is unclear which varietal was the original to come to Greece, as many varietals ex ist today in all different shapes, sizes, and color variations, including a few that are especially Greek!
• White/Albino Eggplant – there are multiple varieties of these found throughout the world, but none as sought after as the Santorini White Eggplant from Greece – these are sweet, with thin skin and gorgeous seeds.You can check out The Life of Loi on PBS, where I make the most amaz ing melitzanosalata (eggplant salad) with Chef Asterios at the Hotel Grande Bretagne with the Santorini White Eggplants….absolutely incredible! All of these varietals have their own unique character and best suggested uses, but the truth is, you can do any
• Japanese Eggplant – similar to Chinese eggplant, but with a deeper, darker purple hue, and subtly sweet flesh.
WITH CHEF MARIA LOI
EGGPLANT – THE ULTIMATE BOTANICAL BERRY
• Italian Eggplant – similar in aes thetic to the American globe variety, but a little smaller and sweeter.
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Variety is the Spice of Life Eggplant varietals available today include:•Globe/American Eggplant – the traditional larger purple eggplant, a kitchen staple and workhorse.
• Graffiti Eggplant – similar pat terning to fairytale eggplant, but larger in size; the thin skin and lesser seed count make these a great kitchen staples, much like the globe variety.
• Indian Eggplant – very petite in nature, sometimes called baby egg plant, these look like plums or cherries with a deep purple, ruby-ish color and are wonderful for slow cooking.
H
Chef Maria Loi is an Entrepre neur, Greek Food Ambassador and Healthy Lifestyle Guru. The author of more than 36 cookbooks, she is also the host of The Life of Loi, debuted on PBS in 2021, which aims to build an inspirational and edu cational movement around the Mediterranean diet and life style. Her Loi Food Products, a specialty brand built on tradi tional ingredients from Greece, includes pastas, beans, botani cal herbs, refrigerated dips, honey and olive oil sold on QVC, at Whole Foods Markets and in other stores. The name sake of Loi Estiatorio in the heart of Manhattan, she also has the Loi Specialty Shop at The Plaza Hotel (open through January 2023) Connect with her on LinkedIn, follow her on Instagram and Facebook, and learn more about her food phi losophy at loiestiatorio.com/ chef-loi/. continued on page 64 Eggplants Growing in Village in Greece (Photo by Giannis Giannakopoulos)
• Sicilian Eggplant – sweet and hearty at the same time, sometimes known as Rosa Bianco eggplants, these are devoid of the usual ‘bitter ness’ found in eggplants across the world.•Holland Baby Eggplant – similar to Italian eggplant but smaller – though not as small as Indian eggplant, these are great for roasting and stuffing.
ard to believe, but it’s al ready September – for some, a new school year com mences, for others it’s the beginning of the new year, but for all in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the beginning of the end of beautiful sum mer produce. When I think of sum mertime, I think of all the gorgeous fruits and vegetables available during the hot weather … squash, watermel on, stone fruit, and of course berries come to mind, like … eggplant? YES! It always amuses me to know that eggplant, though treated as a vegeta ble in the culinary world, is actually a botanical berry! As a member of the nightshade family, it shares qualities with both tomatoes and potatoes: to matoes in that you can eat the seeds and the skin; potatoes in that they are better eaten when cooked. Childhood Wonder When I was little, I used to skip through our garden, collecting all the purple flowers because I loved the color and thought they were so pretty!
• Fairytale Eggplant – beautiful with purple and white stripes, not big ger than the palm of a hand, with a sweet, tender flesh.
• Chinese Eggplant – long and lean, with a brighter purple skin, and fewer seeds in the flesh.
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A culinary staple throughout the world, eggplant is a wonderful absorb er of flavor, and fantastic meat substi tute. Hearty, yet delicate, it’s a fantas tic complement or star of the plate. When roasted and pureed, it adds a luscious, luxurious mouthfeel to any sauce or dish to which it’s added. Use it for appetizers, as the focal point of an entrée, a substantive side, or even a condiment! In fact, in Greece, we even make something called glyka (spoon dessert) with baby in Greek Cuisine
eggplants! Eggplant
No matter what you call an eggplant (first referred to as such in the 1750’s in Europe because they looked like goose eggs growing in plant form) – be it melitzana, melinzana, aubergine, brinjal, or badinjan – this magical purple plant is sure to transform your epicurean dreams into reality!
Moussaka - Eggplant Casserole from page 62
Chef Loi and Chef Asterios making Melitzanosalata for The Life of Loi on PBS
Papoutsakia - Stuffed Eggplant topped with Anthotyro Cheese at Loi Estiatorio
koutaliou
Quintessential dishes in Greek cui sine include moussaka, a gorgeous, layered eggplant casserole with slow cooked ground beef and bechamel (which I make with olive oil instead of butter), papoutsakia, or stuffed eggplant (this can be with meat, but I prefer a vegetable medley), melit zanosalata, or eggplant salad, and varkoules, eggplant boats which are deliciously roasted eggplant halves dressed with tomato paste, feta and freshAcrossherbs.the globe, you can find egg plant in every cuisine, from Indian curries, to miso glazed eggplant in Japan, to Chinese stir fry, to eggplant parmesan, to a wonderful Italian ca ponata – the culinary possibilities are endless. Good and Good for You When it comes to eggplant, beyond the culinary versatility, the nutritional and health benefits are vast – high in vitamins A and C, as well as anti oxidants known as polyphenols (the same as those that make olive oil good for you!). Eggplant is also great for di gestion, blood sugar control, and low ering the risk of heart disease!
64 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com thing with any eggplant! A Kitchen Workhorse
What’s in a Name?
MARIA LOI
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 65
Sadly, scenarios like this play out all the time, and there is only so much a customer will put up with before they start to look for higher quality foodservice options. Hot food that is freshly prepared is ex actly what keeps people coming back time and time again. So, own ers and operators have to ask them selves, How do I put out a profitable, made to order menu? Well, for starters, you have to de termine what exactly you want on your menu. Just about everything tastes better when it is made to or der. French fries, onion rings, pani nis, nachos, and fried chicken sand wiches are just a few examples. Once you have decided what you want to put out, you can start to think about how to execute your menu. Which leads us to the next thing you will want to turn your atten tion towards, kitchen equipment. To execute hot and fresh offerings you need commercial appliances that were built for the job. Here, at MTI we take great pride in the qual ity and capabilities of our automatic deep-fryers and high-speed ovens. And we have learned that some times, the best things come in small packages. Both our smallest oven, the MultiChef XS and our smallest double basket fryer, the AutoFry Mini C really work their magic when it comes to preparing food to order. Both are easy to operate and fit con veniently in just about any location. Simply plug in and start serving! AutoFry is the automated and fully enclosed deep-fryer that does the work of a fry cook for you, all while keeping your employees out of harm’s way. Our MultiChef ovens are fast and economical, cutting cook times by more than 80%. Each oven is equipped with convection, rapid impinged air, precision mi crowave, and constructed of highquality stainless steel with a unique removable catalytic converter. Un like traditional ovens, the MultiChef line is easy to operate and built to last. And did we mention all of our equipment is ventless? No need to spend $30,000.00 or more on a hood system. That’s right, No hoods? No vents? No problem! The future of foodservice is here, let us be the source for your ventless kitchen solutions! Head to www. mtiproducts.com today to learn more!
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HOT & FRESH: MADE TO ORDER MAGIC WITH MULTICHEF & AUTOFRY RESTAURANT OPERATIONSNEWS
W
e’ve all been there. Your strapped for time, headed back to the office on your lunch break, or to the kids’ teeball practice, but still need to grab something to eat. So, you stop at the first place you see serving food. You make your way to the counter or drive-thru and place your order. Once payment has been made you are presented with your food and are quickly on your way. But, to your disappointment, the fries are soggy, or the pizza slice is practically card board. A classic case of food that sat around for far too long before being served to the unsuspecting patron.
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CHEF COLE CAPRIONI ROCCO’S AT THE BRICK, PA
NEWTOWN,
O
The Bucks County, PA eatery is named after Chef Caprioni’s 6-yearold son Rocco. “I grew up around res taurants. The school bus used to drop me off last at the restaurant where my mom was working. I kinda grew up on a barstool. I used to bug the bartend ers for quarters to play Mr. Do and Arkanoid. With a father who has been with the same family-owned candy maker for over 30 years and a mother who has held nearly every restaurant position from waitress and host to manager and bartender, Chef Cole was destined for a culinary career. The guys in the kitchen used to let me drop my own mozzarella sticks in the fryer and help make side salads. I was hooked. I loved everything about be ing in the kitchen. So, I knew I wanted to be a chef from a very young age.” Knowing from such a young age that he wanted to cook, Chef Cole opted for his high school’s 4-year vo cational program, designed to pre pare him with the fundamentals for culinary life, complete with a publicly open restaurant and long days of prep work. Hired right out of the program, Chef Cole went to work in some very unique and demanding kitchens, in cluding nearly 10 years with Nord strom’s restaurant division where he had the opportunity to open up and remodelApplyinglocations.thatknowledge of what it takes to get a restaurant off the ground from nothing has been put to good use as Chef Cole and his partners opened Rocco’s at the Brick. When he received a phone call out of the blue asking if he wanted to open a restaurant from his partner Alex Mastoris, who had recently sold his renowned diner and at the time was retired, he was a little reluctant.Eventually, Chef Cole cooked for Mastoris, impressing him and his partners with the food and his menu
68 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com Article by The Chefs’ Warehouse
pen since 1763, there is simply no denying the his tory that is built within the walls at the Brick. If there is one thing they want their guests to remember, it’s this: Whether dining in, carrying out or being entrusted to host a special event, at Rocco’s, family always comes first. From first dates to celebrating a job promotion, or wed ding anniversary Rocco’s mission is to “share it with us once, share it for a lifetime.” The Keystone State eatery’s goal is to create memorable moments that guests will carry for a lifetime.
“Our menus have been created, from their roots, with thoughtfully sourced ingredients and drink pair ings that feed not only the belly - but the soul,” explained Executive Chef Cole Caprioni. “Our dining options reflect our commitment to honoring those meaningful moments - both big and small - in your life. When you throw an event at Rocco’s, you can rest assured that we’ll take care of you. We’ve developed several special event packages for parties of all sizes and styles. Whether you are planning a small executive luncheon for 15 or a special family celebration for 100, we promise you a dining experience you’ll remember for a lifetime.”
Executive Chef Cole Caprioni
One of Rocco’s signature dishes is their Long Island Duck Confit with Mushroom-Leek Bread Pudding, Creamed Sweet Peas with Bacon, and Cherry Agrodolce
continued on page 92
CHEFS’ HIGHLIGHTS
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 69 METICULOUSLY AGED AND HAND-CUT BY MASTER BUTCHERS © 2021 The Chefs Warehouse, Inc. All Rights Reserved Shop Online: allenbrothers.com - or - For Chefs: chefswarehouse.com
Street.Wecan
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FROM THE NYC HOSPITALITY ALLIANCE
Last month, after years of delay over the federal environmental re view, the Metropolitan Transpor tation Authority (MTA) began ac cepting public comments on their congestion pricing proposal to charge vehicles between $9 and $23 to enter Manhattan below 60th appreciate the stated goal of raising $1 billion a year for new transit projects and improvements. Our restaurant employees depend on the subway to get to their jobs ev ery day, and so many of our custom ers use public transportation too. We also understand the desire to reduce traffic congestion and emis sions. But now, so early in our city’s pandemic recovery it is not the time to implement this hefty new fee. Delivery trucks carrying the prod ucts restaurants purchase must en ter the congestion zone, they can’t opt to deliver food products using the subway, so they’ll pay the fee.
CONGESTION PRICING IN NYC, I THINK I HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE
Andrew Rigie is the Execu tive Director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, a trade association formed in 2012 to foster the growth and vitality of the industry that has made New York City the Hospitality Capital of the World.
Again, ultimately that Congestion Pricing fee will end up on the plates of the restaurants and their patrons.
any of our restaurants are still struggling from nearly three years of COVID challenges and the thought of yet another financial burden doesn’t sit well with many small business owners.
The plumber driving to a restaurant south of 60th Street to fix kitchen equipment will pay the fee. We’ve investigated and tried overnight deliveries as an option, but unfor tunately it hasn’t worked very well for restaurants and suppliers for various reasons. Ultimately, these delivery trucks need to enter the zone during peak times, so charging them will not reduce their vehicle usage or emissions and they’ll pass on the congestion fee to their res taurant customers, just like the fuel surcharges many businesses are already paying. Many customers also take yel low taxis and for-hire vehicles into the congestion zone to dine at res taurants and drink at bars. Perhaps they’re all dressed up on a rainy night and don’t want to take the train, or they’re not comfortable do ing so at night. So now, in addition to the fare and $2.75 congestion fee customers already pay, they must pay another $12 congestion fee. Will it deter them from vis iting the area to spend money and support lo cal businesses? Maybe this helps the bar in Brooklyn get a few more customers who opt not to take a taxi and pay the fee, but will it hurt the bartender who lives in Brooklyn and bartends at the restaurant in mid town
PRESENTED BY:
administrationdelayeditshethenbergwhenwasCongestionManhattan?pricingdiscussedbackMichaelBloomwasmayorandlaterpassedwhenwasoutofoffice,butimplementationwasbytheTrumpandthe pandemic. Now it has returned in the form of seven different propos als from the MTA. Our suggestion is that the Transit Mobility Review Board continue to hear everybody’s perspectives on all sides of the issue, which they’ve been doing through a series of public hearings, and then table these proposals and imple mentation of the fee for the time being until our city and industry gets back on its feet. Funding public transportation, reducing traffic and emission are all laudable and we support them, and we should work towards them through various po lices, but now is not the time to add another fee that will make it more expensive to operate a small busi ness in Manhattan or for people to dine out at restaurants. On a more celebratory note, we can join us at the NYC Hospital ity Alliance’s upcoming 10th Anni versary Celebration on September 19th. We look forward to seeing you and please find me and say event/10th-anniversary/https://www.thenycalliance.org/hello!
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THE LAKE LAW FIRM OFFERS SIMPLE ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT’S TAX PROGRAM
How often are we simply amazed and left wondering: “how didn’t I know about that”? Once again that is in fact true with a $50 billion Federal government payment program that has absolutely no strings attached.
The Lake Law Firm is a team of pro fessionals that specialize in maximiz ing the benefits of the ERTC for small operations. Lake Law practices litiga tion from motor vehicle accidents to large pharmaceutical incidents, but after stumbling upon the ERTC pro gram, they added a new category to their gamut of expertise. “We dug into IRS guidelines and found that if you can find a cause-and-effect relation ship between the government orders or the shutdown, and your ability to make money, you can make a claim,” Melchionni, of Lake Law explained. “The simple math to do is, take your employee headcount during covid —the last three Quarters of ‘20, and the first three of ‘21— multiply it by $16,000 and that’s roughly what you can expect to recover.”
One of the nation’s pre-eminent pro small business legal firms: Lake Law has stepped to the plate to help small businesses continue their recovery from the challenges of the Pandemic.
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“Once the money is received, the owner of the business is free to allocate it however they see fit.” — Lee Melchionni
The Lake Law team has created a simple portal to help restaurant and foodservice operators access funds from the Employee Retention Tax Credit“The(ERTC)beauty of this program is that the funds are in fact a payment from the government and require absolute ly no payback of any kind,” noted Lake Law’s Lee Melchionni, The ERTC program was created with an understanding that the nations’ small businesses and restaurants are dealing with multiple obstacles in cluding from supply chain issues to insuring the safety of their returning workforce and patrons. “These ad justments to the pandemic forced res taurant and small business owners to adapt their management habits – and likely their finances too,” Melchionni added.Many small business owners took advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help keep their busi nesses afloat during the shut-down. However, the lesser-known Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) is an ini tiative with similar benefits (no-pay back of funds).
Lake Law has also made the pro cess risk free for the business owner. The restaurateur fills out a simple sur vey and then the Lake law team file the claim a small business can make through the ERTC. Lake Law is paid through a 25% contingency fee, and if a business doesn’t qualify after work ing with Lake Law, nothing is owed to theLakefirm.Law also brings a unique per spective to assisting with the ERTC fil ing and funding process. In addition, if the IRS ever audits your business based on this claim, Lake Law will defend you for free. “The best-case scenario is a large check from IRS, the worst case is that you lose a few minutes out of your life,” Melchionni added.Even if a business previously ap plied for and received a PPP loan, they are still eligible to gain the ERTC as well. This program was designed as a tax credit, to give back to small busi nesses —under roughly 500 work ers— for keeping employees on their payroll during Covid-19. “As long as you have at least five non-owner, nonfamily member W-2 employees, sign up, let us go through the process,” Melchionni said. The loan is entirely forgiven too, with the only future pay ment necessary being the taxes from the income. The program also has a one very different and positive differ ence from the PPP program. “Once the money is received, the owner of the business is free to allocate it how ever they see fit.” As the industry settles back in and welcomes is dining patrons again, there can be a tendency to lose track of time. With that, the program is available to small businesses retroac tively; for the year 2020, until April of 2024, and for 2021, until April of 2025. With an understanding of just how busy restaurateurs can get, The Lake Law access to ERTC program has been built with an understanding that hospitality operators are under tremendous time constraints to be ing face to face with their customers and staff. “Rather than just applying yourself, Lake Law offers a no pressure approach to help recover the most for you. There’s no downside. You can sleep well at night knowing, our team has your back.” After applying and being eligible for the compensation, it typically takes about five months for the IRS to send the payment through. “It’s an incredi ble program, it’s working. We’ve signed up over a thousand companies, and we’ve gotten a couple hundred paid,” Melchionni added. Although there were a lot of set backs hurled at small businesses during Covid, government programs like the ERTC are in place to alleviate those issues. The Law Lake Firm goes a step further to help businesses ac cess these programs and stay focused on what they do best. For more information on how to contact The Lake Law Firm, go to https://ertcadvisors.org/ or call (800) 222-9000.
CREDIT
“This program is really about the gov ernment recognizing the hard-work ing small business owner that battled to stay open during the pandemic and most importantly to keep their staff on the payroll,” Melchionni continued.
FINANCING OPPORTUNITIES
By Zac Kitay
NEWS
In March of 2020, under the Federal Cares act, the government developed the ERTC to help small businesses fi nance the employment of their staff.
September 2022 73 19th ANNUAL FOOD SHOW19th ANNUAL FOOD SHOW i n v i t e s y o u t o o u r W e d n e s d a y , O c t o b e r 1 9 , 2 0 2 2 f r o m 1 2 6 p m J o i n u s a t T e r r a c e o n t h e P a r k i n F l u s h i n g M e a d o w s C o r o n a P a r k . P l e a s e P r e R e g i s t e r b y c a l l i n g : ( 7 1 8 ) 3 7 8 1 1 2 2 F o r M o r e I n f o r m a t i o n Scan the QR Code:
H&H BAGELS CELEBRATES
SCOOP learned that through the week of Sep tember 9, H&H Bagels, an iconic New York City brand since 1972, is celebrating 50 years of serv ing authentic New York City bagels and schmears of cream cheese by conducting giveaways and of fering exclusive merch to loyal customers includ ing throwback 50th anniversary T-shirts, mugs, andThemore.iconic bagel company began with a single location on the Upper West Side, one of Manhat tan’s quintessential neighborhoods, and has now expanded to five locations throughout the New York City area, including the Upper East Side, JFK Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and most recently, Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station. When H&H Bagels opened their doors 50 years ago, custom ers had the option of choosing from a simple se lection of bagels. Today’s menu includes a variety of premium, fresh-baked bagels daily and highquality sandwich offerings including the classic Bacon, Egg, and Cheese. Most recently, the legendary bagel establish ment has expanded from a bagel shop to a na tional franchise brand – broadening their inno vative fast casual bagel concept to new markets across the nation. The H&H Bagels franchise op portunity provides a business platform with turn key operations, premium products, an attractive menu, strong consumer demand, all with an icon ic brand that has been a leader in the category for 50 years.
PINT FOR A PINT - NEW YORK BLOOD CENTER
SCOOP heard it’s the perfect balance of na ture’s honey and cinnamon sugar in a one-of-akind beehive shape. Butterball Farms Honey with Cinnamon Sugar Butter Hive perfectly pairs with breakfast, breads, pancakes, waffles, and pas tries or easily elevates your lunch or dinner menu when added to vegetables, pork, or dessert. Avail able at Dot Foods or contact your local distribu tor for more information. Request a free sample today at https://bit.ly/3RbXzIO
BUYERS EDGE ARROWSTREAMACQUIRES
NEW HONEY + CINNAMON SUGAR BUTTER HIVE FROM BUTTERBALL ® FARMS
74 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com NEW YORK STATE RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL RISE AWARDS
SCOOP heard that Buyers Edge Platform, a digi tal procurement platform with over $20 billion in total foodservice spend, has acquired Arrow Stream, a provider of supply chain management software-as-a-service.“Weareobsessedwith bringing data intelli gence to foodservice customers and partners to make their jobs easier and more successful,” John Davie, Buyers Edge Platform CEO. “Adding Arrow continued on page 76
50TH YEARS OF SERVING PREMIUM NEW YORK CITY BAGELS
INSIDER NEWS FROM THE FOODSERVICE + HOSPITALITY SCENESCOOP Do you have the SCOOP on any foodservice and hospitality news?
Send items to SCOOP Editor Joyce Appelman at tfs@totalfood.com
Butterball Farms Honey with Cinnamon Sugar Butter Hive
SCOOP heard the news that the New York State Restaurant Association announced the inaugu ral Restaurant Industry Spotlight on Excellence (RISE) Awards to recognize the resilience and ingenuity of the restaurant industry. After more than two years of unprecedented challenges, the awards will serve as a tribute to the hard work and dedication that has sustained the restaurant in dustry. Nominations are now being accepted and the winners will be announced at the RISE Awards Ceremony at Turning Stone Casino on November 14, thethatofnualtablishawardsThethetonowhalfpastgritnacitycrediblehasrant“The2022.restauindustryshowninteandoverthetwoandyears,andisthetimereflectontriumphs.inauguralwillesananeveningcelebrationwillbringindustrytogether to highlight the victories of the year. From Brooklyn to Buffalo, we look for ward to recognizing restaurants and their beloved employees,” said Melissa Fleischut, President and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association. The RISE Awards will include the following categories: Best Restaurant, Community Impact, Best Front of House Team, Best Back of House Team, MVP, and Most Innovative. All restaurants and staff across New York State are eligible for these awards. The winners will be announced at the RISE Awards ceremony onMonday, November 14, at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York.
SCOOP heard that through September 10, when you make a blood donation to the New York Blood Center, you will receive a voucher to redeem for a pint of beer, cider, wine, or soft drink at your local participating brewery. Support your favor ite brewery and help save a life! Learn more https://www.nybc.org/donate-blood/pint-pint/at
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DREXEL UNIVERSITY OFFERS NEW CERTIFICATE IN FOOD INNOVATION
SCOOP discovered that Drexel University is of fering a new Certificate in Food Innovation and the program is open to the community, not just students.Students in this certificate program have the opportunity to learn food and nutrition and en trepreneurship content didactically as well as to gain practical experience incubating their ideas in both the Drexel Food Lab and Laurence A. Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship. The pro gram reinforces the importance of food product and systems innovation and entrepreneurship in ensuring a sustainable, healthy, accessible and inclusive food supply for current and future gen erations--a critical pillar of the College of Nursing and Health Professions focus on health equity. The certificate can be taken on its own or as an adjunct to degree studies in business, entrepre neurship, nutrition, hospitality, or related fields. Credits earned in this program can be applied to the MS in Entrepreneurship & Innovation and MS in Food Science as well as other programs at Drexel in consultation with an academic advisor.
In addition to its mentoring work with the EMS DC and SCMSDC, Aramark also partners with the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. (Chicago MSDC) for the Progress, Insight & Performance Education program for M/WBEs. This eight-week, advanced business management program provides participants with the skills and knowledge needed to optimize their business.
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In the US, Aramark’s annual spend with small businesses and diverse suppliers exceeded $592 million in FY2021, including approximately $300 million with M/WBEs. Nearly 6,000 jobs are sup ported through Aramark’s supplier diversity spend, with $950 million of total economic im pact attributed to the company’s Supplier Diver sity program in FY21. To learn about how Aramark is growing with small, local, and diverse suppliers, please visit Aramark.com. If you are a small or diverse owned company, and would like to work with Aramark, please visit the Aramark Supplier Diversity Regis tration Portal.
INSIDER NEWS, from page 74SCOOP continued on page 78
Stream’s leading SaaS solutions expands our endto-end product offering and enhances our visibil ity into our combined network.” ArrowStream’s software, which addresses chal lenges in brand protection, supply monitoring, profitability optimization and sales growth across the foodservice supply chain, connects over 1,200 distributor locations, 10,000 suppliers and 275 brands across 105,000 restaurant locations on a single platform for collaboration. Users include Shake Shack, QSCC, Qdoba Mexican Eats, Coffee & Bagel Brands, Subway, Focus Brands and Inter national Dairy Queen.
The three-month Centers of Excellence (COE) mentoring program with EMSDC and SCMSDC will match Aramark executives and volunteers from Aramark’s employee resource groups (ERGs) with nine minority/women business enterprises (M/WBEs) from Pennsylvania, southern New Jer sey, Delaware, and southern California for busi ness skills training, best practices sharing, execu tive coaching sessions, and more. The objective of the COE is for Aramark leaders and volunteers to share their knowledge to help M/WBEs grow professionally and personally. By doing this, Aramark is creating a stronger supply chain, supporting the growth of minority busi nesses, enhancing opportunities for diverse sup pliers, developing results-focused coaching, and mentoring relationships between Aramark execu tive coaches and program mentees.
The free guide offers practical advice, tools, re sources (including funding resources), and case studies, and is available at plastics.org/restaurant-guide.https://www.beyond
Aramark announced the start of its second mentoring cohort with the Eastern Minority Sup plier Development Council (EMSDC) and South ern California Minority Supplier Development Council (SCMSDC), continuing its support of small businesses and businesses owned and op erated by minorities, women, and other diverse populations.Aramarkhas a longstanding commitment of partnering with small, diverse suppliers to drive customer satisfaction and local economic impact.
SCOOP learned that Beyond Plastics released a new (free) guide to help restaurants reduce their use of plastic in the front and back of the house, communicate these changes to improve custom er loyalty and attract new diners, find funding to help cover start-up costs of reusable dish and take-out ware, and even save money.
BEYOND PLASTICS RELEASES
ARAMARK INCREASES SUPPORT OF MINORITYOWNED BUSINESSES WITH CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE MENTORING COHORTS
“Aramark’s commitment to working with small businesses and businesses owned and operated by minorities, women, and other diverse popu lations is key to forming strategic relationships that provide more culturally authentic products, increase value for our clients, and foster local eco nomic impact,” said Natily Santos, Vice President of Responsible Sourcing at Aramark. “Supporting M/WBE mentoring opportunities is an essential supply chain initiative that contributes greatly to our sustainability, community relations, and di versity and inclusion goals.”
FREE GUIDE TO HELP RESTAURANTS REDUCE THEIR USE OF PLASTIC
Aramark’s Be Well. Do Well. sustainability plan starts with people and includes a goal of enabling equity and well-being for millions, including the company’s employees, consumers, communities, and people in its supply chain. The company’s robust supply chain already includes more than 4,600 small businesses and other diverse suppli ers or subcontractors, including 1,505 supplier relationships with M/WBEs across the enterprise.
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 77 Hold the date for next year’s Expo - September 20, 2023 All businesses welcome to attend Free admission 200+ exhibitors Product Refreshmentsdemos ThousandsSeminars of products on display Find new products from industry leading manufacturers Foodservice Packaging Janitorial Supplies Restroom ChemicalsSupplies IndustrialEquipmentPackaging GreensafeScanProductsorregister ImperialDade.comat MOVING FORWARD 2 0 2 2 Meadowlands Expo Center 355 Plaza Drive | Secaucus, NJ 07094 September 21, 2022 9am-3:30pm
• Don Rodrigo Duarte working with his own NEWS, from page 76 continued on page 94
SCOOP
The list of 2022 Chefs, Craft Butchers and Whole Animal Specialists who will be competing includes:•BretLunsford and the team from Blue Smoke
For more information about Restaurantology, visit restaurantologysummit.com.
EVENTS IN NEW YORK: PIG ISLAND
Savory Fund 2022 winners: Houston-based Saigon Hustle Chef attendees at the previous year’s Pig Island event on Staten Island
• Matt Fisher, Queens Custom Barbecue
The all-inclusive daylong snout-to-tail celebra tion includes more than 20 chefs, all competing for Best in Show, Best Whole Hog, and other priz es. Back again is Hot Sauce Alley featuring Coney Island Saucery, Rocket Fuel Hot Sauce, Bayou Gotham Hot Sauce, and Xilli Salsa, to keep things spicy.The bar and beverage menu boasts eight drink stations including craft beer from Flagship Brew ery, Six Point and Killsboro; hard cider; a Whis key Tent featuring Laphroaig, Makers Mark, and Knob Creek; NY State spirits to sample including Fort Hamilton Distillery, and Upstate Vodka; local wine from RGNY of the North Fork.
• Pork Mafia Street Crew featuring Phil Wingo, Mario DiBiase (Sotto Voce Restaurant) collab with visiting Chef @nola crawfish king bbq (New Or leans) and Olchefski’s BBQ (Ohio) cooking whole hogs at Pig Beach BBQ
SAVORY FUND TO INVEST $1 MILLION INTO HOUSTONBASED RESTAURANTFAST-CASUAL
On September 10th, the region’s most celebrat ed pitmasters will converge on the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden on Staten Island, an 83-acre outdoor historic property, for the 13th Pig Island, produced by Jimmy Carbone.
SCOOP heard that from steep competition of over 240 applicants across the East and West coast, Savory Fund announced Saigon Hustle as the winner of its Million Dollar Restaurant Launch opportunity.Lastfall,Savory Fund announced a one-of-akind opportunity called the Million Dollar Res taurant Launch, to award an inspiring restaurant entrepreneur the resources to launch their con cept or scale to their second location. With their $1 million investment ready, Savory Fund has identified Houston-based Saigon Hustle as the winner. The innovative fast-casual restau rant serves up healthy, locally sourced Vietnam ese classics, such as Bahn Mí sandwiches, rice bowls, vermicelli (noodle) bowls, and signature Saigon crêpe rolls. Saigon Hustle was founded by Cassie Ghaffar and Sandy Nguyen, co-owners and best friends who met at the University of Houston. After suc cessfully launching other business ventures, the duo eventually reunited to create their experien tial fast-casual concept. Coming from a city that is a rich environment for Vietnamese restaurants, Ghaffar and Nguyen are looking to bring the be loved flavor profile from Houston to markets across the U.S. in a fun and approachable format including drive-thru, digital and frictionless pick up options, as well as dine-in.
INSIDER
• Mike Lapi, SUNY Cobleskill
• Cenobio Canalizo, Morgan’s Brooklyn BBQ
Multiple vendors from the restaurant industry have joined Savory in advancing restaurant entre preneurship. Thanx, a data-driven guest engage ment and digital loyalty platform, strongly be lieves in the need to help the next wave of young brands and has offered to support the winners and provide services at no cost for the brand’s first 20 units. 86 Repairs, a technology platform that enables restaurateurs to seamlessly manage repairs and maintenance, will also provide sup port at no cost. Ghaffar and Nguyen will share their story on stage and receive their $1 million from Savory Fund at the equity firm’s fourth annual sum mit – Restaurantology 2022. This summit is put on by operators – for operators and has no cost to attend. Savory Fund covers 100% of the cost to share tips, tricks, and information on how to scale any concept from 2-20 units and beyond.
• Jase Franklin, Jase’s BBQ
For the fifth year in a row, the event’s community partner is the Friends of Firefighters, Inc., and will feature Firehouse Chef Nick Bavaro, winner of the 2022 Brisket King NYC People’s Choice Award.
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he pandemic shifted cus tomer expectations of cleanliness – they want to see visible signs that the establishment takes their health and well-being seriously, including see ing workers cleaning surfaces. One of the companies supporting the ef forts of ensuring a safe and hygienic operational environment is GOJO, This “family enterprise,” is the par ent company of the PURELL brand, boasting an impressive portfolio of environmentally-certified products.
One such is the PURELL Food service Surface Sanitizing flow pack wipes recently introduced to the market that reduces the sanitiz ing steps traditionally followed in the foodservice space, while still maintaining an effective clean. “We were really excited to intro duce flow packs this year. It is a unique product that offers an unprecedented combina tion of powerful germ kill and PURELL peace of mind. We know that in this market, la bor continues to be a key chal lenge and flow packs are all about productivity and sim plicity. It’s a very convenient portable one-use product that doesn’t require any gloving by the employee and can be used to quickly clean up and sani tize the tables without any risk of cross-contamination,” says Jessica McCoy, GOJO’s Chief Solutions Officer. McCoy added that these sanitizing wipes have the EPA’s lowest allowable toxicity rat ing – Category 4, so they are “worry-free and effective as they are no-rinse food contact safe. So, you’ll have a fresh, clean table that’s ready for a child to sit down and eat their french fries right off the table. It’s simple and easy for the em ployee to do it right.” She added that “many of our hand sanitizers and soaps are Cradle to Cradle certified, which is the world’s most advanced standard for safe, circular, and responsible products.” But the innovation does not end there. GOJO has even crafted a light-up base for its’ PURELL hand sanitizer bottles. According to Mc Coy, GOJO was driven to develop these new products based on ob servations in establishments as operators strived to ensure the vis ibility of these products to a popu lation whose awareness of safe and effective sanitizing solutions was awakened and amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. “During the pandemic, we saw more hand sanitizer placed on table tops and at counters as food service operators sought ways to offer hand sanitizer in more places through out a facility. We noticed that loose bottles sometimes seemed a little cluttered. And so, the PURELL bot tle docks help that space feel more organized and keep the bottle in a consistent place. This way, it doesn’t get knocked over. Users know where to find it. I think it also serves as a reminder for the food service em ployee to replace it when it’s empty. The light-up functionality is also a little unique. When you press down the pump, the bottle lights up. So, it’s very engaging and may also provide a nice solution to an environment with darker ambient lighting.” McCoy said her company’s drive to develop advanced hygiene formu lations is supported by the findings of a recent survey which she said revealed a “shift in consumer and patron expectations. Eighty-four percent of people now expect to see hand sanitizer when they’re in pub lic, which is interesting. But what’s really interesting is that 77% of them expect it to be the PURELL brand. So, we know consumers want trust ed brands. They want a brand that’s recognized and backed by science and leadership and makes them feel more confident and comfortable in the environments that they’re engagingAcknowledgingin.” that “the pan demic created a greater emphasis on hand hygiene, so people are expect ing hand sanitizers to be available in
“It’s a very convenient portable one-use product that doesn’t require any gloving by the employee and can be used to quickly clean up and sanitize the tables without any risk of cross-contamination.”
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— Jessica McCoy Karen Jones
GOJO BRINGS PORTFOLIO OF SOLUTIONS TO NEW NORMAL CLEAN
GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONSNEWS continued on page 98 By
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“The most functional alternative to dairy cheese that meets the perfect trifecta of taste, texture, and melt.” — Kobi Regev
PLANT BASED SOLUTIONSNEWS
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on page
o the ever-growing world of vegan innovation comes PleeseFoods’s revolution ary vegan cheese substi tute Pleese Cheese. The genius of Kobi and Abev Regev, Pleese Cheese promises to perfectly replicate the taste and texture of pizza cheese without any dairy. It’s simple and friendly recipe has launched the once-small company into a prom ising new star of vegan fare. Now, with a promising new distribution deal in the mix, Pleese Cheese has its sights set on broader horizons. The brainchild of husband and wife duo Kobi and Abev Regev, Pleese Cheese’s conceptualization arose out of necessity. The couple, diehard New Yorkers and avid pizza connoisseurs, took a leap of faith and transitioned completely to a plant-based, vegan diet in 2014. What they missed most about their formerly omnivorous diets was the occasional slice of greasy, dairy-full New York pizza: “We’ve been New Yorkers longer than we’ve been veg ans,” Kobi explained on their web site. In an entrepreneurial spirit akin to The Big Apple’s, the couple launched Kobev’s (a portmanteau of their first names) Plant Based Pizza to resolve their disappointment with the lack of suitable cheese sub stitutes that could properly repli cate the taste and texture of a New York slice. Buoyed by success, high demand, and a drive to introduce the vegan lifestyle to a greater num ber of American households, Kobi and Abev founded PleeseFoods and redoubled their efforts to expand their cheese substitute franchise. What arose from the couple’s de termination to recreate the authen tic New York slice is Pleese Cheese, which is “the most functional alter native to dairy cheese that meets the perfect trifecta of taste, texture, and melt,” noted Regev. To pro duce such a remarkable and realis tic experience for both the eye and the palette, Kobi and Abev rely on a sophisticated blend of bean and potato proteins. But Pleese was not solely designed with just veg ans in mind – the non-dairy cheese also avoids common allergens such as soy, gluten, or nuts that often serve as primary ingredients in vegan cheese products, making it child and school safe. While Pleese Cheese was created with the vegan pizza market in mind, restaurateurs have found the product to be a suit able cheese substitute in a number of other dishes such as lasagna, egg plant milanese, and even quesadil las. Please Cheese is clearly a versa tile product that can be enjoyed by
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By Jackson Hart
PLEESE CHEESE SET FOR RETURN TO JAVITS AFTER YEAR OF CONSISTENT GROWTH
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THREE CONSIDERATIONS WHEN PLACING ART IN YOUR RESTAURANT
Article contributed by Newt GroverNEWS
he most important part of any great restaurant is the food, but food al ways tastes better when it is attached to a great ambiance. One of the best ways to add some color and life to your restaurant is to install some art fixtures in your dining space. Doing so can help restaurant owners craft a unique space with a hand-crafted piece of art. However, installing custom art pieces is not a simple task and a lot of thought and planning should go into the process before commis sioning an artist to complete the piece. As a glass artist with over 30 years of experience, I have created many unique art pieces for beau tiful restaurant spaces so I know what restaurant owners need to do to ensure the art they commis sion works for the space. Here are a few things to consider when work ing with an artist on restaurant artwork. Know your restaurant before you find your art Art should never be a distrac tion and always add to the flow and function of your restaurant. A restaurant owner cannot possibly know how an art piece can add to that function without a clear under standing of what their restaurant is. Make sure you understand the style and interior design of your res taurant before working with an artist on a custom art piece. This means knowing your menu, understanding the color scheme of your restaurant, and really knowing the type of res taurant you want to be. A large glass chandelier does not work for a fastcasual pizza shop but looks really great in a fancy steak house. An art piece of desert flora probably won’t make much sense in a seafood res taurant, but ocean-themed art ob viously does. It also helps to under stand the history of the building you work in and its architecture. These two things can provide a lot of ideas of what style of artwork you want in yourDorestaurant.nothirean artist before the in terior of your restaurant is complete. Many artists work off the energy of a space and you can’t really craft an art piece that seamlessly integrates with the space if you have no concept of what the restaurant looks like. Finish the rest of your interior design work before commissioning an artist. The artist and your interior design team should collaborate Your interior design team is going to intimately understand the lay out of your restaurant so naturally, it benefits you to have them work with the artist you hired. Allow both parties to occasionally sit down and collaborate on the art piece the artist is working on. Your interior design team can ensure the artist is mak ing a piece that works well with the space. They understand the layout of your restaurant so they can help the artist figure out where the piece should go, how big it should be, and what statement you are trying to make. Interior designers under stand the flow and function of your space so a good artist will consider their opinion when creating art for your restaurant. The art should make a statement The art in your restaurant should not distract your guest from the food, but the art you commission should still make a statement. I often recommend that restaurant owners should have some kind of statement piece at the entrance of their restaurant. You need some thing that lets the customer know how unique your restaurant is. The piece shouldn’t be an afterthought but it also should not overwhelm the space. The piece should draw the customers’ eye and make them comment on it. The statement piece is just another way to give diners a positive and memorable experience in addition to the food. Installing custom art in your res taurant is a great way to improve the ambiance of your restaurant. However, it is important that you, the artist, and your interior design team are working together to ensure the art is perfectly meshing with the flow and function of your restaurant space.
INTERIOR DESIGN STRATEGIES
Newt Grover is a glass artist and owner of Newt Glass in Scottsdale Arizona. Newt specializes in crafting hand-blown glass chandeliers and hand-blown glass art. Newt has com missioned many custom pieces for restaurants during his 30-year career as a glass artist.
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If you are looking to design a restau rant with the environment in mind, try to repurpose an existing structure instead of building something com pletely new.
Adaptive reuse is key to sustainability One of the biggest causes of waste in our society is waste caused by con struction. Demolishing old buildings and creating new ones means a lot of those materials end up in landfills. Most cities are full of old buildings such as warehouses that can be repur posed into Adaptiverestaurants.reuseisthedesign concept of reusing an existing structure and turning it into a new space. Using this method means restaurant owners can minimize the cost and waste of ma terials needed when building a new restaurant. By repurposing an existing building you are keeping demolished building materials from winding up in a landfill. Adaptive reuse often gives an undeserved building a new pur pose as your restaurant brings new life into the community you serve. The best part about adaptive reuse is that almost any prefab metal building can be repurposed into a dining space. For example, our design of Phoenix Ari zona brewery Roses by the Stairs was an adaptive reuse project. We trans formed a 70-year-old building that previously housed a costume shop into a modern-day brewery.
A sustainable restaurant seeks to keep the lighting cost at a minimum when ever possible while still maintaining a bright and enjoyable dining space. Natural light is one of the best ways to ensure you are designing a restau rant that conserves energy while maintaining a welllit dining room. Installing skylights throughout the restaurant, as well as de signing entrances that al low a lot of light to shine through are ways to utilize sunlight. Natural light al lows you to save energy while also integrates cus tomers with the environ ment around them. Creat ing a symbiosis between indoors and outdoors with seamless exits and en trances for indoor and outdoor diners allows for even more integration with the surrounding environment. When you do have to turn on the lights, installing lighting fixtures with a high Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rat ing (SEER) is a more sustainable way to light a Sustainabilityspace. is an important thing to consider when designing and build ing a restaurant. Having a sustainable space that helps improve the environ ment around us can help reduce cost to the restaurant owner in return The best part is that sustainable design does not mean you have to sacrifice designing a unique and premier din ing space.
Brian Laubenthal is the owner and principal architect at Aline Architec ture Concepts in Scottsdale, Arizona. Aline Architecture Concepts provides a complete suite of architectural services, but with a higher level of craft and un derstanding for the built environment. Learn more at https://www.madewith aline.com/
THREE TIPS TO DESIGN SUSTAINABLE RESTAURANTS
INTERIOR DESIGN STRATEGIES Brian Laubenthal
Article contributed by
NEWS
Many city governments support adaptive reuse projects and depend ing on your state and city you may receive some tax benefits or discounts on some processing fees.
the design focus to the entrance of a restaurant is one way to make an impact on customers as they walk into the space. Other areas that have less foot traffic can be then scaled back. Many restaurant own ers are surprised at how unique their space can look using minimalist fea tures while avoiding things such as super decorative ceilings and lighting features. Cutting down on some areas of your design can be beneficial to the environment as well as your budget as long as those changes stick with the integrity of your brand.
Use natural lighting and energyefficient lighting Keeping the lights on is a costly chal lenge for any restaurant owner. The electric bill at the end of the month is always going to be a big cost, especial ly if there’s wasted energy in the space.
86 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com When we think of a good taurantres experience, we usually think about high-quality food and a beautifully designed space. Those are extremely important qualities in the success of a restaurant, but it is also important to recognize that restaurants occupy a space in the environment and we can craft amazing experiences while keep ing that environment in mind. Sustainability in restaurant design is be coming more important and popular as patrons want spaces that conserve our resources and avoid creating un wanted waste. As experts in restau rant design, our architecture firm has created many sustainable restaurant spaces that still foster an amazing din ing experience. Here are a few tips for new restaurant owners looking to de sign sustainable restaurants.
Avoid fluff and focus on function Every area of your restaurant should be designed with a purpose. Every thing you add to your restaurant de sign should serve the function and flow of the space. Avoiding fluff and unnecessary garnish in the restaurant design means you are using fewer ma terials, saving energy, and in turn sav ingShiftingmoney.
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• Reduce food waste. Food prices are experiencing the largest increase in 40 years. Since there’s no end in sight for this massive inflation, res taurants must use food more mind fully and resourcefully. Tech tools can help minimize food waste and make inventory more efficient. Additional ly, digital solutions provide predictive ordering and historical sales patterns so you can make more informed pur chasing decisions to order only what you can realistically use.
major decrease in California crops and midwestern corn would nega tively impact many states. If you aren’t already doing so, start relying on local farms – or grow your own produce – to ensure an uninterrupt ed supply of fresh foods.
• Embrace vertical farms. Vertical farming, which grows crops closer to their final destinations, is increasing in popularity. This alternative farm ing approach grows crops vertically – to maximize output – in climatecontrolled indoor spaces, which protects crops from severe weather, pests, etc. Growing foods closer to where they’re needed helps reduce food deserts, lower safety risks, and minimize food wastage.
from page 32NEXT FOOD CRISIS
• Streamline your menu. Last year, 75% of restaurant operators tweaked their menus due to supply chain dis ruptions. Reduce your menu offer ings and simplify recipes. Buy fewer, affordable ingredients that can be used in multiple ways. Offer more plant-based meals to reduce costs. Use yesterday’s leftovers in creative ways for today’s specials. Utilize lo cal, in season produce. Eliminate underperforming dishes and spot light the meals with the highest profit margins.• Work to retain staff. Restaurants are still facing the most severe labor shortage on record. People are leav ing their restaurant jobs because wages are often low, existing em ployees are being overworked, and many feel unappreciated. Replac ing employees costs significant time and money (the cost of replacing one restaurant employee often surpasses $5,000!) Make sure your employees are happy so they’ll stay. Offer com petitive pay and benefits, use digi tal scheduling tools to ensure you’re properly staffed for busy vs. slower shifts, and make employees feel val ued. During these challenging times, you have plenty of other things to worry about without having to fo cus on recruiting, hiring, and train ing new employees. Keep your staff happy and loyal. As a restaurant operator, you have no control over the weather, over seas wars, or ongoing inflation, but there are things within your control, and that’s where you should focus. Prioritize waste reduction. Adjust your menu to feature local, afford able ingredients. Research new sup pliers. Stay aware of industry trends and current events. Utilize tech tools to streamline operations and make important tasks more efficient and accurate. If you stay prepared and resilient, you’ll be ready to handle whatever curveball comes next. As President of RizePoint, the lon gest-lasting quality management vendor in the marketplace, Kari Hen sien has been instrumental in launch ing the company’s Ignite™ Supplier Certification Management solution and adding new features to make the platform even more valuable. Ignite allows companies to gather, organize, and manage supplier documentation and information in a centralized lo cation, track status and deadlines, ensure compliance, and reduce timeconsuming administrative tasks. Ig nite leverages the latest tech stacks in cloud computing to deliver better speed of service, security, and perfor mance, with shortened development cycles.Formore information or to discuss RizePoint’s solutions, please contact Kari at kari.hensien@rizepoint.com.
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September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 89 Your customers’ trust is in your hands So put your hands in Elara brand elarabrands.comglovesShow guests you care about their health. Protection you can count on, from the brand you trust. For each case purchased, Elara donates a meal for a person struggling with hunger in America Sold through authorized distributors
To continue to have the board work strategically to make NACUFS a better association for all. Our new strategic plan has four initiatives:
The OSU team is great, and we wouldn’t have survived these past few years without team members’ dedication, flexibility, and desire to serve our customers. They have continued to grow both their tech nical and soft skill sets over the years, allowing us to continue to move forward with our food service and catering vision and goals. During the pandemic, the team showed great flexibility and toler ance to continual change. Adapting where needed but always keeping the success of students first.
Campus dining programs come in various shapes and sizes that require a variety of management styles to support these programs. Both management styles have, as you say, pros and cons around how they offer value to students or cam pus administrators. Dining is and will continue to be an important piece of the on-campus experience, and each campus will need to evalu ate what it feels is the best program for its students.
Can you share what the last 3 years have been like through the pan demic?
The past few years have been tough (as a result of the pandemic), requiring a lot of quick thinking and the need for flexibility. A major focus within OSU Campus Dining and Ca tering has been around finding so lutions that contribute to staff safe ty and wellness while at the same time taking care of our students, some of whom may have remained on campus due to travel restric tions. As more students returned to campus last year, staffing shortages placed pressure on our operations and employees. Providing food and service to meet students’ needs dur ing so many staffing shortages has been a challenge.
I ask that question because I would like your thoughts on the opportu nities that college and university dining present?
As you take the reins of NACUFS, what are the highlights of your agenda?
from page 16KERRY PATERSON
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How has student dining evolved through the pandemic? The pandemic has allowed food service operators to reset their op erations to meet the changing needs of students and the campus envi ronment. We have sought to find the right balance between correct staff ing levels, taking care of students’ dietary needs, utilizing technology to assist where needed, and moving slightly towards value-added prod ucts to reassign staff to other ar eas. At the same time, students are returning to campuses to enjoy the “on-campus” experience. They are looking at moving away from classes offered remotely by Zoom and oth er services. They want to be in the community again and connect with fellow students and professors to form lifetime memories around the campus experience. Dining plays a major role in that. Do you find that your OSU stu dent population would like to eat healthier fare?
Overall, yes. More and more stu dents are following a vegetarian/ vegan diet or increasing their focus on vegetables. Serving vegetables within our breakfast serving lines is becoming more and more popular and in demand from students.
Our use of plant-based meat products is limited and will contin ue to be evaluated based on student feedback and demand. We serve three to four plant-based meat al ternatives on our menus and for use as an ingredient. Plant Forward is an area the OSU continues to focus on, offering more and more vegetablebased menu items. We endeavor to move more and more of our menus to being focused on vegan offerings and even Gluten-Free Friendly and having additional side items so stu dents can build their meals to suit their dietary needs. For example, add cheese or egg for a vegetarian meal or animal protein as needed. Talk about the team that you have built at OSU?
• Learning and Professional Development•Communications and Public Relations
food trends and insights on new ingredients/products.
Where does plant-based fit on your menus?
I see this question as having two parts to it. From the student and campus point of view, dining al lows students to connect. It allows an area to create or come into the community around a dining table. Dining is an area where a lot of ex periences outside of the classroom can be gained, including work eth ics and leadership skills. These skills can be gained from working within dining services; learning healthy eating habits as students select their food options during each meal period; and learning about food in general.From the employee’s point of view, campus dining allows food service employees to work in a sta ble environment and offers a work/ life balance. It is a work environ ment where your food service job can become a career and is a place to grow personally and work with in a diverse team. As a culinarian working in this environment, the rotating menus and international food service styles offered by cam pus dining programs allow a chef to be exposed to a lot of variety.
Curious to get your read on how kitchen equipment has evolved to support the volume demand that you and many of your members face every day? The equipment world continues to evolve year over year. Environ mental issues play a greater part in what equipment is selected. As food service providers or campuses start talking about moving away from gas as an energy source or for cooking –and wanting more electric-powered equipment, the industry is going to need to respond. Food safety con tinues to be an important factor. It’s great to see equipment that sup ports students’ desire to customize meals. For example, sauté stations that are able to be placed right into the serving lines. Hot and cold hold ing cases that provide better envi ronments to support food quality. We are seeing new equipment being offered to support students’ needs for speed, convenience, and trans parency. These include food lock ers, mobile ordering platforms, and digital labeling systems.
What were your takeaways from this year’s NACUFS conference in Spokane? NACUFS 2020 National Confer ence offered a lot of great sessions overall and challenged my thinking in several areas. Learning about the upcoming Generation Alpha was very eye-opening. It made me think about what campus dining may need to look like as the next gen eration of students starts coming to campus towards the end of this de cade. Plant-based alternatives were definitely a focus from our industry partners, and a lot of great offerings are available to suit a multitude of different programs. Learning that staffing shortages are an issue fac ing nearly everyone to some degree or another was valuable. I always am impressed to see that campus dining operators are very diverse on multiple levels.
• Member Engagement • ByInclusionfocusing on these four ar eas, we really can make NACUFS a strong association that supports and promotes excellence in colle giate dining and offers value to our members to transform the campus community experience. Any thoughts on the pros and cons of self-operated vs. contract food service?
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CHEF COLE CAPRIONI program led by Fernando Silva. These initiatives have developed with much support in the industry itself. We de veloped a Certification of Culinary Ex cellence program during the pandem ic, which we will continue to evolve. In 2023, I hope to begin an international staging program to enhance the talent pool in the industry further. I love event planning. What op portunities are available?
A club is a unique blend of staff and membership; they both need each other.
In the September 2022 edition of Golf Kitchen magazine, I feature four young executive chefs, two men and two women, from Indiana, New York, and Philadelphia. They have all unique stories and paint a picture of a career in the industry. Chrissie Bennett, Jamaican-born and Bronx-raised, re cently took the executive chef role at one of the most renowned golf prop erties on the planet, Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York; her story is nothing short of inspirational. Whatever you put into the club will return to you if you are dedicated. I have seen this over and over again at clubs internationally. If you are inter ested in a career in the private golf and country club industry, please email me at info@golfkitchen.com from page 60CLUB CAREERS
Clubs are not only hosting golf tournaments, but they are producing multiple events on a daily basis, which calls for a variety of new ideas for all of them. If event planning is your pas sion, this industry is for you!
concepts. Despite opportunities for advancement at Nordstrom, Chef Cole was sold on the idea when Mastoris told him they planned to name the restaurant Rocco’s at the Brick. Rocco is the name of Chef Cole’s son and if he wasn’t sold before, the name sealed theOnedeal.of the keys to Chef Cole’s suc cess has come from the partnership built with the Chefs’ Warehouse. “ The Chefs’ Warehouse is a must. When you need the best possible product, no matter how difficult to source, CW has you covered. My Rep, Chris Mann, having been a chef himself, knows the struggle. Be it an 11th-hour phone call on getting truffles to me, or a Sat urday morning “Ummm.. I forgot to order goat cheese”… he always pulls through. CW always pulls through. The dish I chose is Long Island Duck Confit with Mushroom-Leek Bread Pudding, Creamed Sweet Peas with Bacon, and Cherry Agrodolce. The Hudson Valley Foie Gras brand of duck legs is an incredible product. The siz ing is always dead-on consistent. Also, the Baker’s Slab Bacon is the abso lute best. Not aggressively smoky, not pumped full of anything, just killer bacon. The cherry agrodolce is a re duction of red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and the juice from a can of Luxardo Maraschino Cherries. Doing a 12-hour cure of the duck legs with five-spice powder ties all of these fla vors together, and… it just works. The flavors all get along.” Rocco’s at the Brick is located in his toric Newtown Pennsylvania’s Brick Hotel, a charming inn, originally built in 1763. Launching a restaurant in such a well-known (and allegedly haunted) spot, filled with memories for so many people is no small task. Rocco’s at the Brick pays homage to its historic past (including famous guests like George Washington and Ben Franklin) by offering a great list of bourbon whiskey, classic cocktails and high-end menu items from premium meats to world-class seafood.
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Members may be at the club 4-5 days a week, so the demand for variety is high, further increasing the culinary creativity culture. Will I be treated with respect?
PRIVATE
I am witnessing younger chefs cre ate new kitchen practices, and no lon ger is the brigade system king. Yelling is unacceptable at a club, and the cul ture must be nurturing and encourag ing. A toxic culture would never sur vive in this business.
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JAMES FLANIGAN APPOINTED CEO OF OLD SCHOOLHOSPI -
Pure Grit BBQ
ANNE SAXELBY LEGACY FUND TO HOST FIRST ANNUAL BENEFIT
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• Antonio
SCOOP learned that James Flanigan, son of founder Paul Flanigan (who established the compa ny in 1986), has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer for Old School Hospitality, a family-owned and operated South tus,Presidenthisniganations.company’sumbrellatheforbeasHospitality.cerChiefcialasJamesagementrestaurantFloridamangroup.Since2015,hasservedChiefFinanOfficerandLegalOffiofOldSchoolNow,CEO,hewillresponsiblemanagingcompleteoftheoperPaulFlawillmaketransitiontoEmerimarkingthefirst major executive management change for the restaurant group in more than 35 years. Their longtime business partner Frank Zaf fere will continue to serve as the company’s Chief OperatingFollowingOfficer.tradition with an innovative spin, in his new role as CEO, Flanigan plans to expand the business with a focus on Broward County. Old School has three immediate projects in the pipe line that includes an expansion of the footprint of the existing Quarterdeck in Dania Beach with a re purposed shipping container project on the beach adjacent to the restaurant, the opening of a sec ond Whiskey Neat Cocktail Lounge in Plantation, and the creation of a new upscale tiki-bar concept named the Hula Kai on 17th Street Causeway in FortOldLauderdale.SchoolHospitality now owns and operates multiple restaurant brands throughout Broward and Miami-Dade counties, including five Quar terdeck locations in Fort Lauderdale, Davie, Plan tation, and Dania Beach; a Whiskey Neat cocktail lounge in Fort Lauderdale; and Beach Bar @ New port Pier in Sunny Isles Beach.
The Anne Saxelby Legacy Fund will hold its first annual benefit celebrating Saxelby’s impact on the food and farming communities and the fund’s first season of fully sponsored Farm Apprenticeships on September 14 in Chelsea Market. Saxelby is known for championing American cheeses in the early 2000s when cheese connois seurs were largely concerned with European prod ucts. She inspired many chefs and artisan pro ducers before passing away last year. The ASLF provides fully funded paid apprenticeships for young artisans to live and work on sustainable farms.The benefit will include 60 NYC-based chefs in cluding Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson of Frenchette, Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, Mario Car bone and Rich Torrisi of Carbone, and Max Ng of Momofuku. Cocktails will be curated and served by Grand Army Bar and Fort Defiance, wine will come from Cain Vineyards, Chamber Street Wines, and Red Hook Winery. To honor the home of Saxelby Cheesemongers, the vendors of Chelsea Market will serve foods that helped to transform the space into a culinary destination.
The event will showcase art and video showing the ASLF apprentices’ sustainable farming stories. The event team will also ensure as little waste as possible will be created from the event, and will be composting foodstuffs and disposables.
13TH ANNUAL WELLNESS IN THE SCHOOLS GALA FEATURES TOP CHEFS
The late Anne Saxelby James Flanigan (Photo Credit_Gyorgy Papp)
heritage farmers at Puro Cut Catering, The King of Ham!•Joe Musngi, SmoKING of Meats--going for the 2022 trifecta, he won judges 1st place award al ready at both Brisket King NYC and Rib King NYC
necticut•Kerry
INSIDER NEWS, from page 78SCOOP
• Friends of Firefighters Chef Nick Bavaro Jimmy’s No. 43 All Star Team bringing back their vegetable grilling station, with the heritage farm on site at Snug Harbor and Sea Island Forge grills Anna Grayzel, The Grateful Bao, Hudson NY with Raven and Boar farm Harry Rosenblum”s , launch party for his Steak Club project Olive Jr. @backdraftbarbq1, with an all-star team from Operation BBQ Relief, Con Fitzmaurice,
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SCOOP heard that on September 27, the Wellness in the Schools 13th Annual Gala will take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the iconic Tem ple of Dendur. The event will feature tastings from top NYC chefs and beverage partners including Chef Alex Guarnascelli, Chef JJ Johnson and Chef Bill Telepan plus Barbuto, Bon Appetit Management Co., Cape May Salt Oyster Farms, Caputo Brothers Creamery, Contra/Wildair/People’s Wine, Craft, Crown Shy/ Saga, Fieldtrip, Green Top Farms, Levain Bakery, Murray’s Cheese, Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Oceans, Paramount Caviar, Red Inside Culinary, Rezdora, Sakara, Salumeria Rosi, and Sweetbriar.
TALITY RESTAURANT GROUP
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DAVO Sales Tax can help you get back on track to start and keep you out of trouble moving forward. Au tomating sales tax takes just a few minutes to set-up and then you never have to worry about sales tax again. The app is free to try for the first month. Put your sales tax on autopilot and stop worrying about how it will get paid.
The Tin Building’s Casual and to-go options include: Crêpes and Dosas , serving sweet and savory op tions. Taquito is a Mexican taque ria, complete with signature dishes and made to order tacos. T. Café , which will soon become the first stop of many locals in the morning offering hot and cold coffees, teas, lattes and freshly baked pastries, muffins, breads, cakes, cookies and more. Double Yolk is a breakfast go-to mainstay during the day and caviar bar by night The marketplace also includes multiple stand-alone beverage out posts including The Wine Bar , a diverse selec tion of wine and beer offerings from France, Finger Lakes NY, California and Maryland. Beer Here! , offers 24 beers on tap and 30 beers in cans and bottles all hand-picked and tasted by Jean-Georges. The Cock tail Bar , expresses the art of the cocktail through drinks such as the Spiced Cantaloupe Daquiri, an ode to Jean-Georges’ French and Asian influences with Yellow Chartreuse, Pandan Demerara Rum, Street Pu mas White Rum, Mint and Lemon Balm.The Tasting Studio (PDR), located on the second floor is the perfect private dining room space for host ing intimate dinners, tastings and more. The space can accommodate 40-50 guests for a seated dinner and 50-75 guests for a standing recep tion. The private dining room will also serve as the Tin Building’s very own multimedia recording studio for podcasts and TV and a venue for cooking classes and floral demon strations.Graband Go is a feature of the offering at the Tin Building. The facility is anchored by its market and retail offerings, sourced locally wherever possible, most notably, Central Market, full of daily rotating sustainably sourced meats, seafood, cheeses, produce and ready to eat items. Carefully curated retail of ferings are integrated throughout the building in three separate out posts, emphasizing all-natural and best-in-class ingredients. Many of the specialty retail offerings will represent the strongest local variety of specialty foods and home goods available in the New York metropoli tan area, in addition to showcasing national and international items from confections to olive and seed oils, snacks and bottled beverages to fine cookware and kitchen gad getry.The marketplace emphasizes sus tainability by utilizing best-in-class, environmentally friendly packag ing when possible. A state-of-theart commissary kitchen minimizes waste allowing for a more sustain able use of resources throughout the building.
96 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com from page 2TIN BUILDING
As a former restaurant owner, David Joseph is no stranger to the struggles of restaurant sales tax. A self-proclaimed sales tax evangelist, David co-founded DAVO by Avalara, a sales tax automation platform that integrates directly with the point of sale.
Tackle your sales tax challenges Remember, you’re not alone. Many restaurant owners have got ten behind on sales tax and have found their way out of trouble by taking steps like those shared here. Sales tax liability is serious, which is why it’s best to tackle your back sales tax head on.
Full-Service Dining Venues Include: The House of the Red Pearl , a clandestine fine dining restaurant serving Chinese inspired dishes that marry the elegance of JeanGeorges and the flavor of the East, tucked away for a feeling of discov ery. Jean Georges’ T. Brasserie , is a French brasserie with Art Nouveau–style tilework, marble tabletops and counters and a contemporary take on a Moroccan tile floor celebrates the country’s classic fare. The Fulton Fish Co. is a seafood dining counter and restaurant with a full raw bar. At The Frenchman’s Dough , freshly made pizzas and pastas are served daily. Seeds & Weeds , is a sustainable and artisanal plant-based eatery that embraces the fresh ingredients of the day. The design features light, natural woods, muted geometric tiles, verdant leather banquettes, and sun-dappled plants on open shelves in the windows giving the space a bright and airy feel. Shikku is an intimate 19-seat Japanese su shi and sake restaurant set in a sexy black box design with walls lined in charred shou sugi ban millwork and a dusky marble sushi counter.
from page 18SALES TAX Hughes announced high-end fash ion designer Alexander Wang would be moving its global headquarters to 46,000 square feet in the Fulton Market Building. The fashion com pany will be the building’s anchor tenant when it moves from 386 Broadway next year. The Tin Building invites guests to embark on a continuous journey of discovery, bringing together global flavors and cuisines under one roof.
Page 2 Interior Photos by Nicole Franzen to finance your repayment, you may want to consult an accountant to help you decide which route to take. Sales tax liability never goes away The long term risks of not pay ing sales tax add up quickly. For one, the penalty and interest that is charged on non-paid balances can be between 5%-50% of the balance due. If you fall too far behind, the State may decide to place a lien on your business which creates a host of financial problems, like getting a loan.Sales tax is a personal liability. Even if you close your business, you are still personally liable for the un paid sales tax and penalties. Even in bankruptcy, sales tax liability does not disappear. You can’t escape sales tax debt, which is why it’s so important to get back on track.
If you don’t ensure that current sales tax is being accounted for and paid, you may be creating an endless cycle of late or missed payments.
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Less Competition Unlike other social media plat forms, there are not many restau rants on TikTok. In fact, I willing to bet that if you start making content, and post consistently, you’ll be one of the first restaurants in your mar ket to make an impact. Less compe tition for that attention is a major opportunity to capture more market share if done correctly.
The smiling faces of your team and the ambiance you portray will make your followers want to come to the restaurant. It’s the easiest and most engaging way to create con tent. Host Live Events Once you’ve gained 1,000 follow ers, you start hosting live events to engage with your followers in real time. For example, you can host a series of classes to teach basic cook ing skills, prepare your best seller, run a contest, or help select some new music. Collaborate with TikTok Influ encers Influencer marketing also has nu merous benefits. Find a local influ encer whom you feel would connect with your customers. Team up with them to create some content around whatever it is you want to highlight. It can be eating your specials, par ticipating in a challenge, or any thing both audience and their audi ence will enjoy. It is a cost-effective & high-impact marketing strategy.
As it relates to GOJO’s overall mis sion, McCoy concluded, “we’re for tunate to be anchored in and driven by our purpose, which is saving lives and making life better through wellbeing solutions. We believe in solv ing important human problems, and we do that through our hand and surface well-being solutions and the new products we bring to market. We remain very committed to continu ing to innovate solutions to solve problems for our customers so that we can help keep the world healthy and help food service operators keep their businesses running smoothly.”
Create a Hashtag Challenge
While the pandemic forced many companies to reinvent themselves and restructure their portfolio, Mc Coy said that during that phenom enon, “our purpose remained un changed. It was our North star as we navigated the unique market dynamics. I personally am proud that our teams continued to deliver high-quality products without com promise, and we continued to inno vate even when there was so much market disruption.” As the pandemic raged, it was a challenge for many to find reliable and effective sanitizers that offered features unique to GOJO’s specific formulation. “A lesson learned is related to supply, consistency, and supply assurance. It’s something that foodservice operators are still
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A simple way to generate buzz and interest is to create a hashtag challenge. This tactic can bring the whole community together since it’s familiar and easy to use. Choose the challenge related to the food or drink your restaurant serves, en courage your followers to it, and then challenge others by sharing the hashtag. This content can become extremely popular, especially if you tie in some incentives (i.e., the most creative piece of content gets a free pizza). Share Special Moments Showing the special customer moments makes your restaurant more relatable. Whether it’s a holi day event, birthday party, proposal, or friends having a laugh moment, record the video of enjoying them selves, put on a trending song, and share it with your viewers to show what they might be missing. Be You. Ultimately, be your most authen tic self, and don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. Tell your followers how you got into the business, why you selected the town or city you’re in, the challenges you’ve faced, and the successes you’ve had. When they comment, be sure to reply. When a piece of content does well, double down. Remember, this is an oppor tunity to connect with your guest and grow your business outside the four walls of your restaurant - so make the most of it! from page 6TIKTOK from page 80GOJO more places than ever before,” Mc Coy added that need drove another of GOJO’s groundbreaking solutions. “The PURELL all-weather dispenser can sustain exposure to extreme environments, primarily outdoors where there is outdoor dining, like a ballpark or stadium, food trucks, or drive through, as well as in places where vandalism is high. This is an extremely durable design. It uses an engineered resin three times more durable than normal dispensers.”
8 Content Ideas You Can Put To Use Right Now. Hopefully, you’re starting to warm up to TikTok and understand that marketing benefits restaurant busi nesses. Now, it’s time to discuss the critical components of this article. How can you promote your res taurant, and what type of content should you post? Of course, these are essential questions, so here are the 8 Content ideas to promote your brand and get a loyal following whose growling stomachs will send them straight to your restaurant or website. Highlight Your Staff One of the best things you can do is turn your restaurant into a real ity show. Highlight your staff, and create engaging content around their personalities and day-to-day responsibilities. You’ll soon start to see that your guest will start recog nizing them from the platform, and then when they come in to eat or have a drink, they feel like they al ready know everyone. Share Recipes & Secrets Recipes are extremely popular on TikTok; it’s about teaching your audience new things. So, prepare a recipe for your follower of some of your most popular dishes by creat ing short videos giving step-by-step instructions on how they can make it at home. Don’t worry! No one wants to “steal” your mom’s recipes! They’ll make it at home, reminding them of your restaurant, and then they come to you for the experience. Behind the Scenes Everyone loves to take a peek behind the curtain. Take the audi ence on a tour of your restaurant. Film your chef prepping or think ing through a new menu. Show your bartenders making syrup, squeez ing fresh juices, and, of course, mix ing the cocktails. Another fun one is showing how the staff packs and organizes the delivery and takeout orders—having a large reservation or buyout? Finally, create some content on how you set the table and serve the food - your followers might not even know they can have an event like that at your restaurant!
dealing with today. GOJO made sig nificant investments in our manu facturing facilities and distribution and supply chain capabilities to ensure that we are prepared for the current situation and tomorrow’s needs as well,” she added. GOJO, which McCoy describes as a “purpose-driven family enterprise” is certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. “So, any operator purchasing PURELL products through their distributor can help them achieve their suppli er diversity goals and demonstrate their commitment to fostering di versity and equity.”
Nugget, Cubelet, and Pearl: Flavor Savers
Nug get ice blends easily to make frozen drinks like bellinis or margaritas smooth and delicious, and it soaks up the flavor of any liquid it’s in. It’s soft enough that it won’t wear out the blender’s motor like harder ice does. Guests enjoy how nugget ice improves the slush factor in their frozen beverages. It’s a big winner for soda-based mixed drinks be cause the ice holds the flavor after the liquid is gone.
Nugget ice, also called Cubelet or pearl, is a bartender’s, bar owner’s, and bar patron’s best friend.
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Crescent Ice: The Magician Crescent ice takes up more room in a glass than square ice, mak ing drinks look fuller. This means it saves product and prevents bar tenders from overpouring, which bar owners appreciate. When liquid hits the crescent cube’s rounded side, it cascades into the glass, re ducing splash back. No business can go wrong with this appealing cube. Specialty ice paired with carefully chosen glassware are the perfect ac cessories to a well-crafted cocktail menu. Get started with all three to attract patrons and 5-star reviews!
John Mahlmeister is the chief op erating officer and co-founder of Easy Ice. Co-headquartered in Phoe nix, AZ and Marquette, MI, Easy Ice is the national leader in the full-ser vice ice machine subscription indus try with warehouse and distribution facilities in Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Orlando, New York City, and Los Angeles. Since its founding in 2009, Easy Ice has rapidly grown the num ber of ice machines under manage ment to nearly 40,000 units across 47 states. The Easy Ice commercial ice machine subscription programs include installation, cleaning, pre ventive maintenance, repairs, and backup ice. For more information, please visit EasyIce.com. from
These large, hard cubes melt su per slowly and retain the taste of high-end liquor. Patrons enjoy drinking their favorite spirit over one large cube of ice for a look they can’t get anywhere else. In addition, the extra large cube provides a slight amount of water to enhance the fla vor of an expensive spirit.
Sphere Ice: Belle of the Ball Bar owners wondering what one thing could separate their bar from the competition need look no fur ther than sphere ice. The sphere cube is a rare and unique ice type that will bedazzle patrons. Custom ers are amazed when their cocktails arrive with large sphere ice. Its large, round shape means less ice surface area is exposed to the drink. This translates to a slower melt and lon ger sipping time, which Scotch and whiskey connoisseurs especially appreciate.
page 8ICE IN CRAFT COCKTAILS
Extra Large Square Cube
Globally inspired dishes are also an important trend for the fall. Gen Z is the largest, most racially diverse generation in American history, which contributes to their demand for bold, global flavors. We’re work ing to not only make sure global cuisine is a big component of our menus, but also to make plant-based global recipes the menu default half of the week. Many fantastic global cuisines that our students know and love are naturally plant-based and are great models for menus. At the recent Menus of Change conference, my panel discussion was also talking about trends in fermentation and cultivated meats and seafood which is giving me in spiration for the spring and beyond. There are so many exciting things to come for plant-based recipe devel opment!
Celebratory months or national food holidays are also a recurring way to highlight plant-based recipes and our chef’s passions for sustain able food. Go big and think outside the box! Offer a non-dairy sundae for National Ice Cream Day or a big platter of plant-based cookies on National Cookie Day. This is also a great way to keep plant-based stu dents included in the celebration.
Whether you provide food services to college campuses, K-12 schools or other large institutions, Meatless Monday can help you promote deli cious plant-based options. It’s easy to participate; just encourage your diners to give up meat one day a week. We provide the following tool kits for free, and also have a variety of promotional assets available for download. Check out our materials at: org/meatless-monday/foodservicehttps://www.mondaycampaigns. from page 54
Could you give Total Food Service readers an example of Sodexo Cam pus’s crave-worthy student menus that will not only pique plant-lov ing palates, but also tempt carni vores and omnivores this fall? This is the philosophy for all the plant-based recipes we’ll be offering this fall! The most important thing about any plant-based dish from pizza to tacos to desserts is that it should simply be delicious – the fact that it is plant-based is just a bonus. Our everyday recipe creation focus es on flavor, so the result is craveworthy for both plant-based and meat-eatingHomestylestudents.classics are some of my favorite recipes to focus on be cause they are the cozy and com forting meals people know and love. If you can tempt carnivores and om nivores with a plant-based mac and cheese or slice of pie, then that’s a real win!
PLANT BASED
100 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com from page 82PLEESE FOODS anyone!Pleese’s broad appeal has led the company to great success. The product is available for consump tion in over forty restaurants as of today, which represents skyrocket ing growth considering Pleese was offered in just eight locations as of last year. The Regevs expect that number to reach seventy by Novem ber as the brand continues its rapid growth, and point to the burgeon ing popularity of the vegan diet as one factor behind their success: “Customers don’t want to settle for less,” explained Kobi, “They want the same taste, same texture, but vegan.” Restaurants that shy away from providing a wide and healthy range of vegan options may, them selves, be settling for less as the vegan diet becomes more and more lucrative; research suggests that eateries without vegan menu op tions may lose out on upwards of $3,000 per month in additional rev enue. PleeseFoods, however, offers restaurateurs the chance to recoup those lost sales without compro mising on food quality. The capstone of PleeseFoods’s success thus far comes in the form of a lucrative ecommerce deal with Webstaurant which sees its vegan substitutes available for online purchase and shipment across the country. It began after Webrestau rant, which had heard about Pleese Cheese, reached out to the com pany to begin distributing its prod ucts. The Regevs knew the partner ship would be a success – they had already fielded countless requests, often from Florida or Californiabased locations, for shipment of the product. Now Webstaurant, better known for its broad selection of res taurant appliances, joins the food distribution industry as it becomes PleeseFoods’s first national distrib utor of vegan cheese, allowing for bulk delivery of vegan cheese to res taurants nationwide. Pleese Cheese offers restaurants and their patrons an extraordi nary culinary experience that is sure to delight even the pickiest of eaters. Years of hard work have al lowed Kobi and Agev Regev to cre ate a suitable vegan cheese substi tute that perfectly replicates the taste and texture of a classic New York slice without the dairy. Pleese Cheese’s revolutionary diet and al lergen-friendly bean-potato protein formula is now available for nation wide distribution, and is a testa ment to its success. For more information about the product or its acquisition, visit www. pleesefoods.com. Pleese Cheese will be exhibiting at the upcoming Plant Based World Expo to be held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City On Sept. 8th and 9th. things I’m most excited about! I see menus going beyond a traditional pancake, bacon, and eggs American breakfast to explore plant-based handheld sandwiches, hearty bowls, and sweet baked goods. While I love a good tofu scramble, alterna tive dairy, eggs, and proteins give chefs even more opportunities for plant-based breakfasts. Our new fall breakfast menus utilize prod ucts like JUST Egg to make Avocado Egg Flatbreads, Asian Ginger Break fast Rice Bowls, and Peach Cobbler French Toast. I love that this break fast evolution is making it easier for anyone to start the day with a vari ety of plant-based options.
What fun and engaging promo tions can campus foodservice operators do to get students excited about plant-based meals and keep them coming back for more? Samplings are still one of my fa vorite ways to engage students. Of fering a sample encourages guests to try new foods or ingredients and lets teams have fun with it! Sam plings also help educate staff, so they feel more comfortable and confident with these items which in turn helps educate our students.
What key challenges to plant-based menu planning do foodservice op erators face, and how can they ad dress them effectively? The unfamiliarity with plantbased ingredients like tempeh, jackfruit, or Impossible Beef can certainly make a recipe feel more in timidating. My role is to provide ed ucation along with new plant-based recipes, so our teams feel confident to both prepare a meal and speak to guests about it. I also think the entire foodservice industry is challenged to re-shift our menu mindset around plant-based foods. Instead of planning a plantbased alternative to a meat option, we should aim to infuse delicious plant-based recipes throughout all offerings in a dining space. Protein diversification makes plant-based recipes commonplace and helps promote equitable dining while also engaging everyone in eating tasty food. We all can play a role in flip ping this perspective.
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Fred’s forward-thinking leader ship has earned him wide admira tion and lifted R3 Metro North and South to unprecedented heights. A former member of the Rider Uni versity Broncs basketball team, he’s a leader who knows how to keep the ball in “I’vemotion.attended the past five AJC Food Service & Hospitality events, Rasmussen explained. Every year, it’s been a real pleasure. I’m glad to be able to help an organization that does so much to advance mutual re spect and understanding. The world could use many more organizations likeEddieAJC.”Toby, a longtime AJC Food Service & Hospitality Division Vice Chair and Sales Director at Key Impact Sales & Systems, describes Fred as “one of the most respected professional leaders in the food service industry, with decades of experience in all facets of sales and distribution.”HonoreeAndrew Rigie was born into the hospitality business, work ing at his family’s third generation bakery in Queens, NY. He later “got his apron dirty” by working mul tiple positions within the industry. In 2004 he joined the New York State Restaurant Association, and even tually took the helm of the Associa tion’s New York City operations as its Executive Vice President. In 2012, he launched the inde pendent New York City Hospital ity Alliance, which has grown into a premier organization delivering education and services and repre senting thousands of restaurants and nightlife venues in the halls of government and in the media.
“Andrew has led the New York res taurant industry through the trials and tribulations of Covid-19,” ex plained Division Chair Posternak. “Taking it further, he’s now spear heading restaurant recovery in New York, including expanding outdoor dining options. We’re thrilled to be honoring him.”
“As an advocate myself, I greatly admire AJC’s expert advocacy,” add ed Andrew. “Building effective part nerships to make a difference takes time and credibility. AJC takes the time and has carefully earned cred ibility at the highest levels around theHonoreeworld.” Morgan Tucker is receiv ing AJC’s Legacy Award for two key reasons. One is her family’s tradi tion of dedication to AJC, which she carries forward. And the other is the remarkably broad range of abili ties she brings to her work in the industry.In1955, Morgan’s grandfather, Marvin Tucker, founded the com pany M. Tucker. In 1962, he played a central role as a founding member of AJC’s Food Service & Hospitality Division.A1982 AJC honoree, he was deeply engaged with the division through out his life. His son, Stephen Tucker, Morgan’s father, became CEO of M. Tucker in 1986 and followed in his father’s footsteps as a tireless, gener ous friend of the division. Stephen was honored by AJC in 1990 and again in Morgan2006.continued: “I have great memories of the many AJC tributes I’ve been to over the years. In years past, my father often delivered the AJC address. I was always so moved by how he conveyed AJC’s history, values, and mission. Our industry is rooted in generosity, but how the AJC tribute uniquely brings together colleagues and competitors alike is what makes this event so memo rable.”Singer Equipment eventually pur chased M. Tucker. Singer Equipment is the largest foodservice supplies and equipment dealer in metroNew York and the fifth largest in the country. Fred Singer, the company’s President and CEO, preserved many M. Tucker traditions, among them dedication to AJC. In 2014, Singer Equipment was recognized with AJC’s Corporate Leadership Award. Morgan serves as a member of Singer Equipment’s Senior Leader ship Team, overseeing company po sitioning, brand direction, and mar ket strategy. Within the industry, she provides expertise on food service, brand development, sustainabil ity, and tabletop design. She writes frequently about these issues and speaks on them at industry events nationwide.Morganis a young leader. AJC has attracted and developed other dy namic young leaders. Clark Pager, immediate past division Chair and Executive Vice President at Jetro Restaurant Depot noted: “I’m en couraged that the division has en gaged a lot of new young people to carry the torch into the future.” Among those young people are the members of the division’s Ex ecutive Committee: Scott Baron of Merchants Sales Company; Eugene Beniaminson of Singer Equipment; Cortney Davis of KeyImpact Sales & Systems; Samantha Saltzman of The Sam Tell Companies; Rick Sher of Day & Nite/All Service; and Aaron Weiss of elite studio e. Chairing the division, as men tioned, is Michael Posternak of PBAC & Associates, honored by AJC in 1991 and 2006. Working closely with him are the Division Vice Chairs: Jeff Burdick of Imperial Dade; Fred Klashman of Total Food Service; Rob Monroe of KeyImpact Sales & Systems; Lynne Schultz of Tristate Marketing; and Eddie Toby, also of KeyImpact Sales & Systems. All are former AJC honorees. Last year’s AJC event honored Jeff Burdick of Imperial Dade, Michael Greenwald of Singer Equipment, and Jerry Hoffman of The Sam Tell Com panies. Held at the New York Bo tanical Garden, as will be this year’s event, it was an all-time recordbreaker for the division. Division Chair Posternak declared: “We’ve got every reason to expect that we’ll fill the house with 350 guests and break the record again this year.” You can register for the upcoming tribute to Fred, Andrew, and Morgan here:Forhttps://bit.ly/3RArVF0furtherinformation about the division or the tribute, please contact AJC’s Food Service & Hospitality Di vision Coordinator, Gary Spruch, at spruchg@ajc.org or 347-424-3225.
Andrew is recognized as a vocal, highly effective industry advocate. He’s a talented public speaker, fre quent panelist, and moderator, and commentator on local, national and international media platforms.
102 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com from page 4AJC AWARDS extremely hospitable to AJC – a won derful friend for decades,” said Mey er. “We couldn’t be more grateful.” The tribute will be hosted by long time AJC Division Chair Michael Posternak of PBAC & Associates. “We’re thrilled at this opportunity to publicly applaud Fred, Andrew, and Morgan,” Michael said. “Each has built an impressive record of achievement, set the highest stan dards, and represents our industry in ways that bring us all pride. And each is deeply committed to AJC’s mission of helping build a brighter world for Speakingall.”of his own leadership at AJC, Michael explained: “Many of my mentors were involved and honored. The quality of the annual tribute, and AJC’s excellence, keeps people connected. AJC’s broad hu manitarian orientation is for every body. One example among many, AJC has strongly supported Ukrai nian independence and provided more than $2.5 million in relief to Ukrainians and Ukrainian refu gees. In June, Ukrainian President Zelensky addressed AJC leaders by video to express his gratitude and urge AJC’s continued advocacy on Ukraine’sHonoreebehalf.”FredRasmussen entered the industry in 1984 with Marstan Industries, moving to Bunzl New Jersey in 1990. He became General Manager there in 1995 and won Bunzl’s prestigious General Manager of the Year Award in 2001. In his cur rent role, Fred manages Bunzl R3’s redistribution facilities in Perth Am boy, NJ, and Orange, CT. This week, he was named among five finalists for Bunzl’s Business Leader of the YearDedicatedAward. to redistributing food service, packaging, and janitorial supplies, Bunzl R3’s facilities serve the metropolitan New York region and Southern New England. They’re a vital component of Bunzl’s re nowned global redistribution net work, the largest in the world.
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 103
3. Reevaluate the valuation of assets. With repairs and replacement costs up significantly over the past few years, reassessing the value of your business assets is crucial. Make sure policy limits reflect anticipated replacement and labor costs.
1 Insurance Journal, “Home, Com mercial Rate Hikes Not Enough to Offset Construction Costs: Moody’s,” May 19, 2022.
FIORITO ON INSURANCE where the company can maximize its bang for the buck. This may include raising deductibles or self-insured retentions or decreasing limits to re duce premiums.
4. Embed risk reduction in company culture. Making safety and wellness key tenets of the workplace can reduce workers compensation claims and also improve worker satisfaction by showing employees the organization cares about their well-being. 5. Be creative. Don’t be afraid to look beyond the primary market for coverage in these volatile times. Retain an expert to help identify the biggest exposures and develop an insurance strategy to best protect against those risks. It’s important to work with an ex perience insurance advisor on navi gating inflation insurance pricing in challenging market conditions.
2 Pew Research Center: “In the U.S. and around the world, inflation is high and getting higher,” June 15, 2022.
104 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com continued.Thekey to marketing the ability to position trucks at multiple locations has been tapping into low-cost social media platforms. “Lots of operators will gain followers on Instagram or TikTok by sharing their recipes and gaining millions of views and lots of traction to the business. We have found that the key to successful social media has been to be yourself.”
The One Fat Frog moniker began with a client who commented that frogs only move forward. “It was 2am in the morning and I saw a frog that looked like Jabba the Hutt, laughed, and said, ‘That is One Fat Frog!’ and from there the business took off. We are now the nation’s largest food truck and trailer operation.” Baugher also touched on how most franchises can be taken mobile and help expand an existing brand: “Food trucks can be a way to do a soft open ing while construction of a larger brand is going on. This helps get name recognition- if it’s in the neigh borhood it can soften the market and operators can go into the com munity and become a community brand that way. Some start that route and do events and then realize they make more money doing events than through their brick and mortar. It’s not the end of the brick-and-mortar busi ness, but a nice addition to it. We have a donut operator that has created a central baking commissary and sim ply keeps adding our trucks to expand their brand.” For more information regarding direction and vision for a food truck business, One Fat Frog has a whole team to fulfill a consultation. You can contact them at 407-480-3409 or at info@onefatfrog.com. from page 34ONE FAT FROG from page 14
Baugher and her team created One Fat Frog in 2005. They brought de cades of commercial food service equipment and design to their food truck design enterprise. “We had been building brick and mortar restaurants and working with chefs, architects, and professionals who are fully li censed in their specialties. There is so much thought and knowledge that goes into everything we do. We are dedicated to the quality of the build. Why cut a corner if you want the best?”
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 105
RE-OPENING STRATEGIES
As an advocate for diversity, eq uity, and inclusion, Nicole Goulet will share her expertise in managing initiatives that retain and promote women in the jan/san industry. In her 27 years at Diversey, Nicole has held various roles in sales and mar keting, including business develop ment, key account management, product management and global marketing. Her professional ac complishments include negotiat ing strong supplier and customer partnerships, sustaining Diversey’s market leadership position in many product categories, and launching numerous innovations – many that have won ISSA awards. Currently she sits on Diversey’s North America Leadership Team where she drives strategic growth objectives. Rounding out the panel will be our very own Sonali Pillay. She man ages strategic initiatives for Imperial Dade including the organization’s Environmental, Social, and Gover nance program. She works closely with our CEO and CFO on growth strategy and special projects. These include sustainability-related proj ects that Imperial Dade is working on to lessen our impact on the en vironment as well as helping our customers meet their sustainabil ity goals. Prior to joining Imperial Dade in 2019, Sonali held leadership positions with American Express, Amazon, and Edelman Consulting. In 2013 she founded Browsy, as part of DreamIt Ventures’ accelerator program.Please join us at the Expo for a full day to learn from our panelists, speakers, and “test drive” the very latest solutions with a goal of find ing that something that can help you succeed in meeting your business goals. Yes, online registration remains open until the day of the Expo (walkins are welcome with onsite registra tion available). For more information about registering for the Innovations Expo, visit ImperialDade.com or snap the QR code on page 12. from page 12
106 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com sales, channel sales, and sales strat egy, enablement, and effectiveness.
Kim assumed her current role as Vice President of Sales in 2021. Kim has a passion for employee develop ment and diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She has served as a Council Member for ISSA’s Hygieia Network since 2018 and she will succeed me as Co-Chairwoman of Hygieia this fall. We are very excited to welcome Dr. Felicia Townsend. As the Direc tor of the ISSA Hygieia Network Dr. Townsend oversees the Hygieia Net work’s operations, development, and implementation of leadership conferences, educational webinars, a mentoring program, and outreach efforts across the US and Canada. She collaborates with over fifty-five corporate leaders across eight Com mittees, Council, and Executive Advisory Board. Felicia started her career in adult education as the Di rector of Business and Industry Ser vices at a community college. With 20+ years of experience in fa cilities management, Valerie Burd is a seasoned leader responsible for all aspects of ABM’s $850M education business, which works with hun dreds of K-12 school systems, colleg es, and universities throughout the U.S. to provide a cleaner, healthier, and more attractive learning envi ronment for students, faculty and staff. Firmly established ABM as a partner of choice within the edu cation services market, Valerie and her team are focused on delivering operational excellence, client satis faction, employee engagement, and new business growth strategies.
A huge number of cookbooks are released every Fall: we counted more than 600 in publisher catalogs, and we weren’t trying to be exhaustive. With our Fall Pre-Order selections, we try to cut through all the noise to focus on the books we think will be most rewarding, like the new Noma book, or the new book from Sebastian Bras. They’re not all for professional cooks, but we’re focused on the books that are serious enough that even nonprofessional books can offer some thing distinct, like Naomo Duguid’s The Miracle of Salt.
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We’re pretty aggressive when it comes to promoting worthy books from local chefs and restaurants. Sometimes they are our customers, but not always. But we know that a vigorous food service industry is good for all our customers and therefore good for us. We have a great time at the StarChefs International Chefs’ Con gress and we’re eager for that to hap pen again because it’s an amazing way to connect with some of the most dy namic people in the local and national industry. And we are always here to try to answer that question that seems to be too oddball, too obscure to show up online.Wealso work with organizations like the Museum of Food and Drink, the NYC Wine & Food Festival, and Les Dames d’Escoffier to help put in
Tell us about the nearly three dozen cookbooks in your Fall catalog.
teresting books in front of the public. The more serious the average citizen is about good food, the better it is for everyone in the industry. Often that’s part of a fundraising effort for the or ganization’s own work, or it supports worthy organizations like God’s Love We Deliver. Tell our readers about your store account and rewards program so they can sign-up. We have a rewards program that works on the website, counter.store,reviewspointsmilestones,offersprogrampromptsite,buttonkitchenartsandletters.com/https://www.orinthestore.There’saRewardsonthemainmenuoftheweborjustlogginginwillgetyouatocreateanaccount.Thetrackspurchasesyoumake,dollars-offcouponsasyouhitandalsooffersrewardsfordoingthingslikeleavingforbooksyoubought.Inthewecansignyouuprightatthe
The most consistent is that cooks and books have become more adven turous. Books offer more detail, more science, more culture, and explore regions and traditions that were con sidered too offbeat a few decades ago. Another is that people want to be able to make things that they might have formerly bought, whether a restaurant is preparing its own house mustards and mixers, or curing its own salumi.
from page 28TREND TALK
they may want something that just makes them sit up and start thinking creatively after being in a rut. Imagine running a beverage program and hav ing to develop new cocktails to keep up with all the pretty things people see on Instagram. The drinks may look great, but how do they taste and how practical are they for the height of service? Books are a path to problemsolving. What role do cookbooks play now for chefs and overall, for the food service industry?
Some of that change comes from the desire to reduce food waste, to be more sustainable, and more seasonal. And whether a restaurant is serving its own bread or prosciutto, or develops a signature cocktail built on an ingre dient they ferment in-house, it’s all about standing out from the competi tion.
Like I said, books can be extremely practical: a new trend takes off and suddenly every bakery in town is serv ing something that wasn’t on the ra dar last year (remember macarons?). But books can also act as a creative stimulant. There’s a lot of pressure on people in food service. Of course, they have to be consistent in their quality, but they also have to adapt to all the forces that are part of the big social conversation about what’s interest ing in food and drink. Books in which professionals speak to each other may go right over the head of most home cooks, but pros recognize the exciting part of the work of their colleagues-and then they run with it.
What trends in cookbooks have you seen over the years?
You’ve been instrumental in building specialist libraries, tell us about that. This is always fun, and each one is a very different experience because they are purpose-built, so to say. We al ways begin by asking questions about who will be using the library and why they’ll be coming there. It could be very focused on technical reference, or it might be designed to take people on adventures, to get them to step over fa miliar boundaries and look at ingredi ents or cuisines they don’t know much about. In some cases, we’ve been able to outfit two- to -three hundred copy libraries right off our shelves. But in other cases, we’ve spent a lot of time investigating whether certain types of books exist and how we can get them. And by that, I mean everything from a history of Venezuelan food to a scien tific guide to Neapolitan pizza doughs to a complete set of the famous Robert Laffont chef tomes from 1980s France. We’ve helped build specialist librar ies at major universities and at startup generators. and developed private collections for chefs and first edition aficionados.There’sno way to ensure inflation doesn’t affect business, so how do these industry experts offset the na tionwide rise in costs in the recipes included in cookbooks? Books that help restaurants pro duce more food in-house, like those I mentioned on condiments or meat preserving or fish butchery, help chefs get more value out of the ingredients they’re buying. And if it helps a menu seem more distinctive, and gives the front-of-house team more interesting stories to tell about the food, then it can add value to diner’s experience as well. How do you support the industry?
OiLChef is truly a remarkable product that promises to revolu tionize the act of frying – and even the food service industry – through its incredible ability to reduce monthly expenses. By greatly ex tending the lifespan of cooking oil thereby increasing food produc tion and quality, OiLChef promises to save restaurants upwards of 50% in monthly oil expenses per fryer unit. “We give people a money-back guarantee, and they can take that to the bank,” boasts CEO Farry. For more information about the remarkable benefits of introduc ing an OiLChef to your fryer visit https://oilchef.com/.
PLANT BASED WORLD EXPO
Highlighting Day 2 of Plant Based World Expo will be the renowned chef and entrepreneur Spike Men delsohn. The restaurateur, TV per sonality, and entrepreneur will discuss how and why he built two successful plant-based food com panies and how he puts his passion for food equity and education into action.In2019, Mendelsohn co-founded PLNT Burger, a fast-casual chain dedicated to celebrating classic American comfort foods in a way that is better for people and the planet. His desire to make a posi tive impact on our food system also led to the founding of plant-based snack company Eat The Change with friend and fellow entrepreneur, Seth Goldman.“We’refortunate to have some of the best and brightest plant-based food industry leaders and pioneers speaking at this year’s conference,” said Ben Davis, Content Chair and Strategic Advisor at Plant Based World Expo. “Speakers like Chef Spike Mendelsohn and others will share their expertise as well as realworld case studies and best practices designed to help attendees success fully develop, source and distrib ute plant-based products, and gain insights they won’t find anywhere else.”Mendelsohn’s session leads this year’s Plant Based World Expo Con ference. The Javits Center program in New York has been carefully cu rated in partnership with the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) and Eat For the Planet, to help retailers, foodservice operators and other in dustry professionals advance their businesses in the plant-based sector. There are three tracks–Retail, Food Service, and Industry–that make it easy to find topics related to spe cific businesses, as well as a worldclass lineup of speakers from Kroger, Target, Dot Foods, Sodexo Campus, PBFA, Mintec. and many more. Ses sion highlights include: Understand ing the Consumer Shift Away from Animal to Plant-Based, Celebrating, Elevating, and Amplifying Diver sity in Plant-Based Foods, Thriving in Food Service, The Importance of Collaborating with Brands in Retail, Securing a Resilient Plant-Based Fu ture: Building Domestic Supply Net works, Plant-Based Food Pricing and the Impact of Inflation and Address ing Operational Challenges of PlantBasedPlantMenus.Based World Expo is pro duced by JD Events, dedicated to the creation of targeted and innovative industry-leading events that deliver results. The company brings togeth er highly qualified buying audiences, education-rich content and highlevel networking opportunities -- all geared toward increasing collabora tion in the markets it serves. Registration is still open to attend. Plant Based World Expo offers sepa rate passes for the expo floor and con ference program, as well as an All Ac cess Pass for guests looking for a more well-rounded experience. For more information, visit www.plantbased worldexpo.com.
108 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com from page 24OILCHEFfrom page 58
of OiLChef’s clients attest that the system allows them to save more than 50% on oil purchases thanks, in large part, to longer-lasting oil. These savings add up and even help to reduce food waste, as Farry points out: “We help people to pro duce twice as much great quality product per pound or liter of oil,” simply because it does not need to be replaced as frequently. These im provements, in turn, are important, as after beverages, fried foods tend to be the most profitable items on a restaurant’s menu. OiLChef helps restaurants of all sizes – whether mom and pop or chain – to increase their profit margins when serving menu staple items such as French fries or chicken tenders. What’s clear is that OiLChef re mains highly relevant and soughtafter by any restaurant that fries any of its menu items, even in the face of new frying trends such as the advent of the air fryer. When asked to remark on the introduction of air frying to many diets, Farry re marked that the technology “doesn’t deliver the same punch – deep-fried chicken is never going to taste the same without the oil.”
September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 109 SOCIETY FOR HOSPITALITY AND FOODSERVICE MANAGEMENT
110 • September 2022 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com from page 10THREE SISTERS ney’s fees, and costs. So what can a hospitality industry employer do to protect itself from lawsuits by tem porary workers supplied by staffing agencies to work events? While the company you contract with should made written representations that it is compliant with the wage and hour laws, that is not fully sufficient. If possible, have the staffing agency produce payrolls and wage theft protection act notices, as well as its policies and procedures, before it provides any staff, so your own company can determine whether its business partner is complying with the law and will not unnecessarily expose you to legal liability. As a gen eral matter, you should always have the staffing company provide its own supervision of its workers for each event, and remove your company, to the extent possible, from schedul ing, disciplining, hiring, and paying thoseAndstaffers.most importantly, ensure you are compliant with all wage and hour state laws and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, through regu lar audits. Be certain that you have the required disclaimers on event contracts, invoices and menus con taining prices for any charges ex cept food and beverages, so that it’s clear that no mandatory charges the company wishes to collect could be deemed gratuities. Be sure that man agers do not share in the tip pool.
This article is intended as a gen eral informational discussion of the selected topic and is not legal advice or intended as legal advice. Readers are advised to consult with attorneys and other professionals for advice and guidance with respect to specific situations. from page 52LEGAL INSIDER food, and spicy food, but lacked an understanding around the blending of spices. So, we set about creating our website, and we sell from the UK di rectly to our customers.” Recently, The Three Sisters have been venturing into Spice Blends, enabling the culinary professional to simply create signature dishes. “We understand how busy chefs are and the challenges that the labor pool present,” Sereena noted. With that in mind, Three Sisters offers a lineup of 4 specially designed pure spice blends to provide a quick curry making ex perience. Professional chefs love how easy it is to create delectable menu fare with an easy-to-follow recipe, and only a small list of ingredients to buy! The blends can be used on an assortment of vegetable and meat dishes, the reci pes are just a starting point. Fan and family favorites include, “Makhami Murgh” (Butter Chicken). The mild, aromatic, creamy sauce, with succu lent chicken pieces is a staple crowdpleaser. Or, as demand for healthier fare has grown, “Aloo Gobi” (Potato & Cauliflower) is the perfect accompa nying dish for any Indian meal. The Turmeric infused, and gently spiced aloo gobi has multiple health benefits. Plus, the added depth and flavor of the blend is also a great way to introduce young restaurant guests to vegetables. At the top of Walker’s agenda for 2023 is for The Three Sisters to estab lish partnerships ideally with a rice company. The relationship would be symbiotic, she said, and the items would be sold as a package with the iconic line of spices. Walker also hopes that The Three Sisters spice blend will be attractive to chefs offering fu sion style menu items. “Whether it’s Mexican, Thai, Malaysian fusion with other countries, our spice box and fu ture blends will allow chefs to create signature dishes that enable them to stay ahead of their competition, be come inspired, whilst respecting the style and cooking practices of differ ent cultures. It’s this blending and sharing of cuisines that creates some thing unique and powerful,” Walker concluded. Restaurants looking to add The Three Sisters spices to their menu can visit their website at https://threespic esisters.com/ to learn more.
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