October 2022 - Total Food Service

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COLE CONTINUES NATIONAL ROLLOUT OF ATLANTA FAVORITE SLUTTY VEGAN WITH BROOKLYN DEBUT

The highly anticipated col laboration of The Howard Hughes Corporation with their real estate market acumen and the legendary culinary SluttyVegan, a vegan burger chain with a cult following, opened in Brooklyn last month with a block party that shut down a stretch of Fort Greene and caused New Yorkers from as far as the Bronx to wait in seemingly unending lines for vegan patties, fries, and sweet potato pies.

Pinky Cole, the visionary, founder and CEO behind acclaimed burg er joint Slutty Vegan marked the

“I remember working in New York City following my dream, and now almost a decade later, my dream is following me. I am beyond excited to finally sluttify Brooklyn, New York.” — Pinky Cole

brand’s first in the Northeast region restaurant. The Fulton Street restau rant serves a carry-out menu featur ing creative takes on vegan burgers, sandwiches and more made with plant-based meat and all donning racy names. The new outpost is the

brand’s seventh brick-and-mortar, as the fast-growing company con tinues to expand its Slutty footprint across the country.

“I was taught that if you can make it in New York City, you can make it anywhere,” says Jason Crain, Slutty

Vegan President. “We are proud to open in Brooklyn. We know that with New Yorkers on our side, we will be able to spread our mission all over the world.”

The full menu which includes fan-favorites like the ONE NIGHT STAND, a burger loaded with vegan bacon, vegan cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato & Slut Sauce on a vegan Hawaiian bun and the FUSSY HUSSY, a burger loaded with pickles, vegan cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato & Slut Sauce

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Pinky Cole, the visionary, founder and CEO behind acclaimed burger joint Slutty Vegan, celebrates the vegan burger chain’s debut in Brooklyn, NY (above)

Why Buy an Ice Machine When There’s a Better Option?

CHEF NISCHAN FETED BY TABLE TO TABLE AT ANNUAL GALA

Table to Table, New Jersey’s first and most successful food rescue organization honored legendary chef Michel Nischan at last month’s an nual Gala. Each year, Table to Table honors a prominent chef based on their culinary excellence as well as support of its mission.

Michel Nischan is a four-time James Beard Award winning chef with over 40 years advocating for a more healthful, sustainable food system. Chef Nischan is an active thought leader encouraging every one in America to exercise their right to feed themselves and their families well, regardless of race, ethnicity, in come, or economic condition.

Nischan brought a unique perspe tive to his comments upon receiving the award. Unlike most chef award winners, he has actually left the day to day of restaurant operations to dedicate his life to battling hunger. His Wholesome Wave is a 501(c)(3) public

charity that creates concepts like dou bling SNAP for fruits and vegetables and procedure prescriptions, then works to institutionalize them through policy change. Nischan and his team have also created Wholesome Crave a for-profit food company that sells plant-based food intro scaled food service operations at colleges, univer sities, and large-scale employers to provide tax-free gross revenue to sup port the work of Wholesome Wave.

His eye opening acceptance includ ed: “I have yet to meet a low-income community member or family who doesn’t desire to eat healthier or pro vide healthier food for their families. They simply can’t afford it. Our con

sumer attitude surveys showed that low-income shoppers, urban and rural, valued the same attributes as higher income shoppers such as qual ity of produce; selection of produce; supporting local farmers and busi nesses. It’s sad to realize that the focus of our society as a country has deter mined income to be the differentiator amongst our neighbors, rather than the values we all hold and align on. Like taking care of each other.”

At the sold-out event, Nischan was feted by an all-star lineup of toques for the 2022 edition of it Chefs Gala, at Edgewood Country Club . Now in its 22nd year, the chefs will prepare a culinary feast where top chefs and restaurateurs from NYC and NJ pre pare a five-course menu just for Table to Table. The menu also included cu rated wines paired with each delicious course. Among the highlights of the annual event is a one-of-a-kind LIVE auction that included in-hone dinners with a number of top chefs.

Once again, the Table to Table Chefs Gala lineup included several returnees that have given tirelessly of their time and talent:Internationally acclaimed celebrity Chef David Burke is a trustee and supporter of Table to Table since its inception 20+ years ago and the 2021 Chefs Gala Honoree. TV person ality and James Beard award-winning chef, Rocco DiSpirito, has dedicated his life to proving that healthy and de

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continued on page 102

(L

Chefs David Burke and Rocco DiSpirito share a laugh with honoree Michel

“I have yet to meet a low-income community member or family who doesn’t desire to eat healthier or provide healthier food for their families.” — Michel Nischan

Cristina Mercedes

SINGER EQUIPMENT SET TO WELCOME BACK GUESTS WITH TENT SALE RETURN

The Singer Equipment Com pany tent sale has returned this year, Friday October 21st through the 23rd at its Elverson, Pennsylvania Head quarters. The annual event will be highlighted with the liquidation of many products from many of the most trusted brands in foodservice equipment and supplies.

Singer’s Tent Sale will include worktables, cooking equipment, re frigeration, small wares, glassware, pots, pans, and much more. With supply chain issues continuing to plague the food service industry, this tent sale is a great way to buy unique products that can be useful to operators in all segments from restaurants healthcare and corpo rate dining.

For 102 years Singer Equipment has been a trusted food service equipment dealer focusing on food service equipment supplies, heavy equipment, and disposables. It is the largest foodservice equipment and supplies dealer based on the East Coast servicing the NY to DC market, and a two-time recipient of the “Dealer of the Year” award by Foodservice Equipment and Supplies Magazine. Andrew Beau champ, the Vice President of Sales Operations, touched on what makes Singer Equipment special.

“It’s our service and product sourcing capabilities,” Beauchamp said. “We pride ourselves on in dustry knowledge, relationships and responsiveness, and are al ways accountable. Every customer we work with receives this value proposition.”

“We welcome everyone back to our tent sale.

There will be tens of thousands of custom and standard products for any foodservice setting. We will have great deals especially in the equipment and tabletop categories.” — Andrew Beauchamp

Singer’s commitment to go that extra step was certainly the case with a restaurant project in nearby Hershey, PA. When deciding to add new food and beverage options at Hersheypark, Hershey’s team of ex perts contacted Singer Equipment Company to make their Chocolatier Restaurant, Bar + Patio a reality.

With a vision of fun meets choco late, the Hersheypark foodservice team and Singer’s design experts created custom faux wood tabletops and a ferris wheel sampler platter.

They both display Hershey’s iconic pinwheel inlaid, to create a feature that combines Hershey’s past and present. The eatery also includes Hershey Kisses shaped cast iron skillets, sandwich boards with the emblazoned Chocolatier logo, and Libbey glassware for the restaurants signature milkshakes.

Singer’s complete design build services, dedicated kitchen design teams, and partnerships with con tractors will bring any project from concept to opening. These types of

customizations, along with deep in dustry knowledge, are what makes Singer Equipment unique and that uniqueness is what you will find at this tent sale.

The tent sale is a way for Singer Equipment to close out on prod ucts that have been sitting in their warehouse for the last couple of years. You will mostly find custom or modified products that are not often available through your sales representative.

According to Beauchamp, “We welcome everyone back to our tent sale. There will be tens of thousands of custom and standard products for any foodservice setting. We will have great deals especially in the equipment and tabletop catego ries – this is the perfect opportunity to accessorize your kitchen or find a complimentary piece for a new menu item.”

You do not have to be a current Singer Equipment customer to at tend this tent sale. If you do decide to swing by, just be sure to pre-reg ister at www.singerequipment.com.

Now in its third generation of family leadership, Singer Equip ment Company is the fourth largest foodservice equipment and supplies dealer in the United States,. Head quartered in Elverson, Pa., Singer also maintains offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, as well as 5 distribution centers totaling more than 450,000 square feet. The company has continued its growth initiative in 2022 with the purchase of Massachusetts based Kittredge Equipment earlier this year.

MASSIVE INVENTORY, DEEPLY DISCOUNTED.

Join us under the Great Singer Tent for a very special event. We’ve been clearing out our warehouses to find hidden gems, killer steals, and closeout specials from across the company. There will be a massive amount of inventory deeply discounted during this time only. Product categories will include everything from equipment to smallwares, tabletop to paper goods, janitorial to PPE, and everything in between.

amazing brands

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By Marc Zornes, Winnow CEO and co-founder

IKEA HALVED FOOD WASTE, NOW THE REST OF THE FOODSERVICE SECTOR SHOULD FOLLOW

Given economic and sus tainability drivers, food waste should be a priority for operators. Yet often the issue is relegated to a box-ticking exer cise. Ingka, IKEA’s largest retailer, has halved food waste worldwide. They prove that a global foodservice busi ness can drive significant benefit. In this article we share a blueprint for the rest of the industry to follow.

With food inflation at a 60-year high and Americans paying well over 10% more for food than a year ago, cost control is paramount. Combined with rapidly rising energy costs, costconscious consumers, and labor chal lenges, there has never been a more important time to run a kitchen with

maximum efficiency. Even ignoring the environmental impact, managing and reducing food waste should be a top priority for every operator today.

This kind of existential crisis for our industry is exactly why I founded Win now in 2013. We develop Artificial In telligence tools to help chefs measure and reduce food waste. Partnering with the likes of ISS Guckenheimer, Compass Group, IKEA and Hilton, our tools are trusted by thousands of chefs around the world.

Working in over 1,700 locations around the world, we know that somewhere between 5 - 15% of the food a kitchen purchases ends up be ing wasted. It is hard to measure, and without digital tools teams tend to

underestimate the true level of waste. Our data shows that food waste can be cut in half, leading to food purchas ing cost savings of anywhere between 2 - 8%.

In the current context, who could afford to pass up such an opportunity?

However, the truth is, food waste is still often not taken as seriously as the business case clearly demands.

Perhaps one reason for the lack of prominence in the boardroom has been the lack of a major foodservice business demonstrating that mean ingful reductions can be achieved at scale. As the saying goes, “A prob lem is only a problem when it has a solution.”

Well, as of September 2022, we have

proof of a scaled solution. At NYC Cli mate Week IKEA’s Chief Sustainability Officer Karen Pflug announced that Ingka, the largest IKEA retailer, had cut food waste in half globally. IKEA, also one of the world’s biggest restau rant chains serving over half a billion people per year, was able to save 20m meals from the trash since 2017 whilst driving significant cost savings across the business.

IKEA reduced food waste by 50%, a team effort that can be replicated across our industry

This achievement results from the commitment of more than 20,000 IKEA food co-workers, who were trained to use Winnow’s AI technology in their daily routines and fully en gaged with the company goal.

But the milestone is meaningful not only for IKEA and the team behind the success, but to the entire foodservice industry at large who now have a blue print to follow.

Speaking after the event, IKEA’s Lorena Lourido Gomez, Global Food Manager, Ingka Group said, “Together with our co-workers, partners and our customers we are determined to play our part, and as a global food player serving more than 560 million people every year, we want to show what’s possible and I really hope that by shar ing our learnings we can inspire and encourage others to join us on this journey.”

What we’ve learned from scaling a food waste solution to 30 countries

Scaling organizational change is hard for any large business. Market priorities and team structures dif

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY POSITION YOUR RESTAURANT FOR SALE

Selling a restaurant is a difficult thing to do. Owners tend to carry an emotional attachment toward their business and Often treat it like an extension of them selves. Owners generally look to sell to a buyer capable of con tinuing to operate the business at greater or comparable level of success. The owner is looking to capitalize on the successful busi ness they built, but also take care of the employees and customers by transitioning the business to someone who will care for them as successfully as they did. I have helped many restaurant owners sell their businesses; and here are a few tips to help sell your restau rant at the highest price.

Is it time to sell?

The process of selling your res taurant can never start too early. How ever, regardless of when the process begins, your restaurant will be valued based on the prior year’s performance. So, if the goal is to maximize the value of your business, then you will want at least two years of financials and ide ally a positive gross revenue growth trend. This will make your restaurant more attractive to prospective buyers. Simply put, a successful restaurant is easier to sell than an unsuccessful one. Selling your business is a full-time job. Between marketing the business with a level of confidentiality and vet ting the financial position of the buy ers, there is not much time to spend actively running the restaurant. The last thing you would want is for your business to suffer because your time has been shifted to selling the busi ness, rather than running it. If you do

this the value of your business will de crease.

Contact a professional business broker to provide an opinion of value and guidance. They will serve you well as you focus on the continued success of the business. Your will also help bring in qualified buyers to purchase your restaurant.

Set realistic expectations

It is rare to find an owner who can objectively price their business. Often times they have never sold a restau rant before and they are to emotion ally invested in the business to give a fair valuation. Like all economics, the market sets the price the business will sell and there are a number of vari ables that either increase or decrease the value of your restaurant.

A helpful exercise is putting yourself in the position of a prospective buyer.

Ask yourself the tough questions and look objectively at your role as the owner, number of hours you put in the business a week, duties and re sponsibilities, and the net income. If you have a sale price you believe you “should” get for your business, ask yourself, would you pay that amount, to have to do all you do, to make your level of net income. For example, if you wanted $250,000 for your restaurant, and you consistently made $70,000 a year working 40+ hours a week; ask yourself, would I pay $250,000 to buy myself a job that pays $70,000 a year? This is the first question any buyer will ask themselves when presented with the asking price and cashflow amount of a restaurant on the market. Work with your broker to help gain a better understanding of the market and how prospective buyers approach think about a purchase. Setting realistic ex

pectations will help you find more suitable buyers.

Figure out the sale price

The value of your restaurant depends on multiple variables. These include, but are not limited to; financials, the owner’s role and number of hours a week spent in the business, organizational structure, presence or absence of management or key employee(s), quality of the financial bookkeep ing, level of cashflow, and how the business is trending year over year.

Ideally, financials should con sist of the last 3 years of income statements and balance sheets, and corresponding tax returns. A profitable restaurant is valued based on the seller’s discretionary earnings. These earnings are the pretax and pre-interest profits be fore non-cash expenses, one-time investments, and any non-related in come expenses. The higher the discre tionary earnings amount, the greater the multiple of that number the mar ket will bear; thus, allowing you to sell for a higher price.

Maintain Your Equipment

Maintain high-quality standards while you are actively trying to sell your business. No one wants to pur chase a dining establishment they would not eat at themselves. A clean restaurant is a sign you care about the business and this attention to detail will also strengthen the buyer’s belief in the health of your business.

A buyer won’t to spend top dollar to purchase a business that requires im mediate repairs to the equipment. Ei

IT’S TIME TO REVIEW CARBON MONOXIDE SAFETY FOR YOUR RESTAURANT OPERATIONS

We just said goodbye to summer so it’s dif ficult to think about winter weather al ready, however, October is often a time when the temperature drops outside and things heat up on the in side. Now is the time to prepare safe ty measures for the coming months as sometimes the greatest danger can be lurking inside your own prop erties.

Carbon monoxide (CO) gas is one of the most widespread and dan gerous industrial hazards. It is the most common cause of occupation

al gas poisoning leading to death1. It can be lethal at concentrations as low as 1000 parts per million (ppm).

According to the Centers for Dis ease Control and Prevention (CDC), CO is responsible for more than 50,000 visits to the emergency room and over 400 deaths each year2. It is a colorless, odorless, toxic gas which interferes with the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood. Often known as the “silent killer”, CO is non-irri tating and can overcome persons without warning. While CO is a con cern that should be considered at all times, cold weather increases the

use of gas-powered furnaces, as well as the use of alternative heating and power sources (portable generators, charcoal briquettes, propane stoves or grills), drastically increasing risk exposures in the winter months. This has also been amplified by the use of portable outdoor heaters due to the increased enclosed outdoor struc tures brought on by COVID.

One of the most memorable inci dents involved a seafood restaurant on Long Island where CO exposure led to one death and 28 hospital izations. This is unfortunately just one of many as incidents of carbon

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 robert.fiorito@ hubinternational.com.

monoxide poisoning are not uncom mon in restaurants and are often fa tal, leaving businesses in damaging situations they may not ever recover from.

Ensuring a safe working environ ment is essential to worker health and safety. CO poses an unseen risk that can easily be monitored and thus controlled. It is important that owners and managers look at tragic incidents such as this to examine their own restaurants and safety practices in order to prevent future incidents. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides the following guidelines to prevent carbon monoxide expo sures:

• Never use a generator indoors or in enclosed or partially enclosed spaces such as garages, crawl spaces, and basements. Opening windows and doors in an enclosed space may prevent CO buildup.

• Make sure the generator has 3-4 feet of clear space on all sides and above it to ensure adequate ventila tion.

• Do not use a generator outdoors if placed near doors, windows or vents which could allow CO to enter and build up in occupied spaces.

• When using space heaters and stoves ensure that they are in good working order to reduce CO buildup,

BURRATA

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.

Available in 2 oz., 4 oz. and 8 oz. Burrata balls, 4 oz. balls with Black Truffles, and 8 oz. and 1 lb. Stracciatella.

For more info and samples,

belgioioso.com/Foodservice

By Stephen Hosey, blending application manager, Vitamix ®

HOW THE BLENDED BEVERAGE LIFTS PROFIT AND DEMAND

Customers can be fickle. So keeping up with their taste for beverages can be a tricky proposition. You have to find a way to maintain their inter est, even as it shifts with the trends. At the same time, you want to attract new customers.

So new beverages, new toppings, and new flavors are a must. Today’s beverages need to be on-trend and eye-catching, but they also need to yield a good margin for your business. With inflationary pressures, this com bination of demands may feel daunt ing. It’s like you need a magic solution. Fortunately, there is one: You can use your blending equipment to cre ate a beverage filled with unique in gredients, flavors, functional benefits, and even entertaining qualities that customers will go out of their way for. And yet, if skillfully designed, blended beverages are usually a high-margin category.

Blended Beverage Components

Why is the blended beverage such a win-win proposition? Let’s review the basic elements of the category, noting the costs and availability of the ingre dients.

Ice: A large portion of most blended beverages is ice, which is already on hand at most restaurants and there fore not an additional expense. Ice may be fully processed, as in the case of smoothies or slushed drinks. Or, it may remain whole, as in the case of fruit-infused beverages that are quickchilled and muddled with fresh or fro zen fruit in the Aerating Container by Vitamix® Commercial.

Liquid Base: Every blended bever age begins with a liquid “base,” which may be water, green tea, iced coffee, black tea, fruit juice, or coconut wa ter. Often the base is determined by the purpose of the beverage: Is it an energy drink, a hydration beverage, a sweet treat, a refreshing fruit-based drink, or an aid to one’s health? Most

liquid bases are low-cost and easy to obtain, although brewed loose-leaf tea or specialty iced coffee may re quire special effort.

Fruit: Most blended beverages con tain fresh or frozen fruit. Frozen fruit or frozen fruit purées last longer than fresh fruit, cost less, deliver stronger flavor, and are often equal to or better than fresh fruit in vitamins and other nutrients, according to multiple re search studies. Given its flavorful con tribution, frozen fruit delivers a great value.

Other Flavors: Blended bever ages also typically feature one or more high-flavor ingredients that are added in small quantities and will go a long way toward increasing the fla vor, sweetness, and/or aroma of the blend. In many cases, these flavoring agents might well be ingredients you already stock. The most cost-effective options are shelf-stable additions that are easy to use, don’t require refrigera tion, and will last a long time. They

should also be versatile ingredients that you can use in multiple items. You might look no further than the array of coffeehouse syrups already on your shelf. Other low-cost options include powdered ginger, which offers plenty of potent flavor in a very conve nient form, as well as instant espresso or cocoa powders, and peanut but ter. When selecting these ingredients, look for easy-to-store ingredients that can be purchased in bulk and that you can use in a number of ways.

Powders and Supplements: The functional food trend has created an expectation among consumers that beverages will serve a purpose. It’s helpful to label or describe your bev erages accordingly, noting a focus on some purpose (e.g., protein-builder, energy infusion, workout recovery, meal replacement, vegetable super food, special treat, etc.). Many ingre dients that help to define a beverage

CHEF MIKE SALEM VP-CULINARY, HART HOUSE, LOS ANGELES, CA

Iconic Comedian Recruits Chef Salem To Anchor Menu Strategy for Hart House Rollout

Hart House is a new indus try changing quick ser vice restaurant founded by comedian Kevin Hart. The 100% plant based fast food con cept offers a delicious menu free of cholesterol, antibiotics, hormones, artificial colors, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, or trans fats. Leading this innovative new res taurant as its Head of Culinary In novation, is Mike Salem, a chef that was hand selected for his successful involvement with the launch of the Impossible Whopper at Burger King. Salem won the coveted “Menu Masters” award for one the most success ful product introductions and is a global pioneer in the plant-based world. You will find traditional fast-food options at Hart House with their care fully crafted menu such has crispy chicken sand wiches, nuggets, tots, and shakes with one big dif ference: the entire menu is plant based. With that in mind, TFS sought out Chef Salem to get his take on the recipe that will en able the iconic comedian Hart to turn his first entry into the restaurant indus try a success.

What led to your interest in the restaurant busi

ness, what got you involved in cooking and all things restaurants?

It’s just a part of my DNA, I just can’t explain it. Grew up just lov ing to cook and that turned into my first job in the summer being a dishwasher at 15 or 16 years old. I started absorbing and learning and I had the good fortune to have some great chef mentors early in my ca reer in Miami like Chef Norman Van Aken among others. I was able to grow it into a really fun career and I just love food and people.

Talk a little bit about some of the stops along the way from Miami to how this whole Hart House thing has come about.

I had the good fortune after cu linary school to go out for my first corporate restaurant support gig which was with a company called Hometown Buffet out in Southern California and made some career moves overtime ended up going over to Buffet’s Inc. in Minneapolis. Then Atlanta with Cinnabon and Seattle’s best coffee leading their culinary innovation for them. Then a bunch of stops along the way from Del Taco back on the West Coast, Out back Steakhouse, the dine equity in Applebee’s, Papa Murphys pizza, and then most recently the last five years with Burger King at the head of culinary inno vations and commercial ization. That’s where I was recruited from to come over here.

When you first were ap proached for this, what attracted you to this op portunity?

At Burger King about three or four years ago, we had a phenomenal product launch with the Impossible Whopper. We were really the first res taurant chain of scale to

launch plant based and I was very fortunate that I won a “Menu Mas ter” award. It was a really great mo ment for the brand and for plantbased. The more I learned about it and the more I studied what we had done, the more convinced I was that there were opportunities to contin ue to explore plant-based at Burger King or in major QSR’s.

For some reason there has always been an assumption that there is a certain demographic involved

Comedian and entrepreneur Kevin Hart

“We looked at Impossible and Beyond and we felt like their product quality was good but not great.” — Chef Mike Salem

Chef Mike Salem, VP-Culinary, Hart House

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SASHIN/VBS SERIES UNCOVER SECRETS TO PROMOTING RESTAURANTS

We are bombarded with info on how Covid-19 and an impending reces sion are affecting the bottom line for the average restaurant operator, but seldom do we hear of a problem that the same operator can over come without government inter vention or an act of G-d.

Empty tables are a common theme in local spots and contrary to the what the restaurateur that lets “word of mouth” do his market ing it’s plain to see that one of the reasons is that foodservice suffers from “Weak or No Message Anemia” (WoNMa). So many restaurants do so many things well and never tell or show anyone outside the people who already know.

Last month’s Virtual Breakfast Sessions (VBS) concentrated on “The Promoters”, those people and groups that fight “WoN MA” every day.

Foodservice is an in dustry of traditions. Tradi tions that were successful, for many years, though strongly stressed in the years leading up to CO VID. COVID acted like a catalyst. Incomes, buying habits and points of view seems to change in a blink of an eye. Even though the world changed a large segment of the restaurant world held on to many of those “Old Traditions” and in many cases it’s caus ing them to project an old message in a new world.

The expert panel of Pre

sentation Multimedia’s Dean Stein man, the Wise Collective’s Harri son Wise, MaxEx Public Relations’ Linda Kavanagh, Peralta Designs’ TED Speaker Ramon Peralta, Voice of Reason’s Mike Gansl, Total Food Service’s Fred Klashman and L. Sashin & Associates’ Larry Sashin were poised to respond to WoNmA with a series of razor sharp, easy to understand steps that the average owner/operator can take to get the word out to those they want and need to reach.

The VBS conversation clicked into

hyperdrive when Steinman asked, “Guess how many marketing im pressions the average person sees per day?” More than 100 was the 1st guess. “10,000!” was Steinman’s an swer. So, if that is true (the number checks out) how does a small to me dium sized operator get their mes sage out to the people they need to reach?

Steinman spoke of a restaurant in Manhattan (Skirt Steak NYC) that fills the house with a magnetic Tik Tok advertising plan. Sashin, who’s not part of the TikTok generation,

pointed out he was not the person the ads were targeted for and the group in general stressed that the 1st step is knowing who you’re try ing to reach. “Once you commit to outreach it is an ongoing process and unless it becomes a regular part of your business it may not be for you,” noted Kavanaugh. Wise and Peralta added that you can hire people at reasonable prices to keep your message up to date on social media. The panel agreed that after you identify your target audi ence, no matter what steps you take they should be data driven and well thought out. Steinman added “Ad vertising without a well thought out plan is like cooking without a recipe.”

The Virtual Breakfast Sessions are a bi-weekly series of Zoom based, roundtable discussions based around foodservice, hospitality and the chain of business that support its operation. Un like other online events the VBS has an interactive fea ture that allows the audi ence to be part of the “live” conversation.

Tickets are free and can be found on Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/3xWUc0V

Fight WoNMA, “Weak or No Message Anemia” a message is a terrible thing to waste.

All past VBS’s can be seen on YouTube: https:// www.youtube.com/playlis

“So, if that is true (the number checks out) how does a small to medium sized operator get their message out to the people they need to reach?” — Dean Steinman

tax again

Q&A WITH AIDA AND FERNANDO SCARPATI, FERDI, NYC

Sibling partners Aida and Fer nando Scarpati know it takes something truly special to keep New Yorkers filling ta bles at a restaurant even months after its opening. At Ferdi in New York City’s West Village, they offer a wholesome approach to Italian food with a menu featuring their family recipes.

Aida and Fernando grew up in the restaurant industry, as their family has been leaving their mark on restaurants across the city for nearly a century. Their grandfather, Ferdinando, nick named Ferdi, was born and raised on the Italian island of Ponza. He came to the US and opened Ferdi’s, a res taurant beloved by locals for decades on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. Their father, Guiseppe, continued in his father’s footsteps to later become the Executive Chef of The Rainbow Room, the famed restaurant at the top of 30 Rockefeller Center, and eventual

ly open several of his own restaurants throughout the tri-state area.

Fernando has worked at top Italian restaurants throughout the world in cluding Marea, Pallazzo Petrucci, the first Michelin-starred restaurant in Naples, and A Casa di Assunta in Lazio, which has received the Slow Food Award from Alice Waters. He then re turned to the US to work alongside his father and sister at their restaurant in Westport, CT, where he cooked for celebrities like Martha Stewart, Mi chael Bolton, and Frank Gifford. Aida, a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, grew up working in her father’s restaurants where she learned the art of Italian hospitality. She has also spent time on the team at Cote in the Flatiron district.

Where did you grow up? What was life like in a restaurant family for you?

Aida Scarpati: We grew up in West chester, NY. Growing up in a restau rant family is a privilege because it teaches you responsibility and hard work. A family-run restaurant is truly a complete family affair. I remember as a teenager, having to go to work on the weekends, instead of hanging out with my friends, which was totally unfun at the time, but it sure did keep us out of a lot of trouble!

What spurred your passion and love for food and cooking?

Fernando Scarpati: Growing up around my grandfather and father, I was exposed to beautiful Italian cui sine. The first time I traveled to Italy, and I tasted something other than the traditional Italian-American dishes, I fell in love with the flavors of Italy.

AS: I am happiest at a farmers mar ket. I spend my days off going to the market to discover new ingredients.

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

My passion for natural foods comes from growing up in a family of chefs – anything in a processed package or jar was never allowed in our kitchen at home. And using a microwave to cook was taboo.

Walk us through your career tracks.

AS: Both of our careers are very young. We opened a restaurant in NYC at ages 27 and 31. However, we have both worked in restaurants in one facet or another since we were very

page 94

Fernando is the Executive Chef and Aida is the Front of House and Service Manager at Ferdi in NYC’s West Village, serving traditional Italian cuisine

(Photos by Briana Balducci)

BOOK YOUR BOOTH NOW FOR THE 2023 WINTER FANCY FOOD SHOW IN LAS VEGAS

The specialty food in dustry will gather in Las Vegas January 1517 for the 2023 Winter Fancy Food Show, the largest specialty food B2B trade event west of the Mississippi. Cre ated and operated by the Spe cialty Food Association (SFA), the Winter Fancy Food Show is a must-attend event for lead ing buyers, retailers, brokers, distributors, hospitality opera tors, chefs and other industry professionals who want to see and sample the newest and best specialty food products from domestic and interna tional manufacturers.

Hundreds of specialty food makers and manufacturers exhibit at the Win ter Fancy Food Show each year, with the majority returning to exhibit on a regular basis. For exhibitors, the Winter Fancy Food Show proves to be a costeffective, efficient, and exciting way to grow their business, create brand awareness within the industry, network with industry leaders, and expand their knowledge through the SFA’s exclusive on-site education programs.

For exhibitor David Schmunk, founder of African Dream Foods, the 2022 Winter Fancy Food Show “ran like clockwork, and the SFA team made it incredibly easy to just focus on sharing our flavors and leave the admin up to them. We met some amazing buyers, community members and, overall, had an unforgettable experience.”

As a B2B trade event, the Winter Fancy Food Show is open only to qual ified specialty food industry profes sionals aged 18 and older. Exhibitors appreciate the SFA’s extensive attendee qualification process, as it ensures that everyone who walks into an exhibit

booth is a specialty food professional with a legitimate business interest in the event.

Beyond the Show floor, the Winter Fancy Food Show offers exhibitors valuable opportunities to expand their industry knowledge. Newer makers and manufacturers can take advan tage of The Basics, a full-day, pre-show workshop featuring founders and principals from iconic specialty food brands who share their experiences and insights on topics such as pricing, selling, freight and logistics, promo tions, ecommerce, and more. Maker Space sessions run during Show hours and include offerings for both new and veteran makers and manufacturers.

Reflecting on the education pro grams at the 2022 Winter Fancy Food Show, Cassandra Faust Gregory of Chef Cassi’s Table noted, “I gained so much knowledge that I am currently imple menting! And having access to and making super amazing memories with the incredible hand selected speakers will forever be the highlight of my ex perience. I can truly say that I left Las Vegas with a wealth of knowledge and

my brand will thrive in the best way possible!”

Exhibiting at the Winter Fancy Food Show is an exclusive benefit of SFA Membership. Exhibitors must be prod uct qualified, SFA Members in good standing to participate. Non-members interested in exhibiting still have time to be a part of the 2023 Winter Fancy Food Show, as the membership ap proval and product qualification pro cess can be completed in just a couple of weeks.

Right now, the Specialty Food Asso ciation is offering 100 first-time exhibi tors the chance to receive FREE access to the Maritz Global Events SWAP® Mobile App lead retrieval service dur ing the 2023 Winter Fancy Food Show, a $495 value. To qualify, first time ex hibitors must contract for a booth and submit the required deposit by Octo ber 31st. More information about this promotion is available here.

In addition to Fancy Food Shows, SFA Member benefits include access to a virtual press office for sharing com pany news with the media, exclusive access to promote products via the SFA

Product Marketplace, and the chance to enter products in the prestigious sofi® Awards program recognizing the best in specialty food and beverage. Now in its 47th year, the Winter Fancy Food Show took up residence in Las Vegas in 2022 after a one-year hiatus from hosting the Show due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 Show will occupy the Las Vegas Convention Center’s newer and larger West Hall, where exhibitors will enjoy world-class ameni ties and services in a state-ofthe-art facility. Winter Fancy Food Show exhibitors and at tendees qualify for special hotel pric ing through onPeak, the official travel partner of the Fancy Food Shows. The Vegas Loop and Las Vegas Monorail transit systems offer a convenient way for Winter Fancy Food Show attendees to travel within the Las Vegas Conven tion Center campus and along the Las Vegas Strip.

For many specialty food makers and manufacturers, there is nothing quite like the Winter Fancy Food Show. “The experience of the 2022 Winter Fancy Food Show, including the location, events, merchandise mix, and vendor assortment was incredible!” said John Arlotta, CEO of Arlotta Food Studio. “It’s one of the best shows I’ve ever attended and I’m so excited to attend future SFA events. Thank you SFA for making it easy for a merchant to be a merchant!”

Winter Fancy Food Show attendee registration for non-exhibitors opens Monday, October 24. For more infor mation about the Specialty Food As sociation and the Winter Fancy Food Show, visit specialtyfood.com.

Meet Buyers and Grow Sales in 2023 at the Winter Fancy Food Show

Want to have your specialty food products seen and sampled by thousands of qualified specialty food buyers?

Join the SFA today to exhibit at the 2023 Winter Fancy Food Show – January 15-17 in Las Vegas. The Fancy Food Shows are the premier B2B specialty food trade events in the U.S., with attendance entirely composed of qualified industry professionals. Never exhibited before?

The first 100 first-time exhibitors to apply for the 2023 Winter Fancy Food Show by October 31, 2022, will receive a FREE lead retrieval services package (a $495 value). Floor space is limited, so act fast to be a part of it!

• $41 per sq. ft.* for Specialty Food Association Members

• $42 per sq. ft.* for International Pavilions & International Non-members

* ($400 upcharge per 10x10 corner booth)

fancyfoodshows.com

EXHIBIT HALL SCHEDULE

Sunday, January 15th 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Monday, January 16th 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Tuesday, January 17th 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

FOR EXHIBITING INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Manager, Member Relations, Northeast Janet DeCarlo 646.878.0187 jdecarlo@specialtyfood.com

Manager, Member Relations, West Roger Greenidge 646.878.0158 rgreenidge@specialtyfood.com

Manager, Member Relations, Southwest/Southeast Erika Sipos 646.878.0130 esipos@specialtyfood.com

Director, Strategic Alliances Louis Helms 646.878.0161 lhelms@specialtyfood.com

Manager, Global Accounts Mimo Boulefrakh 646.878.0151 mboulefrakh@specialtyfood.com

Manager, Member Relations, Midwest/Northwest Reta Martin 646.878.0135 rmartin@specialtyfood.com

HOW TO MAKE YOUR RESTAURANT MORE PROFITABLE

In the first 18 years of my coaching career, I was known as the systems guy. I could teach you to put sys tems in place that would drop your restaurant prime cost by an average of 23 points, no problem. But with the sale of my original company and the publication of my book, Restaurant Prosperity Formula: What Successful Restaurateurs Do, (found on Amazon), I learned that systems are just tasks and that there’s one thing that comes before all those systems that is a key indicator of your success: a growth mindset.

First, let me say my most successful members, who I wrote the book about, have two personality traits in com mon, which I have found to be consis tent in the most successful restaurant owners I coach today:

1. A passion for hospitality

2. Persistence

To be a successful restaurant owner, you must have a passion for the res taurant business, for creating memo ries and offering hospitality. And if you needed any indicator that you have persistence, if you have survived the pandemic, if you survived the labor shortage, if you’re surviving inflation and dare I say, recession, you are per sistent. You’re already going down the right path.

However, the key indicator of suc cess is a growth mindset. Before I ex plain a growth mindset, let’s talk about the opposite, a fixed mindset.

People with a fixed mindset see challenges as roadblocks. Negative

things happen to them all the time.

They can’t overcome them. If their food cost is high, they blame their vendor. If Yelp reviews are low, it must be people who aren’t their customers, sabotaging their restaurant. Every thing’s happening to them, coming at them, and there’s nothing they can do to overcome these challenges.

People with a growth mindset have those same challenges. Same food costs, labor shortages, you name it. But they see them exactly as that: challenges. Obstacles to overcome. Demolish, move, defeat. They know they can outwork and outlearn. They can outspend these challenges. They can get by the challenges. They will not allow anything to stop them dead or in their tracks. They don’t throw up excuses on why something can’t be done

Every time you say things like, “You don’t understand; my restau rant is different,” you cast a vote for the restaurateur you are. Instead, when you start thinking positive and focus on the things you can do, you start casting a vote and taking actions for the restaurant owner you want to become.

People with a growth mindset realize they don’t know what they don’t know, and they’re always looking to learn new ways to do things. Growth mindset people re main positive and lead their teams. Growth mindset people see the glass as half full even when there’s a leaky glass.

You will not have success with leading your team, implementing systems, being open to learning new things, being able to hold your

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 https://dsp.coach/ three-key-principles.

managers accountable, or take action to move your business forward unless you have a growth mindset.

If you want to make your restaurant more profitable, you must start with improving your mindset. I know that sounds crazy, but I’ve seen it over the years, time and time again, it starts with you and your mindset.

If it makes it easier for you to digest what I’m saying, let’s change mindset to improving your attitude. My father was a motivational speaker – the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess –and in his speeches, he talked about a rainy day and how people see the rainy day differently. Some people who say, “Oh, it’s raining outside. My day is ru ined. Oh, it’s awful.” And now they’re sad. They chose to be sad.

Then there are people who look outside and say, “It’s raining, and you know what? It’s going to rain. It’s out of my control. I can choose to have a great day. I can choose to be happy.”

To make your restaurant more prof itable, you need to choose your at titude. Shift your mindset. Practice focusing on the positive. Learn every day and look at your business through the lens of a growth mindset, because that’s how, when you implement sys tems, they start to take hold and make huge changes in your business. But they don’t if you don’t come at it with a growth mindset.

WE’RE

Bobby and Sophie on the Coast

Bobby Flay and his daughter, So phie, take a delicious food tour of the sunny California coastline to ex plore old and new spots in Los Ange les’ exploding food scene. Together, they’re on a mission to visit the top restaurants and chefs for delectable and inventive cuisine. From glamor ous Hollywood establishments to the urban revival of downtown LA’s hot new eateries to fresh seafood in the sunny beach towns, Bobby and Sophie do what they enjoy most: finding the most incredible eats around. And with so much inspiration, Bobby can’t resist using the local ingredients to cook up his own delicious dishes that perfectly reflect what LA cuisine is all about. Watch it on Food Network.

Zumbo’s Just Desserts

In this competition reality show, re

nowned dessert wizard Adriano Zum bo puts skilled amateur cooks to the test in this tense competition with a $10,000 prize. Watch it on Netflix.

Matt Sartwell, Managing Part ner, Kitchen Arts & Letters Bookstore in New York City shares his book reviews...

Noma 2.0: Vegetable, Forest, Ocean

By René Redzepi, Mette Søberg, and Junichi Takahashi

The restaurant Noma in Copenha gen has justly earned a reputation for technically rigorous innovation cou pled with beautiful presentation that enhances the experience of eating ap pealingly flavorful food.

This large format book is the work of Chef René Redzepi, collaborating with Mette Søberg, the restaurant’s head of

WHAT WE’RE READING:

research and development, and Ju nichi Takahashi, who has cooked at Noma since 2012.

Together they have crafted some thing that will inspire professional cooks for many years, even those working far from Nordic climes. What is most fascinating about Noma 2.0 is not so much where it sources its ingre dients, but how it uses them.

As it has for years, the restaurant ex plores the possibilities of a full range of ingredients, from garden vegeta bles and wild game to foraged greens and overlooked parts of land and sea creatures. Dishes range from rose hip sausage with quail egg or shrimp with dried fruits to celeriac shawarma and lumpfish roe with elm seeds and grilled ramsons.

There are desserts as well, including a strawberry ceviche, and crispy bee larvae with caramelized chocolate.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO:

Dramatic and very clear photographs present each dish. These are accompa nied by informative text. As the authors say, “this text is not a recipe. The lists of the ingredients do not include measure ments because what’s rel evant here are the ingre dients themselves, those elements reflective of the flow of each season—Veg etable, Forest, Ocean— and the creative perspec tive our team brings to them.”

A QR code, however, provides online access to full recipes, complete with measurements and techniques. Recipes are provided in the book for fundamental components, such as oils, garums, and broths, which are re used throughout each season.

Masa: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple

By Jorge Gaviria

This passionately thorough book explores the creation of a versatile, fla vorful dough from stone-ground corn treated with an alkaline substance in the process known as nixtamalization. If you are the type of cook or reader who enjoys getting lost in the inter section between traditional foodways and modern understanding of ingre dients, Masa will engage you fully.

Author Jorge Gaviria, founder of Masienda, a business which connects small-scale growers of specialty corn

with restaurants and serious home cooks, travelled to Oaxaca, Mexico, as he began his search to understand what the best masa tasted like and

how it could be created. In contrast to the mass-produced tortillas and torti lla mixes which had become ubiqui tous in not only the US but in Mexico, he found growers and millers who had stuck to methods used centuries before.

Masa is a guide to understand ing and using the superlative corn and meal provided by such people. It will teach you to nix tamalize your own corn, to grind it, mix it, and use it in everything from a simple tortilla to tamales, arepas, dumplings, empanadas, pupusas, and an array of other foods which take advantage of flavor and versatility of corn. Im pressive and worthwhile.

Editor’s Note About PodcastsListen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, including on Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Audible & more.

Longer Tables with José An drés

Longer Tables with José Andrés explores all the ways that food shapes our world and makes us who we are. In each episode, José talks to friends from the worlds of culinary and creative arts, politics, and media: Stacey Abrams, Ron Howard, Yo-Yo Ma, Eric Ripert, and Liev Schreiber, and more. He also takes listeners into his home kitchen to learn his favorite recipes and answers their burning culinary questions.

A Taste of the Past

Linda Pelaccio, a culinary his torian, takes a weekly journey through the history of food on A Taste of the Past. Tune in for in terviews with authors, scholars and culinary chroniclers who discuss food culture from an cient Mesopotamia and Rome to the grazing tables and deli coun ters of today. Each week Linda explores the lively link between food cultures of the present and past.

LISTEN & LEARN: THESE HOSPITALITY EXPERTS WEIGH IN ON THE CUSTOM QUESTION

You might have dreamt of this moment before: your guest nestles into that cor ner table. They unfold their napkin and are greeted by a set plate with your perfectly printed logo in lovely, design-driven typeface (that you’ve spent hours and days and years perfecting). If you’ve owned a restaurant and purchased tabletop before, you’ve envisioned a moment like this. You’ve considered custom izing your dinnerware.

Many restaurants decide to ‘go cus tom’ as the insiders of foodservice distribution call it. But let’s be real:

when you’re faced with file formats, pantone colors, lead times and just the overall collaboration required, the whole process can seem a bit daunt ing. If you know someone who has re cently undertook the task, they might tell you that working with a trusted partner to help guide you through it all, makes all the difference.

“Working with Singer M Tucker has given us the most seamless, informa tive, helpful guidance I could have possibly hoped for,” says Alex Shap iro, who owns Flex Mussels alongside her parents Laura and Bobby Shapiro. “I couldn’t be more thrilled with how

prepared and helpful the team was.” She began developing the newest location on the Upper East Side. Sha piro knew a special tabletop moment had to be a part of the experience. Using Figgjo’s Klassik collection, Sha piro and her designer, Sasha Bikoff, carefully selected a palette of poppy colors that would rim each plate and bowl, a playful logo and fun stencil artwork inspired by seaside moments that give guests a pleasant surprise at the end of each course.

“We wanted to evolve the design. Owning a small restaurant, I always thought these things were unat tainable, but it’s quite easy and very doable,” says Shapiro. “I was so im pressed by Figgjo’s design capabilities

Sarah Bulmer is the Lead Tabletop Specialist for Singer Equipment Company, support ing strategic communication with Singer’s diverse range of hospitality clients and manu facturer partners. She studied Journalism & Mass Communica tions with a focus in food writ ing at the University of Iowa. Sarah is based in Brooklyn, New York and can be reached at sbulmer@singerequipment. com.

and how many options they gave us to choose from so we got exactly what we wanted.”

You can expect more creative cus tomization from the team behind Flex Mussels in 2023 and beyond.

Any operator who has ordered cus tom china knows that preparation is key. Lead times can vary from six weeks to six months. There are draw ings to render, samples to fire. Time, and a vision, are paramount.

continued on page 94

Custom dinnerware by Figgjo Norway at the new Flex Mussels, New York City

Custom Bauscher

Hepp dinnerware at Koloman, NYC (Photo Credit: Nick Johnson)

HOW TO AVOID A FLOOD OF LITIGATION PITFALLS

AS RESTAURANTS RETURN TO NEW NORMAL

Everybody has their own snap shot of what “normal” is sup posed to look like. For me it is the parking lot to access at my local LIRR train station. Or it might be the restaurant at which I met cli ents for dinner last Saturday evening did not have a single table open. The combination of those two makes it safe to assume that things we saw as pre-pandemic life are slowly creeping back to some kind of normal.

People are busy again and the hum ming of the wheels of the industry are gaining momentum as an increasing number of workers return to their of fices. This reality also means that liti gating issues affecting the restaurant and hospitality industry are mount ing.

It is no secret that the pandemic has bred woeful labor shortages in the foodservice industry and those labor ers that the industry has been able to secure or retain are arguably now more informed than ever about their rights. A fact that is strengthened by

In addition, you really do want your attorneys to review and make sure that everything is verifiable because we have seen numerous instances whereby while the pay stubs generated by the payroll provider are compliant with general New York laws, they do not comply with the intricacies for the hospitality industry.

the courts system. Consequently, our firm, Meister Seelig & Fein LLP, is see ing an increase in the filings of wage issues both inside and outside the res taurant industry from weekly wages issues to improper tip credit issues, and non-payment of overtime. We are faced with the whole gambit of wage and hour claims being asserted. Plus, there is definitely an optic whereby people are taking advantage of the courts again.

What this means is that restaura

teurs must ensure that all their ducks are lined up neatly in a row. There are several practices that simply must become second nature. Those nonnegotiables include always issuing notices of pay rate and payday. Your pay stubs must be state-compliant. Employees must be paid on a weekly basis. Time must be tracked accord ingly to properly allot time in paying overtime and make sure that you are properly applying the tip credit and only taking the tip credit for those em ployees who are eligible.

In several ways, I see where the Pan demic created a new level of confu sion. With the growth over the past two years in Takeout & Delivery, operators need to make sure that tipped em ployees are not doing the packing and prep of takeout orders. Only the nontipped employee should handle all the delivery prep in addition to doing side work at the restaurant. Take steps to avoid your tipped employees poten tially crossing the threshold of per forming too much non-tipped work by adhering to the 80-20-30 rule as opposed to just the 80-20. It certainly helps to alleviate the pressure related to the restrictions on your tipped em ployees doing untipped work.

Just in case the “30” has you con

Gregg Kligman is counsel at Meister, Seelig & Fein LLP. The New York Citybased law firm deals in all as pects of busi ness litigation.

Mr. Kligman spe cializes in the management side of employ ment counselling and litigation. As many businesses look to rebound and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic, employeremployee relations, and the law that follows, remain as complicated as ever.

In the glimmer of light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, Mr. Kligman provides the latest, need-to-know information for owners and operators in the restau rant and hospitality industry.

fused: what that means is that now there is the 30-hour continuous limi tation with which you must now con tend. Whereas previously the 80-20 rule stipulated that tipped employees could not do more than 20 percent of their shift of non-tipped work, now, federal law states that employees can not exceed 30 continuous minutes of non-tipped work.

The easiest way to avoid these pit falls is to make sure that your payroll provider has experience with the hos pitality industry professional. In addi tion, you really do want your attorneys to review and make sure that every thing is verifiable because we have seen numerous instances whereby while the pay stubs generated by the payroll provider are compliant with general New York laws, they do not comply with the intricacies for the hospitality industry.

From a legal standpoint, we are

continued

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WILL GUIDARA

Restaurateur and Author

Will Guidara was twen ty-six when he took the helm of New York City’s Eleven Madi son Park. The struggling two-star bras serie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world.

How did Guidara pull off this un precedented transformation? He has a new book that details the radical re invention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, hospitality. He shares a hot dog story that really draws a line in the sand in terms of ‘who am I and how far are we willing to go?’

The ‘hot dog’ premise morphed into surprising a family who had never seen snow with a magical sledding trip to Central Park. Not to mention a couple whose beach trip to the Hamp tons was rained out and replaced by Guidara and his team with a private dining room filled with sand, beach chairs and mai-tais.

Total Food Service sought out Will Guidara to talk about his approach to the day-to-day essentials of how to talk to and empower his team. For him, it’s the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner.

For those who don’t know you, can you share a little about your background?

I’m from Sleepy Hollow, New York and I grew up in the hospitality busi ness. My mom was a flight attendant for American Airlines and my dad was the president of Restaurant Associates when I was growing up, so hospital ity is in my blood. I went to the hotel school at Cornell and started working for Danny Meyer and then Restau rant Associates. I went back to Danny Meyer, before buying Eleven Madison Park, and started my company and that included the Nomad which I end ed up selling in early 2020.

Can you share your career path after Cornell?

After Cornell, I went to Spain just for three or four months to basically chop vegetables in exchange for room and board at this hotel school in the north of Spain and learn to speak Spanish. Then, I went to work with Danny Mey er at Tabla, I went to Restaurant As sociates to work at the MetLife build ing where I worked as the assistant purchaser for Naples and Cucina and Cafe Centro in the morning and then, the assistant controller for those same restaurants in the afternoon.

Restaurateur and author Will Guidara (Photo by Sara Beth Turner)

What impact did Danny Meyer have on your career?

The real lesson from Danny lies in how to create a culture within a com pany. With that comes providing hos pitality to the people that work there, as well as the people that we serve, who are truly the foundation of every thing I’ve accomplished. Danny was the first person that showed me that you can be just as creative in the din ing room, as top chefs were being cel ebrated for being in the kitchen. They also taught me the power of language and articulating culture, he taught me that truly, in hospitality, investing in your people is the most scalable way to create a good experience for the guests.

Can you define this concept of Unreasonable Hospitality?

It begins with being in the present. It is about caring so much about the people you’re serving, or the thing that you’re doing. With that comes slowing down long enough to actually listen to

the things customers and co-workers are saying and all the things they’re not saying. It is all about how you react to what you have heard.

Is that a realistic expectation of some body who doesn’t own any of the equity in the restaurant?

Hospitality is something that if you can get peo ple to deliver it enough times, they quickly grow to understand how good it feels and had nothing to do with compensation. The equity, is the emo tional exchange. I don’t think there are very many things as energizing, it seemed to look and complete joy on someone’s face, when they receive a gift, you’re comfortable for giving them. I think that becomes an addiction and if you can create a culture where people ex perience that, a handful of times I find that that is their equity. I like to call it

emotional equity that derives happi ness from making other people happy.

Think about how amazing it was, the few times in your life that you’ve been wowed, and think about how amaz ing that felt.

I disagree and think that for instance during the holi days people prefer to give gifts rather than receive them. I think, ultimate ly, everyone likes to give gifts because the gift you get, is a dopa mine rush when you see how happy your creativity made someone else feel, you know what I mean?

How did Eleven Madison Park happen and the collaboration with Daniel Humm come to pass?

Well, we were both hired by Danny Meyer and then we were given the opportunity to buy the restaurant

from him in 2011 and that’s how our company started.

Got it and so, if the restaurant was so successful, why would he sell it?

Well, it was on a journey towards becoming successful at the time. We went to him because we were given the opportunity to open the Nomad. Danny believed in us and what we were doing at Eleven Madison Park but didn’t want to be in a situation where we were owners in one restau rant and employees in another and decided that what was best for the restaurant was to give us the chance to buy it from him.

You mentioned the concept of a journey, do all restaurants have a journey?

I think a restaurant is a living breath ing thing, so the journeys are all differ ent. Our journey was one of endless reinvention and constant improve

continued on page 40

ments that brought us from being a middling Brasserie to the number one restaurant in the world, but I think every restaurant has its own journey. A journey doesn’t necessarily imply that you’re going very far. I’m just say ing, I think it’s always a journey, it’s a journey of whether you’re moving for ward, standing still, moving backward, but I think every restaurant just by vir tue of the fact that it’s filled with the constantly evolving group of living, breathing people, there’s this implicit, evolving narrative to it, you know?

As you look back on it, what made the restaurant such a success?

When you look at what it means to be the number one restaurant in the world it is patently absurd, to say that one restaurant is better than every other restaurant on the planet, right? I believe that what that Michelin award actually does acknowledge is the res taurant that’s having the greatest im pact in the world at that moment in time.

When you look at El Bulli in Japan, they pioneered molecular gastronomy and changed the way people living all over the world cook, from that point forward. When you look at Noma in Copenhagen, they did the same thing as well with foraging. I believe our im pact was not by changing how people cooked, in fact, I don’t think our im pact was focusing on what needed to change, but rather focusing on the one thing that will never change, which is the human desire to feel taken care of. Chefs all over the world are celebrated for being unreasonable in pursuit of creating the food that they serve, we chose to be unreasonable in pursuit of our hospitality, how it made people feel, and the depth of the gestures that we would give to the people in our dining room.

Talk about some of those gestures. I mean, there are some pretty incred ible stories, share some of that, and then let’s talk about how the book outlines how to build your own toolkit.

It all started with this hot dog, when I had my lightbulb moment when clearing my appetizers at Tabla for

four foodies that were on vacation in New York and going to the airport af ter the meal to head back home and I overheard them talking, what an amazing trip, we’ve been to all the best restaurants Per Se, and now, Eleven Madison Park.

I could hear them say that the only thing they didn’t get to try was the fa mous New York City street hot dogs.

I went back into the kitchen, dropped off the plates, ran outside to

the corner hotdog cart, and bought a hot dog. I ran back inside to our chef with it. Then came the hard part to trust me. He eventually agreed to cut the hot dog up and add some sauer kraut and mustard. Right before their final savory course, which was a honey lavender glaze, Muscovy ducks that have been fried for two weeks, utiliz ing a technique that has taken years to perfect, we brought over the hot dog. I told them I wanted to make sure they don’t go home with any culinary

regrets and this is New York City hot dog. They freaked out and it was one of those moments where I recognized that there was an opportunity to ap proach all of this differently than it had been done before. I knew if we could create a culture where the team was present enough at the table to pick up on these cues, and then not take themselves too seriously that we could accomplish that goal. Often in customer service businesses, we let our self-imposed standards get in the way of us giving our customers the things they actually want, like a hot dog in a four-star restaurant, it’s sacri legious, but look at how it made them feel. Our goal was to give people a sense of genuine belonging and make them feel seen. We needed everybody to understand that hospitality is not one size fits all. Free champagne and/ or caviar to the table is simple but doesn’t create a personalized hospital ity experience.

Wouldn’t serving champagne have followed the academic type of execu tion that you would have learned at Cornell?

If you want to impress someone, give them something fancy. The hot dog moment became our call to arms. We even added a position to the res taurant with the responsibility to help everyone on the team bring more ideas like that to life. We called it the dream maker and in the years that followed, we did endless gestures just like, whether it was turning our cham pagne cart into a Budweiser cart for a guest that said, they were more of a steak and potatoes kind of guy. There was a couple that came to console themselves after their beach vacation flight was canceled, so at the end of their meal, we turned our private din ing room into their very own private beach, there was sand on the ground and folding chairs in a kiddie pool, filled with water, they can stick their feet into while they drown their sor row over a cocktail.

One of my favorite stories was about a family of four from Spain. They were in the restaurant and the kid looked

(Clockwise from top L) From his time leading the staff at NoMad; and Eleven Madison Park; to recent speeches like The Welcome Conference last month, Will Guidara has spread the word on taking hospitality to a higher level, as elaborated upon in his new book Unreasonable Hospitality. (Welcome Conf photo by Evan Sung)

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out the window with wonder because he had never seen snow and it had started snowing. Our dream maker found a store open on a Friday night and at the end of the night, we ended up bringing them to Central Park to go sledding.

The thing I always tell people when I start telling these stories is that Un reasonable Hospitality is not just for fancy restaurants. Yes, I get it, some of these experiences are extravagant. But remember it all started with a $2 hotdog. It doesn’t require a huge bud get; it is just a way of thinking about your culture.

Is the goal of the new book to help res taurateurs find their inner ‘hot dog moment’?

That’s a part of it because the book is filled with my lessons of service and leadership through the lens of hos pitality. I used the narrative of how we bought Eleven Madison Park to number one. So, it’s about that kind of thing like figuring out how to deliver unreasonable hospitality but you first need to build a foundation. It’s about creating a truly collaborative working environment where you are intention ally creating space for the entire team to come together and contribute to the direction. The second key is nor malizing feedback within your organi zation so that people stop thinking of constructive criticism, as being criti cal and start thinking about it as being an investment in themselves. I talked about how service is black and white and hospitality is color and that if you deliver unreasonable hospitality, it is about shifting it to technicolor.

What is the starting point that you suggest for restaurateurs to start on their journey towards unreasonable hospitality?

The first step is to come to grips with what your goal is. Not someone else. Our goal was to be named the best restaurant in the world. Someone else’s goal can be to grow a single unit into a chain of 100. You have to have the confidence to say it out loud, what you ultimately want to achieve and then take the steps to implement a

road map that points the entire orga nization in that direction.

I need to ask again; are these realis tic expectations for an employee that doesn’t have equity?

This time you get two answers. Two ways. One, I think the best way to know how good it feels to give graciousness and hospitality is to first know what it’s like to receive it. I believe the DMV would be one of the most hospitable places on earth if there was a law passed, that forced everyone to be re ally nice that worked at the DMV. Steve Ells the founder of Chipotle spoke at my Welcome Conference years ago and we could have asked the same ques tion of him, how do you get people to work in a fast food restaurant, to care about cooking the chicken the right way and chopping the vegetables the right way and his whole thesis is, the more responsibility you give people, the more responsible they become. I think, the more you show your team, how good it feels to receive hospital ity, the more you empower your team, with responsibility, they become more responsible, they become more hospi table. I believe that everyone derives more energy and pleasure out of car ing a little bit more than they do and if you lead with trust in them, you will get them to that next level.

What is the number one obstacle to implementing an unreasonable hos pitality initiative?

Definitely the ability to step out of the day-to-day and look at your opera tion from that 30K in the sky perspec tive. I know you don’t want to hear it but the right step might be to close your restaurant for a few days. You might lose much-needed revenue for a few days, but if in those few days, you can figure out how to make your business more efficient, more cre ative, more empowering, more hospi table, and a better place to work, the dividends that that pay is over time will dwarf whatever money you lose in the short term.

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How do you create and implement the hospitality toolkit that you suggest in the book?

What I mean when I say hospitality toolkit, is to create these gestures that I talked about. They may seem like moments of one-off hospitality

But in many cases, they do in fact repeat themselves. For instance, how often does a customer talk about be ing hungover tomorrow as they are leaving your restaurant? So why not create a backlog of 50 hangover kits that are ready to go? I can’t tell you how many times, guests would ask what other coffee shops, bakeries, or museums they should visit in NYC. Why not set up a printed list of recom mendations as you recognize patterns of things that people are consistently interested in or curious about? There is minimal cost and it creates a gesture that screams: ‘We Care.’ We seem to have become obsessed with customer data and yet at the same time forgot how to listen.

What is a starting point for creating or upgrading a culture in 30 minutes a day?

It begins with the pre-service meal that most restaurants have before they open. It’s a great opportunity to go over the water, the wine, the glass, or what’s new on the insurance policy. Great restaurants understand that, that that is the most important 30 minutes of the day because when your team ceases to become a collec tion of individuals and starts to be come a team. It’s how you use those 30 minutes. If it’s just communicating information that you could otherwise express through a memo or an email, then you’ve wasted that time talking about your why, what’s your purpose and what do you care about. It’s time to share inspiration for the team to share stories of your plan.

Why not recognize amazing hospi tality from yesterday and encourage and inspire one another? Bring every one together for 30 minutes and use it as an opportunity to propel your orga nization. I think it’s nothing short of extraordinary.

Where’d you get that from?

I had a boss named Randy Garutti who was the general manager at Tabla. He is now the CEO at Shake Shack. The way that he conducted pre-service dinner is something I tried to emulate from that point forward.

Does your proposed commitment to customer service have an ROI attached to it?

I mean, the number can differ based on organization. My belief is that, if you manage your money, like a crazy per son 95% of the time, then you should spend the 5% quote foolishly and I put foolishly in quotes because I actually think it’s done with great intention. That’s when you create the kind of ex periences for the people that you work with and those that you’ve served, that galvanizes your culture and your busi ness in dramatic ways. Now, does it have an ROI and it’s easy to measure?

No. But one of the biggest mistakes that people make is, they only manage the things that they can measure and in doing so, they’re missing out on the reality that, hospitality is about how you make people feel and that if you only invest in making people feel good when it’s easy to measure, you’ll never get a handle because it’s impossible to fully quantify emotions.

Nobody knows better than you, that everything simply doesn’t go right every day. What’s your approach to dealing with and embracing adver sity?

My dad has told me since I was a lit tle kid, that adversity is a terrible thing to waste. I don’t know but when some thing bad happens, it’s an opportunity to learn, it’s an opportunity to grow, it’s an opportunity to feel competitive, want to turn around and prove your self. That said, I’m not like an annoy ingly sunny and optimistic person, I think when things don’t go your way, you need to give yourself the time and space to feel the way, to grieve for the disappointment or the sadness and then you need to pick yourself up, learn from the experience and use it to make you better and learn from the last one.

HOW HENDRIX COLLEGE RANKS HIGH IN PLANT-BASED MENU PLANNING

Hendrix College is an awardwinning liberal arts college in Conway, outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, that wins accolades not only for its liberal arts college offerings, but also for its din ing services. Culinary recognition includes #1 in Best Dining Halls by BestColleges.com, and multiple Gold Awards from the National Associa tion for College and University Food Services (NACUFS), and Grand Prize in Residential Dining Concepts from NACUFS.

At Hendrix, students look forward to a delicious variety of globally inspired dishes, highlighting Meatless Monday for its environmental and nutritional benefits. Cindy Mosley, MS, RD, LD, Hendrix’s Associate Director of Din ing Services, says, “Our chef and I are

inspired by the Meatless Monday ap proach of encouraging students to be gin their week with a healthy start by eating more vegetables. We also know that our vegan and vegetarian options are eaten by non-vegetarians so I want to highlight those items to gain more student attention.”

In this issue, I spotlight Hendrix College for its enticing plant-based approach and two of the innovators behind it – Cindy and Production Chef Nathan Mosley, CC. They are a terrific team in and out of the kitchen, having been married for 13 years.

Here’s my Q&A with Cindy, with in put from Chef Mosley.

Hendrix College is known for great food -- you consistently win foodser vice awards for menu innovations

and promotions. Your students who favor plant-based meals know they can get delicious, healthy options. What top trends do you see influenc ing your plant-based offerings this school year?

The trends we focus on are dairy alternative options, gluten-free plantbased options, egg substitutes, pro tein-packed smoothies, and immuni ty-boosting salads and vegetables.

As we continuously convert old reci pes or create new vegan options, these choices give those individuals with allergies or sensitivities more options as well.

We use a variety of cheese alterna tives. Nutritional yeast is always a component. It is used simply by sub stituting the parmesan in our risotto dishes or added to homemade vegan cheese sauces. To create our cheesy dishes, we incorporate premade vegan cheese products, cashews, sweet pota toes, and/or cauliflower.

We serve a variety of plant-based milks. With so many young adults switching to plant-based milks, we try to have a variety to choose from and always take into consideration those with food allergies.

Egg substitutes continue to be pop ular, and we are serving new entrees this fall using the product JUST Egg. It is made from mung beans and comes in liquid form or already premade formed patties. Our vegan quiche this fall is showing success, and we can’t wait to get more creative with recipes to include breakfast sandwiches and fried rice dishes.

Maintaining a healthy immune sys tem is so important right now. Our fresh made salads with housemade

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.

dressings, fresh greens, and roasted and steamed vegetables give students a healthy variety. These options are served daily and are also sustainable as a take-out item.

The create-your-own smoothie bar is always popular and never goes out of style. Students can get creative using fresh greens, Greek yogurt, a plant-based milk, fruit of choice, and a punch of protein with our plant-based pea protein powder.

Gluten-free grains and pastas are popular with our students and lentil and chickpea pastas are easily avail able now to substitute for wheat. A benefit to gluten-free pasta is that it can add more protein to a dish than typical wheat pasta. We serve glutenfree Vegan Mac n Cheeze every Fri day, offer a gluten-free pasta with our plant-based hearty garden spaghetti, and include gluten-free pastas and grains in several of our housemade salads.

What key challenge to plant-based

Hendrix College Dining Services Production Chef Nathan Mosley, and Associate Director Cindy Mosley, R.D.

Foodservice team says Meatless Monday is the best day to introduce new items

menu planning do you foresee, and how will you address it?

I work with Hendrix Production Chef Nathan (who’s my husband) to develop new recipes as we keep up with trends. One challenge is devel oping new vegan or vegetarian items that mimic meat-based entrees. But honestly, it is what I find most inter esting about plant-based menu plan ning. I enjoy the challenge of taking a meat dish and making it vegetar ian or taking it one step further and veganizing it.

Some plant-based items are spe cial order items only. These can take longer to ship. If an item doesn’t come in on time, we know how to be flexible and have learned to make substitutions.

How do you, as an RD, work with your chef and kitchen staff in developing plant-based menus?

For the Homestyle Menu, for in stance, we serve items made from scratch. These are comfort foods you

would expect if you were at home. The line is full-service, and most students start at this line and then make their way around the cafeteria.

The priority is to design each dish as a center of the plate item, so we try to focus on providing a protein-rich, comfort-style satisfying meal. We always offer a vegan and vegetarian item on this line. I will discuss with Nathan an idea or recipe and he will work to develop it into something we can taste test and serve on the line. We also make sure there is at least one vegan option, to satisfy all plant-based eaters, as well as many who have food sensitivities or allergies.

Many vegetarian recipes have been reworked and veganized. It’s an easy fix by using nutritional yeast in place of parmesan or substituting with co conut cream, cashew queso, and cau liflower cream for cheeses and cream sauces. Nathan and I have also col laborated on dishes developed for our MM-themed specials.

What promotions do you plan to get your students excited about plantbased meals?

Meatless Monday (MM) is the best day to introduce new items. We al ways celebrate MM in our cafeteria, but by serving a new entrée on that day, it really gets their attention. This will include new recipes we test in the kitchen, introduction of different styled vegan cheeses, or plant-based meatless products on the grill. We will have MM themed days for break fast and lunch. A fun way to do that is to recognize a national food day or month.

Could you give Total Food Service

readers a peek at your plant-based fall menu -- what do you predict will pique plant-leaning palates, and tempt carnivores and omnivores?

Our housemade fresh salads are made from scratch and students are always drawn to our creamy or citrusy dressings. I think our Chickpea Taco Salad or Deconstructed Falafel Salad

made with a creamy tahini sauce and our Lemon Basil Quinoa Salad with a refreshing citrusy vinaigrette will defi nitely be a hit this year.

Alternative meats are not always popular for carnivores or omnivores as a protein option. Sometimes, we try to create entrees similar in texture and taste to meat using fresh ingredients, such as quinoa, cauliflower, chick peas, lentils or mushrooms. I think students will really like our Chickpea Caesar Wrap or Spicy Quinoa Taco Casserole with cashew queso sauce.

You’ve held fun and successful Meat less Monday promotions in the past. What are your strategies for this school year to use Meatless Monday to get students, especially the carnivores and omnivores to try plant-based dishes?

The Meatless Monday team pro vides great ideas including resources for signage and graphics for social me

continued on page 104

PLANT BASED WORLD EXPO TAKES CENTERSTAGE AT JAVITS

It’s simply a matter of time be fore all of the nation’s chefs know what jackfruit and mung beans are, and how to incorporate into their menus. The third edition of Plant Based World Expo North Amer ica (PBWNA) last month at the Javits Center brought insight into what has clearly moved from fad to trend that is here to stay.

The annual event brought an excit ing display of culinary innovation. The real question that lies ahead is can an industry be built on the heels of very high-quality faux food including burg ers made from every vegetable imag inable all of each were on display at the New York City event. More impor tantly, when will breakout foods and brands like the aforementioned jack fruit become a staple of the restaurant and foodservice universe.

The second show post-pandemic, PBWNA welcomed almost attendees across 2-days and included new plantbased products made from mush room, mung beans and more. From plant-based cheese to shrimp, ex hibitors at PBWNA proved that plantbased food is getting tastier and more innovative.

“The response to this year’s Plant Based World Expo has been tremen dous,” said Chris Nemchek, General Manager. “One of our goals this year was to improve the audience quality and increase the number of retail and foodservice buyers at the show, and we are thrilled to report that we increased the number of buyers by 20%.”

The show highlighted a number of trends as plant-based diets con tinue to grow. There were mushroombased meats, snacks and jerky as well

The Ace Natural duo of Matt Fried and Bini Reilly

The show brought notables includ ing iconic chef Rocco DiSpirito and Kristin Harte to the show floor

Citarella’s Steve Rosenbaum (L) shopped the show and visited with Fable Foods’ Craig Smith

(L to R) unMeat’s Bambi Defensor and Patrick Baskin

Pleese Cheese’s Kobi Regev (R) welcomed Maha Taharu and Ludovic Reysset of Spark Foods

(L to R) Mutti’s David Adler and HBCU’s Rosalyn McCoy

(L to R) Donato and Carol Battista of Sogni Doll

(L to R) Roots Markets’ Christian Kim and Stefanie Springer

Larry Sashin (R) moderated an in sightful LSashin/TFS sponsored VBS panel led by TV’s Priyanka Naik

Expertise Beyond EQUIPMENT

CLUB CHEFS RISE TO THE OCCASION IN BEDFORD HILLS

On September 8th, 2022, the first annual Golf Kitchen Invitational and the fourth annual Golf Kitchen Culinary Excellence Awards, sponsored by the National Golf Course Restaurant Association (NGCRA), took place at GlenArbor Golf Club, Bedford Hills, NY.

The Golf Kitchen Invitational kicked off at 11:00 AM with well wishes via video from Rob Labritz, Tour Champion and Director of Golf at GlenArbor. A continental breakfast and a Transfusion station supplied by Fred Evanko, Owner of LinksDrinks, and practice shots at the driving range started the day.

At 12.30 PM, foursomes enjoyed a shotgun start by GlenArbor Starter, Keith Hernandez, and the entire Golf Shop and Outside Service Staff and proceeded their day on the re nowned Gary Player-designed golf course.

Local area club chefs were sta tioned out on the course and served up a mini feast that was enjoyed by participants and members of the prestigious club. Matt O’Connor, Director of Culinary Operations at Wee Burn Country Club, Darian, CT, served up first-class course cuisine and signature cocktails including Citrus Cured Ahi Tuna with Avo cado Terrine, Imperial Caviar, Yuzu Scented Crème Fraiche, Poppadum Crisps and Ci

lantro paired with a Tequila Lime Sparkler. Matthew Norman, Sous Chef at Pine Orchard Yacht Club, Branford, CT served Seared Diver Scallops with Native Corn, Chili In fused Tomato, and Cucumber Froth paired with a Basil Cucumber Gin Fizz; Daniel Hess CC. CHS Chef de Cuisine at Westchester Hills Golf Club in White Plains, NY, created a Street Taco Station with Pulled Pork, Shibazi Chicken, and Duck Tacos with Lots of Add-Ins and paired a classic Azalia cocktail. Kelly Mor row, the Executive Chef at Tavistock Country Club in Haddonfield, NJ, served Tennessee Hot Chicken Slid ers with Pimento Cheese, Habanero Hot Sauce, and Spicy Pickles and then humored guests with a burn

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.

ing hot taste with his Cherry Moon shine Lemonade!

Members of GlenArbor, Invita tional participants, and other guests began arriving at 6:30 PM for the event’s cocktail hour on the Lakev iew Terrace. Michael Ruggiero, Ex ecutive Chef, and his staff at GlenA rbor provided a unique experience with Passed hors d’oeuvres and a live-action station consisting of Veal Breast, Wild Mushrooms, and But ternut Spaetzle. Zouhair Bellout, Executive Chef at Reyn olds Lake Oconee, Greens boro, GA, delivered Black Garlic Macaroons, Kabu sha Squash, Cured Duck, Rosewater Pickled Onion

Jam, and Micro Mustard Greens, and his live-action station Crispy Rice, Tuna, Chili Garlic, Spicy Mayo with Caviar, Green Onions, and Micro Greens. The Macallan, Wines by Cay mus, and Lucinda Sterling, Managing Partner of Mid dle Branch and Seaborne, supplied the beverages. A cover band led by Johnny Bliss entertained with classical jazz and Spanish music.

Fernando Silva, Wine Di

(L-R) Hannah Flora Mihajlovic, Executive Sous Chef at Addison Reserve; Zouhair Bellout, Executive Chef at Reynolds Lake Oconee; Anthony Capua, Executive Chef at Sycamore Hills Golf Club; Dwayne Edwards, Culinary Director and Shawn Olah, Executive Chef at Highlands Falls Country Club, celebrate with a Martini!

Chrissie Bennett, Executive Chef at Winged Foot Golf Club receives the 2022 Golf Kitchen Rising Star Award. (Photo credit: Wei Liu)

WHY EXTRUDE FRESH PASTA?

Are you looking for ways to add excitement and interest to your menu while increasing profit ability? Consider making fresh pasta in-house using an Arcobaleno coun tertop extruder. It’s a winning propo sition from the point of view of the customer, chef, cook, or restaurateur!

For the customer, pasta and noo dles are perennial favorites, and for good reason. They’re delicious and hit the spot whether the craving is for something light or filling, adven turous or comforting. Fresh extruded pasta and noodles add value and ap peal to the menu and differentiate it from the competition.

For the chef, extruding pasta of different flours and flavors and in an endless variety of shapes allows the utmost control over ingredients as well as unlimited creative freedom. Imagine semolina, whole wheat, toasted grano arso, rye, rice, buck wheat, red pimenton, golden saffron, fuchsia beet, and green kale pasta and noodles. From angel hair to ziti, the pastabilities are endless! Further more, pasta dishes are a great vehicle for signature sauces and seasonal produce.

For the operator and cook, use and cleaning of countertop pasta extrud ers is surprisingly straightforward and need for training is minimal.

Machines mix and extrude in the same hopper; and cut short pasta automatically. Extruded pasta is not sticky and easy to handle, por tion, and store. Not only is the pasta simple to prep and produce, but it can streamline and improve service. With total cooking times of just 1 to 3 minutes, depending upon shape and thickness, there’s no need for parcooking before service and the result is a fresher product with better taste and texture as compared to boxed dry pasta.

And for the restaurateur, a coun tertop extruder from Arcobaleno, the most trusted name in pasta equip ment, has a fantastic return on in

vestment: A $35 50-pound bag of semolina flour, with the addition of only water, makes 80 pounds of fresh pasta and yields a whopping 160 8-ounce servings. With $12-15 being the average cost of an 8-ounce pasta dish, 30 plates of pasta sold per day will generate $360-450 in revenue, meaning a countertop extruder from Arcobaleno, the most trusted name in pasta equipment pays for itself in just 30 days!

ROI calculations below are exam ples for illustrative purposes only and actual costs may vary therefore; Arco baleno, LLC cannot promise or guar antee the ROI benefits.

IMPERIAL DADE INNOVATIONS EXPO AT MEADOWLANDS EXPOSITION CENTER IN SECAUCUS, NJ

Last month marked the return of the highly anticipated Im perial Dade Innovations Expo at the Meadowlands Exposi tion Center in Secaucus, NJ. “From national shows like ISSA and the NRA to our regional Imperial Dade Inno vations Expos, it’s simply great to be back,” noted the show’s visionary or ganizer Laura Craven, Vice President of marketing at Imperial Dade.

The annual event brought a large outpouring of Imperial Dade’s cus tomers and supplier partners in the Northeast region for the first time in over two years. “While we have em braced technology, there’s simply nothing like the opportunity to be face-to-face once again as an industry and a community,” Craven continued. “Those interactions that simply can not be duplicated via Zoom.”

Among the focuses on the show floor were a number of packaging so lutions. One of the byproducts of two years of pandemic life was the enor mous growth in takeout and delivery.

The Imperial Dade Innovations Expo enabled the restaurant and food service professionals to touch and feel many of the innovative packages and wrapping offerings. The show made it clear that there is a move to merge both a clean and safe agenda with green and sustainable biodegradable features. From traditional clamshells for burgers and sandwiches to straws and even fish and chip wrapping, the Expo highlighted that trend.

The event was highlighted by an educational component that shows identified key issues for the restau rant and hospitality professional as they seek to find solutions for their

Inline Plastics’ Oren Clough and Terry Corcoran

(L to R) Merchant Sales’ Frank Roughgarden, Scott Baron and Brian McCarron

(L to R) Georgia Pacific’s Kevin Moriarty and Kyle Shakespeare

(L to R) James Lohan and Melinda Bermudez of Cafe d’Avignon

(L to R) GOJO’S Dan Flynn and 3M’s Gordon Wurmstich flanked and talked hockey with New York Rangers legend Ron Greschner

Imperial Dade’s Mindy Andis (L) and Jonathan Basara (R) flank the SC Johnson Professional team

(L to R) The healthcare industry turned out in force with Brookdale Medical’s Patrick Lamont and Chef Leroy Wallace

(L to R) Imperial Dade’s brain trust Jeff Burdick, Jason and Bob Tillis

(L to R) Chef Robert McKeon and Imperial Dade’s Axel Ramirez

LABOR SHORTAGES – THE WORLD IS YOUR SOLUTION

Just a few years ago, I wrote an article published here regarding the shortage of qualified workers in the US, particularly in the food service and hospitality industries. Since that ar ticle was published, COVID-19 and the associated economic impact has intensified the labor shortage.

McKinsey and Co. published a pa per this July entitled “The Great Attri tion is making hiring harder. Are you searching the right talent pool?”1 The paper examined the many causes of the worsening labor shortage and provided some potential solutions, but there is no escaping the reality that labor shortages are here and are not going away any time soon. The title of an even more recent article in the Wall Street Journal says it all: “Restaurants, Bars and Hotels Keep

Hiring and Say They Still Don’t Have Enough People.”2

The answer to at least some of your staffing needs exists, but it’s not in the tight US labor market. The answer for many of my clients in my immigration practice is to recruit and hire overseas workers. Increas ingly, restaurants and hotels realize that what they can’t find in the US, they can find in the international labor market. There, you have a di verse, large and motivated group of workers who would be eager to le gally come and work in the US.

The Green Card Sponsorship Process

The US Department of Labor and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services provide a Green Card appli cation process where US employers

can hire foreign workers if:

• The employer can demonstrate that it made a good faith recruitment effort to hire US workers and could not find them; and

• The employer can afford to pay the market wage for the foreign re cruits.

Green Card sponsorship for a for eign national first involves proving to the Department of Labor that no qualified US workers are available and/or interested in the offered po sition. The process includes adver tising in local newspapers and ob taining a “Prevailing Wage” from the Department of Labor for the offered position. Due to the historically low unemployment rate, my experience has been that few, if any, US work ers respond to these types of recruit ment efforts, since the salary is not attractive and the jobs are available precisely because Americans are not actually willing to work in the offered in dustry. Once the Labor Department is satisfied that the employer has conducted a good faith recruitment effort, it will typically quickly approve the applica tion and the employer can then file the paper work with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to finalize the Green Card process.

The positions being offered do not have to be highly specialized or unique. Even basic

John Assadi, a member of the Firm, specializes in the representation of foreign employees of multi-nation al corporations, international enter tainers, scientists, and professional athletes. His clients include major nonprofit organizations, national sports leagues, major orchestras, larger companies and startups. Mr. Assadi received international me dia attention for his work on behalf of several Chinese artists who were aboard the Golden Venture ship. His representation enabled them to obtain permanent residence as artists of extraordinary ability. He was the former Vice-Chairman of the American Bar Association Im migration & Nationality Law Sub committee and is admitted to the Connecticut Bar and Federal Dis trict Court. He can be reached by phone at 212-370-1300 or by email at jassadi@egsllp.com

busboy or kitchen support staff posi tions can qualify under this method. I have had clients use foreign labor to staff virtually their entire restau rant through this method, however, it costs money to recruit foreign workers. You must pay advertising, legal, and governmental filing fees. The process can be lengthy (one to two years), but you will get access to highly motivated and qualified can didates that simply do not exist in today’s US labor market.

O-1 Visa for Star Chefs

In addition to the Department of Labor process described above for basic personnel, “star” chefs can qualify under a simpler and faster immigration procedure. The O-1 Visa is designed for individuals of “extraordinary ability” in their field. A well-regarded chef can qualify for the O-1 Visa as someone who is ex traordinary in the culinary arts. A successful O-1 visa for a chef typi cally would involve someone with media coverage, prizes/awards and experience as a chef in a prestigious

Create a show stopping experience.

IN THE FALL, THERE IS ONE SPICE TO RULE THEM ALL... CINNAMON

Fall… Autumn… no matter what you call this season, you can recognize it from miles away: gorgeous foliage in a myriad of colors, a crisp bite to the air as the temperatures drop, and all of the perfectly spiced scents and fla vors of the season. By now we know all the ‘spice mixes’ – the most famous of which is pumpkin spice – the com mon thread being… cinnamon.

What’s amazing about cinnamon is that it’s one of the most ubiquitous spices, showing up in almost every cuisine, sometimes savory, some times sweet, often both, with countless ways to utilize it!

However, not all cinnamon is created equal…so how can you tell whether the cinnamon you use is the ‘good stuff’? Let’s go back to ancient Greece, and look at the origins of the word…

“Cinnamomon”?

Upon a quick glance, one would read the above word, and think, cinnamon, of course – and they would be correct…sort of! This ancient Greek word derived from Phoenician, according to Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian and geographer, and re fers to ‘true cinnamon’ or Ceylon cinnamon. However, Cinnamo mon is actually the genus name of a variety of evergreen trees and shrubs, all of which have aromat ic oils in their leaves and bark, all of which belong to the Laurel family.

Aside from Cinnamomon ver um, which is the specific species known as ‘true cinnamon’ or Cey lon cinnamon (native to Sri Lan

ka), there are other familiar species of this Genus, including Saigon cin namon, wild cinnamon, and perhaps the most well-known: Chinese or Cas sia cinnamon (Cinnamomon cassia).

So what’s the difference between [true] Cinnamon and Cassia?

In the US, there are no FDA regu lations that require spice companies to specify whether the Cinnamon in the jar is Cassia or Ceylon (or a mix of both) – but most will specify if it is Ceylon, as it is a pricier – and more highly prized – spice.

If you go to your local supermarket, or order from your regular food ser vice purveyor, the likelihood is pretty high that if you’re getting cinnamon (ground or sticks) to use in your culi nary pursuits, you’re actually getting Cassia.

Cassia has a deeper, more auburn color than its Ceylon sister, and has a stronger, ‘spicier’ (ie hotter), more bit ter flavor profile. When ground, Cas sia is a bit coarser; and the Cassia cin namon sticks have thicker bark, and look more like a scroll, rolling inward from both sides.

Ceylon cinnamon, on the other hand, is lighter in color – more tan and warmer in hue; the flavor profile is sweeter, and though warming, has a bit of brightness to it with some citrus tones. When ground, Ceylon cinnamon is much fin er than its Cassia counterpart; Ceylon cinnamon sticks’ bark is thinner, and rolls into a near ly perfect circle with delicate, flaky layers – like a well lami nated dough.

But, perhaps the biggest dif ference is the presence of cou marin, a naturally occurring organic compound that, when consumed in excess, can cause liver damage; Ceylon cinna mon has significantly lower quantities of coumarin than Cassia.

Why care about coumarin?

While most people don’t consume large quantities of cinnamon daily (either Ceylon or Cassia), this special spice has some amazing health ben

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/.

efits when it comes to lowering blood sugar. As such, diabetics or those who need to keep an eye on lowering their glycemic index may use cinna mon more liberally in their food, and should make the conscious switch to the Ceylon variety. But remember, al ways ask your doctor.

Cinnamon Wisdom

When I was a young girl, contrary to most little kids, I didn’t want to have dessert every day….but, when the mood struck, I never just wanted one serving – I wanted five or six!

My Papou (grandfather in Greek) would tell me I had to put extra Canela (cinnamon in modern Greek) on each portion, both because it made what ever we were having taste better, but also because it would help my body process the sugar I was eating.

I never had an issue with this be cause I always loved the flavor and smell of cinnamon, but as I got older and learned about the health benefits

Cassia cinnamon sticks

of cinnamon, I realized just how right Papou was!

Sweet and Spicy

Since I brought it up, the presence of cinnamon in Greek and Mediterra nean desserts is no surprise – in fact, it’s probably the single most common flavor profile, connecting the entirety of the region!

We put cinnamon in – and on –most sweet treats; though not neces sarily the dominant flavor, much in the same way salt elevates the natural flavors of whatever it seasons, cinna mon has a similar effect on desserts.

In Baklava, it brings out the nutti ness of the filling and elevates the cit rus essence in the honey syrup; atop Galatoboureko (a semolina custard wrapped in layers of phyllo), it high lights the rich creaminess of the eggbased custard; in Melomakarona (tra ditional Greek walnut-honey cookies for the holidays) it elevates the deli cate layers of flavor in the combi nation of the honey, walnuts, and brandy…the list goes on and on, but the sentiment remains – cinnamon is the spice that brings out the best in the sweet!

Not Just for Dessert…

My Yiayia (grandmother in Greek) added cinnamon to more than just her incredible desserts – she would add cinnamon to her tomato sauces which would marry the acidity and sweetness of the tomatoes together with the herbs, creating this gorgeous

depth of flavor I proudly recreate at Loi Estiatorio daily!

In fact, tomato and cinnamon (and other warming spices like clove and nutmeg) are a common flavor profile in Greece, appearing most predomi nantly in stewed and baked dishes like Pastitsio (Greek-style Lasagna-like noodle casserole with slow-cooked ground beef and [olive oil] bechamel), Moussaka (layered eggplant casse role), and Stifado (a tomato-based stew – usually with beef – with pearl onions and red wine) to name a few.

In other cuisines, cinnamon also has a place in the savory kitchen –think curries and masalas in Indian cuisine, tagines in Moroccan cuisine, pilafs throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean, 5-spice braises in Chinese cuisine, molés in Mexico, pho in Vietnam – the list goes on and on!

Cinnamon = Comfort

One of my most favorite com fort foods involves cinnamon…and cheese! Ever since I was little, when ever I didn’t know what I wanted to eat, or wasn’t feeling quite right, my mother or Yiayia would make me a bowl of pasta (usually macaroni, a long hollow tubular noodle), topped with a healthy serving of hard mizythra cheese (a hard sheep milk cheese for grating, similar to ricotta sala ta), and finished with a significant dusting of

ground cinnamon.

The combination of toothsome pasta, salty cheese, and warm, slight ly sweet cinnamon always filled my stomach and my heart, leaving me feeling better than before I ate. Still, to this day, whenever I can’t decide on what I want to eat, or am in need of some comfort food, this is my go-to plate!

A Cinnamon Spell

In the US, and many places where the change of weather indicates the end of one season with the begin ning of another, the scent and taste of cinnamon put us under an autum nal spell, letting us know the change has begun, and we must embrace it. Bring on the cozy sweaters, hot bever ages, and hearty dishes – the seasonal reign of cinnamon has commenced!

Macaroni with Hard Myzithra and Cinnamon - Comfort Food

Pastitsio at Loi Estiatorio - Greek-style Lasagna-like layered noodle casserole with slow cooked ground beef and olive oil bechamel

Baklava Kyklos - Spiced Walnuts wrapped in Crispy Phyllo Layers with Cinnamon-Honey-Citrus Syrup

THE ALLIANCE CELEBRATES ITS 10TH WITH FEEL-GOOD BASH

Leave it to Andrew Rigie and his team to bring an industry to its feet with a very special celebration. Restaurateurs and foodservice professionals came together to celebrate the NYC Hospi tality Alliance’s 10th Anniversary.

“What a decade it’s been,” noted the Alliance’s long time executive director Rigie. “There was never a dull moment. For every significant moment— whether it was a natu ral disaster, political changes, or a pandemic— being New Yorkers, we fought through challenges and seized opportunities.”

The Alliance’s launch mission in 2012 was to foster the growth and vi tality of the industry that has made New York City the Hospitality Capital of the World. The goal with Rigie and initial president Jeffrey Bank of Al La Carte restaurants at the helm was to bring representatives of restaurants, bars, and nightclubs together, and partner with industry product/ser vice providers to collaborate and ad vocate for the industry.

When the time came to honor that mission, the team at Slate provided a spectacular canvas for the highly an ticipated event. The Flatiron venue was packed as Alliance guests en joyed two floors of great food and beverage to toast a return to normal. Guests enjoyed a night of billiards and ping pong and all kinds of fun games. Long time Alliance spon sors including The Lobster Place, D’Artagnan and Manhattan Beer kept everybody happy.

As only Rigie and the truly mag nificent current president of the Alli ance, Melba Wilson of Melbas, could

Long time board member and The Smith’s co-founder Michael Jacobs (R) has been a staple of the Alli ance’s success

Andrew Halper (L) of I Halper toasted the Alliance’s advocacy with Mr. and Mrs. Steven Taback

The Alliance’s Brittany Minoff was integral to the planning and success of the evening

(R) Ariel Palitz, who runs the Mayor’s NYC Office of Nightlife celebrated with legions that she has assisted

Citrin Cooperman’s Stacy and Robert Gilbert visited with many of their clients

(L-R) TFS publisher Fred Klashman, Slate’s Telly Hatzigeorgiou, The Al liance’s Andrew Rigie, and board member Ron Bookman

(L to R) D’Artagnan’s Adrienne Daguin and Tracy Nieporent of Myriad Restaurant Group

A packed house at Slate came together to celebrate 10 great years

Rigie and Alliance president Melba Wilson feted both former NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio and current Mayor Eric Adams

AMERICA’S EUROPEAN BLACK TRUFFLE REVOLUTION

Through the advancement of science, the European black truffle, sometimes also known as the Périgord black truffle, is now cultivated and produced in North America. This makes ultra-fresh black truffles available to food service profes sionals and chefs.

Different types of truffles

There are thousands of different species of truffles worldwide. Like mushrooms, truffles are part of the fungus family. Unlike mushrooms,

all truffles form underground be cause they live in a symbiotic rela tionship on the roots of host trees. Almost every locale has its own vari ous species of native truffles, each with its distinct aroma, flavor and texture. A few species in particu lar have such intoxicating and pri mal aroma and flavor that they are prized by chefs the world over. For example, the Italian white truffle (Tuber magnatum) is the most ex pensive, routinely fetching thou sands of dollars per pound. Science has not cracked the code on how to reliably and consistently cultivate this species. This fact, together with this truffle’s limited natural habitat and production from the wild means an extremely limited supply. The Périgord black truffle (Tuber melanosporum), on the other hand, has been cultivated for over a hundred years in Europe. Even so, production re mains well below demand, contributing to high prices but certainly lower than the Italian white truffle. Historically, cultivating the Périgord black truffle in Europe has required relatively little science, because it naturally grows in native habitats there. To grow this truffle anywhere outside of its native Euro pean habitats requires an enormous amount of sci entific know-how, because the environments are so different. It was not until the last two decades that

science has enabled this truffle’s cultivation in North America. This is great news for us in the food and restaurant industry!

What’s the big deal about European black truffles grown in America?

The quality and value of a truffle are first and foremost driven by its freshness. The European black truf fle, for example, has a half-life of only about five days! As soon as it’s harvested from underground, the aroma and flavor start aggressively dissipating into the air. That’s why one can smell the distinct, strong aromas of a fresh European black truffle all the way across the room. Five days after harvest, half of that aroma and flavor are gone. Ten days after harvest, only a quarter of the original aroma and flavor remains. This is true even if the truffles are stored in hermetically sealed con tainers. The extraordinary value in

the European black truffles grown in America is their extreme fresh ness, compared to the European harvested ones. The time it takes for European harvested truffles to get to American users is not just the flight over the pond. By the time a European harvested truffle goes through the European distribution system, gets on a flight, clears cus toms, makes it through the North American distribution system and is eventually delivered to the kitch ens of American chefs, that truffle is routinely at least 5-7 days old! As a result, it has lost over half of its aroma and flavor. Compare this to an American-grown European black truffle, which can be in chefs’ kitchens either the same day or at most the next day, that’s why the American grown version is a fun damentally different product with substantially higher quality.

Example of ATC truffle orchards around the country, this one in North Carolina

Michelin star Chef Ken Frank of La Toque in Napa, CA, helping to clean and dig out a fresh Périgord black truffle in Sonoma, CA.

Fresh Périgord black truffles

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PECINKA FERRI ASSOCIATES SET TO HOST INAUGURAL WITCHES BREWFEST IN NJ

Metro New York’s restaurant and foodservice profes sionals, and the equip ment dealers and kitchen consultant that support them, know that the key to staying ahead of the competition is finding a resource that can provide solutions and strategies. With that in mind New Jersey based equipment rep firm Pecinka Ferri has focused on providing educational resources to the local foodservice professional.

On Wednesday, October 26th, Pecinka Ferri will host its annual Ghost Kitchen Forum, featuring the inaugu ral Witches BrewFest from 11 am to 4pm. “With Middleby’s latest product innovations, we have fully automatic coffee equipment for everything from flavored coffees to espresso. There’s also lots of new automation in their semi-automatic American-made cof fee equipment. We have a full line of brewery equipment for operators who would like to learn how to brew their own beer with our SS Brewtech line, and we will have our own special brew for sampling! Among the solutions on hand will be the latest from Skyflo, having enhanced their system that en ables operators to control and manage liquor dispensing profits. We will have experts available to talk about microbrewing and home brewing. The day will conclude with a special ‘AfterParty’ event at a local micro-brewery. It’s a couple of days before Halloween, so it’s a great opportunity to celebrate while learning all things coffee, tea & beer,” Ferri said.

This month’s Witches BrewFest is next on the docket for the innovative Garden State equipment rep firm that has raised the bar for educating of

Metro New York’s foodservice com munity. For the past 25 years, with Ed Pecinka and Joe Ferri at the helm, the company has built a strategy that features unique programming for res taurant and foodservice profession als. Over the past year, Pecinka Ferri has hosted special interactive events that have focused on both ventless cooking, and the latest in pizza profit trends.

Pecinka Ferri’s goal for their pro gramming has been to help the food service professional utilize technol ogy to get the most out of their labor force. “Even with the growth of e-com merce, the basics have not changed,” Ferri continued. “We need to ask and understand what somebody needs and then help them get it. Technology is not going to replace people. Human

touch is still going to be vital. We need to figure out a way to get hospitality back into the hospitality industry. We see that with Middleby’s new control ler platform that they will be rolling out shortly, Ferri detailed. The opera tor will be able to learn how to use the controller on a combi oven that will also enable control of a fryer or con vection oven in the same kitchen. Even refrigeration will work off the same platform. Bottom line is that this

will simplify the training process with simple IOS and SAAS technology.”

Pecinka Ferri has taken a generic approach to the educational program ming held in it New Jersey test kitchen.

“For instance, if we are selling pizza ovens, we want folks to have access to the latest information on trends in the pizza world,” Ferri added. “It might be the latest styles like Detroit or Roman or new ingredients (plant-based top pings and cauliflower crusts) or even dough conditioning. With fryers it might be the introduction of different baskets. Pizza has become the new fashion with new styles coming out for each new season.”

Highlighting this year’s Pecinka Ferri special event slate are sessions focused on electric and ventless cook ing. “It is here to stay with so many municipalities passing legislation to make it imperative as they seek sus tainability for their communities. Trends including induction cooking have accelerated the popularity of electric cooking,” Ferri added. “There’s always been a preference for many in cooking with an open flame. But when you balance it against the speed that electric now offers you end up with a far more efficient kitchen operation.”

Among the keys to the value the Pecinka Ferri special event series is

“Technology is not going to replace people. Human touch is still going to be vital. We need to figure out a way to get hospitality back into the hospitality industry.” — Joe Ferri

FELTONS BRINGS TENDER LOVING CARE TO SOUTH FLORIDA BAKING EMPORIUM

The Hive Bakery & Cafe is the brainchild of owner Sara McCann. The West Palm Beach, FL cafe offers break fast, lunch, pastries and coffee. The menu, enhanced by local produce, features house-made pastries, arti sanal breads, seasonal vegetables and savory cuisine focused on wood-fired rotisserie cooking.

Behind the scenes: the husbandand-wife culinary team of Executive Chef Jay Felton and Execu tive Pastry Chef Amber Fel ton have helped the Hive evolve into a West Palm destination. Chef Jay has created a savory menu with a selection of salads, home made soups (green lentil and Mexican chicken) and gourmet sandwiches (on house-baked bread). Break fast items include shrimp and grits, veggie frittata and an egg white wrap, while sandwiches include grilled broccoli melt and a lobster roll. There’s also a selection of white, red, rose and sparkling wines as well as beers.

The Feltons met in Chi cago and worked in San Francisco before moving here in early 2020. While the pandemic put a pause on their restaurant plans, it also enabled them to get to know the area and recipe test at home. “All the train ing that we’ve had is great, but the key has been for his to understand specific tastes that locals like,” add ed Chef Jay.

Executive Pastry Chef Amber has brought her Michelin three-star expe rience to the South Florida eatery. Her specialties include Flourless Choco late Cake, Vanilla Raspberry Cruffin, Hazelnut Date Twice Baked Croissant and “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” Brownies — along with traditional and flavored breads and rolls.

Her flourless chocolate cake has become a local legend. Patrons can expect everything from hazelnut

and date twice-baked croissants to house-made candies. Decadent des serts such as flourless chocolate cake (made with Cacao Barry Guayaquil 64 percent dark chocolate) can be enjoyed by the slice or as baby cakes, presented in beautiful takeaway box es. “This is perfect for me because I get to do a little bit of everything,” added Amber.

For his savory contributions, Jay is focusing on familiar flavors that pack a punch. Think: truffled mushroom tartine, woodgrilled salmon salad, and a turkey club on Amber’s brioche. “I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel,” he noted. “I’m trying to make the classics that everybody knows with a small twist.”

Chef Amber’s road to the Hive is an example of a chef following her pas sion. “I’ve been baking and doing pastry since I was 15 years old. I took a food class in high school and became obsessed, with following recipes, with different ingredients, different methods and techniques. I love the dis cipline pastry requires and how it promotes creativity and thinking outside the box. For me, it just makes sense. It’s all I’ve ever done and all I will ever do.”

Among the challenge of the Felton’s move from Chicago to South Florida was finding a resource for ingredients that would enable her to continue he pastry artistry.

“There is no food service provider better than Chefs’ Warehouse. I’ve been using them for years across three different states, and I’ve always had great experiences with them. They stock the best quality products, and their reps are outstanding. Most of their reps used to be chefs them selves, so they understand the strug gles we face, and because of that they are always available and always will ing to help.”

“Being in a small city in South Flor ida doesn’t have the same perks as be ing in a major city like San Francisco or Chicago, so sometimes ingredients are difficult to source but my rep al ways goes above and beyond for us, constantly communicating, suggest ing substitutions for OOS items and always keeping us informed of excit ing new products. It’s hard to find that in a rep, and I’m so grateful for mine.”

Chef Amber’s mission has been to bring a new level of quality to the West Palm Beach marketplace. “A sig nature item we make at the bakery is called a Vanilla Strawberry Cruffin; it’s a hybrid between a croissant and muffin. I use Central Milling Flour and Isigny French Butter (two ingre dients I can only source from CW) to make the cruffin and then fill it with a house made strawberry jam using va nilla paste from Nielsen-Massey (also sourced from CW) and garnish it with Chef Rubber’s freeze-dried strawber ries (also from CW). Without those four ingredients, the cruffin wouldn’t be anywhere close to what it is.”

With that commitment to quality and Chefs Warehouse to ensure that she they have access to the very best ingredients, the Feltons are quickly building a name for the Hive in South Florida.

The Hive Bakery & Cafe’s husband-and-wife culinary team of Executive Chef Jay Felton and Executive Pastry Chef Amber Felton

FOIE GRAS WON’T BE OUT-

LAWED IN NYC - AT THIS TIME

SCOOP heard that the foie gras ban will not go into effect on November 25. A New York State Su preme Court judge issued an injunction regard ing the ban passed by the New York City Council in 2019, when over 1,000 restaurants served foie gras. New York joined California in the ban; foie gras is also banned in the UK, Germany, Den mark, and India, among other countries.

The court ruled that the upstate farms that sued over the ban, La Belle Farm and Hudson Valley Foie Gras, can continue to sell foie gras to restaurants in New York City for now and issued a preliminary injunction on enforcing the law while the matter goes through the courts; who knows how long that will take.

NYC MAYOR ANNOUNCES $110 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR HUNTS PT PRODUCE MARKET

SCOOP learned that New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced that the Hunts Point Produce Market has been selected for a $110 mil lion federal grant to upgrade and improve its fa cilities. The funding comes from a U.S. Depart ment of Transportation (USDOT) Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant and will be used to strengthen critical freight movement and improve the environment, public health, and quality of life for the Hunts Point community.

MULTICULTURAL FOODSERVICE & HOSPITALITY ALLIANCE APPOINTS NEW ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

SCOOP heard that The Multicultural Foodser vice & Hospitality Alliance (MFHA) has appointed five new members to its Advisory Board, position ing the organization for future growth and further ing its mission of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across the restaurant, foodservice, and hospitality industry. The new members join an established group of leaders from the nation’s lead ing foodservice and hospitality companies, with ex pertise in diversity, sales, training, human resources, supply chain and communications. They include:

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Adolfo Aguirre, Inclusion and Diversity Part ner, Darden Restaurants; Debbie Cottrell, Vice President, Operations, Cura Hospitality, an EliorNorth American Company; Andrea Flatt, National Client Group Director, American Ex press; Richard Obayagbona, Market Partner, Texas Roadhouse; Heather Trotter, Senior Vice President, Customer Leadership Foodservice, The Coca-Cola Company

“MFHA is thrilled to welcome these new Advisory Board members and the brands they represent, which include the most accom plished diversity, equity, and inclusion cham pions in the industry,” said Gerry A. Fernan dez, Founder & President of MFHA. “We look forward to their active engagement in advanc ing our DEI mission and growing our mem bership.” Continuing in their leadership roles as Chair and Co-chair, respectively, are Max Langenkamp, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Cintas Corporation and Martha To mas Flynn, Sr. Director Global Development Services of Dunkin’ Brands.

BAMBOLA, A NEW CONCEPT FROM BOHNOMME HOSPITALITY, OPENED IN CHICAGO

SCOOP heard that Chicago’s newest restaurant opening from the award-winning Bonhomme Hos pitality, Bambola, explores the mosaic of the shared cultural heritage that spans from Asia to Europe in Chicago’s West Loop. Led by Chef de Cuisine Alisha Elenz and Bonhomme Group’s Michelin-starred Ex ecutive Chef Marcos Campos, Executive Pastry Chef Shannah Primiano and Culinary Director Erwin Mal let, Bambola is inspired by the rich traditions, ances tral techniques, exciting products and flavorsome spices widely exchanged and mastered by Eastern and Western cultures since the 13th century.

Together, Bambola’s chefs travel along the Silk Road to seek out the culinary through lines in the shared multicultural heritage of Asia and Europe. As the journey goes from East to West and West to East, Turkish, Persian and Indian cuisines play a cen tral role in Bambola’s menu as these three countries dominate the center of the Silk Road. Adding com plexity and showmanship to the dishes are the oftcelebrated, internationally recognized cuisines of Italy, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Greece. Bambo la’s cocktail program celebrates the free flow of culi nary traditions and ideas through modern cocktails, built on ancient flavor combinations. Created by Bonhomme Hospitality’s award-winning beverage team and partner Brian Sturgulewski, local drinking traditions and beverages found along the Silk Road

inform both spirit-free and spirit-friendly cocktails.

To bring Bambola’s colorful, collaged vision to life, Maison Bonhomme collaborated closely with design team starring Luca Lanzetta Group, Popham Design, Molteni&Co, Viabizzuno, Sogni Di Cristallo, Viccarbe and Antoniolupi. The space is filled with Italy’s finest textiles, furniture by some of the most exciting designers of the 20th and 21st centuries, and Popham Design’s dramatic handmade cement tiles juxtaposed with museum-quality 18th and 19th century antiquities and rare furnishings collected from China, Thailand, Burma, Pakistan and India in collaboration with Doug Van Tress and Chauwarin Tuntisak of The Golden Triangle. Bambola is warmly illuminated with one-of-a-kind chandeliers from the masters of hand-blown glass in Milan and Venice to elevate the standard for restaurant lighting.

Some of the most dazzling design elements of their extravagantly appointed interiors include hand made cement and zellige tiles by Popham Design; a monumental Coppibartali Light by Viabizzuno; a 40’ dining table by Foster + Partners; hand blown glass chandeliers & lamps by Sogni Di Cristallo; dining chairs and cocktail tables by Rodolfo Dordoni; sofas by Yabu Pushelberg; dining tables and chairs by Pa tricia Urquiola; handmade “Beni” rugs by Soufiane Zarib; and bathroom vanities and taps by Antonio lupi. This imaginative and diverse array of artistic elements — a testament to the Eastern and Western crossroads of civilizations that have traveled all these past centuries — are meticulously woven together to make Bambola a truly unique restaurant in today’s dining scene.

Founded in 2012 by Daniel Alonso, the Bonhomme Group is based in Chicago and Santiago de Compos tela (Spain), and is comprised of Casa Beatnik Hotel, Maison Bonhomme and Bonhomme Hospitality.

JOSH HOPKINS APPOINTED EXECUTIVE CHEF OF HYATT CENTRIC BUCKHEAD ATL

SCOOP learned that the new 218-room Hy att Centric Buckhead Atlanta, a boutique ho tel located steps from Lenox Square, has ap pointed Josh Hopkins as the hotel’s executive chef. In this role, Hopkins will oversee the ho tel’s two food and beverage outlets including Spaceman, its popular rooftop bar and lounge.

“We could not be more thrilled to have Josh join our culinary leadership team,” said Kristi Cotten-Morris, general manager of Hyatt Cen tric Buckhead Atlanta. “As an industry veteran, we are confident he will bring exciting new ad ditions to both Spaceman and our first-floor restaurant, which will be relaunching in Sep tember with an entirely new concept.”

A native Atlantan, Hopkins began his career under the apprenticeship of French Master Chef Christian Chemin, then moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he spent eight years in the kitchen at Slightly North of Broad and High Cotton. Known to elevate every part of the animal utilized in his meat-centric cuisine, Hopkins demonstrates unique and excep tional methods of culinary skill to further excite the tasting experience for his guests.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Hyatt team and to oversee the relaunch of the hotel’s first-floor restaurant,” said Josh Hopkins. “I’m looking forward to revealing new menu items and working on some excit ing collaborations and partnerships to expand the hotel’s offerings to locals and visitors alike.”

With nearly 30 years of experience in hos pitality, Hopkins joins the Hyatt Centric Buck head Atlanta team from Thompson Hotels. Hopkin’s past work experience in the area includes Anne Quatrano’s Bacchanalia and Empire State South. He was also previously executive chef and co-owner of the critically acclaimed Abba toir and has been named one of the four “Chefs to Watch” by Esquire in addition to being a Food & Wine “People’s Best New Chef” nominee.

The interior at Bambola in Chicago, IL

Josh Hopkins

THE RITZ-CARLTON BOSTON APPOINTS PASTRY CHEF

CHRISTOPHER GOLUSZKA

The Ritz-Carlton Boston, located downtown and across from the historic Boston Common, has an nounced the appointment of Christopher Goluszka as pastry chef. He will oversee all pastry operations for the hotel, including designing and curating des serts for the hotel’s on-site F&B outlets, Artisan Bistro and Avery Bar. He will also oversee menu creation for desserts for banquets and social functions, in-room dining, and guest amenities. Goluszka has worked in pastry departments in some of the leading luxury ho tels in the U.S. and independent restaurants in Bos ton, including South End Buttery.

EXCLUSIVE NEW TOP FLOOR DINING EXPERIENCE PLANNED FOR NYC’S THE SPIRAL

SCOOP discovered that The Spiral, which has been in development since it was first proposed in 2014 in Hudson Yards in New York City, has nearly reached completion and more information has been revealed about the exclusive dining experience planned for the building’s top floor. Located in a sophisticated lounge on The Spiral’s 66th floor, the ZO Clubhouse will provide a dynamic new space where teams can gather, connect, and re-energize in a sophisticated

setting with sweeping views of NYC.

Featuring its very own open-air terrace on the southeast corner of The Spiral’s top floor, Zo Club house will entertain and dazzle guests with its un paralleled vistas and elegant design. The lounge will feature a full cocktail program with its own happy hour, as well as a plethora of different food options for busy workers.

PASTRY CHEF JONGHUN WON OPENS PAVÉ EUROPEAN-STYLE CAFÉ AND BAKERY

SCOOP heard that Chef Jonghun Won and Chef Jin Ahn have opened Pavé, a European-style café and bakery in Midtown Manhattan.

Chef Won attended the Culinary Institute of Amer ica, graduating with a degree in Baking and Pastries and went on to become the opening Executive Pastry Chef at Jungsik Seoul and Jungsik New York where he met his future business partner Jin Ahn(noreetuh, Jungsik, Per Se). Realizing that baking was his true passion, Chef Won left Jungsik in 2014 to take an en

continued on page 88

The Spiral building

KIM LED SMALL BUSINESS INITIATIVE SEEKS TO EASE BURDEN ON NYC RESTAURANTS

From humble beginnings comes the story of a man who grew to advocate for reform in the struggling community of small business own ers in the bustling streets of New York City. Appointed under Mayor Eric Adams, Commissioner for the NYC Department of Small Busi ness Services (SBS), Kevin D. Kim, is helping to pave the way for econom ic recovery with the new NYC Busi ness Express Service Team (BEST) Initiative. This knight in shining ar mor lifted his sword toward the ho rizon and fought for struggling small businesses and restaurant owners dealing with the financial ramifica tions of the pandemic while focus ing on social equitability in the NYC community.

Designed to allow small business es “to lead the economic recovery for the state,” the NYC BEST Initiative program originated from Mayor Ad ams and Deputy Mayor Maria Tor res-Springer’s Economic Blueprint Initiative. It served as an accessible single point of government contact for small business owners, both new and old, to help navigate and edu cate them through the process of creating and maintaining their busi nesses. “We have a dedicated team of small business advocates and compliance advisors,” explained Commissioner Kim. These advo cates and advisors work with sister ‘City agencies to promote a citywide outreach and advertising campaign to expand SBS services throughout the commercial quarters of the City.

Kim brings real life experience to his goal of assisting New York City’s restaurants and small business

community. Recounting his child hood experiences, Commissioner Kim narrated the voyage of his Ko rean American immigrant parents migrating to the US and starting a small artificial flower design busi ness to support their family. “We ended up living in a one-bedroom apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, in 1975; It was my parents, my ma ternal grandmother, my older sister, and me,” Kim described. By utilizing door-to-door advertising, the flower design business would soon flour ish in their western neighborhood, enabling the family to relocate to Bayside, Queens. Kim spent his K-12 years in NYC’s public schools. He then moved to Stanford Uni versity for his undergraduate and Master’s degree work before return ing to New York to attend Columbia Law School.

While trekking through a series of Federal and State jobs, Commission er Kim grew his resume with experi ences in law, real estate, and other miscellaneous positions. After serv ing as Deputy Director of Communi ty Affairs under Congressman Gary Ackerman and joining the Commu nity Board in Manhattan a few years later, Kim gained his breakthrough position as the first Asian American Commissioner of the New York State Liquor Authority.

In between his knighthood duties for the NYC community, Commis sioner Kim pursued entrepreneurial affairs by creating an index of small businesses in law and education. These exposures led him to embark on his new journey with Mayor Ad ams administration beginning in January 2022.

Under the Adams administration, Commissioner Kim reasoned that being a policy maker and head of an agency came easier than advocat ing for its lengthier legislative coun terpart in Congress. “You’re able to wake up each day and find ways to meaningfully impact people’s lives,” Kim explained. “You may not be able to change the entire world in one day, but there are maybe things that we can do on a day-to-day ba sis to really improve people’s lives.” His background in small businesses attracted him to the opportunity to transform the struggling resi dents, immigrant families, and BI POC communities with this new administration’s agenda.

During the retelling of his walks through the commercial quarters with elected officials, Commission er Kim expressed his amazement at the myriad of small businesses that appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic–particularly those of immigrant families. “That kind of

entrepreneurial spirit, especially embodied by the immigrant com munity, I think, is what truly makes New York City a living proof of the energy that we bring to the world from here,” he boasted.

With the newly established BEST program Kim’s goal is to create a timeline of six weeks or less for opening a small business after the first phone call. Of course, the time frame proved variable, but he rea soned that “you should not have undue delays” when processing business information for the ne scient owners seeking assistance.

Since Mayor Adams issued the EO2 executive order for small busi ness reform, it designated Kim as Co-Chair with Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer to “evaluate each of the regulatory agencies and the types of fines they were imposing on small businesses.” By mid-May, 118 violations were successfully re formed, with 30 nonsensical fines eliminated. Now, Commissioner Kim and his team ride in triumph to help save 8.9 million in annual fines.

While the Adams administration continues to move forward with processes in congestion pricing to invest in mass transit and reduce traffic, Kim encourages all New Yorkers to engage in M.T.A Public Meetings and share their feedback.

“I think these voices are the ones that are going to help finalize these policies at the end,” he concluded.

For more information about the NYC BEST Initiative program, visit www.nyc.gov/business or call 888-SBS-4NYC.

“You may not be able to change the entire world in one day, but there are maybe things that we can do on a dayto-day basis to really improve people’s lives.” — Commissioner Kevin Kim

MULTICHEF OVENS & THE NEED FOR SPEED

It is a go, go, go kind of world and we are all just trying to keep up. We rush to work, we rush to get the kids to soccer practice or dance rehearsal, and if we are lucky, we can stop somewhere to grab a bite in between. Food on the go has become part of the daily routine for many. Now, more than ever it is im portant for businesses within the foodservice industry to serve up hot and tasty food quickly without sac rificing quality.

We all know that old saying, Time is Money, and that could not ring truer when it comes to foodservice output. Each and every minute, heck each and every second is vital! The faster and more efficiently your establishment is able to operate, the more people you will be able to serve, ultimately re sulting in an increase in profits and growth.

The best way to implement a food service program that will satisfy the patron pressed for time is by using the most quali fied equipment for the job. High-speed ovens like the MultiChef can reduce cook times by more than 80%! Our ovens come in two dif ferent sizes, the Multi Chef XLT & MultiChef XS. Each is equipped with convection, rapid impinged air, preci sion microwave, and constructed of highquality stainless steel

with a unique removable catalytic converter. Unlike traditional ovens, the MultiChef line is easy to operate and built to last.

But that’s not all they’re built for!

Our ovens were built to produce de licious tasting food that is hard to resist. And we would know, after all we have spent countless hours cre ating awesome menu items in our test kitchen. What kind of awesome menu items? Well, some of our fa vorite include Chicken Fajita Pani nis, Grilled Shrimp & Corn Tacos, and Loaded Pepperoni Pizza Fries. Yes, they are as tasty as they sound! The MultiChef XLT & XS are capable of holding up to 1024 recipes, so all employees need to do is select

the appropriate menu item, helping elimi nate human error or inconsistencies in the cooking process.

So, what are you waiting for. Satisfy the need for speed with the MultiChef and reach out to a representative today. Head to www. mtiproducts.com to day to learn more!

PLANTERRA FOODS’ OZO HITS HOME RUN WITH NEW BASEBALL SPONSORSHIP

To the exciting and high-en ergy world of professional baseball comes the culinary mastery of Planterra Foods and its newest plant-based product line OZO, both of which are led by food services veteran Darcey Macken. Buoyed by a new partnership with Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Cubs baseball team, the CEO continues a year of growth fueled by ambition and uncompromisingly high-quality prod ucts. Total Foods spoke with Macken to discover all that Cubs fans will have to look forward to on their next trip to Wrigley Field.

Guided by a year of explosive growth, Planterra Foods’ brand OZO has become the newest tenant and of ficial plant-based protein of Chicago’s iconic Wrigley Field and Cubs baseball team. As part of an initiative to grow the brand and spread awareness of plant-based eating, the company will offer plant-based concessions to hun gry spectators; their menu includes all kinds of fantastic ballpark fare, in cluding vegan hot dogs, burgers, and even chicken nachos. As intended by the company, their selections will per mit fans to enjoy the treats they know and love without compromising their commitments to remaining flexitar ian or vegan.

OZO’s new three-year partnership is a massive step in increasing brand awareness and exposure, as the com pany, led by Founder and Planterra CEO Darcey Macken, aims to increase their footprint in the plant-based market. While Macken’s career began outside of the culinary industry, she’s always had a passion for entrepre neurship and constructing thriving businesses. Beginning as a smallbusiness owner, she eventually took on a position at Kellogg, launching

her headfirst into the food services industry. Her time working for the multinational food manufacturing company led her to build Coloradobased Planterra and daughter com pany OZO from the ground up into a highly successful and innovative start-up. Macken’s steadfast leader ship pulled Planterra through the dif ficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a company that is, today, stronger than ever and ever-focused on growth. She’s worked behind the scenes to build a manufacturing and office site and conceptualize “many new and innovative products that are all about the five senses.”

In a time as tumultuous as the postpandemic, innovation is everything, Macken explained. Her primary goal? To steer plant-based cuisine away from imitation and trickery. “We’re not just creating perfect meat substi tutes,” she pointed out, “but rather we’re reframing the way people think about plant-based food.” To do so, she and the Planterra team priori tized “flexitarianism,” or the idea that

people can live both meat and plantbased lifestyles, when creating OZO. “We found that people were dissatis fied with current options in the market but were still very keen to incorporate plant-based products into their di ets,” Macken found, “and so we asked ourselves what was missing from the market.” Using a different method of segmentation, which focused on different kinds of consumers as op posed to the different meals in a day, the Planterra team emphasized the convenience of their product. With an incredible research and develop ment team, Planterra has succeeded in creating a “next generation of plantbased,” using a wide variety of ingre dients such as pea and soy proteins to create versatile and varied products that are quick and convenient while also providing a culinary adventure with bold flavors.

Despite Planterra’s innovation and dedication to creating a stellar prod uct, the road to winning the Wrigley Field partnership was not a smooth one. “The plant-based industry can

be challenging,” Macken admitted; “People tend to use the mediocre per formance of big names like Beyond on Wall Street to judge the market, when that’s not the case.” The CEO explained that the shaky performance of popu lar plant-based enterprise Beyond is not a barometer for what she believes is a promising industry. “The demand is definitely there,” she quipped, and right she is. Data indicates that plantbased sales increased by 27% in 2020 despite setbacks incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that 57% of American households purchase plantbased products. OZO’s Wrigley Field partnership only shows that both the CEO and the data are indicative of a growing trend in plant-based eat ing that is only on the rise. To ensure that her brand continues to receive the recognition it deserves, Macken has prioritized educating chefs on proper preparation. “Cooking with plant-based ingredients can be really different from preparing their meat counterparts,” she described, “which means we’ve spent a lot of time in kitchens with both R&D teams and chefs to guarantee the best experience for everyone.”

The Planterra name is synonymous with promise, success, and quality, a fact only proven by the company’s in credible partnership with the iconic Wrigley Field and Chicago Cubs base ball team. The expansion of the brand to the ballpark fulfills Macken’s mis sion to spread brand awareness and plant-based exposure by bringing high quality, innovative and adventur ous products to the mouths of hungry spectators. “Trust and believe,” the CEO assured, “that when you pick something OZO it will be an amaz ing experience!” Learn more at https:// planterrafoods.com/foodservice/

Darcey Macken

The plant based OZO breakfast sausage patty from Planterra Foods

try level position at Balthazar as a baking and shap ing assistant to immerse himself in the art of baking bread.

In 2015, he opened his first bakery, La Tabatiere in Closter, NJ. Pavé represents Chef Won’s return to the New York culinary scene and will feature signa ture pastries, sandwiches, and fresh bread baked throughout the day including baguettes, multigrain, sourdough, and olive ciabatta with the help of a stateof-the-art Bongard Paneotrad dough divider, the first in the United States. Executive Chef Peter Hong (Gramercy Tavern, New York Palace Hotel) has created the menu.

THE PORCH, AN AMERICAN SMOKEHOUSE WITH CAJUN INFLUENCES + JAZZ OPENED IN NEW YORK CITY

SCOOP learned that musicians and restaurant industry veterans have opened The Porch on St. Nicholas Avenue offering a new destination for BBQ, drinks and live music.

Executive Chef Matt Fisher, formerly the pitmas ter at NYC BBQ spots including Rub BBQ, Fletch er’s Brooklyn Barbecue and Dinosaur Barbecue, oversees the kitchen at this American Smokehouse in Harlem’s Sugar Hill. The music program will pay homage to Harlem’s musical heritage and feature local musicians in residency. Owner Mark Miller, who lives in the neighborhood, has been a tour ing musician himself and was a founding partner of Hex & Company, two uptown boardgame cafés.

COO Paul Schermerhorn, who oversees the bever age program and operations, has worked for Jean Georges’ The Mark and with Fabio Trabocchi in Washington, D.C. Fisher’s menu focuses on American smokehouse and Cajun favorites as well as Pacific Northwest style house-smoked fish with a rotating selection to include house-smoked salmon and cod, jerk salmon, Bluefish Pate in season made with fish caught by the Chef de Cuisine Hassan Salim off Coney Island and more. The menu includes dish es like hickory smoked Baby Back Ribs and BBQ chicken.

The Porch aims to be the new voice of jazz in Sugar Hill, an area that once had seven live music venues in the space of a few blocks – now all gone. It’s also celebrating the history of Sugar Hill, the

Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and the jazz scene of the 1930s while highlighting Harlem’s musicians and art ists of today. The live music program in partnership with Harlem Late Night Jazz and curated by Musical Director Lee Hogans, a jazz musician and educator who is also the Chief Education Officer of the Harlem School for the Arts, will be rooted in jazz but with modern influenc es of R&B, reggae and hiphop that make the music more accessible to younger audiences. Local artists in residency including Lee Hogans, Willerm Delisfort, Russell Hall and AC Lincoln will perform 1 – 2 times a month. Additional per formances will take place every Thursday – Sunday at 9pm with an affordable cover of around $10-$15.

The interior (by a Harlem architect and an acous tic engineer) features an open kitchen, 6-seat bar, and dining room outfitted with vintage pieces like a 1940s standing radio used as the host stand, cast glass by Oakland glass artist John Lewis, a vintage Evans gambling wheel from Illinois, a 1950s back bar mirror from the Plaza Hotel, and bar shelves from reclaimed wood from nearby St. Nick’s Pub, one of the oldest jazz clubs in Harlem, which burned down in a fire in 2018. Seating for around 70 indoors and another 45 communal seats on the large exterior patio, which will feature a mural painted by a local artist.

SELLING YOUR RESTAURANT

ther replace the equipment or be pre pared that you may be asked to adjust the sales price following due diligence.

I am not advising spending money to upgrade your restaurant with the sole purpose of getting a better price; something that is common in resi dential real estate. Just maintain your equipment and keep both the front and back of the house clean.

Maintain an Online Presence

Smart buyers will do their due dili gence in researching your business. They can easily see the publics’ per ception of your restaurant through

online reviews. Maintaining a good reputation while obtaining new 5-star reviews is important. Good reviews go a long way in solidifying the goodwill associated with your restaurant.

Bolster your positive reviews while driving down any old negative re views. You drive down negative re views by having people post positive ones. Restaurants with bad reviews are unappealing to buyers; since the benefit of buying an existing brand is purchasing the established good will and customer base of that brand.

Familiarize yourself with common complaints such as cold food or slow

service and fix those issues before a potential buyer sees them. Being fa miliar with the complaints will help you be prepared to answer questions relating to this complaints from po tential buyers.

Respond politely to negative re views about your restaurant. This shows you take an interest in all as pects of the customer experience and by improving these issues today will help your chances of selling for the highest value in the future.

These situations are perfect exam ples of why planning an exit is so im portant. A two-year gap since your last

negative reviews will make it easier to sell your restaurant.

Selling your restaurant can be a complicated and emotional process but putting together a plan with your broker will help you sell your business at the best valuation.

Bryan Vitagliano is the leading res taurant broker at Strategic Business Brokers Group, in affiliation with American Realty Brokers. Bryan has helped dozens of restaurant owners sell their restaurants across Arizona. Learn more at https://www.businessbroker phoenixaz.com/

Some of the delicious cuisine from The Porch

with plant based, a sophisticated, educated, buyer/consumer. You did something amazing, you proved that plant-based is for everybody. Can you talk a little bit about that and were you surprised at the re sults?

A little. It’s definitely one of the more unique product launches in the sense that nobody really knew there wasn’t something that you could point to that incrementally this will do XY and Z. So I took a little bit of a leap of faith in order to get there. What I learned at Burger King is that people are going to be driven by the same fundamentals that make any great restaurant, friendly service affordable pricing, and a great product.

With the Kevin Hart team, what were the marching orders?

This all started with Kevin’s vision and Kevin had this idea to create Hart House and make it an accessi ble alternative for the masses within the fast-food space. Kevin has a very incredible strategic framework for what he wants to accomplish with his brand, and he has created an incredible culture for us to go into that.

What’s within that incredible cul ture? Is it the ability to create what ever is on the menu you want to build?

We have really embraced this idea that we can be the employer of choice within the restaurant space. Which means paying a fair living wage. We’re not going to overwork you and put you in a position where we compromise your lifestyle. We have an incredible progressive 401(k) program and rainy day funds to give some solace for employees to allow them to focus on the fun damentals and really be able to take care of our guests, prepare great food, and not worry about financial crisis in their lives.

When did you start on the project and how much time did you have before the LA unit opened? How has

the menu evolved?

It started back in late November of last year 2021, so probably had about six or seven months to really carry this menu. Now we are at a stage where we are starting to read actual mixed reports, get a handle on theoretical versus actual menu performance, and that will then yield the number of different work streams to continue to optimize.

Once we get the sales we will just continue to optimize the menu and continue to listen to our guests. I don’t see us going crazy with a lot of menu expansion, I want to keep this simple but we’re gonna keep it special.

As you look at growing, you’ll have months’ worth of feedback from your customer base. What has been the response?

We have heard really great things, excellent Yelp reviews. Just listen ing to the guest, take our time being patient, and making those changes that need to happen to optimize the menu.

Are you using existing product that somebody is making or are you creating your own product?

We did create our own product. We looked at every plant-based pro vider that was out there across every analog chicken and beef. We looked at Impossible and Beyond and we felt like their product quality was good but not great. We also felt like their brand recognition was great and we would be paying for a lot of that. Why do you need brand recog nition when you have Kevin Hart as your partner? That allowed us to go back and create analog that are best in class.

Is Kevin a vegan or is he a flexitarian?

Kevin is a flexitarian. After he had his accident, he got very serious about his health and that allowed him to think about different ways in and at one of them was a plantbased diet.

It was inspiring to hear an inter view where Kevin described how he would listen to a customer’s needs when he worked in a shoe store, and then find the right solution. It was amazing regardless of who it was, but we’re curious what’s go ing on in terms of listening to what customers are saying. Do they tell you that they want fries cut a cer tain way? Do they tell you that they want a certain flavor profile?

You know what, they do. The thing is that they tell you every day and I think where a lot of restaurants go wrong is they don’t like to listen. Sometimes, shops and great restau rateurs can get so caught up in their brand and in their product that they don’t see the forest through the trees and sometimes they almost re sent the guest, or they allow cost to come between the experience and the guest.

Do you see a day where plant-based foods become their own, with their own textures and their own flavors in place of everything being a re placement of something that we are already eating?

I think that is a very good provo cation. The answer is I don’t know. Frankly, I think you’ll continue to see plant-based proliferate and I think you’ll continue to see these analogues targeted towards real animal protein. For one, the biggest draw is the novelty of the mimicking of real animal proteins that can get the “non-vegan” or the “carnivore” excited to go try it and to make it a part of their lifestyle.

How do you create product like this that is so unique and then flow it through a traditional distribution channel?

It’s not difficult. It’s like any other restaurant start up as long as you’re disciplined about what you were do ing, and you understand what you can and cannot do based on your volume. You need to have enough financial backing in order to make decisions that are in the best inter est of the long-term health of the

brand versus the short term win.

Since you put the time into build ing these products, do you see these products becoming retail products as well?

Yes absolutely. That’ll be another work-stream for us down the road, but you could definitely see this brand expanding into CPG, into even school lunch programs one day.

Will the growth come from compa ny owned stores or will the growth come from franchise stores?

I think right now our goal is to remain company owned as we con tinue to cultivate and fine-tune this concept and then in time franchise.

Any opportunity for somebody that wants to become part of the Hart House team around the country?

Yes, reach out to us on our website at www.myharthouse.com. We are always looking for the best-in-class operators and hourly employees to join our family.

From a pricing standpoint, is there a pressure to be in compe tition with traditional fast food chain restaurants like Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, or is this more of a Shake Shack type place where people should expect that they’re gonna pay a premium for the best in class in the marketplace?

We are trying to give you the best in class in the marketplace at a rea sonable price so we do try to target more Burger King main stream QSR pricing. We just try to position our selves as mainstream QSR fast food with the added benefit of it being plant based, free of any cholester ol, and little bit better for you than mainstream QSR.

Your customers’ trust is in your hands

So put your hands in Elara brand gloves

Show guests you care about their health. Protection you can count on, from the brand you trust.

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Sold through authorized distributors

For each case purchased, Elara donates a meal for a person struggling with hunger in America

rector, Sommelier, and Wine Critic, was the evening’s MC and opened the dinner at 7.30 PM with an enter taining speech, followed by Diana DeLucia of Golf Kitchen. Delucia discussed the event’s development, purpose, and future initiatives and introduced Steven Cohen, President of NGCRA, the event’s Lead Sponsor.

“The Golf Kitchen Invitational and Culinary Excellence Awards dinner is a truly spectacular event that showcases the work of great Chefs from around the country. The planning, networking, and passion that went into every aspect of the day exceeded all expectations. The NGCRA was proud to be the Lead Sponsor!” ~ Steven Cohen, CEO, Na tional Golf Course Restaurant Asso ciation.

The first course was a Korean Braised Pork Belly with Red Beet Gnocchi, Yuzu Compressed Melon, Chipotle Honey Gastrique, Pork Fat Crumb, Strawberry Fluid Gel, Car rot Ginger Silk, Upland Cress, Basil Crystal, and Finger Lime created by Hannah Flora, Chef de Cuisine at Addison Reserve, Delray Beach, FL, and the 2021 Golf Kitchen Ris ing Star awardee. Silva paired the dish with Emmolo Sauvignon Blanc, Fairfield, California, 2021.

The first awardee of the night was Chrissie Bennett, Executive Chef at Winged Foot Golf Club, Mama roneck, NY. Chef Bennett received the 2022 Rising Star Award.

The second course served by Wes Tyler CEC, CCA, at The Club at Carlton Woods, The Woodlands, TX was Epigrammes de Filet de Sole au Grand-Duc with Poached Cray fish Tails, Buttered Asparagus Tips, Sliced Autumn Truffles, Mushroom Liquor, and Soft Herbs paired with Mer Soleil Chardonnay, Saint Lucia Highlands, California 2020.

The Purveyor of the Year award went to Natalia Cabrera, President of Khayyan Specialty Foods. “Na talia is a strong advocate for Club chefs and continuously brings su perior products from Spain and It aly to the industry,” stated DeLucia.

The Culinary Excellence Award for an Outstanding Private Golf Club or

Country Club was presented to Wes Tyler on behalf of The Club at Carl ton Woods.

Third course was Herb Crusted Loin of Domestic Lamb, Cauliflower Cream, Golden Raisin, Parisienne Potato, Maitre D, Natural Ash, and Griotte Cherry Glace presented by Shawn Olah, Executive Chef at Highlands Fall Country Club in Highlands, NC, paired with Caymus, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California 2020.

Marisa Hernandez, Pastry Chef at GlenArbor, ended the dinner flaw lessly with a Brown Butter Hazelnut Cake with Lemon Mousse, Grape fruit, and Poached Red Wine Pears, paired with Peyraguey, Premier Cru Classe de Sauternes, Bordeaux, France 2009.

Fernando Silva presented the sec ond annual Golf Kitchen Wine Pro gram Award to Alfredo Hildebrant, Assistant General Manager at Syca more Hills Golf Club, Fort Wayne, IN.

“After an exhaustive review of Wine Lists and Wine programs from Private Clubs, I found the most suit able candidate for this prestigious award was Alfredo Hildebrandt at Sycamore Hills Golf Club. Passion and a sincere thirst for knowledge are key to defining the role of the Modern-day Sommelier or Wine Di rector! It was a great honor to dis cover such talent and qualities in an individual like Alfredo.” said Fer nando Silva.

“This event was a memorable night for all. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming from start to finish. The menu was outstand ing, with delectable dishes and the perfect pairing of wines. Every chef exceeded my expectations and took the time to speak about their dishes thoughtfully. The awards ceremony throughout the night highlighted such wonderful and talented indi viduals.” added Caroline Assumma, Member Communications and SM Coordinator at Winged Foot.

For a complete list of winners and awardees, go to GolfKitchen.com

the ability of the company to continue to stay on top of the latest trends. “We have accomplished that by grooming our next generation of leadership and adding top notch talent to both our outside sales team and our support staff,” added Joe Ferri. With an eye to wards the future Ferri and partner Ed Pecinka are mentoring Joe Ferri Jr and corporate chef Nick Mercogliano to take over the reins.

In order for the company to move forward, Ferri has carefully looked at how the role of the rep has evolved.

“The journey began with mastering content curation and creation and event management. As a result of the industry shifting from analog to digital, we have added key marketing functions to our daily focus on outside sales. The days of updating our facto ries three ring binders has been re placed by creative digital marketing.”

As Pecinka Ferri prepares to once again welcome the industry to its test kitchen, Ferri sees a number of key changes in the industry as a result of two years of Pandemic life. “Sanita

PLANT BASED WORLD EXPO

as plant-based meats and seafoods. Global culinary creativity and chefcrafted products were on display as were convenient and accessible fro zen and prepared entrees from com panies.

A couple of key categories to food service operators saw significant growth at Plant Based 2022. There is no question that grab-n-go plant based snacks offer the foodservice operator a number of potential new options. From bar snack to college and univer sities, plant-based snacks at the show offer those signature breakthroughs. With pizza consenting to grow, the show displayed several really tasty plant-based pizza cheese options.

“The success of this year’s Plant Based World Expo demonstrates the continued excitement around the plant-based foods industry,” said Ra chel Dreskin, CEO of PBFA and The In stitute. “Thanks to the strength of our partnership with the PBW team, we were able to put on a fantastic show

tion will continue to be a priority as we move forward, Ferri noted. Fea tures like touchless and virtual con ferences are here to stay. Much of that has to do with how we now produce food through new concepts including ghost kitchens. It’s all about the food service operator having agility to pivot based on customer needs.”

Founded in 1972, Pecinka Ferri As sociates is one of Metro New York’s leading manufacturers’ agents to the foodservice industry. Pecinka Ferri Associates represents internationally recognized brands by providing enduser knowledge and solutions, sup porting dealers and consultants, and innovating marketing services in the greater New York Metro area.

Complimentary tickets and full schedule and lineup for the October 26th Witches BrewFest are available now. For more information on Pecin ka Ferri, visit pecinkaferri.com. To speak to Pecinka Ferri’s team of food service professionals, call Fairfield, N.J., headquarters at (973) 812-4277 or email Sales@PecinkaFerri.com.

featuring impactful conference ses sions and so many meaningful oppor tunities for our members to connect with industry leaders and buyers. We look forward to continued growth and the expansion of our joint mission to showcase the power of plant-based.”

The show’s exhibitors were enthu siastic about their experiences at the show, citing great connections and the chance to showcase their prod ucts to a highly qualified audience as reasons why they plan to return next year “This was Mind Blown’s first year exhibiting at the show and it was in credible start to finish,” said Monica Talbert, co-founder of Mind Blown Plant Based Seafood Company. “The energy and excitement from attendees and other exhibitors were truly elec tric and so many quality connections really makes PBW a show not to miss!”

Whether they were sampling deli cious plant-based frozen desserts and

continued

young. Combined, we have about 28 years of experience working in food service. The future is very hard to pre dict, and I was never a fan to 5-year plans. My current career goal is to build a restaurant that our grandfather would have been proud of.

How did Ferdi come together?

FS: In the Summer of 2020, with COVID in full force, we, like everyone else, did not know what to do. My fa ther decided it was time for him to re tire, and we had to decide if opening our first restaurant on our own was possible during such a turbulent time. We searched and searched vacant restaurant spaces available for lease – nothing seemed doable, until one day we stumbled upon an abandoned commercial space. It took months to negotiate a lease, but we eventually decided it was time to pull the trig ger and jump in. Our ambition told us, that despite COVID, we could not give up on who we truly were – restau rateurs.

Why did you select the West Village?

What makes Ferdi different from oth er restaurants in the area?

FS: For years we would always hang out in the West Village. We knew it was a poppin’ area for nightlife and dining out. The West Village is the perfect spot for a family-run Italian restaurant, be cause of the quaintness and history of the neighborhood.

AS: A customer recently told me, ‘Ferdi has a human touch that is rare in restaurants nowadays, and I think

that phase describes exactly why it is different from other restaurants. We are owner-operators, which means we enjoy working alongside our staff every day and getting to know each of our guests. True hospitality means making your guests feel appreciated.

What’s the atmosphere like at Ferdi?

AS: The atmosphere of Ferdi is cozy. The space feels warm and inviting –it’s not trendy, but it’s comfortable.

What’s your approach to the menu and bar?

FS: The menu was created from generations of dishes – many of these recipes have been handed down by own grandfather and father. We also wanted each dish to be able to stand on its own, therefore each dish has its own vegetable and starch accompani ment.

AS: The wine list features unique va rietals from esteemed Italian produc ers and the cocktail program focuses on crafting the perfect classic cocktail.

Lessons learned from prior jobs that you’ve brought to the culture at Ferdi?

AS: Most importantly, make your staff feel appreciated. Restaurant work is very exhausting, therefore, find ways to honor employees’ performance and make work fun.

Share the plus and minus of running a family business, siblings, as business partners?

FS: The plus: Running a family busi ness is all plus if you can get through

the minus of working out the manage ment and delegation. Working with family is more emotional, therefore, expectations from each other have to be clear, and you have to hold each other accountable.

Are you experiencing any supply chain issues?

AS: Yes. The lead time to receive our stemware and dishware is about 2-3 months. Which is kind of crazy!

Tell us about the local vendors you source for ingredients.

FS: We try to use in-season veg etables as much as possible, so we can source some ingredients from the Northeast. The rest of our produce comes from California and Florida. However, our dry goods are all import ed from Italy – olive oil, some dried pasta from Gragnano Naples, vinegar, and tomatoes.

What’s your favorite piece of equip ment that you couldn’t live without?

FS: Espresso machine. So much so that the espresso machine was the first piece of equipment installed at the restaurant – even while it was still under construction.

AS: Kitchen aid. Baking is such a joy and relaxing.

What’s your greatest aspiration for Ferdi?

FS: To build a restaurant that fosters community. The greatest joy about owning a business is that you can find ways to give back to the community

that supports you.

Favorite career accomplishment?

AS: Although we are still early in our career, opening a restaurant as sib lings in Manhattan at such an early stage in our careers would have only been possible if we stuck together as brother and sister. For us, that is our greatest accomplishment. It was so important to not give up on our fam ily’s legacy of continuing the legacy of Scarpati chefs and restaurateurs.

Who were/are your mentors?

FS: I love to listen to everyone who has built a successful business, no matter the industry, because if you have what it takes to build a successful business then you have knowledge to impart to young entrepreneurs.

AS: My mentors are all the manag ers and owners who I have worked for in the past because they have taught me how to handle the challenges that arise day to day in the restaurant busi ness. Also, many of my classmates and professors from Cornell continue to help guide me in my decision-making today.

What do you see ahead for each of you and Ferdi?

AS: We look forward to making Ferdi a go-to neighborhood spot in the West Village. It is such a great community that we’re glad to be a part of. We look forward to continuing to share our de licious food and honor the legacy of our grandfather and his Italian roots.

PROVISIONS PREVIEWED

When Executive Chef Markus Glocker set his heart on opening Koloman in NoMad, he also had his heart set on the Create! Collection by Bauscher--with his own signature touch: a tasteful thin black line that brings an elevated framing to every dish that touches the table.

“I had this vision in my pocket for over two years,” says Glocker. “With these times, you need to order far in advance to get to the finish line, espe cially with custom pieces. Before you

sign a lease, make sure your concept is 90% finished in your head. Time is not on your side.”

It’s no surprise that Koloman debuted last month to glowing reviews.

“The guest reaction at the table has been priceless,” says Glocker. “Everything comes together and everything makes sense. The chi na plays a big role in the evening. The customer knows they are in a serious place.”

We have more to say. We’ll be back in your feed next month with more exclusive interviews and tips for tai loring your tabletop procurement. For now, you can start your very own custom conversation and request a copy of the brand-new Fall 2022 LMT Provisions catalog, now available on line and in print.

Send us a note. We always love to hear from you. marketing@ singerequipment.com.

About Singer Equipment Company: Singer Equipment Company is the fourth largest foodservice equipment and supply dealer in the United States and remains privately owned and op erated in its third generation of family leadership. Headquartered in Elverson, Pennsylvania, Singer maintains offic es and 8 distribution centers through out the East Coast. Singer offers the power of a century of experience com bined with highly personalized service delivered nationwide.

from page 4SLUTTY VEGAN

on a vegan Hawaiian bun, plus un expected options like the HEAUX BOY featuring vegan shrimp tossed in a New Orleans style batter, load ed with lettuce, tomato, pickle & Slut Sauce on a vegan Hawaiian bun and the HOLLYWOOD HOOKER, a vegan chopped Philly with jalape ños, bell peppers and caramelized onions, vegan provolone, lettuce, tomato, ketchup & vegan mayo on a hoagie roll, will be available for takeout and delivery.

“This is like a dream come true,” says Cole. “I remember working in New York City following my dream, and now almost a decade later, my

U.S. GROWN TRUFFLES

Difference in aroma and flavor?

So the question then is, can one tell the difference between an American vs. European harvested Périgord black truffle? Does terroir make a difference in the aroma and flavor of the black truffle?

Yes, one can absolutely tell the difference between the two versions of the same truffle, but not in the way you might think. Terroir in fact does not affect the aroma and flavor of black truffles. Different crops are affected differently by terroir, some more than others, and others not at all. Think of crops on a continuum. On one extreme of the spectrum, there’s grape. Grapes are heav ily impacted by their environment. Grapes grown in California have very different characteristics from

dream is following me. I am beyond excited to finally sluttify Brooklyn, New York.”

Since the brand’s genesis in 2018, Cole has built a game-changing em pire that’s dedicated to reinventing vegan food culture, where vegans and meat-eaters alike can break free from kale and quinoa salads. Slutty Vegan’s crave-worthy, indulgent menus and joyful customer interactions draw locals and visitors to eagerly wait in now-infamous lines down the block for vegan burgers, sandwiches and more. Sluttified fans include celeb rities Snoop Dogg, Jermaine Dupri, Taraji P. Henson, Tyler Perry, Tiffany

from page 68

the identical varietal grown in Bur gundy. Grapes from the same vines in the same vineyard across differ ent years, for that matter, have dif ferent characteristics. On the oppo site extreme of the spectrum, there’s the banana. Whether they are from Venezuela, Brazil or Ecuador, they all taste like, well, bananas. There is no difference. Black truffles are very much like bananas in this regard, in that the terroir has very little to no impact on their flavor and aroma. Then why can one tell the difference between Périgord black truffles har vested in America vs. in Europe? It all comes down to the freshness. American grown Périgord black truffles have much more intense aromas and flavors simply because they are much fresher. Even though Italian chefs swear they can tell the

Haddish, Queen Latifah and many more. Slutty Vegan has seven existing brick-and-mortar locations, includ ing metro-Atlanta stores in the Edge wood, Jonesboro, Duluth and West View neighborhoods and outposts in Athens, Georgia, Birmingham, Ala bama and now Brooklyn.

“We make everything to order so you get your food in about eight min utes or less which is pretty impres sive, Cole noted. So we don’t hold anything. So the line is pretty long but not the wait time. Everything is fresh. Burgers, fries, nothing has been sitting. We take pride in using fresh ingredients to make that whole expe

rience sound because people stand in line for two hours. We want to make sure that if you’ve been in line for two hours, you can come get a fresh burg er and you are happy about it.

In May 2022, the booming brand celebrated a $25M Series A fundrais ing round that resulted in Slutty Veg an’s impressive $100M valuation that was dually backed by Enlightened Hospitality Investments (co-founded by Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group) and New Voices Fund (led by billionaire entrepreneur & ESSENCE Ventures CEO Richelieu Dennis).

“superior” Italian produced black truffles from all others, and the French also claim that French pro duced truffles are the best, in dou ble-blind experiments done with Michelin star chefs who use truffles day in and day out, none could truly tell any difference between truffles produced in different regions, even on different continents.

Get the freshest black truffles in America

In order to successfully produce Périgord black truffle in America, a significant amount of science is required, because the environment (soil, climate, soil microbiome etc.) is so different here than the truf fle’s native habitats in Europe. The American Truffle Company® (ATC) has pioneered and developed the

organic and natural scientific cul tivation process that has contrib uted to the successful production of Périgord black truffles in America. It provides its client partner grow ers around the country with the truffle inoculated trees, the science and the maintenance know-how to successfully produce European black truffles. ATC also distributes all the truffles that its client part ner growers produce. As a result, ATC is able to provide the freshest Périgord black truffles on this side of the Atlantic. Most of ATC’s truffle orchards are still in the process of ramping up production. High qual ity American grown Périgord black truffles are now available in limited quantities directly from the Ameri can Truffle Company®. Inquire at info@americantruffle.com.

PLANT BASED WORLD EXPO

mouth-watering plant-based entrees or learning from expert speakers, ce lebrity chefs, and industry leaders, attendees agreed that this was the best PBW yet. “The show has been incredible. We’ve made a lot of good contacts with all the right people to get our product into the right places. We’re looking forward to next year,” said Marc Elkman, co-founder, Mighty

from page 92

Yum. “This was our first time coming to the show and we have made many amazing connections here–it gives me goosebumps–and we’re excited about following up and our future,” said Ca mille Holder-Brown, co-founder, Kale Cafe.

Plant Based World Expo’s Confer ence Program had a goal of helping foodservice operators and other in

dustry professionals advance their businesses in the plant-based sector. It featured a full track including an in-person L.Sahin/TFS VBS-Virtual Breakfast panel with TV celebrities Chef Rocco DiSpirito and Priyanka Naik. Chef Spike Mendelsohn gave the show’s keynote and outlined his desire to make a positive impact on our food system.

With an eye towards the 2023 edi tion of the show, the real question continues to be can the plant based manufacturer continues to attract the flexitarian? How will that then trans late into restaurant and foodservice chefs additional menu items for that plant-based consumer, who also eat animal products, and looking for vari ety in their diet?

fer, as do attitudes towards sustain ability. Culture also plays an im portant role when trying to create a shared vision. Together we defined five key factors for a successful global implementation.

1. Effective governance and plan ning driven by leadership.

IKEA mobilized a dedicated project team 100% focused on food waste re duction and tasked with coordinating with local markets in partnership with Winnow’s implementation team.

2. Clear internal communication on the food waste goal.

IKEA defined their goal to reduce food waste weight by 50% versus their corporate baseline, which Winnow helped benchmark. IKEA brought this goal to life for co-workers with fun vid eos, animations and regular newslet ters communicating progress against the target.

3. Deploying a definitive measure ment tool across all operations.

As the saying goes, what gets measured gets managed. A reliable methodology helps guard against greenwashing claims by leaving an au ditable data trail. The AI component of Winnow Vision validates data and ensures reliability.

4. Giving co-workers the autonomy to make changes using Winnow data.

IKEA kitchen co-workers are experts in their understanding of their opera tions. IKEA created an open culture, giving teams the space to explore waste in their operations. They also gave explicit permission for individu als to make changes based on Win now data, empowering food waste reduction to occur.

5. An emphasis on best practices, quick tips, and self-driven learning is vital to scale.

It was clear that co-workers had a real desire to share their experiences with each other. The IKEA project team created videos of co-workers sharing tips and sent them to all IKEA kitchen teams.

IKEA’s milestone has implications for the global hospitality and foodservice industry

This is a significant milestone - the first time a truly global business has managed to halve food waste. While we are proud of our technology’s role in achieving this, the recognition be longs to the co-workers who helped build it and then adopted it.

The business case is clear. With food price inflation on a collision course with a cost of living crisis facing con sumers, we must make food waste re

duction a top strategic priority. IKEA’s example shows that massive cost reductions can be achieved at scale whilst making a significant contribu tion to decarbonization efforts.

The implications of this achieve ment should be far-reaching. The UN sustainable development goal 12.3 sets out a global target to halve per capita food loss and waste by 2030. With up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions arising from food waste, it’s essential that we solve this problem quickly. Global businesses have a vital

role to play in solving climate change.

From both a commercial and cli mate perspective, the time to act is now.

Winnow develops Artificial Intelli gence (AI) tools to help large hospitality businesses like hotels, contract caterers, casinos and cruise ships to run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half. For more in formation about their solutions as well as useful guides, e-books and case stud ies visit www.winnowsolutions.com

also seeing an uptick in discrimina tion cases related to both sexual ha rassment and racial bias. We are also seeing cases that have been stalling in government agencies that were over flowed during COVID. These cases that were not attended to in the last two years are being picked up and moving forward once again. We currently have a case that was sitting for three years with nothing done and suddenly, they have filed a hearing on it.

So, for those operators faced with discrimination lawsuits make sure that you have a sexual harassment prevention policy that is compliant according to state regulations. An an nual sexual harassment training must be part of your operational agenda. There must be clear communication on how to report claims of discrimi nation. If you have not yet secured

BLENDED BEVERAGES

in functional terms are available in shelf-stable powdered form, includ ing proteins, energy boosts, creatine, multivitamins, grains, etc., which makes blending easier, contains costs, and avoids the challenges of keeping fresh ingredients from going bad.

Treats and Inclusions: A simple, low-cost way to add color and flair to your blended beverages are in gredients added toward the end of the blending process, so they remain only partially processed. Small pieces of fruit, nuts, or even a leafy green suspended in the beverage – we call these inclusions – can be appealing visually and remind your customers that they are consuming something with healthy ingredients. Alterna tively, for a treat, you can add sugarcoated candies, cookies, or brownies to a blended beverage. Bottom line: A small amount of one ingredient added at the end can raise the appeal of your blended beverage and possibly justify a higher price point.

Keep an Eye on the Trends

If you’re running a business, it can be hard to keep your head up and follow the trends – but it takes less time than you might think. A once-

employment practices liability insur ance, conduct the research to see if it is something that would make a dif ference for your team and your estab lishment. We are aware that several inherent practices fell by the wayside because of the pandemic. But restau rants are obviously in person and this training is paramount for the success of your operation.

There are two additional rem nants from the pandemic that I believe will remain part of our ex istence going forward. The first is the increase of takeout and deliv ery services that we touched on and the second is the future of outdoor dining.

These structures once provided an oasis of solace to the pandemic-wea ry diner but in some cases have now evolved into vermin-haven shanty

page 16

a-month glance through the trades, a quick look at competitor menus on line, or a report from Mintel or Tech nomics is enough to keep you up-todate and ahead of the next seasonal beverage or limited time offer (LTO).

Acting upon the trends is relatively simple in the realm of blended bever ages. It’s often a case of working in a couple new ingredients. For example, last summer, pink drinks were all the rage with younger consumers, accord ing to market research company Min tel. Food brands launched a new crop of brightly colored products to the de light of these audiences.

What’s required to make a bever age pink? It could be a frozen passion fruit purée, watermelon, Dragon fruit, strawberries, or even a powdered drink mix. In other words, the execu tion can be simple and the cost rela tively low.

When it comes to creating new reci pes – or altering existing ones – blend ing is a kind of magic because all the in gredients are thoroughly mixed and no longer decipherable to the eye, which gives the creator a certain latitude.

On the other hand, a small amount of a strong-tasting ingredient can push the recipe in a certain direction.

town eyesores. Be proactive in en suring that you are cognizant of the ever-changing rules regarding these outdoor dining structures. Make sure that you have the proper permits and that you are maintaining these struc tures so that they do not fall into disre pair. Already neighborhood residents are voicing their disgust, and some have even filed complaints against their continued purpose. It’s a bad look if you’re not maintaining your outdoor structure and it has fallen into disrepair. Patrons are going to use them as the yardstick to measure the cleanliness of your establishment and assume that the hygiene inside of your restaurant is also compromised.

So, as we round another bend and draw closer to what I like to refer to as the End-emic, I’d also like to see the in dustry receive a bit more leeway from

policymakers. That they will continue to allow restaurants to operate with as little restriction as possible within rea son. The industry will, of course, do its part by maintaining health and safety. But we would also like our opera tors to be able to concentrate on the everyday aspects of operating their business rather than being restricted by the fear of punitive measures and bureaucracy.

Many restrictions and laws have been placed on our operators in the last few years. For many of you the over regulation has been so restrictive that you have become more concerned with making sure you’re complying with the laws. To this I say get orga nized. Be compliant. Then concentrate on churning out the best product pos sible that will ensure an amazing guest experience.

Therefore, to get the effect you want, it is sometimes helpful to think about balancing stronger and weaker flavors.

Some flavors are also good carriers of other flavors, even if they are not strong flavors themselves. For exam ple, banana is a good carrier of straw berry, but it is also a good carrier for chocolate.

Sometimes, one strong flavor is enough and, in general, a simple recipe with fewer ingredients is bet ter than a complex recipe with many ingredients, even if it turns out to be popular with customers. In fact, one of the worst situations is a beverage that turns out to be very popular but is hard for your staff to make.

Finally, a reminder: Shelf-stable, simple ingredients can be highly ef fective at delivering flavor, and they are almost always lower-cost than fresh ingredients.

Equipment Matters

From a profitability standpoint, your blending equipment is just as important as what goes into it.

Naturally, you want the equipment to last and to hold up under heavy use, including back-to-back blending during peak hours of operation. That

already narrows the field of blender candidates.

But, in addition, your blender should expedite speed of service. A blender with built-in programming, like The Quiet One® by Vitamix Commercial, enables your staff to touch one but ton and walk away while the blending occurs. With 34 optimized programs, The Quiet One® is equipped with a program that will blend virtually any beverage in the most efficient time frame, cycling automatically through the range of required speeds.

Finally, a high-performance blender with optimized programming ensures that the beverage recipes you have prepared with care come out the same way every time, just the way your cus tomers want them. That will keep your customers coming back for more.

For more information, email the Vitamix Commercial team at let stalkcommercial@vitamix.com.

Stephen Hosey is blending appli cation manager and culinary team member at Vitamix, where he assists commercial customers with kitchen and bar efficiency, recipe creation and menu development. Contact him at letstalkcommercial@vitamix.com.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES THAN EVER FOR RESTAURANT OPERATORS TO FLOURISH

Opening new spaces, knowing your budgets, and looking ahead in franchising, in terms of financial advising for the restaurant industry – we’ve never quite been in an era like this one.

Conservative CPAs prefer the safety net of traditional business es. They like to see manufacturing companies open, run for 30 years, and then be sold to another own er. I know that restaurants, from an accounting standpoint, are an underserved market. Joining Ap ple Growth allowed me to help the foodservice industry in a way other firms couldn’t. Given the size of our company, over 100 employees, I can leverage the work and concentrate on going beyond the numbers, as well as taking on new clients.

Before Covid, the practice was easier. Normally, within the two big expenses of running a restau rant –food and beverage, and labor

costs- there’s some variance. One is traditionally high, and one is low depending on the economy. Now, due to the current inflation rates, as well as worker shortages, both are a struggle for restaurant operators. By working with enough people though, I know that the business owners who have passion for their establishments, the ones who have a true desire, see the potential and understand that it’s a lifestyle, and one that’s well worth the time. The cost of rent is another aspect that the pandemic influenced. Spaces are available and may continue to become open in the future, but the important part to remember is to al ways have a qualified architect and attorney look at the leases before you sign, to make sure that all the provisions are in there to protect you. In Chicago for example, plenty of people are taking advantage and opening new businesses, but even after checking with legal staff, there is still a drawback of staffing. I have a couple of restaurant groups that are holding back on projects be cause they don’t want to run into problems trying to staff the estab lishment that they’re trying to open.

The clearest and most successful method for longevity and high reve nue among those who do choose to open restaurants has been watch

ing the numbers. The best owners watch their financial information closely, their daily figures, sales, la bor costs, and continue analyzing those metrics so that they can keep themselves on track. Benchmark ing the data against the industry’s to keep a standard, and using tech nology to streamline the success is the difference between the prosper ous restaurants, and the ones just getting by. The same goes for other sections of the financials, having a good understanding of the taxes, government programs, and payroll services available can only help to boost income. A common mistake is that businesses won’t file tips and sales taxes correctly and aren’t taking in the FICA credit tip when they could be. Both factors, along with the underutilized federal ERTC program, a government refundable credit towards businesses who were impacted by Covid, are opportuni ties I help establishment within your establishment, and ones that ensure that the financial areas of the business are heading in the right direction.

TV shows love to project restau rants getting makeovers, and the climax of the drama always hits when the savior-host asks the own er if they know what each of their menu items cost to make. Then, the

owner suddenly freezes up when they realize they can’t answer the question. As an owner, you should know that information. Restaurants can’t afford to make the mistake of selling items for less than the cost of production. In a perfect world, the owner would break it down by every ingredient that goes into the product. Every business should calculate their breakeven point - it tells you the kind of sales you need to generate over a period to remain successful. The future of restaurant ownership is looking bright, always breaking new ground, and even more so with exciting franchising ideas – the potential is endless. For those looking to become an opera tor, open a new space, or bring their new idea to life, the door is open, and the opportunities are waiting on the other side.

For more information on how I can help you, send an email to dahlbeck@applegrowth.com or call 866.67.APPLE to set up an appointment.

The best owners watch their financial information closely, their daily figures, sales, labor costs, and continue analyzing those metrics so that they can keep themselves on track.

FIORITO ON INSURANCE

and never use in enclosed spaces or indoors.

• Consider using tools powered by electricity or compressed air, if available.

Key safety measures that all res taurants should consider, that at least meet, but in some cases exceed regulatory codes include carbon monoxide detectors, alarm systems, security systems, and other life safety processes and equipment. However, installing equipment is not enough. Businesses need to proactively pre pare for the unexpected and train their employees thoroughly.

• The first step to emergency man agement planning is performing a vulnerability analysis. An effec tive vulnerability analysis looks at all possible threats. Once risks have been assessed, you will need to put together a response plan that ad dresses various types of incidents, what the risks are, what could trigger the plan, and what to do in the event an incident escalates to become a crisis.

• The plan should include, at minimum, roles and responsibili ties, emergency procedures, a com munications plan, and a process for

training, testing, and maintaining the plan. Copies of the plan should be distributed to all individuals with responsibilities.

• Periodically, key elements of the plan should be tested and the en tire plan should be reviewed at least once a year to ensure it is up-to-date and addresses the major risks.

This step-by-step process should also include how your team will in teract with the media aftermath in the event of an incident as the repu tational damage can easily devastate a business in the event of a crisis such as a CO leak, particularly if it could potentially be attributed to the business’s actions.

Speak to your insurance advisor to learn more about implementing effective emergency and crisis man agement plans that include detailed carbon monoxide exposure preven tion measures, as well as strategies for recovery.

1. https://cwa-union.org/ national-issues/health-and-safety/ health-and-safety-fact-sheets/car bon-monoxide-and-workplace

2. https://www.cdc.gov/fea tures/copoisoning/index.html

dia advertising. We post colorful and informative signs next to dishes when a new item is introduced, or to show case a special MM item of the day. To attract added attention, the menu we place at our entrance and post online emphasizes Meatless Monday options with either a bold MM or graphic next to each plant-based item.

We will continue to have the plantbased items first on our homestyle line. Students will always be drawn to that dish first, especially if we are of fering pasta or rice as our plant-based option. Consequently, we end up serv ing more portions of students’ favor ites, when served on a Monday.

I plan on bringing back the MM veg an pizza promotion days: where every Monday we rotate one of their favorite

vegan pizzas. In the past, Buffalo Cau liflower, Turkish, and Pesto Pizza were very popular.

Free Foodservice Resources from Meatless Monday: Whether you pro vide food services to college campuses, K-12 schools or other large institutions, Meatless Monday can help you pro mote delicious plant-based options.

It’s easy to participate; just encour age your diners to give up meat one day a week. We provide the following toolkits for free, and also have a vari ety of promotional assets available for download. Check out our materials at: https://www.mondaycampaigns.org/ meatless-monday/foodservice

do, they pulled off what could only be considered a minor miracle. Granted both former Mayor Bill deBlasio and current Mayor Eric Adams are democrats. Nevertheless, the idea that both could share the stage and focus on congratulating the industry was special. deBlasio spoke at length about the importance of battling to keep outdoor dining a permanent feature of the local dining scene. Ad ams spoke of his pride in patronizing the City’s restaurants.

The legacy of the Alliance has been its ability to help the industry find its ways through the most challenging of times. That began when Super storm Sandy that hit New York just after the launch of the Alliance.

“As soon as we opened for busi ness, or rather, opened for advocacy, we found ourselves thrust into a role as an emergency response organi zation helping restaurants and bars that were literally underwater from Superstorm Sandy,” Rigie explained. Early on, the Alliance built a reputa tion of delivering monumental re sults with the reduction of fines by tens of millions of dollars on restau rants, bars, and nightclubs. The Alli ance was able to cut the red tape by streamlining permit and licensing processes so businesses could open faster.

When the Pandemic struck in March 2020, the Alliance took the local and national stage for its work to guide a staggered industry. “Our industry was thrown into the ring for a bout with our biggest oppo

nent yet – a global pandemic. Just as the state and federal laws would normally affect NYC first, so did the COVID-19 virus. The challenges in its wake brought us a fight that was unprecedented. First, it was the un certainty followed by the mixed mes saging coming from all levels of gov ernment, and soon after things just moved rapidly.”

As the battle raged to keep a hor rible catastrophe from becoming even worse, The Alliance rolled up its sleeves. “We helped raise money and coordinate countless meals to front line workers and communities in need. Raised money for laid off res taurant workers, and restaurants and bars in need. In addition, we fought to support the survival of the city’s restaurants and nightlife industry and then we aggressively advocated for policies from a city, state, and federal level,” Rigie continued.

With 10 years in the rear-view mir ror and for all the roller coaster mo ments the industry has endured, it is fitting that The Alliance commemo rated a decade of achievements, ad vocacy, education, support, events, and building a community – a pow erful and impactful community for the city’s hospitality industry. “We are thrilled to recognize all that we have accomplished and all that we have collectively struggled through over the past decade and continue to strengthen those bonds and raise money so we can continue to fight the good fight,” Rigie concluded.

Imperial Dade’s Howard Hirsch shared the tribute with customers

(L to R) PBAC’s Michael Posternak and Gary Spruch of the American Jewish Committee

new normal. Among the highlights of this show was Imperial Dade Women’s Leadership Panel, which was also the most popular breakout session in 2019. This year’s theme for the panel was Leading Through Change. The panelist represented a diverse group of women representing manufactur ers, service providers, non-profit orga nizations, and distributors.

Craven built the agenda with a goal of show guests learning from panel ists, speakers, and being able to “test drive” the very latest solutions. “It was very satisfying to hear that so many of

our attendees found that something that can help them succeed in meet ing their business goals,” Craven con cluded.

Imperial Dade, a leading distributor of foodservice packaging and janitori al supplies, has been very busy acquir ing firms across the nation during the Pandemic. Last month it closed on the purchase of International Sales & Mar keting in Puerto Rico. This marked its 53rd acquisition under the leadership of the Father and son duo of Robert and Jason Tillis.

licious are not mutually exclusive. For nearly 3 decades, Peter X. Kelly has set the standard for dining in NY State, op erating critically acclaimed restaurants in the Hudson Valley. Visionary chef John Mooney promotes sustainability in the kitchens and on the aeroponic rooftop gardens of Bell, Book & Candle in NYC and Bidwell in Washington, DC. After receiving a Michelin star and 3-stars in the New York Times for his creative, flavorful cooking at Oceana in NYC, Chef Ben Pollinger opened The Hill, closer to home in Closter, NJ. With credits as an author and frequent guest on national TV shows, Chef Pollinger refined his craft cooking in legendary NYC restaurants La Côte Basque, Les Célébrités, Lespinasse, and worked in kitchen management at Tabla and Union Square Café. Acclaimed chef and bestselling author Tom Valenti is a former Table to Table Chefs Gala hon oree and currently the Executive Chef of Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen.

Table to Table, NJ’s first and most successful food rescue organization, collects fresh and perishable food which would otherwise be wasted and delivers it to organizations that serve people experiencing hunger in Bergen, Hudson, Essex, and Passaic counties in Northeastern NJ. We bring rescued fresh, nutritious food to 200+ partner organizations including, social service organizations, pantries, shelters and fresh produce markets and centralized distribution hubs. Food is provided free of charge. Through this, we touch

a diversity of those in need, including families, children, veterans, and older adults, making good nutrition acces sible while serving as a stimulus for other longer-term benefits. Table to Table raises all its own funds annually, and last year delivered enough food for 38 million meals.

restaurant abroad.

If the person meets these require ments, the process is quicker and does not require advertising or in volvement by the Department of Labor. What is even more attractive about the O-1 Visa is that essential support staff can easily be added to the principal visa holder’s case. For example, a sous-chef who has worked with the chef in the past can join the visa and come to the US as a team.

Retaining the Employee You Sponsor

Many employers ask me: How do we know that the candidate will not leave us as soon as they arrive here on a green card? While you can not force any employee to work for you, a fair and balanced employ ment contract is legally enforceable. It will bind the recruit to the green card sponsoring company for a de fined period of time. If the employee leaves before the end of the contract

term, he/she could be obligated to pay a determined amount of liqui dated damages under the contract as a result of the breach. This will deter the departure of employees upon whom you have invested time and money, and if they do leave, you could arguably get some or most of your expenses returned.

In this new world of labor short ages, you may want to look at the la bor pool in the entire world, not just the challenging US labor market, to meet your needs.

1 https://www.mckinsey.com/busi ness-functions/people-and-organi zational-performance/our-insights/ the-great-attrition-is-making-hir ing-harder-are-you-searching-theright-talent-pools?cid=eml-web

2 https://www.wsj.com/articles/ restaurants-bars-and-hotels-keephiring-and-say-they-still-donthave-enough-people-11659734572

Stable. Even here.

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