Pastry Solutions with CW Corporate Pastry Chef
François Mellet
At The Chefs’ Warehouse, we have a deep respect for the people we work with across the industry. Our passion for food, dedication to excellence in our product offerings, and client support are at the core of everything we do. We are still in quite challenging times for the food industry in general. Unfortunately, the first area that feels the impact is the bakery and pastry kitchen. Just when it was getting better, the new challenges presented by the Delta Variant of Covid have stalled the return of pastry as it existed pre-pandemic. Some positive news is that many pastry chefs are getting back to work, so at least there appears to be some light on the horizon. If there is one thing these unprecedented times are teaching us, it is to be flexible and prepared to shift as necessary. This is often an opportunity to learn and rediscover. For instance, chocolate is one of our strongest categories at CW and since a lot of pastry chefs are not currently buying chocolate in the same way, we are increasing our focus on providing additional quality pastry solutions to many kitchens that are in need. We have also done some shifting to quality domestic ingredients. With containers being delayed due manufacturers not having enough labor, shipments are taking substantially longer, and raw materials are not easily available. Therefore, we are looking for quality domestic options that are easier handle.
A good example of this is our new Crescendo Chocolate Dessert Mousse Program (featured in CW Magazine SpringSummer 2021) created by using premium ingredients and manufactured with a local partner. This is a product that’s both domestic and high-end. The idea behind the Chocolate Crescendo Dessert Mousse Program is to give whoever’s in the kitchen the freedom of decorating the plate the way they want it and make the dessert their own. This results in a positive pivot to domestic through collaboration and resourcing. We continue to respond to our current circumstances by putting ourselves in our customers positions on a technical level to understand what they are facing. If it’s a high-end kitchen with a skilled chef who just needs support, we can offer scratch ingredients. If the business doesn’t have a designated pastry chef, we can go one step further and offer some of our excellent ease-of-use solutions that are very simple to put together. We have tart shells, ready-to-use glazes, gelato and ready-to-bake breakfast pastries. We also offer several outstanding bread programs. We have the solutions! As this new season comes into focus we will continue to proceed as we always have--respecting the people and the product, staying passionate about what we do and maintaining our integrity. Happy Fall, everyone!
– CW Corporate Pastry Chef, François Mellet 18 | ChefsWarehouse.com
