With more planned than ever before—including an app, livestream and popup dining event—here are some of our editor’s best tips for getting the most out of the 2019 Chef to Chef Conference in New Orleans.
How Relationships Impact F&B Operations
Invest in face-to-face time. It will help your food-and-beverage program—and it might make you and your team happier. Think about your best friend. Maybe it’s someone you grew up with or met in school. Maybe it’s someone you work with or live near. Whatever the case, that relationship was built by spending time together. Now,…
Why Change Can Be Really Good
I’ve had the unique opportunity to witness this special city club in the heart of downtown Cleveland evolve into something truly unique. A few months ago, I was sitting at my desk when my phone rang. I looked down to see the name Scott Spencer on the screen. It took me a minute to place…
What I Learned at C&RB’s Chef to Chef Conference
Here are six ideas from this year’s conference that I think resonated with club chef attendees. Last month, we wrapped up our tenth annual Chef to Chef Conference in Seattle—and it was awesome. There were 250 club chefs from across the country in attendance, along with some of the industry’s most forward-thinking sponsors. The idea-sharing…
2018 Food Trends: What’s Hot? And What’s Not?
C2C’s Joanna DeChellis breaks down the NRA’s forecasted trends, highlighting where clubs where many are thriving. Say goodbye to fancy cheese and hello to doughnuts with weird fillings. Last month, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) released its “What’s Hot” culinary forecast for 2018. This annual list of food trends was created with the help of…
Do Chef Certifications Matter?
Certification is useful and some credentials are quite impressive, given the amount of work that goes in to earning them, but certification is no substitute for actual skill and experience. There’s a dizzying array of acronyms for the various certifications chefs can attain: CEC, CCA, AAC, CMC—and the list goes on. But do these certifications prove anything?…
A New Club Culinary Renaissance Is Here
Club chefs are pushing the envelope even further, experimenting with new ideas, techniques and strategies. Over the past two decades, clubs’ food-and-beverage programs have evolved substantially. No one would deny that. We’ve abandoned mediocre, fast-casual fare and stepped up to provide upscale, modern and creative cuisine in a variety of formats and venues. We’re now…
Finding Balance
When we find that precarious equilibrium, we try to identify what worked so well, so we can replicate our success. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to dine at Alinea in Chicago. It was equal parts exciting, overwhelming and, to be very honest, strange. My favorite course (out of 18 courses) was called “Paint.”…
Five Reasons You Should Attend Chef to Chef
I love January. Not only is it my birthday month, but there’s this sense of calm that washes across the industry this time of year. You’ve all been hustling for the past two months trying to do more with less, and now you’re finally able to stop, catch your breath, get some sleep, see your…
Club Kitchens are Becoming the New Proving Grounds
The more club chefs I meet, the more I find a common thread among you: you care deeply for your members, and you inspire one another to be better. Remember when Thomas Keller’s Per Se got that scathing review in The New York Times and lost two of its four stars? Everyone everywhere was shocked,…
What Inspires You?
People like to think writing is romantic. The writer sits at his or her desk, sipping coffee, gracefully clicking away on the keyboard as the next award-winning piece comes smoothly together. The truth is—for me, at least—writing is primarily the result of asking a lot of questions, doing a lot of research, scribbling on a…
Continuing the Conversation
Spring is a new beginning—one filled with possibility and opportunity, both culinary and otherwise. It’s a time to jumpstart your menus, be inspired by seasonal ingredients, reengage your staff and strategize for the year ahead.