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2 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
3 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Following a full day of con-
ference and networking
activities on Saturday,
Nov. 8, IHMRS will feature
three full days of exhibits
from Sunday, Nov. 9, through Tues-
day, Nov. 11. The market will present
650 exhibitors and attract more than
16,000 industry professionals.
But the highlight will be two “throw-
downs” one for culinary experts and
the other for college students.
The “throwdown” for professionals
will be held, Monday, November 10th.
Culinary school students will get
their chance at the “College Bowl”
Tuesday, November 11th.
Sponsored by BCA Global, a na-
tional non-profit organization pro-
viding culinary, foodservice, hospital-
Foodservice professionals
intrigued by the variety of
“throwdowns” now on TV will get
their chance to beat top chefs
themselves at the 99th annual
conference of the International
Hotel Motel + Restaurant Show
(IHMRS) November 8th through
11th at the Jacob K. Javits Center
in Manhattan.
Spotlight On The 2014 “Throwdowns” At The International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show (IHMRS)
// NEWS FOOD SHOWS
continued on page 99
4 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
"For plates, cups, and
utensils, it is vital to
have a spray valve that
is less than 1.28 gallons
per minute. It is also important to
have a very energy and water efficient
dishwasher that utilizes the green-
est of dish chemicals. With the green
cleaning and reusables, you have a
recipe for sustainability," Oshman
continued.
But, what about that nice reusable
napkin? Or that elegant tablecloth?
Where do those get cleaned? Usu-
ally, a restaurant rents the linens and
has them cleaned by a company that
cleans them… and returns fresh and
clean laundered towels, napkins, and
tablecloths. What about all the energy,
water, and chemicals used in such a
process?
As of 2012, the Green Restaurant As-
sociation developed an environmen-
tal standard that would address the
importance of choosing a green linen
company. The standard is rigorous
and achievable:
• Company must be certified in
TRSA's Clean Green Program,
where the company meets
the 60 points of tier one BMP's,
and an additional 70 points
from tier one or tier two BMPs.
• Company must be audited by
TRSA and pass the audit
• Company must furnish the
TRSA audit to the GRA
"We are proud that one compa-
ny has emerged as the first Green
Restaurant Association Endorsed
Green Linen Company: W.H. Linen
Rental,” Oshman added. They are
part of a $5.4 billion per year busi-
ness servicing linens for the U.S. res-
taurant industry, but they are the only
company that is GRA-Endorsed… and
the only company that can earn a res-
taurant 6.25 GreenPoints™ towards
becoming a Certified Green Restau-
rant®. By using W.H. Linen Rental,
restaurants can earn GreenPoints™ in
energy, water, and waste.
The WH. Linen story reads like one
of the great movie scripts. Willy Her-
manns Sr. (the W.H. in W.H. Linen),
started his laundry by making deliver-
ies to bakeries and butcher shops in
his Model T truck. As Willy's business
outgrew its locations, it moved from
West New York to Lyndhurst and then
to Paterson into an old silk factory.
From the time that he was young,
Willy's son Bill Hermanns worked at
his father's linen company. After grad-
uating from Northwestern University
in 1967, Bill began working full time at
WH, and then took over the business
in 1971. In 2008, Bill's son Christopher
took the reigns of the company. The
visionary leader has become a nation-
ally known expert in predicting and
sourcing linen trends for many of the
Tri-State and nation's leading food
service operators.
As restaurant, food service, and
medical accounts were added (plus
a few acquisitions), a second build-
ing was added in 1987 to handle the
growth. Twelve years later these two
buildings couldn't keep up with the
growth and WH Linen had to move
again. The firm built a brand new
50,000 square foot state-of-the-art
plant in Clifton, NJ.
When restaurateurs think of envi-
ronmental sustainability, they tend
to think of recycling, sustainable
food, and energy efficiency. “It’s now
time that the restaurant industry
think about how they are cleaning
their most important items. With the
Green Restaurant Association’s new
endorsement standard… and W.H.
Linen Rental being the first company
to meet it, restaurants in the eastern
seaboard now have an option to have
a green linen company service their
restaurants,” Oshman concluded.
New Jersey Based WH Linen Becomes First In Nation Green Certified Linen Co
// NEWS
"Using an item many times before discarding it is a better choice than using an item once
before discarding it. Reusables tend to be a better environmental choice than disposables. But,
after a restaurant makes the choice to use reusable plates, utensils, and linens, it becomes an
important decision of how to wash those items."
GREEN DINING
As of 2012, the Green Restaurant Association developed an environmental standard that
would address the importance of choosing a green linen company.
5 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
6 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
The event was attended by
about 50 retail and food-
service buyers, industry
thought leaders and edi-
tors from several of the in-
dustry’s top trade media outlets.
Billed as an assembly of industry
leaders brought together to exchange
viewpoints and perspectives on culi-
nary trends, product development and
packaged goods, the discussion agenda
was built around six key subject areas:
1. Trends in the Perishables Category
2. Marketing to Millennials
3. Sustainability in Seafood
4. Changes in Consumer Packaged
Goods
5. Trends + Innovations in Flavors/
Spices
6. Healthy Restaurant Trends
The morning session kicked off with
Blount President, Todd Blount, welcom-
ing attendees and panelists.
In his opening remarks, he told at-
tendees "as a powerful, privately-held
company, we answer only to our cus-
tomers and ourselves, without conflict.
We are not only empowered to keep the
customer first, we are expected to."
The Culinary Summit’s "host" was
Blount's EVP of sales & marketing Bob
Sewall, who offered some perspective
on just how honored Blount was to be
able to host a discussion that includes
the industry’s leading “brands, thinkers
and media.” On the heels of Sewall’s re-
marks, Blount VP of research & develop-
ment William Bigelow and corporate ex-
ecutive chef Jeff Wirtz introduced their
team of chefs and food scientists before
over viewing Blount's two-pronged ap-
proach to R&D.
The first expert of the day was Joan
Driggs, editorial director at Progressive
Grocer magazine, whose session on
"Trends in the Marketplace" not only
seemed to engage the room, but also
set the tone for the rest of the day. She
presented attendees with a bounty of
thought-provoking facts and statistics.
Some of Driggs' more room-moving
numbers included:
•Restaurantsremainathreattogro-
cers as the gap between grocery and
restaurant expenditures continues to
shrink (it used to be $50 billion, today it
is as little as $15 billion).
• After generations of growth in the
size of U.S. households, we are seeing
that trend not only slow, but reverse. To-
day, 57% of U.S. households have only
one or two people living in it.
•Grocersarecapitalizingontheop-
portunities presented by smaller house-
holds, where cooking for two can seem
like an unnecessarily daunting task, es-
pecially for the "millennial generation"
that has fully embraced well-made,
wholesome prepared foods.
Driggs then shared two statistics that
make it clear that opportunities in pre-
pared foods do not automatically repre-
sent low hanging fruit:
•27%ofconsumersreport thatthey
have gone to their grocery store spe-
cifically to purchase a prepared meal for
their household; but
•73%ofconsumersreporttheyhave
purchased prepared foods once inside
their regular grocery store.
The implication in these two statistics
is that well-made, well-presented and
provocatively merchandised prepared
foods can draw in consumers as they
pass.
From trends in consumer behavior,
Driggs turned her comments to trends
in consumer preference, where oppor-
tunities like gluten-free, clean labels, or-
ganic and even daypart were discussed
by the group. Consensus in the room
seemed to be that as boomers age and
become more predictable in their buy-
ing behavior, Millennials are becoming
the important force driving trends to-
day. Dissenters were quick to point out
that while millennials have abundant of
clout in the marketplace, a large subset
of the segment still lacks corresponding
purchasing power.
The “Trends” discussion closed with a
challenge to attendees, which many in
the audience have already begun to ad-
dress in their stores:
1. Deliver against need
2. Simplify lives
3. Differentiate... but keep it recogniz-
able
4. Nourish the spirit, as well as the
body
Doing these things for shoppers,
Driggs implored, is the basis for forming
connections that are simple, but power-
ful.
Next up was Blount partner and cel-
ebrated seafood restaurant brand Legal
Sea Foods' executive chef and executive
vice president Richard Vellante, whose
discussion on "sustainability" was a
fascinating discussion of how one very
well-respected, high-end restaurant
brand balances between what their res-
taurant guests are demanding, and the
constantly moving demands of various
and often competing "experts" who in-
fluence public discourse.
Because, argued Vellante, informa-
tion (and misinformation) are so read-
First-Ever Blount Culinary Summit A Success
// NEWS
Blount Fine Foods, a leading manufacturer of handcrafted artisan soups, sauces and
side dishes for retail and foodservice, hosted its first-ever Blount Culinary Summit in
Newport, R.I. on July 23rd & 24th.
EVENTS
To get the 2014 Blount Culinary Summit underway, Todd Blount welcomed at-tendees and panelists
continued on page 96
7 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
8 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Give some of our newer read-ers a brief history of how the Ace Endico annual food show
began? We initially started having food shows
to educate our existing customers on
our ever-growing product line. We felt
it was a great way for our vendors to
showcase the products, food trends
and food applications of all the prod-
ucts Ace Endico stocks.
What is the mission of this event? The Mission of our Food Show is to in-
crease sales and product lines to our
existing customer base and introduce
our company to prospective clients.
Why are you continuing to hold the Ace Endico event at Yankee Stadium? Do you really need to ask? …. LOL!
Yankee Stadium is quite the venue.
Our client base looks forward to our
show at the stadium year after year.
As you will see from our Food show
events, we utilize all of The Stadium’s
areas - ex: Monument Park, Dug out
Tours and the show itself (all the ven-
dors) are spread across the concourse
from first base line to Third base line.
Your exhibitor participation has grown by double digits from last year's exhibition. What do you attri-bute to this growth? Ace Endico is an ever-growing compa-
ny. We have acquired new business as
well as companies: Ex: Farmers Pride
as our newest company acquisition.
What other things are you doing dif-ferently at this year's event? We have added more vendors and
more cooking demonstrations from
personalities.
What are some of the ongoing events that have stayed the same from year to year and why are they successful?In Legends club we have continued to
present Legends chefs cooking dem-
onstrations. The Dug Out Tours and
Monument Park Tours are back by
customer demand.
How will foodservice operators ben-efit by attending Ace Endico? The vendors have a captive audience
(Ace Endico customers and prospec-
tive customers) ready to buy!
What are your expectations in terms of attendance this year? Do you expect it to be up significantly? If so, why? We are definitely expecting a huge
turnout. Our customers have been
calling our Customer support staff
and Account Executives, asking for ad-
ditional food show tickets. Customers
who have attended in years past can't
wait for the next show. And the cus-
tomers, who were unable to come last
year, make sure they make it this year!
It is a great event!
What is the easiest way for attendees
to pre-register for the Ace Endico an-nual food show event? Anyone who attends our show, must
have an Ace Endico Food Show ticket.
The only way to get a ticket is to be an
Ace Endico Customer or to be a quali-
fied prospective customer. To become
a customer, visit: http://www.aceen-
dico.com/become-a-customer.asp or
simply call us at 914-347-3131 or 212-
517-3035
Main Office: 282 Railroad AvenueGreenwich, CT 06830
Publishers: Leslie & Fred Klashman
Advertising Director: Michael Scinto
Creative Director: Ross Moody
Contributing WritersWarren Bobrow
Wyman PhilbrookNoelle Ifshin
Andrew CatalanoLaurie ForsterMitchell SegalStaff Writers
Deborah HirschMarcy Bruch
InternAlexis Robinson
Phone: 203.661.9090 Fax: 203.661.9325
Email: tfs@totalfood.com Web: www.totalfood.com
Total Food Service ISSN No. 1060-8966 is published monthly by IDA Publishing, Inc., 282 Railroad Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830. Phone: 203.661.9090. This issue copyright 2014 by IDA Publishing Inc. Contents in full or part may not be reproduced without permission. Not responsible for advertisers claims or statements.Periodicals Postage paid at the post office, Greenwich, CT and additional mailing offices. Additional entry at the post office in Pittsburg, PA. Subscription rate in USA is $36 per year; single copy; $3.00. Postmaster: Send address changes
to Total Food Service, P.O. Box 2507, Greenwich, CT 06836
Ace Endico's Annual Food Show
// NEWS FOOD SHOWS
Laura Endico-Verzello (R), Marketing Manager at Ace Endico discusses with Total Food Service Magazine the many happenings at this year's Ace Endico show at Yankee Stadium
9 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
10 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Culinary Entrepreneur-
ship (formerly Restau-
rant Management) is a
90-hour course featur-
ing entrepreneurs and
hospitality leaders who share their
expertise, successes, setbacks and
secrets. Their insights will help at-
tendees to consider the possibilities
and give them solid tools to achieve
their goals, while also aiding them to
see potential pitfalls that could cost
money, time and frustration.
Students will learn from the pros.
The course will be held in two ses-
sions, once from January 21 to May
29, 2015 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and
again, January 24 to May 30, 2015
from 9 a.m. To 4 p.m.
Teachers include key players from
Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospi-
tality Group (which includes Union
Square Café and Gramercy Tavern),
International Culinary Center's own
Introducing ICC's Advanced Chef Training
// NEWS
Thinking of opening a restaurant or food business? The International Culinary Center (ICC) in Manhattan has a course that can help you do just that.
FOODSERVICE EDUCATION
continued on page 95
11 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
12 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
But Beaufurn has come up
with a way to allow those
customers to have their
intimate conversations,
even beside the babbling
brook, with its Beaufurn Accusta Pan-
els, according to president Bill Bon-
gaerts.
The company's name comes from
the combination of the words “beau-
tiful furniture,” originating when
Beaufurn originally started out selling
French bistro chairs.
“We started in 1998, with one per-
son, myself, specializing in hospital-
ity seating,” Bongaerts says. “Now we
have 36 people, 90,000 square feet in
North Carolina and 32 sales reps.”
Bongaerts says he happened to be
in Paris and noticed the attractive
rattan woven chairs at outdoor cafes.
“We thought it would be a great idea
to bring to the U.S. market,” he says.
Originally made in France, the com-
pany had import arrangements with
exclusive distribution for the U.S.
Now it sells its products through its in-
house sales teams.
“From then on, we grew up organi-
cally by adding more outdoor seat-
ing then went into indoor seating,”
says the company president. “Today
we've expanded to made-in-the-USA
finishing and assembly here in North
Carolina.” We’ve been selling to the
architecture and design community
and restaurants across the country
and we've been extremely successful
in sales,” says Bongaerts.
So the company decided to branch
out to solve a problem that foodser-
vice operators have had for years, with
very few solutions to bring to it. Noise.
“Today's design of open space in
a lot of restaurants – with kitchens
out in the open and lots of people in
wide open spaces – creates unpleas-
ant conditions in many restaurants.
It's also an issue in cafeterias, offices,
hotels, hospitals – anywhere you have
people and an open area. Having a lot
of people in a restaurant or an open
space, you have a lot of noise. Acous-
tic sound panels can be quite useful.
Noise ruins the ambiance the restau-
rant is trying to create.”
Beaufurn Accusta Panels stand out
because they can be configured in
several different ways, are attractive
additions to restaurants and other
places where people eat, and, best of
all, they can be installed in a matter
of minutes, Bongaerts says. They al-
ready come assembled, with strips of
frame in which nails are inserted into
pre-drilled holes. “With other panels,
it's much more complicated to put to-
gether,” he says. “We cut the costs of
labor quite a bit.”
In addition, panels can also be cus-
tomized with a restaurant's own fab-
ric.
“We have a broad market. We focus
on commercial dining areas, restau-
rants, cafeterias, universities, hospi-
tals, airports, private lounges of air-
ports, anywhere there's a lot of people
and a lot of noise,” he says.
The panels have a high noise reduc-
tion co-efficient (NRC), which refers
to a surface's ability to reduce noise
by absorbing sound. A higher score is
better. A ceiling with an NRC of 1.00
absorbs all sound. “Ours has an NRC
0.85,” Bongaerts points out.
The company ships the panels all
over the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and has
even taken orders from Japan, Shang-
hai, and Saudi Arabia, to name a few.
“Some of our U.S. customers are ex-
panding into other countries and they
require our products,” he says.
Beaufurn is looking into creating
panels in different shapes, such as
pyramids, and others.
“Our panels blend into the design of
a location. They give a very intimate
atmosphere to customers, and they're
a better use of space,” he says. “They
turn dining from a noisy, uncomfort-
able experience into one you want to
come back to.”
North Carolina Firm Creates Restaurant Design Solution To Maximize Guest Experience
// NEWS
The restaurant is perfect. The food is wonderful; the location – beside a babbling stream
– is breathtaking. But the noise. Many customers will never return.
NOISE SOLUTIONS
We’ve been selling to the architecture and design community and restaurants across the country and we've been extremely successful in sales,” says Bongaerts.
“We have a broad
market. We focus on
commercial dining areas,
restaurants, cafeterias,
universities, hospitals,
airports, private lounges
of airports, anywhere
there's a lot of people and
a lot of noise,” he says.
13 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
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15 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
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17 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
18 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
The finalists for the 34th
Gold Key Award for Excel-
lence in Hospitality De-
sign, the industry’s most
prestigious honor, have
been announced by the International
Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show®
(IHMRS). A panel of nine prominent
judges considered more than 280 en-
tries for these coveted awards, which
recognize outstanding design world-
wide for hospitality projects that were
completed or renovated from March
1, 2013 through March 1, 2014. “The
record number of entries and the
quality, creativity and functionality
of the submissions all reflect the dy-
namism of this industry,” said Mary
Scoviak, executive editor of Boutique
Design magazine, which co-sponsors
the Gold Key Awards alongside HO-
TELS magazine. “This year’s finalists
redefined what outstanding design is
all about.” The 2014 Gold Key judges
echoed that sentiment. “Just look-
ing at some of the photos, I thought,
‘This is design at its best. I want to live
in one of these projects,’” said judge
Dana Kalczak, Four Seasons Hotels
and Resorts’ vice president of design.
According to John McMullen, High-
gate Hotels’ senior vice president of
construction, “What these projects
proved again and again is that the right
design, the right detail makes a project
unforgettable.” Judge Ron Kollar, Tish-
man Hotel Corp.’s chief design officer,
added, “This year’s finalists show that
designers are writing and rewriting
concepts until they say something
new, and saying it with integrity. And,
they’re telling their stories in ways that
will still be relevant in years to come.”
Finalists will be recognized and win-
ners will be revealed in each of this
year’s 19 categories at the Gold Key
Awards Gala, now a cocktail reception
and dinner, from 6:30pm – 10:00pm
on Monday, Nov. 10, at the Mandarin
Oriental New York. Presented by Bou-
tique Design magazine and HOTELS
magazine, the ceremony will culmi-
nate with the naming of Designer of
the Year.
The 34th Gold Key Award finalists are:
Best Eco or Socially Conscious HotelCOMMUNE (Los Angeles): American
Trade Hotel & Hall, Casco Viejo, Pan-
ama
Natalie Sheedy Interiors (Chicago);
DelaRosa Studio (Chicago); Legat Ar-
chitects (Chicago): Hyatt Place Chica-
go-South/University Medical Center,
Chicago
Best Guest Room LuxuryHDC Interior Architecture + Design
(Los Angeles): St. Regis New York, New
York
Richmond International (London):
The Langham, Chicago
Best Guest Room Midscale/Budget/Focused ServiceBill Rooney Studio, Inc. (New York):
Residence Inn by Marriott Manhat-
tan/Central Park, New York
EoA, Inc. (Coral Gables, Fla.): Lord Bal-
four Hotel, Miami Beach
Daroff Design (Philadelphia): Univer-
sal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, Orlan-
do, Fla.
Best Guest Room UpscaleHBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates (Sin-
gapore): Grand Hyatt Shenyang, Lia-
oning, China
CBT Architects (Boston): Hotel
George, Washington, D.C.
Best Hotel Budget/Focused ServiceEster Bruzkus Architekten [Berlin]
with DesignAgency [Toronto] and
WAF Architects [Berlin]: Generator
Berlin Mitte
DesignAgency (Toronto): Generator
Venice
Best Hotel LuxuryHOK (New York): Rosewood Abu Dha-
bi
HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates (Atlan-
ta): The St. Regis Abu Dhabi
Metex Design Group (Istanbul): Wal-
dorf Astoria Jerusalem
Best Hotel Midscale
2014 Gold Key Award Finalists Announced
// NEWS
Winners and finalists in 19 categories to be recognized at the 34th Gold Key Awards
Gala, Monday, Nov. 10, at the Mandarin Oriental New York.
EVENTS
“This year’s finalists show that designers are
writing and rewriting concepts until they say
something new, and saying it with integrity.
And, they’re telling their stories in ways that
will still be relevant in years to come.”
continued on page 98
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#4254
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To begin, select craft
beers such as Water-
melon Wheat and Milk
Stout are being brewed
for customers in one
of the nation’s first completely vis-
ible and walk around electric mi-
cro-breweries as the Chess Masters
Blues tunes set rhythm to the mood.
A unique sampling of six delightful
ales and stouts arrives at the table
in a signature hand-made split lev-
el server (which takes up less room
while making for a wonderful dis-
play) is brought to the table with
each of its individual glasses glisten-
ing with cold condensation to start.
Details, details, details, a pleasant
The Gourmet Pizza Brew Pub Arrivesby Marc Cosentino, Co-Owner of The New York Brick Oven Company &
Co-Founder of Three Time World Champion Goodfella’s Brick Oven
// NEWS
Having recently visited the extremely well executed Radius Brew Pub in Emporia Kansas featuring
wood fired brick oven pizza from a revolving brick oven that is part of a wonderful open kitchen
design, I realize a new player/category is emerging -The Gourmet Pizza Brew Pub.
FOODSERVICE PROMOTION
continued on page 86
Marc Cosentino visiting Radius Brew Pub in Emporia Kansas
23 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
24 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Flay, accompanied by his
wife actress Stephanie
March, was fêted by more
than 40 chefs at the Foun-
dation’s annual tasting
party and fundraiser at the Wölffer
Estate in Sagaponack, N.Y. Over 1,200
guests attended the sold-out benefit,
which featured flowing Champagne
Taittinger, wines and cider from
Wölffer Estate Vineyard, beer from
Stella Artois®, and culinary offerings
from a select group of chefs, many
from JBF Award–winning restaurants.
The James Beard Foundation’s
Chefs & Champagne is considered
the East End’s premiere culinary
summertime event. A silent auction
consisting of fine dining experienc-
es, wines and spirits, cookware, and
culinary travel packages raised over
Beard House Benefits With Annual Hamptons Event Chefs & Champagne Honoring Bobby Flay
On a beautiful summer day the James Beard Foundation toasted James Beard Award–winning chef,
restaurateur, cookbook author, and celebrity TV personality Bobby Flay at Chefs & Champagne.
// EYE METRO NEW YORK'S FOODSERVICE EVENT COVERAGE
continued on pg 84
Honoree Chef Bobby Flay speaks at the James Beard Foundation's Chefs & Champagne event at the Wolffer Estate, on Saturday, July 26, 2014 in Sagaponack, N.Y. (Photo by Mark VonHolden/Invision for James Beard Foundation/AP Images)
25 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
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The New York Cooking
Show is debuting at
Pier 36 in New York City
September 19-21 where
foodservice profession-
als as well as consumers can discover
all that is new in food trends. Frank
Mamley, founder of the event, says
the show was created in part because
of the public’s demand for eating
and cooking food that is nutritious,
delicious as well as fast and easy to
prepare. It is also an ideal venue for
foodservice operators to meet and
do business with more than 150 ven-
dors. “Since the advent of the Food
Network, there are segments of the
population that only eat vegan and
gluten-free food. There’s also more
people interested in food trends like
craft beers farm-to-table dining and
tweaking traditional ethnic recipes.
The New York Cooking Show brings
together vendors that are on the cut-
ting edge of all these food trends,”
states Mamley.
The first day of the show—Sep-
tember 19—is open to the food-
service trade only. “This day gives
foodservice professionals an op-
portunity to meet highly-qualified
vendors from every segment of the
foodservice industry. The event is a
cost effective way for them to learn
more about companies that can po-
tentially help differentiate their food
operation with trending products,”
says Mamley. The show even has a
pavilion on food trucks—which is a
growing foodservice segment in the
industry. Vendor booths will be ex-
hibiting in several pavilions at the
show. Pavilions include: Nutritional
Products, Hot Sauce, Baking, Cater-
ing, BBQ, Food Truck, Wine & Spirits,
Beer Garden, Farm-To- Table and
Snack Foods.
From September 20-21, the New
York Cooking Show opens to the
public where they will be able to ex-
perience food demonstrations and
tastings throughout all the pavilions.
“We have some interesting vendors,”
notes Mamely. And we will have tast-
ings and demos throughout all the
pavilions.” For example, in the Beer
Pavilion there’s a Peruvian beer com-
pany offering tastings, Chef Johnson
will demonstrate how to make craw-
fish pies. In addition, chef propri-
etors and co-authors Rich Landau
and Kate Jacoby will be doing book
signings of their popular vegan cook-
book Vedge as well as doing cooking
demonstrations. In the Wines & Spir-
its Pavilion, renowned New York City
mixologist, Warren Bobrow will un-
veil a new cocktail.
The New York Cooking Show will
be co-located with the New York
Party Show that offers products to
caterers, corporate meeting plan-
ners, wedding planners, event sites,
banquet facilities and golf/country
clubs. “The two shows running con-
currently side-by- side makes it easy
for foodservice operators to partake
in both events at once," points out
Mamley.
“The New York Cooking Show
brings foodservice operators a full
range of highly qualified buyers from
every segment of the cooking in-
dustry,” Mamley concludes. “If you
want to cost-effectively do business
with the trade marketplace with the
broadest range of buyers from across
all industry segments, The New York
Cooking Show is a fantastic opportu-
nity.” For more information on how
to exhibit or attend the New York
Cooking Show, go to the website,
www.newyorkcookingshow.com
The New York Cooking Show Kicks-Off on Pier 36 September 19-21
// NEWS
Event will feature more than 150 vendors, cooking demos, food tastings, themed pavilions and more.
COOKING SHOWS
28 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Attendees will experi-
ence this one of a kind
culinary symposium
that gathers more than
100 of the world's most
innovative chefs, pastry chefs, mix-
ologists, and sommeliers to present
the latest techniques and culinary
concepts to their peers—all under
the umbrella of this year's theme,
Cooking Honest: The Power of Au-
thenticity in the Kitchen. For three
days, culinary professionals will
have the opportunity to attend Main
Stage Demonstrations, Hands-on
Savory, Pastry, and Mixology work-
shops, Wine Tasting Seminars, and
Business Panels.
Organizers Will Blunt and Antoi-
nette Bruno have once again created
a line-up of presenters that reads like
a who's who of the culinary world.
The Main Stage will feature Grant
Achatz (Alinea), Christophe Adam
(L'Éclair de Génie), Dan Barber (Blue
Hill at Stone Barns), Steve Jones and
Jonathan Bethony (The Bread Lab),
Jamie Bissonnette (Toro), Gun-
nar Gislason (Dill), Will Goldfarb
(Ku De Ta), George Mendes (Aldea),
Masaharu Morimoto (Japonais), Di-
ego Muñoz (Astrid y Gastón), Jaime
Pesaque (Mayta), Yoshihiro Narisawa
(Narisawa), Enrique Olvera (Cosme),
Joan Roca (El Celler de Can Roca),
Michael White, Gordon Finn and Jar-
ed Gadbaw (Altamarea Group).
The Savory presentations will
highlight Sean Baker (Verbena), Ka-
tie Button (Cúrate), César Saldaña
(Regulating Council DO Sherry), Joe
Cicala (Le Virtù), Alon Shaya (Do-
menica) Thomas McNaughton (flour
+ water), Nick Elmi (Laurel), Shaun
Hergatt (Juni), Mike Lata (The Or-
dinary), Paul Liebrandt (The Elm),
Fred Sabo (The Metropolitan Muse-
um of Art), Levon Wallace (Proof on
Main).
Noah Bernamoff and Dianna
Daoheung (Black Seed Bagel), Matt
Tinder (The Restaurant at Meado-
wood), William Werner (Craftsman &
Wolves) will anchor the ICC's annual
tribute to the pastry arts.
The ever evolving cocktail scene
will take center stage with presen-
tations from Scott Baird and Josh
Harris (Trick Dog), Jeff Bell (PDT),
Robert Bohr, Ryan Hardy, and Grant
Reynolds (Charlie Bird), Maxwell
Britten (Maison Premiere), Doug
Frost (DougFrost.com), Max Mc-
Calman (Maxvol, Inc.), and Rajat
Parr (Mina Group).
With a number of new confer-
ences debuting this year including
the much talked about Welcome
Conference in June, StarChefs has
moved to bolster its business curric-
ulum. This year's event will feature
presentations from Kevin Boehm
(Boka Restaurant Group), Mike Isa-
bella (Graffiato), Mark Stone (MM
Management), Antoinette Bruno
(StarChefs.com), Michael Cher-
now (The Meatball Shop), James
Mark (north), Marcus Samuelsson
(Red Rooster Harlem), Will Blunt
(StarChefs.com), Amanda Cohen
(Dirt Candy), Michael Lynn (Cornell
University), Bryan Dillon (Station
Casinos), David Morgan (Omni Ho-
tels), Brad Nelson (Marriott Interna-
tional), Daniel Krieger (Daniel Krieg-
er Photography), David LeFevre (MB
Post) and. Spike Gjerde (Woodberry
Kitchen).
The always popular Eat@ICC will
feature pop-up restaurants and more
than 20 food carts from the country's
most exciting restaurants.
Alvin Cailan (Eggslut), Brian Dun-
smoor (Ladies' Gunboat Society),
Robert Phalen (One Eared Stag),
Nicole Rucker (Gjelina Take Away),
Damian Sansonetti (Blue Rooster
Food Co.), Dan Sauer (7a Foods),
Kevin Sbraga (Fat Ham), Stuart Tracy
(Butcher & Bee and Ernesto Uchimu-
ra (Plan Check Kitchen + Bar) will all
share their latest menu innovations
at Eat@ICC.
According to Starchefs: Today’s
tastemakers aren’t cultivating style,
so much as looking within to find
and live by the code of honest, per-
sonal cooking. They’re searching for
authenticity in every corner of the
food business—from farms, butcher
shops, and chef counters to wine
bars and nonprofit bars—in every
corner of the world. Diners want sur-
prise and satisfaction, and it takes a
professional with vision to deliver it.
From fine-dining ateliers to hotdog
carts, the demand (and destination)
is authenticity. And the journey there
is personal, powerful, and, above all,
honest.
StarChefs International Chefs Congress Set For Inaugural Brooklyn Event
// NEWS
StarChefs.com is set to celebrate its 9th Annual StarChefs.com International Chefs
Congress in a new venue. After eight years in Manhattan, the event is slated for October
26– 28, 2014 in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Expo Center.
FOOD SHOW
Experience this one of a kind culinary symposium that gathers more than 100 of the world's most innovative chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists, and sommeliers
29 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
30 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Because at 46 I'm still trying
to figure it out!" But that's
not true at all. Capannola
is currently the outgoing
president of the Society
for Hospitality and Food Management
(SHFM). During her career she has
worked for IBM, Nation's Bank and has
been director of food services for Mer-
ck and is now senior project manager,
General Services Department – Sup-
port Services at World Bank Group,
where she oversees conference servic-
es, foodservices, and office hoteling for
World Bank Group’s 10,000 employees.
But the greatest gift she believes she
has given SHFM is the new "H" in the
organization's name.
When did you start your career?My first job in foodservice was when I
was five years old and would stand on
a milk crate at the end of the produce
aisle in my grandfather’s grocery store,
grinding Eight O’Clock coffee. I always
made sure to inhale the fresh ground
aroma before sealing the bag for a cus-
tomer. I went to college at Niagara Uni-
versity first as a pre-law student. Then
I switched over to the school for hotel
and restaurant management at the
university. But I didn't start my food-
service career until I got out of college.
I went abroad and went to school in
Switzerland.
How did you go from law to hospital-ity?I kept finding myself, during breaks,
working in restaurants, and in hotels
and thinking, I really like this, maybe
I should be doing this. I joke that it
wasn't a big stretch for me -- my gram
and parents owned grocery stores and
so I grew up around food. The joke is,
I went from raw food to cooked food.
It really wasn't too big a stretch for me
to end up in this. When I got married, I
moved to North Carolina. I was work-
ing for Marriott at the time. When I was
looking through all the Marriott oppor-
tunities in Charlotte, I came across this
one at IBM for a catering director. I said,
hmm, now what in the world could that
be? And here I am today. I really didn't
know that side of the world existed, and
I think some of that remains to this day.
It's all so amazing. Here's what's hap-
pening in my building today. We've got
a big event happening in our auditori-
um right now. At 3 o'clock we have the
President of Uruguay coming in. And
CNN and all the media. And then we're
turning the room for Hilary Clinton to
come at 5 o'clock. Boring? I don't think
so!
What do people think when they hear the words "foodservice"?The perception of our industry isn't
that exciting. But it's not the people be-
hind the cafeteria line with the hair net,
as some think. We get to do great, ex-
citing stuff. It's not what people might
think it is. And you get to have a broader
reach than when I was in hotels. Some
parts of my life were as a room service
manager, a restaurant manager, a ban-
quet manager. The diversity of experi-
ence keeps you challenged. It keeps
you sharp. So it's pretty fun.
What's changed over the years since
// Q&A
Sabrina CapannolaPresident, 2013-14 Society for Hospitality & Foodservice Management and Senior Project Manager at The World Bank
EXCLUSIVE FOODSERVICE INTERVIEWS
Capannola is currently the president of the Society for Hospitality and Food Manage-ment (SHFM). During her career she has worked for IBM, Nation's Bank and has been director of food services for Merck
Sabrina Capanola likes to tell this story. "If you find somebody who's 18 and knows what it is they
want to do with their life, could you please have them call me?
31 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
you started your career?In this segment of the industry what's
really great is there is now an apprecia-
tion for how valuable the services are
that we offer to the employees in our
environment, and not just with food
but with the breadth of workplace hos-
pitality, how that impacts the organiza-
tion, how that impacts them culturally,
how it increases productivity of em-
ployees and creates a desirable place
that helps them attract and retain good
people. Right now the big focus here
where I work is around creating spac-
es, around collaboration and creating
those informal places for meetings to
take place, what's going on in the or-
ganization. My organization's going
through a time of change. We're reorga-
nizing, so how can we reflect that back
and really speak to who the organiza-
tion is. You can tell a lot about a compa-
ny, not by just their financial situation,
but how they think about their employ-
ees. When you walk through the build-
ings, you can feel it and, and we have a
lot to do with that.
Tell me how.Well, it's in how we treat our employ-
ees and it's not just something that
you can say. You can have an employ-
ee handbook, this is our culture and
all that good stuff, and a vision state-
ment. But are you going to feel that
when you come into an organization?
For example, here at the World Bank,
we're a multicultural organization. If I
look down the corridor, the person next
door to me is from Malaysia. Across the
hall is someone from the Philippines,
next door, Ghana. It's a big melting pot.
And we can say that diversity is impor-
tant and all that, but when you go into
my cafeteria, you better see it. For ex-
ample, it's Singapore Day here. And the
authenticity with which we do these
things and we celebrate the cultural
heritage is all part of that. And my main
cafeteria has, instead of like a tradition-
al American one, where you're going to
have your deli and grill, here I've got
South Asian, and Pacific Rim, and Af-
rica and Indian. And we get in big talks
about northern Indian versus southern
Indian. We can say we're committed to
diversity, but do we live it?
We're a true mirror back on the orga-
nization. When you walk through the
halls, you can see these things that
they've celebrated, and it's important.
So, from that perspective, do you want
to create a vibrant space for people to
have those interactions? Of course you
do. And that's a big part of my job.
Do you see differences in what people like to eat?
I'll use myself as an example. What are
people 20 years younger than me look-
ing for? And not just with food, but in
space and from an employee culture.
They don't look at work as 9 to 5, and
sit in an office or a cubicle all day, and
just do this. It's a much more free-flow-
ing, interactive thing, and we have to
be able to foster that, and let them be
creative. And we're an important part
of that, because how you create those
spaces creates the opportunity for col-
laboration.
Actually, I've been a member since
the '90s. When I was at Bank of Amer-
ica, when I was with Nations Bank,
we had someone there who actually
encouraged me to join. And it's been
one of the best decisions I've ever
made, both personally and profes-
sionally. It is a fabulous network of
people. I am impressed when I go to
SHFM events about the minds that
are in those rooms. I've learned a lot
from the events, and not just from the
programming. Just interaction. And
what is so great about our membership
is it's a very nurturing group. They're a
very helpful group. I'll have a challenge
at work and I'll send an email out and
say, you know what? I'm being asked
to do x and I've never been asked to do
x before. What the heck do I do? And I
can send out an email to people and
the responses I get and the phone calls
help me figure it out.
As you look at your agenda as presi-dent, tell me a little about what the highlights were. What imprint would you like to leave on the organization?I feel a special responsibility that I'm
the first president of SHFM. And when
I look at our 35-year history, we're still
foodservice at our core. That's some-
thing we're never going to lose. My tag-
line has been, embrace the H. So that's
been a critical focus for me. But let's
not forget about the F word. Embrace
the H because we have to. But don't
forget what the F stands for.
What do you mean when you say, "em-brace the H"?The depth and breadth of workplace
hospitality. And reflect that in our
programming, that it was a thought-
ful choice to not only do critical issues
around space and hospitality and how
that feeds into the foodservice profes-
sionals sphere and the cafeteria en-
vironments and all that. A cafeteria
isn't just a cafeteria. Especially in these
times, everyone's trying to be smarter
with their space. That's a heck of a lot
of square feet to leave sitting there that
you're only going to use for a couple
of hours a day. So, what are the possi-
bilities, and so that sort of thing is chal-
lenging. What could we be? How can
we be? Giving our members the infor-
mation they need so they can use their
sphere of influence in their companies,
and really look to the future.
Hospitality means a lot of things, but
here's what workplace hospitality is,
the influence on an organization and
telling our members how they can
embrace that. From facilities to what-
ever, if we're just saying we're SFM, are
we the best organization for members?
Are we going to be able to give them the
resources they need? And as SHFM, we
better reflect back on who they are and
what they need.
What do you see as the value of SHFM?When I talk about the great community
of SHFM, and the networking oppor-
tunities, and the outreach, that's a lot
of the value of membership. Another
goal I had was to do more of what we
call our SHFM locals, not just have
meetings be about critical issues in
our national conference, but keep the
conversation going, and create oppor-
tunities for more valuable connections
with our members. We're going to have
almost 10 locals this year. We're doing
them in Charlotte, and Boston, and in
Chicago and out in San Francisco, and
Seattle. So again, we don't just want to
If I look down the corridor, the person
next door to me is from Malaysia. Across
the hall is someone from the Philippines,
next door, Ghana. It's a big melting
pot. And we can say that diversity is
important and all that, but when you go
into my cafeteria, you better see it.
continued on page 87
32 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
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34 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
If you're Atalanta Corporation,
you find specialty food products
from all over the world before
anyone else, educate your cus-
tomers about them, then show
them ways they can use these new prod-
ucts in multiple ways on their menus, all
while keeping costs down.
According to John Stephano, direc-
tor of marketing and training, when the
company started in 1945, it chose Ata-
lanta, the goddess of speed and hunt-
ing, to represent its prowess in securing
the most unique products from around
the globe and its ability to get them to
customers quickly and easily.
“What our product managers do real-
ly well is source products,” he says. “We
find unique products from throughout
the globe and we get them to our food-
service customers in the highest qual-
ity and the most competitive price. We
as an importing company go out to our
suppliers and find the most innovative
and trend setting specialty foods, the
products that are going to add value to
our operators and distributors in a very
competitive marketplace .”
Atalanta began importing Krakus Pol-
ish hams almost 70 years ago, he notes.
“We were an importer of goods from
Eastern European countries, behind the
Iron Curtain, and political maneuvering
was key. Atalanta needed to master the
uniqueness and process of importing
really well.”
“And our founders did that better
than anyone else in the industry.”
Stephano says the company, because
of our rich history and commitment to
their customers, believes no one else
can source, import and then get product
to its distributors faster than Atalanta
can. “It could be Parmigiano Reggiano
from Italy, Collier's Welsh Cheddar from
Wales. It could be saffron from Spain,
artichokes from Peru. Over the last 70
years, we've developed a logistics, im-
porting and product awareness process
that finds these unique foods, gets them
to customers first and helps them beat
their competition to the marketplace,
allowing them to see clearly the value
we add.”
Today, with competition so intense –
and margins so tight – to make yourself
stand out is paramount, Stephano says.
And the company, which serves every
foodservice sector from chain restau-
rants to institutions, white tablecloth
to quick-serve – does it through find-
ing the right food products no one has
or has ever heard of, then distributing
quicker and more cost effective than
anyone else.
He likes to cite the Sweety Drop pep-
per from Peru as an example. “We now
do a significant amount of market trend
analysis, so we get a chance to see trends
often before they hit the consumer. We
see them on two levels – either from an
increased category volume demand or
from our specialty stores focused prod-
uct selection. Right now, Peruvian and
South American cuisine is super hot.
Chefs all over the country are pressing
for this pepper. White tablecloth restau-
rants want to garnish it on premium flat
breads, or dress it on a specialty pizza,
or even drop it into a trendy cocktail.
We also are seeing an enormous volume
increase in the Piquillo pepper. Several
of our chain restaurants' customers are
currently in menu development with
many of these South American prod-
ucts feverishly trying to get them on
their menus. Our Chefs are just begging
for it. We can get it for them. We get to go
to market quicker and faster than oth-
ers,” he says.
Stephano loves to tell the story of how
Atalanta found the Sweety Drop pepper.
“It's a lagrima, teardrop shaped, pepper
and it was found in the Amazon rainfor-
est. One of our outstanding suppliers in
Peru discovered it a couple of years ago.
He brought it back to Peru and started
to cultivate it. Because of the strength
of our relationship, he reached out to
us immediately knowing we had the ca-
pability to get to customers' tables and
ultimately the ever demanding public
better than anyone else in the industry.
Our excellent sales team took over from
there they put feelers out into the US
market and began to create a market.
Our culinary team then brought it to
the Research Chefs Association Show in
Portland this past spring, and the Chefs
could not stop tasting and gazing at it.
The color is brilliant red. The crunchy
texture sweet flavor profile with just a
hint of heat is very sexy. Right there our
customers started a trend. We are just
glad to be a part of what is happening.
“Every time they put it in their
mouths, they came up with a new con-
cept or recipe. One Chef says, pepper
vodka cocktails. Another says a rustic
Spanish flat bread with baby arugula
and shaved Manchego cheese and
throw these Sweety Drop peppers on
top,” says Stephano. “A chef worked
with me to develop a goat cheese stuffed
Piquillo pepper recipe where we use an-
cient grain farro, crumbled Canadian
goat cheese, olive oil, lemon juice and
the Sweety Drop pepper and stuff it into
a beautiful red Peruvian Piquillo pep-
per.”
Stephano, a Chef himself, says their
Jersey Company Shops The World In Search Of Innovative Menu Solutions For Culinary Professionals
// NEWS
It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. So how do you differentiate your foodservice import
and distribution business from everyone else?
MENU SOLUTIONS
Sweety Drop peppers from Atalanta Corporation are a chef favorite
continued on page 86
35 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
36 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Caribbean Chefs Bring The Heat To Fifth AvenueScoop notes that OCEAN Style was ex-
cited to present the best of Caribbean
cuisine to the Big Apple with culinary
treats from acclaimed chefs of the
Caribbean last month. The event took
place at the Penthouse at 267 Fifth
and benefits the Caribbean Tourism
Organization (CTO) Foundation and
The American Friends of Jamaica Inc.
Chefs of the Caribbean was a night of
culinary excellence that featured ac-
claimed Caribbean chefs from some
of the most highly regarded resorts
and restaurants in the Caribbean and
the New York area. This year’s chef
lineup included: Chef Purmessur of
Coconut Bay Resort in St. Lucia, Chef
Brian Lumley of 689 by Brian Lum-
ley in Kingston, Jamaica; Chef Sean
John of Spur Tree Lounge in New
York City; Chef Shorne Benjamin of
ShorCulinaire in New York City; and
Chef Tim Tibbitts of Flying Fish Mod-
ern Seafood Restaurant in Freeport,
Bahamas. “We are excited about the
chefs that participated,” says OCEAN
Style Editor-in-Chief, Douglas Gor-
don. “Each chef prepared and served
2-3 exquisite dishes and guests had
the opportunity to interact directly
with them. Our goal was to create
an enjoyable, dynamic and engaging
experience for the guests and chefs,”
he states. Guests were also treated to
an elegant evening of traditional and
modern Caribbean cocktails, enter-
tainment, and a silent auction. The
auction included luxury Caribbean
vacations, designer apparel, Brooklyn
Nets memorabilia and much more.
“For those with an appreciation for
fine cuisine and Caribbean talent,
we felt confident they left this event
highly satisfied which produced a su-
perb evening that was highly enjoy-
able, put a positive light on the Carib-
bean and its talented individuals and
is effective in raising funds for these
two important organizations,” Gor-
don concluded.
Christian Pratsch Has Been Appointed Executive Chef at Mandarin Oriental, New York Scoop sees that Chef Pratsch has over
18 years of experience in hospitality
and the culinary arts. Most recently,
he completed a two-year term as Ex-
ecutive Chef aboard The World – Resi-
dences at Sea overseeing its six food
and beverage outlets. Prior to this
position, he held executive posts at
InterContinental Miami, InterConti-
nental Mark Hopkins and Raffles Ho-
tel Vier Jahreszeiten Hamburg as well
as ships including Sea Cloud II and
MS Europa. Chef Pratsch began his
career with an apprenticeship at In-
terContinental Hamburg and is a cer-
tified Master Chef. A native of North
Germany, Chef Pratsch is fluent in
English and German. In his new role,
he will oversee Mandarin Oriental,
New York’s culinary program includ-
ing signature restaurant Asiate, casu-
al dining at Lobby Lounge and MO-
bar and in-room dining to 244 rooms
and suites as well as 64 Residences.
// SCOOP INSIDER NEWS FROM METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE SCENE
The event took place at
the Penthouse at 267
Fifth and benefits the
Caribbean Tourism
Organization (CTO)
Foundation and The
American Friends of
Jamaica Inc. Chef Pratsch will oversee Mandarin Oriental, New York’s culinary program including signature restaurant Asi-ate, casual dining at Lobby Lounge and MObar and in-room dining to 244 rooms and suites as well as 64 Residences.
37 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Anthony Weiner Wants To Open New York City Restau-rantScoop says former congressman An-
thony Weiner wants to open a res-
taurant in New York City. The place
would be in the Rockaways, a coastal
Queens neighborhood that is still re-
covering from Superstorm Sandy in
2012. It would be named The Rocka-
way Restoration Kitchen and offer lo-
cally sourced food. Weiner is listed on
the restaurant's Idealist.org job list-
ing page, and The Rockaway Times
reports he's scouted locations.
"Large swaths of the peninsula are
lacking in quality, sustainable, nutri-
tious food. “It's also sadly true that
many Rockaway residents need help
developing skills to lift them out of
unemployment," Weiner said. "This
project is at the very earliest stages of
trying to tackle these challenges."
"AXED". . . a LIVE Culinary CompetitionOn Sunday, November 9th, 2014, at
11:00 a.m., IHMRS and Société Cu-
linaire Philanthropique, will present
“AXED” . . . . a LIVE culinary Competi-
tion.
Twenty applicants will have already
been reduced to the final four, hand
selected candidates (and one (1) al-
ternate in reserve), to compete LIVE !
The challenge begins with appetiz-
ers, titled: A Classic Revisited. Four,
identical baskets of ingredients will
be given to the contestants along with
a twenty minute deadline. Once, the
judges return, they will announce the
name of the first Chef to be “AXED”.
At 1:00 p.m., the three remaining
Chefs will gather, and the entrée in-
gredients will be revealed. Category:
a French Dish w/ four secret ingre-
dients. Thirty-five minutes later, the
judges again deliberate, and soon an-
nounce the name of the second Chef
to be “AXED”.
At 3:00 p.m., the final two Chefs get
their dessert ingredients. Category: A
Seasonal Dessert w/ fruit. Forty min-
utes later, the final candidate inter-
views will take place, as the judging
panel deliberates, before it announc-
es the final Chef to be AXED. Leaving
only the 2014 Salon Winner standing!
Mobile-Payments Firms Set Sites On NYC RestaurantsScoop says shoppers in stores have
so far shown little interest in smart-
phone apps to pay for purchases. So
some technology companies now are
focusing on restaurants.
Here’s the logic: Swiping a credit card
in a store is as easy, or easier, than
opening a “mobile-wallet” app. Pay-
ing by credit card in a restaurant,
however, often requires two trips –
one for the server to bring the check, a
second to return the card and receipt.
“For merchants and for consumers,
there really hasn’t been a compel-
ling reason yet to adopt mobile pay-
ments,” said Denee Carrington, a For-
rester Research FORR analyst. “With
dining there’s a real possibility of
speeding up the process for both din-
ers and the restaurant with just your
smartphone.”
Restaurants are attracting the likes of
eBay PayPal, Priceline Group, Grou-
pon GRPN and a host of startups.
Priceline’s OpenTable unit, which it
bought this year for $2.6 billion, is set
The challenge begins
with appetizers, titled: A
Classic Revisited. Four,
identical baskets of
ingredients will be given
to the contestants along
with a twenty minute
deadline.
Scoop says former congressman Anthony Weiner wants to open a res-taurant in New York City.
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• 203-795-9900• 860-549-4000• 718-768-0555• 518-458-1630• 718-665-3910• 845-358-0410• 718-762-1000• 631-752-3900• 516-794-9200• 718-707-9330• 631-218-1818• 914-665-6868• 914-935-0220• 201-601-4755• 201-996-1991• 908-791-2740• 908-964-5544• 732-643-9393• 732-643-9393
CONNECTICUTNEW YORK
NEW JERSEY
38 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
to announce it will expand a restau-
rant-focused payment app nation-
wide, from a test in about 20 restau-
rants in San Francisco. “The promise
here is avoiding the hassle of leaving
a restaurant at the end of a meal,”
said Matt Roberts, CEO of OpenT-
able. “With this product you can
leave when you want, no more flag-
ging down the waiter, no more filing
out the check. You just leave.” The of-
ferings vary, but all rely on consumers
entering credit-card information into
an app before they arrive at the res-
taurant. When the meal is over, diners
can pay the tab and tip directly from
the app. The market is getting crowd-
ed with apps from PayPal and start-
ups like Cover, Dash and TabbedOut,
which aspire to be the Uber of dining.
Amazon.com has been working on
a tablet-based checkout and card-
reading system that could be used in
restaurants. Jon Whitehead, owner of
Radius restaurant in San Francisco,
says he was getting up to several calls
a week from tech vendors earlier this
year.
Radius was among the first to of-
fer OpenTable’s payments app, and
Whitehead says a couple of diners use
it a night, on average. But Whitehead
says he’d prefer an app that could
connect with other restaurant opera-
tions, “from ordering to cooking the
food to even monitoring inventory.”
OpenTable will announce 45 New
York restaurants accepting mobile
payments and expects to expand to
20 more U.S. cities including Seattle,
Atlanta and Philadelphia this year,
Roberts said.
He said OpenTable isn’t turning a
profit on the payments app, though
he hopes to eventually. Cover makes
money by negotiating discounts with
credit-card processors. It charges res-
taurants roughly the same fees they
would pay processors. The app works
at about 100 San Francisco and New
York area restaurants.
“PayPal’s Pay At Table mobile offering
is available at several hundred restau-
rants worldwide,” says Brad Brodigan,
a vice president who oversees the
program. Brodigan says he expects to
add functions like the ability to split
the check among several diners, or
ordering ahead, so that a meal can
be ready soon after a group is seated.
Some restaurants, like Brinker Inter-
national EAT Chili’s and Buffalo Wild
Wings, are deploying tableside tablets
for diners to order food and pay the
bill. Chili’s has installed Ziosk tablets,
from Tabletop Media, in more than
800 restaurants; Buffalo Wild Wings
is using NTN Buzztime’s tablets in
more than 150 locations. PayPal and
payments company Square also offer
mobile apps for quick checkout and
ordering ahead, primarily at fast-food
restaurants, giving consumers the
ability to skip the line at their coffee
shop and simply grab their drink and
go.
NORTH Food Festival Re-turns To New York With New EventsScoop is glad to hear that The Nordic
Food Festival NORTH is returning to
New York for the week of September
12 to 20, bringing exclusive Nordic
dinners and cooking classes to the
city.
Following last year’s success, the Nor-
dic Food Festival NORTH is return-
ing to New York for the week of Sep-
tember 12 to 20, bringing exclusive
Nordic dinners and cooking classes
to the city. Arranged by the online
culinary magazine Honest Cooking,
the festival will be even bigger than
before, with over 25 participating
chefs and new events, including a
nightly changing pop-up restaurant
and a Nordic Street Food Festival.
The prestigious list of chefs who will
be showcasing the best of Nordic cui-
sine include Frida Ronge of vRÅ in
Gothenburg, Sweden and Sasu Lauk-
konen of Chef & Sommelier in Helsin-
ki, Finland, as well as New York based
Fredrik Berselius of Aska and Mads
Refslund of ACME. Like last year, par-
ticipants of the festival will be able to
choose from a wide selection of cook-
ing classes and dinners, for which
He said OpenTable isn’t
turning a profit on the
payments app, though
he hopes to eventually.
Cover makes money by
negotiating discounts
with credit-card
processors.
“The promise here is avoiding the hassle of leaving a restaurant at the end of a meal,” said Matt Roberts, CEO of OpenTable.
39 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
tickets are sold separately. Held at the
International Culinary Center, cook-
ing classes include anything from
“Nordic Grandma Cooking” with chef
Sasu Laukkonen, learning Maria Öst-
berg of FIKA’s secrets to making per-
fect Swedish cinnamon buns, to more
unusual themes, like learning how to
use your own foraged vegetables and
herbs in chef Sami Tällberg’s “Wild
Finnish Cuisine” class.
Foodshed Alliance Wine and Food Fest Set For Sept. 27-28 In JerseyScoop notes sponsored by Alba Vine-
yard in Finesville and Wegmans to
benefit the Foodshed Alliance, the
Garden State’s best wineries will join
forces with the state’s premium wine
wholesalers to pour their finest estate
wines at the first annual Foodshed Al-
liance Wine and Food Festival at Alba
Vineyard on Sept. 27 and 28.
The festival is the vineyard’s larg-
est charitable event of the year with
100% of the proceeds going to the
Foodshed Alliance, a nonprofit orga-
nization dedicated to strengthening
local food systems that nourish peo-
ple, sustain farmers, respect lands,
and build a resilient food economy.
In staying true to the Foodshed Alli-
ance’s mission, the festival will fea-
ture an impressive line-up of New
Jersey’s most reputable chefs who
will present cooking demonstrations,
lectures and samples. Local celebrity
cookbook authors as well as farmers
will also share tips and strategies on
how to best prepare, preserve and
enjoy food locally produced in New
Jersey.
Chef Jess Jones, chef to the stars;
Maureen Petrosky, lifestyle expert;
Tony Verdoni, author of “21 Wines;”
Chef George Mandakas, Blue Olive
Market in NYC; Chef John Sauchelli,
Maritime Parc; Chocolatier Diane
Pinder, Shop Donna Chocolates;
Jonathan and Nina White, Bobolink
Dairy; James Matar, Hummus Boss;
and Roman Osadca, farmer and garlic
expert, will all be on hand throughout
the weekend providing demos, lec-
tures, tastings and more. Tours of the
vineyard will be hourly starting at 1,
last one at 4 p.m. The festival invites
the best commercial wineries in the
state who produce wine from grapes
grown in the Garden State, as well as
some of the most storied wineries in
the world today. This year’s all-star
line-up includes Alba Vineyard, Cape
May Winery, Hopewell Valley Vine-
yard, Unionville Vineyard and Va-
lenzano Vineyard. World-renowned
featured wineries include; Robert
Mondavi Napa Valley, Jadot, Masi and
St Francis. “This will be an event like
no other. We are seeking to combine
the area’s best agricultural offerings
with premier wine, chefs and food,”
said Kendrya Close, executive direc-
tor of the Foodshed Alliance. “We are
most grateful to Alba Vineyards for
most generously agreeing to work
with us on this as a benefit to support
our work in promoting sustainable
agriculture and local food in New Jer-
sey.”
Arranged by the online
culinary magazine Honest
Cooking, the festival
will be even bigger than
before, with over 25
participating chefs and
new events, including a
nightly changing pop-up
restaurant and a Nordic
Street Food Festival.
The festival is the
vineyard’s largest
charitable event of the
year with 100% of the
proceeds going to the
Foodshed Alliance.
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44 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
While having a
strong love for
the South and ap-
preciation for his
Southern roots, he
also has had a lifelong fascination with
New York City.
Ken found his love for cooking at
age twenty while working aboard an
offshore tugboat. There he learned
hands-on from the boat’s cook and
developed a passion for the Cajun
style and food experimentation. Ken is
mostly self-taught and thinks that not
having been professionally trained as
a chef is an advantage. It gives him
credibility when he tells people who
say they can’t boil water that he’ll have
them cooking a true Southern down
home meal in no time. Fulfilling his
dream, Ken moved to New York City
from Biloxi Mississippi in 2004.
Changing cities didn’t change his pas-
sion for food. What began as an infor-
mal instruction for friends developed
into a series of cooking classes taught
and organized by Cajun Ken. Look-
ing to reach more people, Ken began
to develop and produce a network
cooking show. Cajun in the City now
airs to over 1 million New Yorkers each
week and is slated to air in Brooklyn,
Queens and The Bronx in Fall 2014.
Total Food Service had a chance to
catch up with Chef Ken in this month’s
Meet the Newsmaker.
You’re a self -taught chef with no for-mal training. Why do you feel that gives you an advantage? And do you have any mentors that led you to where you are today?Being able to go culinary school is an
awesome opportunity, don't get me
wrong. I started grilling at age seven
because I was hungry, and not for
any other reason. Cooking a T-bone
and not being able to see over the grill
has its challenges I guarantee. I come
from a long line of southern family
cooks so working in the kitchen was a
part of life and not playtime for me. I
learned True Cajun cooking down in
Port Foushon Louisiana on a offshore
tugboat. I was a young deckhand and
helped cook and catch fresh seafood
for the boats chef. Learning at this
level is a real advantage beyond any
school or cookbook. Real southern
and Cajun cooking comes from the
heart and not any other place. I'll bet
you a sack of Crawfish on that one!
What’s the goal of your new show Ca-jun in the City and what does it offer its viewers? And what can a chef take away from the show to put to use in their menu strategies? New York City one of the best places in
the world for food but one thing they
don't have is our way of cooking. Being
able to share my style of cooking with
the masses on TV is a dream come true
and they love it. I really mean it when
I say, "I'm bringing the bayou to the
big apple." My goal is to get you in the
kitchen and start cooking, If I have in-
spired you to cook southern food, then
I have done my job. I meet great chefs
all the time and most of them love
southern, Cajun style food but not be-
ing from the deep south or trained in
it, they shy away. I say don't let that
stop you. Great southern Cajun food is
allot about experimenting with ingre-
dients and good recipes until you get it
right. That's what I did. Any chef who
wants to add a traditional Cajun dish
Kenneth Conn, Host of Cajun in the City
Kenneth Conn, affectionately known to his friends as Cajun Ken, was born and raised
in the deep South, spending most of his formative years in the port cities of
Mississippi and Louisiana.
Ken found his love for cooking at age twenty while working aboard an offshore tugboat. There he learned hands-on from the boat’s cook and developed a passion for the Cajun style and food experimentation.
New York City one of the
best places in the world
for food but one thing
they don't have is our
way of cooking.
continued on page 56
// CHEFCETERA UP CLOSE WITH METRO NEW YORK'S CHEFS
45 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
46 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
But that all changed when he went
to sell imported pasta to retailers
in the New York City area and
tasted what passed for mozzarella in
this country. “I said, 'People call this
mozzarella?' I knew I could make it bet-
ter,” says the owner and president of Li-
oni Latticini Inc.
So Salzarulo started his own cheese-
making company in Brooklyn in 1981
with his nephew and partner Salvatore.
It grew from his garage making about
100 pounds of mozzarella per week to
a business that now produces 60,000
pounds of mozzarella every week (or
about 15 million pounds a year) in a
100,000 square foot facility in Union,
N.J. The company also has a 2,000
square foot wholesale warehouse in
Brooklyn.
“I used to make it at dinnertime, small
portions, to make the people taste,” he
says. “It was completely different from
anyone else's.”
That's because the company pays
such attention to detail in every step of
Award Winning NJ Cheesemaker Provides Artisan Solutions For Tri-State Operators
// NEWS
Guiseppe (Sal) Salzarulo left Lioni at the age of 18 for the U.S. and started working in his brother’s
local pork store in Brooklyn. Even though the mozzarella business had been in his family for five
generations, he didn’t come with the intention of making fresh mozzarella and selling it.
ARTISAN SOLUTIONS
(L to R) Salvatore Salzarulo, Teresa Salzarulo Conforte, Giovanni Salzarulo, Andrea Salzarulo Sears, Salvatore Sal-zarulo, Giuseppe (Sal) Salzarulo
continued on page 80
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to their menu go right ahead as long as
you have three main ingredients, Love,
Passion and Time. Also let me swing
by and do a taste test.
Today, most restaurants serve dishes that consist of a blend of Cajun and Creole styles, which Chef Paul Prud-homme dubbed "Louisiana cook-ing." However, there are fewer people cooking the classic Cajun dishes. Why Cajun over Creole for you and is the difference the ingredients or the peo-ple behind these famous cuisines? I met Chef Paul Prudhomme down in
Biloxi MS and he leans more to Cre-
ole but he is right about them both
being Louisiana. Creole cooking was
once more French and used expen-
sive ingredients. Cajuns "Acadians"
from Canada moved down south and
settled in the Bayous and swamps of
Louisiana where they were forced to
live off the land. They merged their
style of French cooking with whatever
they caught. Being big on seasonings
it was easy to make alligator taste like
chicken and rabbit taste like steak. I
grew up cooking with a more Cajun
influence and I love Creole just the
same. For the most part Cajun and
Creole cooking has merged over the
years and people confuse them for the
same. There is some subtle differences
but not much anymore. Most chefs
think classic Cajun is pepper hot and
it's not. Cajun food is supposed to be
one thing, flavorful and delicious. If
you order a Cajun dish and it's so hot
you can't enjoy it, what is that good
for. Allot of people think adding a half
bottle of hot sauce makes it Cajun. I
call it wasting good hot sauce.
Talk about Famous Justin Wilson Brand and their involvement with the show. And does the show offer sponsorship or product placement opportunities?I grew up watching him on TV like
the rest of America in the 80s-90s. If it
wasn't for him, Cajun in the City prob-
ably wouldn't exist. He is the pioneer
Cajun chef and I feel like I owe it to him
to keep his cooking style and memory
alive. I think he would be pleased with
what we are doing. Cajun in the City
is the only cooking show in America
with the permission to use him in
our show. He is a part of Cajun in the
City and we’re very proud of that. Ca-
jun in the City is a self-funded public
network TV show. We currently have a
few great sponsors that help fund the
production and have many sponsor
levels available. We are the only Cajun,
southern cooking show airing in NYC
so the unique TV exposure is huge for
businesses. We offer product place-
ments for sponsors as well. We are
even in talks with a German cookware
line and a national seasonings com-
pany. Things are looking good.
Behind the scenes and before tapings,
explain the process of developing Ca-jun dishes and material for each epi-sode.The crew starts at 5 AM getting the set,
food and five cameras ready. It's a little
crazy with 14 people running around
in all directions. We just shot 13 full
episodes and most of the recipes were
created and designed by me. I like to
cook each dish 2-3 days prior so there
are no surprises on set during filming.
Each dish is fully cooked on camera
and it's about as real as it gets. Mis-
shapes do happen like the time when
we had a delay and my grease got too
hot waiting. When we went to shoot-
ing I dropped in my Cajun puppies
on camera they burned instantly. We
had to stop and reshoot the scene. I
won't go into what happened during
our Crawfish boil episode, I'm still not
over that one.
For the entire interview, visit www.totalfood.com
Kenneth, from page 44
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Saveily Arkhipenko ApproachI can't say enough about the vision
of the ownership and management
teams.
The author and the zealot of the idea
and the concept is Eugene Kadoms-
kiy, he monitored all processes and all
major stages of the project. Eugene’s
business partner/co-owner is Michael
Tevelev and Vlad Lipkin, URBO CEO,
the head of the project, is its engine,
its energy and the best guarantee of its
success.
Eugene and the ownership team made
it very clear the priority was entire
logistics and functionality (stairs, el-
URBO Kitchen, Times Square, New York, NY
Kitchen Design ConsultantEric McConnell, VP & Senior Project
Manager, Next Step Design
New York, NY
Equipment & Supply DealerDonovan Espeut, Project Manager,
H. Weiss
Armonk, NY
The OperatorBrian Young, Culinary Director
Urbo Kitchen
New York, NY
The ArchitectSaveily Arkhipenko, Architect
Urbo Kitchen
Manhattan, NY
59 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
The 1st floor is a rough-hewn industrial design with lots of wood to create a warm, natural Brooklyn feel
evators, open kitchens) first, and then
think of design, which will fit func-
tionality. I knew that I couldn't accom-
plish that from a computer in Russia
so I spent much of the time designing
on site in New York.
So when I first saw the space, my first
impression – and the first question to
myself – was how to connect the 1st
and the 2nd floor. I had designed a
cultural center in Russia – with exhi-
bition halls, cafes and shops – and it
required this kind of thinking, literally,
from A to Z. Once we decided that we
would connect the two floors with a
the spiral staircase and the glass eleva-
tor, we started thinking about building
open kitchens around them, laying
out seats, then the look with the right
mix of design, color and texture.
Among the design challenges were
creating kitchen designs that are semi-
circular, and could easily be fitted with
equipment. In addition, they had to
correspond to fire codes. As you can
well imagine with a fire pit with open
flame by the stairs, they had to have
complex ventilation. We designed
three unique kitchens to support our
"Real", "Un-Real" and "Sur-Real"
kitchens. The approach to all three
is – function and function again. We
wanted to create a solution to be able
to serve as much fresh food as pos-
sible. We see that balance as coming
from both our culinary team and their
professionalism and architectural de-
sign solutions. A main objective was
to create a feel of a real grub shop on
the 1st floor. We wanted our guests to
see that food is prepared right there
and that all products are fresh. Our
approach was to build a top design
team with Next Step and H. Weiss. We
then spent a lot of time discussing and
designing each unit with Eric McDon-
nell and his Next Step team. It is ex-
tremely important to actively involve
the culinary team and get them on
the same page with the kitchen equip-
ment design team.
We saw the 1st floor as a rough-hewn
industrial-style place; at the same
time we used lots of wood to create a
warm, natural feel. We worked with
a Brooklyn company: Hecho; they
helped us with tables, chairs and ta-
bletops; we think they even helped to
bring some Brooklyn air in the place.
As for lighting, we worked with Isome-
trix, a London-based company; it was
given a direction to highlight archi-
tectural features and create lighting
scenarios for the space throughout
the day. We of course had to deal with
the challenge of an open fire pit by the
circular stairs. According to codes, we
had to add a glass enclosure to sepa-
rate it from the stairs. Plus we had to
increase the size of canopies above
the open kitchens, which required
more structural support. We had a set
of drawings from our architect: HLW.
Everything was manufactured in ac-
cordance with these drawings, and
then we met with a subcontractor
and approved materials and textures
including the marble tabletops in the
open kitchen patterns and types of
matte/shiny surface that we wanted.
Our design includes many first ever
elements. This includes the 2nd floor
solariums, the water tank, the whole
circular stairs – all of them are unique.
The takeaway is that when assembling
and working with such a huge team,
with people and companies from all
around the world on projects of such
magnitude success is only possible if
the whole team works as one.
Eric McConnell ApproachThe management team was very pas-
sionate about capturing the New York
pizzazz. They also wanted the guest
experience to be interactive with the
kitchens. Next Step design special-
izes in exhibition and show kitchens.
Therefore, we were very excited to
have the opportunity to work on a
project that embraced this concept to
the fullest.
My first impression was just how great
a location we had to work with.
I thought it was perfect for the concept
and an ideal location for the team to
execute the requests set forth by the
ownership. Due to careful planning,
the specifications did not change
much during the project. At the begin-
ning, Next Step Design provided the
ownership with a budget and worked
on an equipment package based on
that budget.
My extensive hotel experience did play
a large role in my design direction.
With large properties, it is important
to be mindful of the properties needs
and the flow of goods and execution.
My approach was to create high qual-
ity and functional showpieces. For
example, the curved counters around
the first floor fire and water islands
are very much in the customer’s line
of sight. They had to be functional as
well as complementary to surround-
ings and overall look and feel of the
design intent.
So when I first saw the space, my first
impression – and the first question to
myself – was how to connect the 1st and
the 2nd floor. I had designed a cultural
center in Russia – with exhibition halls,
cafes and shops – and it required this
kind of thinking, literally, from A to Z.
60 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
The design challenges included a
round kitchen that required coor-
dinating the radius of all the inte-
grated materials and various trades/
craftsmen. My design approach was
to maintain positive functional flow
while preserving the design team and
ownership’s vision. This includes col-
laboration with ID team members, as
well as operations and ownership.
We located a large breakdown area,
dry storage, and cold bulk storage im-
mediately off of the main goods eleva-
tor. We also located additional prep
areas and cold holding stations at the
rear of the back of house prep kitchen
to ensure quality product and han-
dling.
An exciting design concept that the
owners presented was the idea of the
“guests feeling like they were in the
kitchens” at many areas of the res-
taurants. This idea especially holds
true at the glass feature elevator that
showcases the kitchen on the first and
second floors. This allowed us to “turn
the kitchens inside out” for this guest
experience. With the cooking lines we
were trying to accomplish sautéing,
broiling, as well as inserting pieces for
grilling, and a Beech hearth oven for
flatbreads and bake-off. The hoods to
support the project had to be low ve-
locity, low CFM’s, quiet, and of course
aesthetically on point. We had to ad-
just exhaust hoods and maximize the
cooking with the available CFM’s. Due
to obvious challenges of city location,
precipitators had to be used to clean
exhaust air prior to exiting the build-
ing. There was limited space available
for the necessary (3) precipitators
that this project utilized. Keeping the
CFM’s at the absolute minimum was
essential in pre-planning and execu-
tion. For the walk-in space I wanted
to maximize the storage and ensure
efficiency.
The dishwashing and dishware need-
ed to be strategically located on each
floor so that those working at the fa-
cility did not have to transport the
dishes to different levels. By providing
dishwashing on each level, it saves the
client time, labor cost, and minimizes
breakage. This is something that Next
Step Design takes pride in on every
project. We always want to be known
for specifying high quality equipment
that is intended to last and work day in
and day out. Equipment that is down
and not working, just puts certain
parts of your menu on the sidelines.
On this project we utilized Montague,
Beech, Traulsen, Glastender, Carbone
Metal Fabricators, Halton exhaust
hoods, just to name a few. One thing
I really learned on this project is just
how important the right contractor
can be. JRM was the general contrac-
tor on the project, and I cannot even
imagine having completed this proj-
ect without their involvement.
In short, my goal was to create an ex-
tremely functional, and interesting
restaurant kitchen space that would
not only keep up with the demands of
this rather large and unique multi-lev-
el restaurant, but also felt like you were
in a kitchen ride at Disney World®.
Brian Young ApproachI started as a cook at the Quilted Gi-
raffe and worked at Le Bernardin.
Later on I spent two years as execu-
tive chef at Tavern on the Green. So I
am very comfortable in putting some-
thing together of this magnitude. Our
goal is to create menus that will fea-
ture local ingredients that will even list
the purveyors.
The name is a mash-up of urban and
bohemians. The first floor features
a casual 150-seat area with three
glass-enclosed kitchens. There’s a
retail shop off to one side. A spiral
staircase and a circular elevator lead
upstairs for more-formal dining in a
300-seat room with latticework and
greenery, and to a big bar overlooking
42nd Street.
This project is about building out
26,000 square feet to be able to han-
dle hyper seasonal super creative
menus with a different menu of each
of our three floors. In a lot of ways
we’ve brought the reclaimed feel-
ing of Brooklyn to the first floor. Up-
stairs we’ve captured the best of roof
top dining. There are all these cool
elements like catwalks and festival
lighting. The first floor is walk-in only
with a more approachable price point
Brian Young, Culinary Director at URBO Kitchens utilizes Irinox’s Blast Chilling technology
URBO Kitchens took advantage of Montague’s numerous features to support their commit-ment to fresh local menus in a high volume setting
This project is about
building out 26,000
square feet to be able to
handle hyper seasonal
super creative menus
with a different menu
of each of our three
floors.
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known as "Real". The second floor is
our fine dining concept: "Unreal" and
the third floor is a private dining room
with a much higher price point called:
"Sur-Real". To support that we have a
different type of kitchen for each one.
Each of them is entirely open and in-
teractive with the dining experience.
The second floor kitchen was de-
signed to handle the receiving loading
and prep area for the whole operation,
including potatoes and carrot prep.
Our goal is to put every thing in Lexan
plastic containers and then reverse
the empty boxes to the dumpster.
This gives us clear transport into the
phase two prep kitchen for processing
and more delicate knife work. From
the prep kitchen we can utilize roll-
ing racks to move between floors.
The second floor prep kitchen sup-
ports the Real and Unreal operations.
It has an Irinox blast chiller, kettles,
skillet, Unox ovens, ME wave bread
oven and Montague cooking lines.
We supported our custom cocktail
program with the special cubes that
a Kold-Draft produces. The equip-
ment package also helped us create
the unique look. It is the most unusual
design I have ever seen. The circular
Beech oven grill with its flames will
greet our guests when they enter. The
entire kitchen is custom. There isn’t
a standard dimension in the project.
There’s special glass for the sushi case
there’s very little air-cooled refrigera-
tion. It’s all water-cooled racks-using
chilled condenser water. We even
broke ground by creating a bracket
less shelving design.
This is a very complex machine that's
the equivalent of driving a magnifi-
cent sports car. We are lucky to have a
very generous prep space to support
an operation this large.
Keep in mind, when you have a triple
net building like this, there is a lot
of space chewed up with mechani-
cal requirements for HVAC that are
needed to meet the city’s stringent
code. Our goal in the build out was to
be able to support at least 12 menus a
year with a chance that it could grow
to two a month. In New York it’s all
about reading the micro changes in
taste and staying on top of your game.
We believe our customers will not be
the traditional Times Square tour-
ists; however there will of course be a
burger on our menu. The goal is great
prices on very creative items like fresh
ricotta and peaches that we’ve teamed
with olive oil, and a pesto mozzarella
parmacotta parmagania Panini. Our
approach to sourcing for these menus
will start with personal relationships
I have with companies. We will work
with many specialty farms and firms
in the meat market that have zero
inventories. I send them what I want
and then they get it for us fresh. After
working on the opening at Le Berna-
din and then running the kitchen at
Tavern as executive chef, I have a real-
ly solid understanding of what it takes
to accomplish high quality and high
volume menus. I’m looking to build
a team with DNA that combines tal-
ent and work ethic. In many ways I’m
looking for a younger version of my-
self, with very little ego and thought-
fulness towards others.
Donovan Espeut ApproachMy first impression was that the space
was like any other open space. Some
of the biggest challenges were down-
stairs, where they had most of the
features. This included smoke baffles
over the hoods, the fire grill and the
staircase. So those are really the most
time-intensive parts of the job. Match-
ing the radiuses with the millwork ra-
diuses with the stainless steel was in-
teresting.
The issues with the hoods proved to be
very challenging. This had to do with
the low floating ceiling and then trying
to line up the hood to match the ra-
dius of the counter so that the equip-
ment would be protected properly.
We had to tweak it a couple of times
to get that right. Our success with the
project came from our ability to get on
Next Step and H. Weiss collaborated on one of Manhattan's largest kitchen facilities to feed some 600 guests
Among the design challenges were creating kitchen designs that are semicircular
This is a very complex
machine that's the
equivalent of driving a
magnificent sports car.
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the same page as the JRM, the general
contractor.
A project like this brings a lot more
pressure because they wanted to open
at a certain time and there were in-
evitable delays on the job. There re-
ally was not any code delays as most
of them had to do with coordination.
I think this is a great example of how
our restaurant portfolio of work is
growing. Many people in the industry
would be surprised to find out that
in addition to Urbo Kitchen, we've
recently finished the Nomad and Al-
londa restaurants. Many consultants
like Next Step who did the Urbo proj-
ect have worked with us in the past
on a variety of B&I projects, so they
are comfortable with our ability to
deliver quality on deadline. As with
many consultants’ Next Step is very
particular with the many design ele-
ments that are required in a project
of this magnitude. At Urbo that atten-
tion to detail focused on paying close
attention to the trimming finishes.
That's to be expected with an open
kitchen like this. Everything is so vis-
ible. You walk in and there's that piece
of curved glass with that Beech oven
and its wall of fire sitting in the middle
of it. It needs to be perfect because it's
the first thing that a guest will see.
Photography by Max Zagor
The second floor design features an expansive bar with a spectacular NYC view
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That would seem a fairly
benign type of waste but
the reality is that it's very
heavy, and when it sits in
landfills, it rots.
“Several years ago I read an article
about vineyards in Northern Califor-
nia having a problem with what to do
with the leftover organic grapes from
the wine they made,” says Jim Slanina,
president of EnviroPure Waste Disposal
Systems. “At that time it was considered
waste no one wanted, and getting rid of
it was very expensive.”
It piqued his interest, he says. “I saw
there was going to be a need to handle
the organic volume generated now
and in the future so I wanted to come
up with a technology to address that
need – on-site – without having to drive
trucks back and forth. If composting's
your thing, trucks are still needed.”
Getting rid of waste is very costly.
“There's pick-up, environmental sur-
charges, fuel surcharges, tipping fees.
It can be prohibitive,” says Slanina.
“Since food is so heavy, it's a pretty big
portion of waste.”
Jona Thomas, national sales man-
ager, notes that getting rid of waste can
cost foodservice operations between
$75 and $150 a trip.
EnviroPure came up with a organic
waste treatment system that converts
food waste to what ultimately becomes
what is called “gray water,” a liquid that
meets or exceeds all municipal stan-
dards for waste disposal.
The organic waste starts with a
grinding process-- either a sink-type
grinder for smaller operations or a
large grinder, and the grinding process
reduces the particle sizes to allow for
a greater absorption of the micro nu-
trient, which aids in quick digestion.
“The slurry is pumped into the diges-
tion vessel, which goes through a series
of settlings and stirrings, just like our
stomachs,” Thomas says. The slurry is
then mixed with the company's pro-
prietary EP-BioMix. This process takes
a few hours for fruits and vegetables,
and under 24 hours for meats, bones,
shells, and pits.
EnviroPure's EPW Food Waste Dis-
posal system is a self-contained, con-
tinual-feed, organic waste disposal
system that fits into any supermarket,
commercial or industrial kitchen op-
eration, allowing food waste to be dealt
with as it is generated at the source. “It
uses the EP-BioMix medium that pro-
vides the natural bacteria already pres-
ent in the food with the critical micro
nutrients required for rapid breakdown
of food,” Thomas points out.
“Organic waste is quickly reduced to
a harmless liquid that is odor-free and
can be safely disposed of into existing
municipal waste water systems,” says
Slanina. “EPW systems handle virtually
any kind of food waste, including veg-
etables, fruits, meat, fish, poultry, dairy
products, bones, shells and pits, with
complete decomposition typically oc-
curring within 24 hours.”
These units are particularly valu-
able in the foodservice industry, says
Slanina. “EnviroPure units are custom-
designed units that fit into a kitchen's
work flow. We not only provide a easy
solution, we design the systems to in-
crease productivity and capture the
organic waste in the dish-washing area
and the food prep area.”
The biggest difference between the
company and its competitors, Slanina
and Thomas say, is BioMix, the com-
plete, natural vitamin mix the compa-
ny uses to “digest” and treat the waste.
“Others use microbes or enzymes that
are chemically engineered, not a natu-
ral product,” says Thomas. Enzymes
tend to emulsify the food recycling in
a high contaminated byproduct. We
turn it into gray water, then treat our
gray water with our vitamin mix and it
comes in at a tenth of what's allowed in
most municipalities.”
This gray water can then be poured
into drains, or collected or used for ir-
rigation purposes. “It can even be recy-
cled back into our system and used as
our grinding water instead of potable
water,” says Thomas.
And the systems pay for themselves.
“It costs the end user $28 per ton for
our BioMix, well below the national av-
erage for waste removal in the US and
Canada,” she notes. And the machine
can save big money because it costs
less than $400 a year in utility costs, us-
ing the water extracted from the food
rather than having to buy additional
water.
In addition to everything else, the
company also provides customers with
a program where end users – tasked
with increasing diversion rates and
reducing their carbon footprints – can
now see visually what those rates are.
EnviroPure is sold through the food-
service distribution channel. Distribu-
tors can benefit from selling the sys-
tems because they can not only help
their customers save money, they also
aid foodservice operations in comply-
ing with the regulations that are now
EnviroPure Offers Cost Effective Solution With NYC Foodwaste Mandate On Horizon
// NEWS
When most people hear the word “garbage,” they usually think, newspapers and
plastic bags and paper plates and napkins. But what about food?
GREEN SOLUTIONS
EnviroPure came up with
a organic waste treatment
system that converts food
waste to what ultimately
becomes what is called “gray
water,” a liquid that meets
or exceeds all municipal
standards for waste disposal.
continued on pg 94
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"Sam and I were friends
in college. We're both
from New Jersey, and
we had met at the
University of Wis-
consin," says Samuels. "During my
junior year, I was studying abroad in
Barcelona and these waffles were ev-
erywhere. At the same time, Sam was
skiing in Vermont, where they were
selling these same kind of waffles. The
one constant, regardless of location;
people were waiting 25 to 30 min-
utes in the freezing cold for them. The
thought that came to mind was 'Ei-
ther these people are crazy, or some-
thing really good is going on here'. We
leaned heavily towards the latter be-
ing the truth, and after trying them we
both agreed they were delicious, and
that it was a winning product we could
make the staple of our futures."
Now, of course, we're not talking
about your typical diner waffle, which
is really just pancake mix poured into
a waffle grid, but something called a
Liege-style waffle (also known as the
"sugar waffle"). Named after the re-
gion in Belgium - Liege - where it was
first created, a Liege waffle incorpo-
rates a unique blend of sugars in order
give its eaters the perfect balance of
crunch and caramelization in every
bite. This atypical sugar, known as
pearl sugar, is mixed in with a yeast-
raised dough in order to create an
amazing dining experience. The re-
sult is a waffle that is sweet enough to
enjoy without syrup, whipped cream,
or dressings of the like. As I'm sure
you can imagine, the final product is
golden and crispy on the surface, with
a flakey and tender crunch within, like
a baguette, only richer.
"We explored the idea that summer,
going into senior year" says Samuels.
"Once we fine-tuned a recipe, the ini-
tial plan was to open a mall kiosk, but
after taking a closer look at the over-
head and expenses, it didn't seem
feasible at the time. So we decided to
go the manufacturing/retail route.
There was a Dunkin' Donuts com-
missary in our neighborhood, and in
its downtime, from 5 to 11 a.m., they
let us come in and make waffles. We
had three waffle irons. Sam would cut
the butter. I would measure the flour.
We'd make everything by hand; wrap
it by hand, seal it by hand. Then Sam
would go right, I'd go left, and who-
ever sold the most waffles that day
was the self-proclaimed winner. It was
not a sustainable or profitable way of
doing business, but it did prove that
there was a demand for the product."
As their business continued to grow,
one day Sam went into Whole Foods,
where he happened to see an employ-
ee stocking the frozen shelves. "He
said, 'Would you like to try our waf-
fles?' The guy was curious, and after
tasting them he said 'Hey, these are re-
ally good, where can I buy them?" Sam
said, 'Well, that is why I am here. Our
waffles are not yet in the store.'"
A short time later, the guys were able
to get a meeting with corporate. "They
said, 'We're willing to try you as a local
vendor.' We were given a test-market
of two stores, and had three months to
get our ducks in a row. We didn't have
packaging. We had to scramble to get
something out there. But we were able
to do that, and slowly we went from
two stores to four stores to seven, and
in correlation, from three waffle irons,
to five, to seven to 10 doing our own
operations and assembly."
Jersey Firm Sets Sights On Enabling Foodservice Operators To Serve Signature Waffles
// NEWS
Co-founders of WaffleWaffle, a gourmet Belgian waffle manufacturing business that blasted off a year after the guys graduated from college, the company's products can now be found in almost every state in the Union - in supermarkets, specialty stores, restaurants and convenience stores.
SIGNATURE SOLUTIONS
73 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Shortly after that, the business
moved to an incubator kitchen in the
Bronx. "It was pretty small but it gave
us a little more space to do what we
needed to do. After a six-month stint
in the Bronx, we then moved back over
to New Jersey with 25 waffle irons,"
Samuels remembers. "It was still lim-
ited capacity and profitability because
we were doing it all by hand. But after
we added more Whole Foods stores,
Sam and I went to Belgium. We had
proven the concept to ourselves; we
knew where we wanted to go. So we
were able to purchase larger equip-
ment to streamline the process, make
it slightly more automated, where we
now could make 1,000 waffles an hour.
We continued to hit the pavement and
add retailers, and in a correspond-
ing move, added more equipment in
order to churn out 4,000 waffles per
hour. We continued to make strides
towards legitimizing our business;
we were adding more chains, more
regions, and since we had the ears of
retailers, utilizing our products in a
foodservice application was a natural
next step."
In addition to packaging the waffles
in retail boxes and stocking the frozen
foods shelves, the business was able to
put out the larger quantities needed
for the foodservice markets starting in
2012. "Whole Foods offers waffles on
their hot bars, and packages them in-
store for sale in the bakery. Ice cream
shops serve them with ice cream and
toppings. In the colder months of win-
ter, our waffles make for a great com-
pliment to ice cream or frozen yogurt,
and serve as a great stand alone treat!
They drive customers into the stores
during a time that is usually consid-
ered 'quieter' for frozen dessert busi-
nesses," says Samuels.
There is one particular aspect of the
foodservice applications WaffleWaffle
has to offer that Samuels is particularly
excited about; their fresh dough pro-
gram. "We've put together a compre-
hensive program in which we procure
the waffle bakers needed to bake off
our products, and supply them along
with our dough to retailers. Ultimately
what we've done is created a unique
customer experience that engages all
five senses! Customers love having
the opportunity to watch the waffle
press at work, and hear the sizzle of
the dough as it bakes. Not to mention
the incredible smell our products give
off while they bake. And in my humble
opinion, it tastes great too," says Sam-
uels. He adds "The irons do not take
up much space - a little over a square
foot - so the program requires a very
minimal footprint in order to partici-
pate, and subsequently, allows retail-
ers to ensure that every single square
inch of their existing infrastructure
is income producing. And whether
it's at the bottom of a ski mountain,
at your local Whole Foods or grocery
store, or at a nearby froyo shop, they
make fresh waffles and waffle cones.
The fresh waffles and waffle cones are
dipped in sauces, enrobed in choco-
late, dressed with sprinkles, Nutella,
fresh fruit, or anyway the customer
wants it. Suddenly it's no longer just a
waffle. It's a customized WaffleWaffle.
It's John's waffle, Jill's waffle, Tommy's
waffle…what kind of waffle are you?"
Samuels says the fresh foodservice
program is the fastest-growing part of
the business. And in retail, it's become
so big that Whole Foods is now build-
ing waffle bars for which WaffleWaffle
supplies all equipment and prod-
ucts directly into the infrastructure
of brand new stores (Whole Foods of
Portchester, NY, and Whole Foods of
Hyannis, MA). The fresh dough pro-
gram is just one of the many things
WaffleWaffle has done to try and re-
main cutting edge, and ahead of the
curve.
"We had the frozen retail packages,
however, we also developed a shelf-
stable product line. We designed a
shipper-display unit, and began in-
dividually wrapping and labeling our
products so they could essentially be
grabbed 'on-the-go'. It allows us to
work with convenience stores now,
but also, makes it easier to approach
some of the supermarkets we want
to work with. Whereas a frozen foods
buyer may not have the shelf-space
available to stock our items, our ship-
per displays can be set-up in store
aisles without encroaching on the lim-
ited facings retailers can offer to their
consumers. They can be eaten directly
out of the packaging like a cookie or
a muffin as a snack, or heated up for
breakfast or dessert," explains Samu-
els.
While WaffleWaffle has worked hard
to develop its brand vertically (the dif-
ferent applications from frozen retail
to foodservice), it has allocated just
as much time, energy, and resources
to expanding horizontally (in terms
of the flavor it offers). Samuels says he
and his partner were concerned with
how much the American and Euro-
pean markets differ from one another.
"There's only one flavor in Europe.
It's very traditional; it's plain, and if
you dare to throw try any new flavors
you're a pariah. But American con-
sumers love variety. So we developed
an entire arsenal of flavors; red velvet,
cinnamon, chocolate chip, pumpkin,
maple, chocolate cocoa. We have even
fine-tuned tofu-based vegan prod-
ucts, and are currently R&Ding with
gluten-free".
WaffleWaffle also works with restau-
rants to come up with special one-of-
a-kind flavors. "We're working with a
restaurant in the North Carolina area;
we had started supplying them with
our original flavor, however, the res-
taurant was looking to do something
different during the summer months.
They wanted a Bananas Foster and a
Key Lime waffle. So we did it!"
Samuels notes that the company
works with a number of distributors,
including UNFI, C&S, U.S. Foods, Boz-
zutos, Mt. Pleasant Ice Cream, and
others, and services numerous mar-
kets, restaurants, and ice cream shops
in the New York and New Jersey area
directly.
"We love working directly with our
customers, so long as they are within
arms reach. We like to say we're part-
ners. Not vendors servicing clients.
Partners. It's not 'Here's your iron,
here's the dough, and good luck to
you.' We're constantly checking in and
touching base, and making sure that
everything is as it should be. If it's not,
then we are right there with them ev-
ery step of the way to troubleshoot any
issues and be better moving forward.
We're not in this to make sales, we're
in this to make customers. If they are
not happy, they are not coming back,"
he says.
And the name - WaffleWaffle? "If
you're hungry, you grab a waffle. If you
want an experience, you grab a Waffle-
Waffle," he says. "So nice we named it
twice."
(L to R) Co-Founders Justin Samuels and Samuel Rockwell along with VP of Sales Brian Samuels make up part of the WaffleWaffle Team
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Now, thanks to Como,
foodservice operators
can now develop their
own mobile apps.
Formerly known
as Conduit Mobile, Como was con-
ceived as a way to level the playing
field, allowing anyone to build and
maintain a mobile app, with low cost
and no coding, according to Gil Harel,
Como’s vice president of business de-
velopment. And you don't have to be
a computer genius to create one.
“Como provides a do-it-yourself
(DIY) app-creation platform that al-
lows small-to-midsize businesses
to compete in today’s mobile mar-
ket,” Harel says. The platform first
launched in 2010, when mobile app
development was still an emerging
industry. “At the time, only those who
could afford to hire a mobile develop-
er (often costing tens of thousands of
dollars) could benefit from a mobile
app,” he recalls.
Harel says Como has since grown
to become the world’s leading DIY
mobile app maker. “Just recently, it
was announced that more than one
million apps have been created via
the platform worldwide—with over
4,500 new apps created daily,” he
says proudly. With 20% of apps com-
ing from the food industry, Como en-
ables thousands of cafes, restaurants,
distributors, food bloggers, bars, and
more to reach their customers on
their most personal device.”
Como’s platform, the Como Con-
sole, uses an interface that makes it
easy to create beautiful mobile per-
sonalized apps, says Harel. “And these
apps are tailored to specific business-
es for all major mobile devices (An-
droid, iOS, and Amazon Kindle Fire),”
he notes.
But Como isn’t just for building
apps—it’s for maintaining and man-
aging them, too. “Our platform in-
cludes a business management dash-
board that allows business owners to
track customer activity, such as the
number of reservations, orders, de-
liveries, coupons, and promotions
made and used through the apps that
they create with Como,” says Harel.
“We also expand our offerings via
integrations and partnerships. For
example, we offer integrations with a
number of online ordering and pay-
ment systems, such as MyCheck, On-
lineOrdering, and Olo.”
Como also helps businesses pro-
mote their apps, get more downloads,
and attract new customers with the
Marketing Genie, a resource center
that provides on- and offline tools.
Though Como does not specifi-
cally target the food world, many of
the apps created from its platform
seem tailor-made for it. This includes
the ability for users to make reserva-
tions, allowing them to book a table
through the app with OpenTable, Ur-
banspoon, TopTable, and more; de-
vise menus, creating a custom menu
or importing an existing menu from
online menu guides such as Allmenus
or SinglePlatform, and food ordering,
grabbing content from GrubHub,
Seamless, Eat24Hours, OLO, Online
Ordering, and other online delivery
services to let users place an order
on- the-go.
In addition, the program allows
foodservice operations to design mo-
bile apps that develop loyalty pro-
grams, enhancing customer loyalty
by offering promotions and rewards,
as well as mobilizing a restaurant's
stamp card; provide in-app coupons
to promote products, services, and
special deals, and click-to-call, allow-
ing users to call restaurants directly
through the app in a single click.
The Como generated apps also give
foodservice outlets the opportunity
for customers to review the restau-
rant and then share their reviews by
adding Yelp, Citysearch, and other
guides, and even optimize workforce
management of orders, delivery as-
signments, and tracking via Bringg.
Push notification updates and in-app
real-time map tracking enable direct
communication between the delivery
person, the business, and the cus-
Como Offers Restaurants A New Way To Satisfy Diners With Mouthwatering App Creation Solution That’s Made To Order
// NEWS
Not that long ago, there was no such thing as an app. Then you could shop with them
and play games on them and even get prescriptions filled on them. But these apps were
always created by someone else and users pretty much had to take what they could get.
MOBILE SOLUTIONS
Como also helps businesses promote their apps, get more downloads, and at-tract new customers with the Marketing Genie, a resource center that provides on- and offline tools.
77 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
tomer.
Don't know where the restaurant
is? Directions and maps on the app
display the exact location of a busi-
ness so customers can easily find it.
And you can connect to Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and other social
networks through the app; display
photos by connecting with Picasa,
Tumblr, Flickr, Facebook, TwitPic, Co-
mo’s unique LiveAlbum technology,
and collect feedback and information
about customers and their behav-
ior with reports, forms, and detailed
business analytics.
“These days, there are a number
of DIY app-creation platforms on
the market—but very few boast the
size, expertise, and wealth of features
Como offers,” Harel points out. “How-
ever, the real secret to our success lies
in our dedication to not only helping
businesses build, but also maintain,
their mobile app.”
To truly derive value from a mo-
bile app, users need to ensure that
the app provides value to customers.
“We believe that mobile technology
should serve as a core extension of
your business, and we’re dedicated
to helping you make that happen by
including key features, such as cou-
pons, promotions, and built-in loyal-
ty cards; providing a robust business
management system that allows you
to track (and tweak) your app’s activ-
ity; and offering promotional materi-
als such as printed stickers, automat-
ically generated QR codes, website
banners, and tools to help you create
targeted social media campaigns,” he
adds.
Distributors benefit, too. “Many
of the core restaurant-focused fea-
tures, such as delivery services, are
very useful. They also benefit from
our many e-commerce integrations,”
says Harel.
As for the future, the company is
currently working to automate res-
taurants’ entire marketing ecosys-
tems and investigating a number of
new partnership opportunities, in-
cluding the option to connect with
point-of-sales systems.
“Como aims to serve the future of
mobile, in which businesses will of-
fer a targeted and engaging experi-
ence for customers via mobile apps
created on our platform,” says Harel.
“Our streamlined, intuitive platform
allows businesses to create profes-
sional apps in order to integrate with
their customers’ mobile lifestyle.”
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production, says Lori Church, director
of sales and marketing. “From selecting
the freshest whole milk, to the process-
ing of the valuable curd, to the perfect
timing of the creation of the cheese and
the inspection and in-house packaging.
It's the attention to detail that continu-
ally guarantees consistency and qual-
ity.”
In the mid-'80s they opened a plant
in upstate New York, where he “worked”
the milk. “I made the curds the way I
want, the way we make it in Italy,” he
says. “People would taste it and I would
see their faces. 'Wow,' they said. When
my nephew came here, we got a place
in Brooklyn and started to make it in the
store. After that, we started to get more
and more customers, we worked really
hard to bring this business to where it is
today,” he says.
Today, Lioni’s successful team in-
cludes Sal’s wife, Michelina, and their
children, Giovanni and Teresa as well
as Giuseppe’s children, Salvatore and
Andrea, the sixth generation. Together,
they all continue to be fully involved in
the day to day operational and produc-
tion processes as well as sales, market-
ing and product development.
What makes his cheeses – he has 40
different varieties of mozzarella and
ricotta – so different, says Salzarulo, is
their consistency and quality.
The cheese is sold by size: 1 Gram:
Perline, 4 Grams: Perle, 9 Grams: Noc-
cioline, 13 Grams: Ciliegine, 1.5 Ounces
Bocconcini, 4 ounces: Ovoline.
The company has won many awards.
Lioni's Burrata Con Panna earned a gold
medal, World Cheese Awards, in 2012 at
the BBC Good Food Show at the NEC
Birmingham, run by the UK’s Guild of
Fine Food, one of the largest and most
esteemed competitions of its kind in the
world, according to Church; and this
year, a silver medal at the World Cham-
pion Cheese Contest, fresh mozzarella
class.
“We have distributors in every major
city and state in the country and the
mozzarella is made fresh to order” Sal-
zarulo says. He's very particular about
how distributors handle his product,”
Church says. “It's my reputation,” Sal-
zarulo adds.
Our fresh mozzarella scale starts with
one gram, and goes all the way up to
one pound in water. “It's specific to the
customer's needs,” says Church. “Res-
taurants particularly like that they can
order the exact size that they need so
there is no waste.”
One customer used to order cheese
sliced. “I tell them, 'You're making a
mistake. Once you cut it, all the juice
comes out, there's no taste,” says Salza-
rulo. “That's when I invented the Me-
dallion. It's pre-portioned, one ounce,
always consistent in size, the perfect
pairing for a sandwich or Caprese sal-
ad.”
To this day, nothing has changed, he
says. “We make it exactly the way we
made it in Italy. We got started in the
heart of Brooklyn, where there was a
large Italian-American community, and
through word of mouth, we took off.”
Bocconcini Fresh Mozzarella
Our fresh mozzarella scale
starts with one gram, and
goes all the way up to
one pound in water. “It's
specific to the customer's
needs,” says Church.
“Restaurants particularly
like that they can order the
exact size that they need so
there is no waste.”
Lioni, from page 46
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82 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Practicing good credit man-
agement is the first step
to securing your business'
standing and protecting
yourself from catastrophic
risk. Begin with a formal credit policy
that includes:
• A layered credit approval process
that addresses new debtors and
creditworthiness
• Credit limits for customers, in-
cluding potentially lower limits
for new customers until they have
established a satisfactory payment
record.
• Credit terms, which should in-
clude the length of time the debtor
has to pay, with late payment fees
communicated up front
• Guidelines for monitoring debtors
regularly (quarterly, for example)
for new, adverse information
• A series of formal actions should
a debtor be consistently lax in its
payment obligations
• This formal policy should be clear-
ly communicated to all potential
business partners at the time of
each purchase or new contract.
• But, good credit management
practices alone will not elimi-
nate credit risk. The risk of sell-
ing goods or services to a third
party on open credit terms is
constant and will continue to
evolve as markets swing and
businesses grow and change.
Evaluating Your Need A few key questions are critical to de-
termining your need for trade credit
insurance. If you answer yes to one or
more of these questions, a trade credit
insurance policy may be right for you.
• Do you want your business to
grow?
• Are you looking to expand sales
to new customers or territories
where you're not familiar with do-
ing business?
• Are your exposures growing be-
cause of the current economic re-
bound?
• Are your customers exposed to ex-
ternal risks that could cause them
to default in their payment obliga-
tions?
Whether you sell locally, international-
ly or both, trade credit insurance helps
secure payment for goods or services
delivered to your customers. A trade
credit insurance policy protects cash
flow and profitability, within the terms
and conditions of the policy, for the
goods shipped or services rendered to
your customers in the event that they
cannot pay due to a financial default.
Trade credit insurance can strengthen
your company's balance sheet, en-
hance your borrowing capacity and
enable you to grow your business by
providing protection from: insolvency
(bankruptcy), protracted default (non-
payment) and political risk (interna-
tional risk). More specifically, these
risks include:
• Chapter 7, 11 and ad-
ministrative filings
Continued delinquency/non-pay-
ment
• Broad peril political risk exposures
• Government intervention causing
a non-payment
• Political violence/terrorism
• Currency inconvertibility
• Product confiscation post title
transfer
• An Ongoing Relationship
Because trade credit insurance carri-
ers are underwriting your risks, you
will also receive credit due diligence
on all current and future customers.
Leveraging their collective experience
and knowledge of business and in-
dustry data, trade credit brokers and
trade credit insurance carriers will de-
termine the risk levels for the specific
countries and industries, down to the
individual customers you sell to. This
ongoing analysis and evaluation of
both new and existing customer risk is
a value-add to current trade credit in-
surance policies.
Why Now? It is time to secure trade credit insur-
ance and position your business for
the next economic dip. With the mar-
ket gaining strength, coverage is more
widely available today than just a few
years ago and at more competitive
prices. Plus, insuring your receivables
now will protect your company's criti-
cal working capital and ensure you
maintain the cash flow required for the
success of your business.
Just as you insure your cash, property,
inventory and employees, it is wise to
insure all your assets against normal
and potential loss. Your broker can
help identify a tailored solution for
your business. Contact your broker to
learn more about how trade credit in-
surance can help you protect and grow
your business.
Robert Fiorito, serves as Vice President,
HUB International Northeast., where
he specializes in providing insurance
brokerage services to the restaurant in-
dustry. As a 20-year veteran and former
restaurateur himself, Bob has worked
with a wide array of restaurant and
food service businesses, ranging from
fast-food chains to upscale, “white
tablecloth" dining establishments. For
more information, please visit www.
hubfiorito.com
Securing Your Success with Trade Credit InsuranceEvery time you extend credit to your customers, your business incurs credit risk. While your
accounts receivable may be one of the most liquid and valuable assets your company has,
chances are it is also one of your least protected.
// INSURANCE FIORITO ON INSURANCE
Bob Fiorito,Vice President of Business Development at Hub International
Robert.Fiorito@hubinternational.com
A few key questions are
critical to determining
your need for trade credit
insurance. If you answer
yes to one or more of these
questions, a trade credit
insurance policy may be
right for you.
83 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
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$65,000, to support the James Beard
Foundation’s mission and educa-
tional programs, including culinary
student scholarships and the orga-
nization's annual food conference
on sustainability, public health, and
nutrition.
Carrying on its long tradition of
supporting culinary education, the
James Beard Foundation was proud
to announce Samantha Whitlam as
the recipient of the 2014 Christian
Wölffer Scholarship.
Established in 2006, the Christian
Wölffer Scholarship assists students
in their study of food and wine, and
with this honor Whitlam is enrolling
in the Intensive Sommelier Course
at the International Culinary Cen-
ter (ICC). Also in attendance were
2014 MY China Scholarship recipient
Alexis Sicklick, 2013 Christian Wölffer
Scholarship recipient Jhonel Faelnar,
and multiple James Beard Founda-
tion Scholarship recipient Christina
Cassel.
The Chefs & Champagne partici-
pating chefs read like a who's who
of the restaurant industry. New York
City's culinary community was rep-
resented by notable toques including:
Franklin Becker, Philippe Bertin-
eau, Chad Brauze, Stephen Collucci,
Coby Farrow, Yuhi Fujinaga, Alex
Guarnaschelli, Shane McBride, Pecko
Zantilaveevan and Dan Silverman.
A number of top Garden State Chefs
made the trek to the Hamptons led by
Ben Del Coro, Jean Paul Lourdes and
John Greeley.
Local Hamptons chefs included:
James Carpenter, and Todd Mitgang.
Flay joined the ranks of such gas-
tronomic giants as Julia Child, Dan-
iel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Wolfgang
Puck, and Emeril Lagasse, with this
honor. His career includes receiv-
ing the James Beard Rising Star Chef
of the Year Award at the start of his
career back in 1993 and being in-
ducted into the Who’s Who of Food &
Beverage in America in 2007. As Su-
san Ungaro, president of the James
Beard Foundation, has noted: “Not
only has he starred in over a dozen hit
national cooking shows, co-hosted
the James Beard Awards, and taught
President Obama how to grill on the
White House lawn, but the native
New Yorker also manages to maintain
the integrity of each and every one of
his projects along the way.”
Champagne, from page 24
B. Smith and President of the James Beard Foundation Susan Ungaro seen at the James Beard Foundation's Chefs & Champagne event at the Wolffer Estate, on Satur-day, July 26, 2014 in Sagaponack, N.Y. (Photo by Mark VonHolden/Invision for James Beard Foundation/AP Images)
85 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
86 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
event team is actually working on using
these peppers in not only savory recipes
but sweet applications like panna cotta.
“You can use the Sweety Drop in side
dish applications, salads, garnishes, and
there's a very real possibility for some
unique sweet applications. There's this
big huge fusion of flavors now of sweet
and savory and this pepper fits ideally.”
Stephano is really excited about a new
demographic that's helping the com-
pany stretch and expand its networks
and customers. “We're talking about
the millennials,” he says. “Years ago, if
a food company wanted to launch a
product, you'd go to the international
food shows, study the demographics,
evaluate pricing metrics and packaging,
then after a long time hopefully release
it. Today a young couple goes on a date
in Portland at a hot new restaurant,
where we are seeing a lot of new trends
develop, and the Chef introduces an ap-
petizer special using our black flour in
a rustic pizza. They love it, they need to
know the passion of its origin, they take
a picture, post it instantaneously on
Facebook or Instagram and it goes viral
to their foodie friends. Next, one of their
friends from college, in let’s say Philly,
sees it and she's going on a date the next
day and she goes to the Chef and says, "I
WANT THIS can you make it?"
“In less than 24 hours your brand
new specialty food product just trav-
eled 4,000 miles and the Chefs of these
chain restaurants and menu develop-
ers of these white table cloth hot spots
just throw up their hands in disbelief.
Our industry now has no choice but to
quickly understand this new arena and
quickly adjust to the speed to which
our customers desire these products,”
he says. He adds that Atalanta is in a
unique position to capitalize on this.
“Because of our network of suppliers,
growers across the globe and aware-
ness of developing trends, we’re the
ones whose salespeople introduce it
through our distributors faster than you
can blink. We used to be able to launch
a product. Now millennials and today’s
foodies are discovering these foods and
simply demanding them. There is no
time any more to launch and release a
product. You have to be first to market,
offer specialty and high-end products
today and that's where we shine. Mil-
lennials are in control of the flavors,
trends and stories today and will be for
the forseeable future.”
Stephano says where his company
really differentiates itself from others
is in its ability to help Chefs and Buy-
ers use its products in many different
culinary applications. “If we sell a Chi-
may beer cheese, or a Danish crumbled
blue cheese, we provide our customers
with recipes and culinary ideas using
those products. We teach them how to
take it and develop an exceptional three
cheese soufflé as apposed to just show-
ing how it looks beautiful on a premium
cheese board – We need to offer and
share multiple ways to use this product
from the appetizer course through the
dessert course. By doing this, Chains
can drive down costs because they now
use these products through the entire
spectrum of the menu.”
It's particularly important for food-
service operations who may have to
order expensive cheeses, then throw
them out when they're not used in time
for other dishes. “Think Parmigiano
Reggiano. It's a gorgeous product, with
a rich Italian history of over 750 years,
probably the most well known spe-
cialty cheese on the planet. But here's
what happens in the back of the house.
They order a whole wheel of it, and it's
pricy, maybe around $1,600. They have
a wedding, a huge catering event or a
corporate conference, and they crack
the wheel and chunk it into beautiful
wedges. They pair it with fresh fruit and
fantastic wines on a banquette table. It
becomes the centerpiece of the catering
event.
“People get excited about it. 'Where
did you get this?' 'Ooh, this is so-oo
good!' They tell their friends, try this
cheese, it comes from this unique dairy
in Parma. Now, That's what everyone in
our industry has done really well. But
here's what happens next. The catering
event is over, the guys in the back of the
house take the cheese and wrap it and
then throw it in the walk-in. The sous-
chef comes back two weeks later, the
cheese is dried out or has mold all over
it, puts it on the prep table, then looks at
it and he gets upset because the product
wasn't taken care of and most impor-
tantly doesn’t know how else to use the
cheese other than grating it on top of
pasta, so he throws it away. The last ex-
perience the sous-chef has with one of
our specialty food products is throwing
it in the trash. There's no other industry
in the world where you could get away
with that.”
So what does Atalanta do about that?
“We introduce, teach, and offer culinary
applications. Meaning, we had a great
party, used this premium cheese, now
what do I do with it? We have to teach
them how to use this in soups, in baked
dishes, and how to use this in as many
culinary apps as we can,” Stephano
says. “Now we've truly provided value to
the product. We need to be able to take
our specialty products and power the
entire menu. And that's what we're do-
ing.” Stephano says that what Atalanta
is now bringing to the table is a teach-
ing-tool and a cost-saving product.
“We're teaching the passion behind
it, the story behind it, and the culinary
app behind it. We want to offer you an
artisanal aged Mahon from Spain and
we want to see that on all your specialty
cheese boards. But if we're not teaching
you how to use that cheese with small
plates and tapas or how to take the
cheese and put it in a high-end grilled
cheese sandwich or how to incorporate
that into a specialty salad, we've really
missed an opportunity, and then we're
just selling products.”
Stephano says the company's goals
are to offer culinary solutions to its cus-
tomers. “And the hottest way to do that
is to teach them what's happening from
a trend basis, offer them multiple uses
of a product and teach them the passion
and culinary apps behind it. Ultimately,
when we do that, we help our customers
increase their margins and ultimately
their profits.”
Atalanta, from page 34 NY, from page 22
Midwestern staff and a completely
unexpected menu are a welcome
surprise to see in this small town on
the prairie but when the Scotch eggs
with homemade Dijon mustard and
butter washed Pretzel bread featur-
ing a homemade cream cheese and
Cheddar spread arrived, I was sold.
Then the Mako Shark with adobe
spiced French potatoes was placed
in front of me I had visions of my
home town- New York, this was a
piece of paradise or an oasis on the
Great Plains (pinch me). As if all this
was not enough for this kid from
Brooklyn, the next dish was a broc-
coli pancetta pizza delight cooked in
a revolving wood burning brick oven
built by the New York Brick Oven
Company.
I had to hold back the tears. Radius
brew pub has raised the proverbial
bar on pizza and set a new standard
for brew pubs while homing in on
a new food trendsetting idea. This
long time restaurateur feels Gourmet
Pizza Brew Pubs will be of the impor-
tance and demand attention on par
with the fast casual trend for quick
eating. It is fantastic to see young en-
trepreneurs bringing their best game
and hitting it out of the park.
I had to hold back the
tears. Radius brew
pub has raised the
proverbial bar on pizza
and set a new standard
for brew pubs while
homing in on a new
food trendsetting idea.
87 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
be, oh, I'll go to national conferences,
I'll kind of touch the wall, but keep-
ing that community active, looking at
a theme of, okay, what are we hearing
from our members, what do they need,
and addressing that with a lot of pro-
gramming. How do we make sure we're
delivering on that commitment?
SHFM has always had a broad New York City base. What impact has New York and some of the members there had on the growth of the organization, the culture of the organization?Our tri-state area membership is re-
ally important to SHFM and I hope it
remains a strong part of SHFM. What's
great is, you have a concentrated area
that has the diversity of a lot of envi-
ronments, so it really stimulates the
organization. You get a lot of different
flavor and it helps you to keep your
perspective. SHFM does want to be
broader than just the tri-state area, and
we're doing things, as I talked about,
the locals, and Seattle, and San Fran-
cisco, and into Dallas, and Chicago and
all that. So, we want to have balance
there, but we never want to forget New
York. That's a very important thing and
those members -- it's kind of like that
old saying, if you can make it here, you
can make it anywhere. And working in
New York, look at how good their oper-
ations have to be because of the choic-
es you have on the street. My goodness,
you can walk out of the door and go to
the best this, the best that. You've got to
be on your toes.
At one point in my career I worked in
a very suburban/rural environment in
Ohio. And I had a somewhat captive
audience. But in New York, you don't
have that. People there have the oppor-
tunity to go to a lot of different places,
so they're really up there on the trends.
I think both coasts are. That's why I'm
glad to see our West Coast really com-
ing in. They're up there on the trends,
and they're on their game. They have to
be to compete there.
What's ahead?We talk so much about menus and
food safety and now, farm to fork. We'll
do a lot of programming around that,
but as I say, SHFM is food, food at our
core and our members, a lot of them,
like myself, are food at our core. So you
need those complementary schools
almost more than you need the food.
We're foodies at heart, and if I'm not
working, I'm going out to great restau-
rants or watching the Food Network.
Where am I getting the space stuff,
where am I getting the conference cen-
ter stuff, where am I getting those other
things. A little harder to come by some-
times, so that's what we're trying to de-
liver, those skills there so we can really
be part of the conversation with our fa-
cilities counterparts and our buildings
and, and things of that nature. So that's
what we're trying to do.
What was your biggest contribution to the organization?I would like SHFM members to really
get why we added the "H," that it's not
just talk, it's not just a letter we added
in there. But we've shown them why
we did it and it makes sense to them.
And they see value in it. Now we want
to make it, SHFM, our indispensable
industry resource. And serve every
category of our members. Not just the
corporate liaison, and the self operator,
but our contractors, our consultants,
and suppliers.
And here's what I really would like to
achieve. Increase the visibility of our
segment of the industry. And do more
school outreach, and let people know
we're not just talking a lot about the
schools, but also our foundation, the
military, people looking for a better
quality of life. We've all got a lot to offer.
Q&A, from page 31
88 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
"Iactually have been in the
food business for what feels
like my whole life,” says the
partner and head of account
services at deep group, a leading food
marketing agency that promotes global
foodservice brands. “When I was a kid,
my mom owned a restaurant, and I was
exposed to a lot – as you might imag-
ine, a child in a family business trying
to 'help out' where I could.” She laughs.
“And watch and learn. At a very young
age, I actually remember going to my
first food show. Gosh, I was probably
about eight years old, which was just
incredible, being that age and running
around a food show, sampling food and
beverages at all these different booths.”
Lea says she remembers her excitement
about food shows “and all that wonder-
ful food,” to this day. “Even at such a
young age, I was completely drawn in.
After that first show, I was pretty certain
I wanted to work in the industry. I’m
happy to say I still get the same kind of
charge at food shows today,” she says.
Today she leads a team of foodservice
marketers at deep, which designs brand
identities, print advertisements, social
media campaigns, and package design
for some of the nation’s largest brands
such as, Nestle Professional, Tyson
Foods, and Lamb Weston.
Lea is proud of the family deep comes
from. It's part of the Marlin Network,
which is comprised of two companies
(Food IQ and Star Awards) and three
agencies (deep, Marlin Company and
The Alchemedia Project). “There is an
incredible amount of talent here and
each affiliate, as we call them, has a
special skill set. Marlin is our oldest
agency and has some really long-lasting
relationships with their clients. The Al-
chemedia Project is a digital branding
agency. FoodIQ is an innovation firm
that provides culinary, insights and in-
novation services. And Star Awards is a
College & University loyalty program.”
The Marlin Network offers STAR-
Awards®, a loyalty program for self-
operated college and universities.
Manufacturers are members of the
program. Operators are rewarded for
their purchases and use those rewards
for free attendance to the annual NA-
CUFS conference. “It’s a really benefi-
cial program that has grown tremen-
dously the last few years, proving that
the reward is of great value to those C/U
operators,”she says. Recently, Lea was
featured in Forbes’ “Women Business
Leaders” section, which focused on the
leadership role she has played since the
agency launched in 2005.
Lea took a brief segue from food when
she went to college and majored in
communications, with a minor in pub-
lic relations and promotions, but once
out of school her career went right back
to food.
“My first job out of college was at a com-
pany in St. Louis called Sunmark, which
was a division of Nestle. The job market
in the mid-90's was really, really tight,
much like today. I started out there in
a temporary position as a secretary for
the vice president of manufacturing,”
she says.
She remembers really flourishing and
thriving there. “Nestle is known for
placing a lot of value on its employees
and they invested a lot of training in
me. I got to know the vice president of
marketing and he took me under his
wing,” she recalls. “I was able to lever-
age my communications degree in the
marketing field there. And I've been in
foodservice ever since.”
Lea worked for Nestle for about five
years, and then relocated to Springfield,
Mo., where her mom was living at the
time. “I wanted to be closer to family,
get back to my roots again. I got a job at
an advertising agency in town and have
been working on the agency side ever
since. I've been doing agency work for
the last 15 years,” she says.
Not a career as a chef or restaurateur?
“While I loved that life of owning a
brand and having our name on the
door, I think the marketing agency
world suits me so much better. To me,
it’s so exciting to help other people grow
their brands and to be able to work on a
different one each and every day,” she
says.
Her agency's primary clients are in
foodservice, but also range across food
manufacturers to equipment manufac-
turers to ingredient companies, restau-
rants, hospitality, clubs, convenience
stores, delis, even brokers and distribu-
tors and contract managers.
Lea says her approach to business at
the agency can be put into just a few
words. “Service. The people we employ
at deep are required to be givers; to al-
ways put others first. We practice a true
spirit of servant-hood, not only with
our clients, but with one another as
well. What this truly means in regards to
how we service our client is that we put
their true needs first. We don’t sell them
services we have. We sell them services
they need; things that will be effective
in moving their business forward. Too
many times we’ve seen agencies push
ideas onto their clients that are 'cool,'
but ineffective. We’re not into that and
consider that a disservice to our clients.
We’ve actually had clients approach us
with a project that we’ve talked them
out of because we know it won’t work in
meeting their needs or their customers’
needs.”
When it comes to strategy, trade shows
are a critical part of agency business.
“Trade shows always offer a great forum
Valeri Lea, Partner at Deep Group
When you grow up around food, it often becomes your life, whether you want it to or not. But
for Valeri Lea, it was one of the best parts of her childhood. And she's continued on with it, in
a different way, but with food still the centerpiece of her life.
Lea was recently featured in Forbes’ “Women Business Leaders” section, which focused on Lea’s leadership role she has played since the agency launched in 2005.
// MEET THE NEWSMAKER
89 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
for showcasing innovative new prod-
ucts, so it gives us an opportunity to try
things first-hand, to witness live demos,
and see what trends are really taking
off,” Lea says. “Our favorite thing about
trade shows, however, is finding oppor-
tunities to overhear operators talk about
issues they’re facing in their businesses
or new things that they might be add-
ing to the menu or doing to drive traffic.
All of these things make us smarter and
help us do our job for our clients better.
We design a lot of booths for our clients,
help them get materials ready in time
for the shows and will even help serve
food in the booth if needed. We’re there
for them, whatever they need.”
A typical day for Lea might start with
planning to market a new brand. “It’s
always exciting for us to sink our teeth
into a new brand. At deep, we find it’s
important to get as immersed into the
client’s expectations of that brand as
possible, what competitive issues we
might face, operator needs and any
other marketplace condition that might
affect a launch,” she says. “The first rule
of marketing is to know your target au-
dience, so which tactics we deploy for
a product introduction or new brand
depends on who our operator target is
and how they like to receive new infor-
mation. Sometimes we focus more on
digital, sometimes it’s more of grass-
roots PR effort and other times we’ll just
work to arm the sales and broker teams
with what they need to have valuable
conversations with their operator cus-
tomers.”
Lea believes agencies are crucial for
businesses trying to grow a brand. "We
really like to work with clients that see
us as a partner versus a vendor. So we
act as an extension of their marketing
department bringing fresh thinking
to the table. A brand manager has a
lot of things under their responsibility
beyond just managing a communica-
tion plan or a marketing campaign, but
that’s our sole focus, so we can really be
a tremendous asset to them. Plus, our
eyes are constantly on the industry, we
attend nearly every industry event and
this isn’t something that an in-house
team is always able to do."
The Partner says deep is so successful
because everyone who works for the
agency is in love with what they do.
“Eating is a communal experience that
brings people together. What a great
thing to be a part of! And we’ve been
doing this collectively as a team for
several decades. Our experience, fresh
perspective, creative talent and ser-
vice mentality are what attract global
brands.”
deep practices what it preaches. It even
has a working kitchen with a full range,
grill, deep fryer, and convection oven,
space it shares with its affiliate, FoodIQ,
which supports the agency in culinary
development for its clients. Through
FoodIQ, deep can provide recipe ideas
and menu development and engineer-
continued on page 91
90 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
91 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
ing.
She notes that the foodservice in-
dustry is growing in new and exciting
ways. “Locally-sourced menu items are
something that consumers are looking
for. This includes both produce and
meats and seafood. There’s a vegan
movement, a gluten free movement,
and we’re seeing healthier kids’ meals
too. People are becoming more and
more concerned about what they put
in their bodies and they’re being more
vocal about it, which changes menus
more quickly. Consumers will want to
continue to experiment with new fla-
vors, like sriracha and snacking will
continue to occupy a lot of our time and
interest,” Lea says.
Demographics are another crucial
piece of the pie. “Baby Boomers be-
have a certain way of consumption and
they have common needs from a more
psycho-graphic perspective. We try to
really be observers of human behavior
versus just reading a bunch of statistics
and data,” she says. “We're trying to
make a good connection and apply that
information for clients to make good
decisions, because, as you know, what
a person says they do, and what a per-
son actually does, are two very different
things!”
When it comes to Millennials, they
won't spend as much money when
they eat out. “They are very tech-savvy,
they are much more social and lever-
age technology to do that, like tweeting
a meal they're about to eat. They are
looking to experiment a lot more with
their food, so experiential flavors, a res-
taurant concept, is often built with the
needs of a Millennial in mind. When
you're tracking that particular consum-
er, our clients want to make sure that
their menu items have sriracha and
other really extreme and bold flavors,”
she says.
As far as relationships with distributors,
all of the agency's clients have good re-
lationships with both large broad-line
distributors like Sysco and US Food
as well as smaller ones, and it does
not view distributors as competitors.
“We're collectively together growing the
food service industry, versus competing
with one another,” she says.
The agency supports its distributors
and operators in many ways. “For ex-
ample, we help them answer the ques-
tion, ‘what do I do with this product in
my restaurant?’ How do I create some
great dishes with it that will meet my
customers' needs, so recipe ideas are
part of that. How do I generate aware-
ness and attention that I've got this
item on my menu, so it could be mer-
chandising support, things like that. We
also arm the DSR with the information
they need, the story about the prod-
uct, and what makes it different, what
makes it better and how it's going to
meet their customer's needs. How it's
going to help to grow their business.
So it's not just about the operator and
helping them reach their customers
for the consumer, but also helping the
distributor sell the right product to the
right operator to meet the right need
and not just about rebates and making
discounts. It's about growing food ser-
vice in totality,” Lea says.
She believes the purpose behind bro-
ker consolidation is a good one. “Bro-
kers are trying to become much more
sophisticated consultants to operator
customers. And at deep group, we're all
about elevating service so that we can
grow foodservice collectively, together.
Does it necessarily concern me? Not as
long as the operator's needs are being
met, not as long as we're being respon-
sible and the foodservice offerings that
we're bringing to the market are meet-
ing consumer needs.”
Where do cash-and-carry outlets like
Restaurant Depot and Smart and Final
fit?
“They play a big role for us and our cli-
ents,” she says. “We love the small busi-
ness guy. Like I said, I grew up in that
world and that's where they shop. They
shop at Sam's Club and they shop at
Restaurant Depot. And so we're making
sure we've got applicable products for
Newsmaker, from page 89
continued on page 94
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93 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
94 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Enviropure, from page 70
going into effect in many cities, like
New York, to ensure that organic mat-
ter does not go into landfills.
Coming in the future is a closed
loop system, which takes the effluent
through an ozination – or purification
– process. ”Since our grinding pro-
cess allows us to use our own water,
this process also greatly reduces the
amount of gray water returned to the
environment,” says Thomas.
The company also offers a remote
monitoring program that trouble-
shoots systems in the field, from its
corporate office and supplies end users
with valuable information to increase
their diversion rate and decrease their
carbon footprint.
But probably what separates Enviro-
Pure from the rest of the field is, as com-
pliance becomes more mandated, its
ability to help businesses now in cities
that don't have strict sewer discharge
regulation and are therefore going to
be mandated foodservice operations
to cut back on waste. The EP machine
discharge is typically one tenth of most
municipal sewer discharge regulations.
“We fall way below anything that's
coming, where the new regulations are
now and where they're going, and you
can't say that about our competitors,”
says Thomas.
them in those outlets. A lot of our cli-
ents are very active in placing product
in cash-and-carry and we think it's an
important part of growing food service
and helping out those small business
people, because that's where they shop.
It's about knowing your target. Where
do they go? Not just how do they con-
sume media information, but where
do they go to get their product and just
making sure we're there so that we can
help them out.”
Right now the agency has several dif-
ferent product categories in which it
doesn't currently operate. “Our sights
are set on fresh produce and foodser-
vice seafood. We don't have seafood cli-
ents on our roster, but, with our knowl-
edge of some of those areas from our
past lives, we're ready to help people
out in those product categories,” she
says.
“Dairy is another area that is untapped
for us, so those are our immediate
short-term needs. Long-term, we'd
like to have some non-foodservice
manufacturers on our client list, as
well, whether they're distributors, or
contract managers, or brokers, or even
affiliations, such as councils or boards.
We'd love to help those folks out, be-
cause those are the guys who are really
getting the word out. They really have a
need for PR and we have a great public
relations and social media team here at
deep group, so that would be my more
immediate need, to focus, to expand
on those kinds of areas. We're still tied
to food but not necessarily food grow-
ers and manufacturers, if that makes
sense.”
Lea says what helps clients most to
make their brands stand out is very
simple. “Consistency is so key in both
Front of House and Back of House. Ev-
ery eating experience should be exactly
what the guest expects when they enter
an establishment. Or better. Keeping
it fresh. Know your audience. Get the
word out.”
Newsmaker, from page 91
95 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
ICC, from page 10
distinguished faculty, including Dean
of Wine Studies Scott Carney, respect-
ed professors from the Cornell School
of Hotel Administration, and experts
in law, real estate, finance, architec-
ture and marketing.
Everything is reality-based. The
theory taught throughout this course
will be underscored by real-life case
studies. Students will learn to antici-
pate and conquer the wide range of
restaurant and retailing challenges
they are likely to face, beginning
with their original business concept
through opening day and beyond.
Topics will include: developing
your business concept, whether it's
a traditional restaurant or retailer or
an innovative mix of the two; legal is-
sues: raising capital, personnel, real
estate and more; choosing a location;
key factors in design, facility mainte-
nance, restaurant economics; menu
creation and yield management;
kitchen design and equipment; mar-
keting your restaurant, and leader-
ship skills in training staff.
Perhaps the most valuable part of
the class will come not in it, but after.
A dedicated online learning commu-
nity will allow attendees full access to
course materials as well as the ability
to network and communicate with
your classmates and your instructors
in real-time outside of class.
Tel: 888-324-2433
Web: CulinaryCenter.com
Everything is reality-
based. The theory taught
throughout this course will
be underscored by real-life
case studies. Students will
learn to anticipate and
conquer the wide range of
restaurant and retailing
challenges they are likely to
face, beginning with their
original business concept
through opening day and
beyond.
ICC students learn the equivalent of a two-year internship in as little as six months. Often imitated but never duplicated, our Total ImmersionSM teaching method offers intensive instruction and puts you in the kitchen from the very first day.
96 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Call Vic Rose: 732-864-2220
ily available to consumers, pleasing
every person is nearly impossible. For
the Legal Sea Foods brand, navigating
this push/pull comes down to engaging
in what the company believes are envi-
ronmentally sound practices. Vellante
pointed out that where and how Legal
Sea Foods practices sustainability ulti-
mately becomes a decision that directly
impacts their brand.
After a break for lunch, it was time
for Craig Levitt, managing editor of
Grocery Headquarters to lead a deep
dive into the subject of "Marketing to
Millennials." After taking the attendees
through the demographic and psycho-
graphic profile of this hugely important
and massive market segment, Levitt
drilled down into the sources of this
group’s power and influence, which
come from not only buying power that
will dictate the landscape for manu-
facturers and retails for the next two or
three decades, but also because this is
the generation that has always known
about, had and harnessed the power
of social media and peer-to-peer influ-
ence.
Levitt’s discussion also unearthed
preferences and biases within milleni-
als that come from this group’s aware-
ness of and commitment to principles
of fairness and social justice, environ-
mental stewardship and acceptance of
global cultural differences. The last ele-
ment, more than the others, drives this
generation’s preferences for diverse cu-
linary influence, spicy foods and “ad-
venturous eating.”
Millennials, it was discussed, show
a higher interest in and preference for
“value” than other generations did at
similar points in their buying lifecycle.
This reality brought store brands to the
fore in the discussion, which it turned
out was also well supported by avail-
able data.
Millennials and their penchant for
spicy, world-inspired cuisine was the
perfect set-up for the next discus-
sion, which was led by Chris Warsow,
corporate executive chef at Bell Fla-
vors & Fragrances. Perhaps the day’s
most fascinating discussion, Warsow
mesmerized the attendees describing
the process and timeline involved in
identifying and staying ahead of culi-
nary and taste trends. To learn that Bell
Flavors is typically three or more years
out in their trend spotting and product
development seemed to blow away the
majority of those in the room.
Peter Romeo, VP of content & editori-
al director at both Restaurant Business
and Foodservice Director magazines,
led the final segment of the Summit.
He set up his discussion with a pre-
sentation that took a humorous look
at the push/pull that goes on between
consumers and consumer activists and
restaurant chains over healthful op-
tions like lower-calorie, lower-fat and
lower-sodium options on the menu.
The “conversation” as Romeo set it up,
goes something like this:
• Consumer activists: “You need
to offer more healthful options.”
• Consumers, chiming in: “Yeah,
that’s what I want!”
• Restaurant Chain: “Right away!
Here is our new super-healthy
menu!”
From here it was discussed, with
many anecdotal examples being
bandied about, how those healthful
menu items, and of course the inven-
tory required to make them a reality,
would then languish, unordered and
unappreciated, until the restaurant ac-
countants finally ask “What happened
here?”
This, it was explained by Romeo, is
how it used to be… Or so we think. The
reality, the ensuing discussion uncov-
ered, is that there are plenty of indica-
tions that consumers are embracing
healthier choices: the success of grilled
vs. “crispy” chicken, alternative sides
and smaller fry servings, and of course
the host of successful new healthy
restaurant concepts. But that, argued
Romeo, was only half the story. For ev-
ery success, there seems to be one or
more counter-indications that healthy
eating is where America’s dining pub-
lic is trending. As examples began to
fly around the room, it became clear
that one need look no further than the
hottest products in recent memory:
Taco Bell’s Doritos Taco, KFC’s Double
Down, which saw cheese and bacon
sandwiched between two fried chicken
filets, and Wendy’s 1850-calorie Ba-
conator. After a very lively discussion of
crazy menu ideas, Romeo brought the
group around to his thesis: the biggest
change in consumer preference is not
the desire for healthier food, it is the
desire for more wholesome food, which
means less-processed, fewer or no ad-
ditives, locally-sourced ingredients,
fresh baked, no preservatives, season-
al, etc. All of these terms, according to
Romeo, communicate “health” in the
eyes of consumers.
To celebrate a successful Summit,
at the conclusion of the day’s discus-
sion, Blount shuttled everyone by trol-
ley to nearby Castle Hill Inn, one of
Newport’s famous mansions that has
been converted into an luxurious inn,
and which offers breathtaking views of
Newport Harbor, for a traditional New
England lobster bake, which the group
learned comes from the local Native
American tradition of celebrating the
conclusion of any major success with
friends, neighbors and guests.
Blount Fine Foods is a family owned
company that has been processing
food since 1946. It is the largest manu-
facturer of lobster bisque in America
and produces more than 350 propri-
etary soup recipes, including 75 variet-
ies of clam chowder alone. Its product
lines include fresh and frozen gourmet
soups for food service and retail as
well as premium side dishes. Blount’s
gourmet soups and specialty foods
are made with the finest and freshest
ingredients, locally sourced whenever
possible, and handcrafted by a dedi-
cated team through unparalleled cus-
tomer collaboration.
Blount operates production facilities
at its Fall River, Massachusetts head-
quarters and in Warren, Rhode Island.
Customers include national restaurant
chains that have their custom soups
made for them in accordance with
their secret recipes. Similarly, the deli
departments of many large and small
supermarket chains offer Blount-cre-
ated hot-to-go soup selections as well
as fresh store-brand pre-packed soup
Blount, from page 6
97 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
cups.
Blount also carries a full line of fresh
and frozen soups sold to Club Stores
and Retailers nationwide under the Le-
gal Sea Foods and Panera Bread brands.
Blount generates over 140 million
servings of handcrafted gourmet soups
each year.
98 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
IHMRS, from page 18
COMMUNE (Los Angeles): Ace Hotel
Downtown Los Angeles
Stonehill & Taylor Architects (New
York): NYLO New York City
Group One Partners (Boston): Resi-
dence Inn Downtown/Seaport, Bos-
ton
Best Nightclub/LoungeYWS Design & Architecture (Las Ve-
gas): Hakkasan, Las Vegas
Jeffrey Beers International (New York):
Moon Club, Paradise Island, Bahamas
Ramsgard Architectural Design (Ska-
neateles, New York): The Gig, Verona,
New York
Rockwell Group (New York): TAO
Downtown, New York
Best Restaurant Casual DiningAvroKO [New York]: General Assembly,
New York
Rockwell Group (New York): Five50
Pizza Bar, Las Vegas
Aria Group Architects (Oak Park, Ill.):
Nando’s Flame-Grilled Chicken, To-
ronto
Schoos Design (West Hollywood, Ca-
lif.): Puesto, San Diego, Calif.
Best Restaurant Fine DiningMeyer Davis Studio (New York): St. Ce-
cilia, Atlanta
Studio Mapos (New York): Sopra, New
York
Meyer Davis Studio (New York): The
Wayfarer, New York
Judges’ “So Cool” AwardMeg Sharpe Interior Designs (New
York); Stonehill & Taylor Architects
(New York): Diamond Horseshoe at
the Paramount Hotel, New York
JOI-Design Interior Architects (Ham-
burg): Hotel-Kompetenz-Zentrum,
Oberschleißheim, Germany
Stonehill & Taylor Architects (New
York): The Nomad Hotel Rooftop
Event Spaces, New York
Marriott Global Design Strategies
(Bethesda, Md.): Marriott Hotels De-
sign Strategy, Marriott International,
Bethesda, Md.
Judges for the 2014 Gold Key Awards
were:
Alan Philips, Chief Marketing Officer,
Morgans Hotel Group
Dana Kalczak, Vice President of De-
sign, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Danette Opaczewski, Chief Operating
Officer, Ian Schrager Co.
John D. McMullen, Senior Vice Presi-
dent of Construction, Highgate Hotels
Lora Spran, Interior Designer, Walt
Disney Imagineering (WDI)–Interiors
R. Tyler Morse, Chief Executive Officer
and Managing Partner, MCR Develop-
ment
Ron Kollar, Chief Design Officer, Tish-
man Hotel & Realty LP
Serena Rakhlin, Vice President, Hotel
Development and Acquisitions, Amer-
icas, Trump Hotel Collection
Trisha Wilson, Chairman, Trisha Wil-
son Global
Finalists were selected based on excel-
lence in: concept, execution, innova-
tion and “wow factor.”
The 34th Gold Key Awards coincide
with the fifth annual Boutique Design
New York (BDNY) trade fair, serving
hospitality design professionals, and
the 99th IHMRS, held concurrently at
New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention
Center.
Tickets for the Gold Key Awards Gala
(cocktail reception and dinner) are
available now for $375 and can be pur-
chased as part of IHMRS/BDNY trade
fair registration or as an event ticket
only. More Gold Key information is
available at bdny.com and ihmrs.com.
99 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
ity and networking skills to people of
color within the industry, the College
Bowl will present the same challenges
– unknown ingredients used to make
a premier meal within set time limits
– as the professional chefs' event.
"Our mission is to consistently
build a broader platform for diversity
within the culinary and hospitality
industries,” notes BCA co-chair Alex
Askew. “We want to endow our par-
ticipants with awareness, exposure
and educational opportunities. The
true value of our work is the invest-
ment we make in young people who
aspire to become professionals in the
fields of their choice.”
IHMRS' “throwdowns” will follow
the format shown on The Food Net-
work. Chefs will each be given the
same unusual set of ingredients to
create a dish and then a jury of pro-
fessional award-winning culinary
professionals will decide whose dish-
es are best.
The college competitors will follow
the same procedure as the profes-
sionals, except they'll be in teams.
Competitors do not get a recipe to
follow. Rather, they are told the man-
datory ingredients which must be in-
cluded in each dish, and each single
professional chef and college team
try to outwit the others with a sensa-
tional meal.
The College Bowl will start with
three teams for the first throwdown.
The winner of the first round will
then move on to the second throw-
down, competing against a new set
of teams. Finally, the winner of this
segment moves on to the “Ultimate
Throwdown,” as does the winner of
the first round, against another set of
teams, and a champion is crowned.
Each college challenge will be lim-
ited to 30-45 minutes of preparation
and plating time, and judging will
take place for 15 minutes.
“You'll be competing against other
BCA members with the opportunity
to move onto the next round and
compete for the top prize,” says Joelle
Mahoney, College Bowl originator.
Schools who typically compete in-
clude Johnson & Wales, Kingsboro
Community College, Monroe Col-
lege, CIA, City College of Technology,
Pennsylvania School of Culinary Arts,
The Culinary Education (ICE - NYC)
and the International Culinary Cen-
ter (formerly the French Culinary
Institute – NYC). All culinary schools
in the tri-state region are invited to
compete, as well.
IHMRS is sponsored by the Ameri-
can Hotel & Lodging Association
(AH&LA); the Hotel Association of
New York City, Inc. (HANYC); and the
New York State Hospitality & Tour-
ism Association (NYSH&TA), and is
managed by Hospitality Media Group
(HMG).
IHMRS, from page 3
100 • September 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
Over the years I have
heard many foodser-
vice operators state
that our industry’s
value and contribu-
tion to the country’s overall econ-
omy have never been fully appreci-
ated, and that motivated me to write
the following “What if …?” fantasy.
“Good evening, America. This is
Walter Rather. Let’s go right to the
news for June 16. The nation’s food-
service industry shutdown contin-
ues. You will recall that ten days ago,
the federal government announced
that, in trying to balance its fiscal
woes, it would slap a 20% tax on all
meals eaten away from the home. Af-
ter much lobbying by the foodservice
industry in opposition to this tax, the
government went ahead anyway. The
industry said enough is enough and
within days it was almost completely
shut down. For an in-depth look at
what this has meant to our econo-
my, let’s go to our various reporters
around the country. First, Tom Kuralt
in Kansas City.”
“Walter, the shutdown certainly
has had an impact on the stockyards.
Without all fast-food hamburger op-
erations and family steakhouses—to
say nothing of the atmosphere oper-
ations that are closed—the American
cattle industry is feeling the pinch.
As one longtime observer said, ‘I
guess no one ever realized what
foodservice meant to our industry.’
A few years ago there was a popular
television commercial where a little
old lady asked: ‘Where’s the beef?’
Well, Walter, if she were to ask that
today, the answer would be, ‘Here in
Kansas City.’ ”
“Now, to Ted Jennings in Madison,
Wisconsin.”
“Walter, the state of Wisconsin
is full of it! Dairy products, that is.
Cheeseburgers, milk shakes, ice
cream, coffee cream, milk, and doz-
ens of other dairy products that
daily find their way to thousands of
foodservice operations, are not mov-
ing. The governor here has said that
because dairy products are so per-
ishable, if this shutdown is not over
soon it could become an economic
nightmare for the state. It certainly
drives home how important the
foodservice industry is. Walter, the
cows in Wisconsin may be content-
ed, but the farmers are not.”
“Now, to Peter Koppel in San Di-
ego.”
“Thank you, Walter. California is
about to become the world’s largest
fruit and vegetable bin. Many farm-
ers are starting to lay off workers.
Thousands of trucks and their driv-
ers are idle, and refrigerated cars
by the hundreds sit motionless on
rail sidings. One longtime resident
told me: ‘We have had floods, mud-
slides, tremors, and blinding smog,
but I can’t remember anything af-
fecting the entire state the way this
shutdown has.’ Hard to believe that
all those mom-and-pop places could
have this kind of impact, Walter. In a
state where earthquakes are a way of
life, the foodservice industry shut-
down has registered an eight on the
economic scale. Back to you.”
“What you have heard is only the
tip of the iceberg. Millions of people
are out of work as a direct effect of
the shutdown, and millions more
will soon be laid off. Federal, state,
and local governments are con-
cerned about the dramatic decline
in tax receipts. Maine and Idaho re-
port large drops in potato consump-
tion. Florida is worried about a large
surplus of citrus products, and the
Maryland, Louisiana, and Texas sea-
food industries are operating with
skeleton crews.
“The Great White Way is not so
bright, due to the thousands of New
York City foodservice operations that
are closed. Countless numbers of
people who depend solely on food-
service operations for their meals are
going to government-sponsored ra-
tion centers. Hundreds of weddings,
retirement parties, dinner dances,
business luncheons, and other spe-
cial functions that take place around
a meal have been postponed. Much
of the nation’s social life has come to
a standstill. …
“I have just been handed this spe-
cial bulletin. The federal govern-
ment’s special tax on meals will ex-
pire at midnight. In a few hours, you
will be able to be served at your fa-
vorite eating place.
“To sum it up, I think we all have a
better understanding of how impor-
tant the foodservice industry is to
our everyday social, economic, and
nutritional lives. It is unfortunate
that it took a nationwide shutdown
to make that point.
“In New York, this is Walter Rather,
saying good night.” While the story is
a fantasy, the results would be real.
If you have driven on an interstate highway, you have probably seen the bumper sticker on
most tractor trailers that reads “Without Trucks – America Stops.” There is no question that
these four words make a compelling argument for the trucking industry.
// INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
Fred G. Sampson,President of Sampson Consulting, Inc.
fredgsampson@juno.com
WITH FRED SAMPSON
What If …? A Fantasy
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