Editor’s Note: This special feature focuses on professional chefs from various facets of the foodservice industry. Culinarians answer questions delving into their views of current foodservice developments and how culinary students can obtain positions within different industries. Introduce your students to a plethora of foodservice career options. Click here to view the previous profiles.

In what foodservice area do you work?
I work in the culinary center at Land O’Lakes Foodservice, which provides Performance Dairy products for restaurants, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and other operators. The center is an extension of Land O’Lakes’ research and development department.

Unlike most other foodservice manufacturers, we’re a farmer-owned cooperative, which means we operate for the benefit of our farmer-owners, rather than outside investors. We are based in Minnesota and have farmer-owners across the country. Our focus is on developing an array of high-performance cheese, butter, sauce, cream and other dairy-centric products that meet operators, chefs and culinary staff where they are today.

Briefly describe your position.
In many ways, I’m at Land O’Lakes to represent the interest of our customers, foodservice operators, ensuring we’re developing dairy products that meet their needs the right way. For example, if we know restaurants are dealing with labor shortages, my role is to help ensure we’re creating cheese sauces that help chefs run their kitchens more efficiently without cutting corners. 

What’s exciting about working for a producer like Land O’Lakes is that no two days are the same, which keeps it very interesting. I do everything from research and marketing to gathering consumer insights to helping the sales team develop outreach strategies to meeting with customers to create content we share on our marketing channels. And, sometimes, I’ll don my chef coat and spend the day in our test kitchen, testing recipes and refining new approaches. It’s really an integral position.

Where do you see your foodservice area in five years?
Culinary centers have already started to shift from tactics to strategy and will only continue to do so. At Land O’Lakes, I’m not spending my time testing products in the kitchen day in and day out. Rather, I’m part of a smart and creative team helping solve problems for the businesses we represent. With this strategy-first approach, we’re able to pivot how we support operators in an ever-evolving industry, and that will only become even more imperative as the years go by.

Describe two current foodservice trends you are seeing right now.
First, I’m seeing chefs drop constraints and move across culinary boundaries to create their own dishes by using ingredients from all over the world. They’re changing the perception of what a dish is expected to be. For example, I’m seeing chefs for Japanese cuisine using Italian ingredients and Italian chefs incorporating Japanese. Maybe it’s a way we’re dealing with coming out of the pandemic, but chefs seem more than ever to want to play with all the crayons in the box.

Second, I’m seeing wood-fired cuisine take off in a major way. We’re seeing chefs and line cooks mastering the fundamentals of feeding and maintaining a wood-fired oven in their restaurants. This is a whole new ballgame for restaurants, giving dishes a primal flavor and character. It’s interesting to see this more complex trend in the face of a labor shortage, but it’s also a differentiator for restaurants, allowing chefs to show off their prowess and expertise.

Not to mention, as a cheese lover, I have to say a wood-fired oven is the best way to make pizza anyway, and our performance cheeses are ideal for holding up to this culinary technique.

What steps would you advise culinary graduates to take in securing a position in today's market?
They probably have heard this before, but it bears repeating: Learn the fundamentals and do things the right way, even if it takes more time to master. Speed and efficiency will come, creativity will come, high-profile roles will come, but none of that lasts if you don’t master the fundamentals of prep and cooking.

Please describe one surprising event in your professional life that made a valuable impact on your career today.
I was in my 20s, working in a restaurant, and we were coming into the holiday season in which I had a lot of vacation time booked. But then my grandfather died, and I asked my boss if I could take even more time off for the funeral and my family. My boss – a great guy – said, “Of course, Billy. Remember, we just cook food here.” It puts into perspective what really matters: You have to put your life first. This is only food. I’ve seen so many good cooks and chefs blow themselves up because they didn't have balance. It doesn’t matter how much passion you have, if you don’t find balance, you’ll burn yourself out. There will always be wonderful opportunities for the people who follow these basic rules.

About Chef Daniel “Billy” Kalil
Chef Billy has been in the foodservice industry for more than 17 years with experience in fine dining across the Twin Cities, including four James Beard nominated restaurants.

In 2005, he earned his associate degree of applied science in culinary arts from the Art Institutes International Minnesota and, in 2017, earned his bachelor’s degree in food science from the University of Minnesota. He went on to join the Land O’Lakes R&D team in 2017 and, in 2019, he put the chef coat back on when he joined the Land O’Lakes Culinary Center.