Assigning an interview as an out-of-class activity will help your students practice networking, making connections with industry professionals and interacting in a professional manner.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

My past two “Mayo’s Clinics” have focused on out-of-classroom activities because they are an important part of a student’s education and one that we often do not have a chance to discuss or think about. In this column, we will discuss the challenges and values of using interviews as an out-of-class learning activity.

Reasons for Using Interviews
There are a number of benefits that derive from using interviews. If you give your students an assignment to interview a specific person or persons in certain positions—chef de cuisine, pastry chef, maître d’hôtel or restaurant manager—they will have to do some research on the person and prepare a list of questions to use in the interview.

If you do not make the arrangements ahead of time with persons who are willing to be interviewed or provide students with access to specific individuals, the assignment gives them experience in reaching out and contacting industry professionals, requesting an appointment and making all the appropriate arrangements for an interview. Learning this range of skills contributes dramatically to students’ professional development at an early point in their careers. Hopefully, it also helps them build some confidence in their networking skills.

Why does measuring weight, volume and temperature require training? Because each measuring instrument is only as good as the person who uses it. To that end, Chef Weiner offers a primer on measuring to share with your students.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

I have been asked to give a presentation at the June 2015 Leadership Conference in Niagara Falls on the topic of how to teach basic culinary skills in 50 minutes. Before students can braise, sauté, simmer, bake, roast, poach, etc., however, they need to know the basics of knives and they need to know how to measure.

CAFÉ’s “Gold Medal Classroom” published my four-part series, “How to Buy Knives,” in October 2010, November 2010, December 2010and January 2011. This article on measuring is written as an instruction manual for your students. Please feel free to print it out and hand it to them directly.

New cooks need to learn how to measure. Although there will be many times when you will use technique and feel in cooking, you have to understand the basics of measuring and following recipes, as well. The three most common types are measurement of liquids, measurement of solids and measurement of temperature.

Everyone benefits from a well-branded program—from faculty and staff who take pride in their institution to employers who are able to hire well-prepared graduates to donors who line up to be on a winning team.

By Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC

Jeff Bezos, CEO of amazon.com, once said: “Your brand is what other people say about you when you are not in the room.”

What is most important about this statement is that brand, when built and executed properly, is bigger than your college’s marketing campaign, more significant than what is printed in your collateral pieces or what appears on your website. Brand is what people believe you to be. Belief involves trust and loyalty, two components of success that carry any business, in this case a college culinary program, to a level of success that is measured in decades of exceeding expectations.

Of all the trends reporters and firms who generate copy near the end of each year, Baum+Whiteman is oft overlooked. Yet where U.S. F&B trends are concerned, arguably the company’s principals have their collective thumb on the proper pulse of the nation most firmly. So when they say tech is king in 2015, you can take that to the bank.

Courtesy of Baum+Whiteman

Forget cronuts and Negronis. Forget quinoa and kale. Short of putting food into our mouths, technology is upending the way dining out works. Electronic wizardry once hummed quietly in the background ... but now we’re immersed in “front-facing technology” or “guest-facing technology”: all sorts of devices and programs that interface directly with the consumer. More restaurant companies experiment with tablets ... letting guests order food and drink from their tables; play games while they’re waiting; then pay with smartphones ... meeting a waiter when an order is delivered, or when it’s time for a refill from the bar, or for upselling desserts. Tables turn faster by eliminating downtime during which little happens and customers start fidgeting.

Consumers increasingly want to know what’s in their food, says Technomic. Can restaurants produce dishes that are both wholesome and delicious? A majority of diners apparently thinks so.

Today’s healthy food tells a story, and consumers want to hear it. Recent research by Chicago-based Technomic shows that most consumers want restaurants to be more transparent about menu-item ingredients. Further, two in five consumers cite a rising concern over food additives.

Because of this growing concern, health claims that convey wholesome, pure ingredients resonate strongly. For example, consumers say fresh, natural or unprocessed attributes help improve perceived taste and health. Similarly, ingredients that naturally boost the nutrition content of an item, such as fruits and vegetables, also enhance taste and health perceptions.

“Menu transparency is imperative and can help drive sales of healthy options,” says Sara Monnette, senior director of Consumer Insights & Innovation at Technomic Inc. “Telling an ingredient’s story—whether it’s farm-raised, local or GMO-free, for instance—can directly impact consumer decisions about what to order and where to dine.”