The executive chef of two-unit Saul Good Restaurant & Pub in Lexington, Ky., admits to learning a lot of hard lessons about how chefs and owners should get along, but he’s gotten a crash course in doing it the right way from founder Rob Perez. Chef Mayer shares some insights into why he believes “ours is not the typical owner-operator and chef relationship.”

By Jeffrey Mayer

I’m like a lot of chefs: a culinary dreamer who has a certain philosophy about the foods I want to cook. But when I first started talking to Rob about Saul Good, I saw the opportunity to work with him as a chance to learn a hell of a lot from a successful, business-savvy guy, somebody who knows how to make a whole concept work.

The recent Farming for the Future Conference promoted new ideas and learning to the benefit of all.

By Jamie Moore

I recently organized the 2012 “Sustainability in the Food Service Industry” pre-conference sessions at the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture’s (PASA) 21^st-annual Farming for the Future Conference, which brought together more than 2,000 farmers, processors, consumers, students, environmentalists, business and community leaders and chefs.

These sessions, which placed both noncommercial and commercial foodservice professionals in the same room as farmers, are an important step in understanding each other’s needs and challenges. As a PASA board member, I created “Sustainability in the Food Service Industry” in 2011 to give local producers a forum to introduce their products to chefs primarily from Parkhurst Dining (a division of Eat’n Park Hospitality Group). From there, our chefs took what they learned to new levels.

A student club at The Culinary Institute of America serves to enlighten and call to action on global social issues.

By Fareez Dossani

What an exciting time to be a part of the hospitality industry! Chefs are revolutionizing the way the entire world is eating. Never have we, as a society, been so conscious of our food. It’s great that Americans are beginning to question where there food is coming from, but we must become more well-informed and ask if the food we purchase is fairly traded.

The local food movement has made great strides in reducing carbon footprints and teaching civil society to take advantage of the resources available at our fingertips. But we thrive on those commodity products that cannot grow on American soil, such as coffee and chocolate. This is where the notion of fair trade comes into play. Generally speaking, the global population is unaware of the labor-intensive process that takes place in order to produce that sweet cup of morning joe, which fuels our groggy mornings and those midday slumps.

Women Chefs & Restaurateurs’ 2011 Educator of the Year acknowledges that any chef can serve virtually anything any time of year. But what have we sacrificed? Today’s culinary student is caught in the middle.

By JoAnne E. Cloughly

Some people say the Farm to Table movement is past tense. On the contrary, it is running full swing. When you think about what Farm to Table means, logic tells us that it means bringing fresh food from the farm to the dining table. It means supporting our local producers—the small family farm, the beekeeper, the rancher, the vineyards and much more. The results are keeping these businesses “in business” and, in exchange, being the recipient of the freshest products possible.

Of the three things you can manage—cost, quality and quantity—you can realistically only manage two. Or so thought the Institute for the Culinary Arts at Metropolitan Community College     .

By James E. Trebbien, CCE, CCA

Omaha, according to some of the people who study such things, has more restaurants per capita than any other U.S. city. In addition to this amazing number of restaurants, the menu is varied, diverse, excellent and reasonably priced. The quality of the restaurants is excellent. As in most major metropolitan areas, to be a chef or restaurant manager in Omaha takes a lot of education and knowledge because of the competition, choices, culinary talent and business sophistication.