The end of the year also marks the last day for registering in time to be eligible for a free 36-inch Crown Verity gas grill. 
December 31, 2016 will be the last day for those registering for Club & Resort Business’ 2017 Chef to Chef Conference, to be held March 5-7 at the Loews Atlanta Hotel, to earn the 5% early-bird registration discount.
Registrations also need to be completed by the end of the year to be eligible for a drawing to win a 36-inch gas grill from Crown Verity, the Brantford, Ont.-based equipment manufacturer.
The full agenda and speaker lineup for the 2017 Conference, along with registration details, can be found here.
The lineup of sessions planned for the 9th annual Chef to Chef Conference will include a wide variety of demonstration presentations by leading club chefs. In addition to sessions focusing on management and operational topics such as training and motivating staff, kitchen organization and direction, and planning a la carte and banquet menus and presentations, the Conference will provide practical insights and creative ideas for specific culinary areas such as pastry programs, wine dinners and pairings, farm-to-fork menus, and ethnic/regional fare.
The speaker lineup that has been arranged for the 2017 Chef to Chef Conference will include these presentations:
- “Club Food Matters: Building a Culture of Culinary Excellence” — Edward Leonard, CMC, The Polo Club of Boca Raton (Fla.) As part of a demonstration presentation, Certified Master Chef Leonard will explain his philosophy of “sensible creativity” and his never-ending quest to always provide extraordinary food for members and guests.
- “Creating Everyday Condiments, Sauces and Beverages from Your Harvest” — Andrea Griffith, Executive Chef, Pursell Farms, Sylacauga, Ala. At Pursell Farms, which includes the FarmLinks Golf Club, Chef Griffith grows almost everything she plates. As part of a demonstration presentation, she will explain how her farm-to-fork concept leads to special menu offerings and presentations for the property’s guests.
- “Applying Restaurant Philosophies to Create Exciting New Concepts in Banquet Planning, Preparation and Presentation” — Simon Lewis, Executive Chef, The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, Calif. Chef Lewis will explain how he applies his experience gained as a Joel Robuchon restaurant chef to produce memorable parties at one of America’s most iconic clubs.
- “Doing More with Less: Running Multiple Concepts Off One Line” — JohnMichael Lynch, Executive Country Club, Interlachen Country Club, Edina, Minn. Chef Lynch will explain how good organization and sound menu design can help to overcome even the tightest kitchen-space constraints.
- “Keeping F&B on a Roll: Food Trucks, Pop-Ups and Other Successful Surprises” — Philippe Reynaud, Senior Director Culinary Operations, Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, Fla. Chef Reynaud will describe how Ocean Reef Club continually seeks to reinvent how and where it provides exciting new culinary concepts to members and guests throughout its property.
- “Managing and Training to a Standard That Transmits to Other Departments” — Brian Beland, CMC, Executive Chef and Food & Beverage Manager, The Country Club of Detroit, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. Certified Master Chef Beland will share insights and details about the great lengths that CCD’s F&B team takes to guarantee nothing less than perfect service.
- “Leading and Motivating a Culinary Brigade” — Andrea Van Willigan, Executive Chef, Bel-Air Country Club, Los Angeles, Calif. Chef Van Willigan will highlight proven inspirational approaches for motivating her teams that she has drawn from her career experience, which includes opening restaurants for Gordon Ramsay of “Hell’s Kitchen” fame and now at one of America’s top private clubs.
- “Garde Manger Design for All Seasons” — Jonn Ken Nishiyama, Garde Manger Chef, Cherokee Town & Country Club, Atlanta. In his demonstration presentation, Chef Nishiyama will demonstrate innovative ways to wow your membership with creative decorating ideas for catering and banquet events that can be planned and assembled with or without the help of maintenance departments.
- “World of Flavors: Bringing the Latin American ‘Revolution’ to American Kitchens” — Nelson Millan, Executive Chef, San Antonio Country Club. In his demonstration presentation, Chef Millan, who is also a Chef Instructor at the Culinary Institute of America’s San Antonio campus, will show how American chefs can find their own culinary independence through the Latin flavors, ingredients and techniques that continue to gain popularity.
- “Pastry For All Purposes” — John Cornely, Executive Chef, and James Satterwhite, Pastry Chef, Charlotte (N.C.) Country Club. In this demonstration session, Chefs Cornely and Satterwhite will collaborate to present ideas for making full use of pastry’s versatility, not only for desserts but also for savory menu items such as tarts, pasta, doughs, etc. They will also provide insights for maximizing the efficiency of pastry operations within club kitchens.
- “Keeping the Passion in Wine Programs” — Terry Boston, Executive Chef, Des Moines Golf & Country Club, West Des Moines, Iowa. Chef Boston will draw on his experiences with Des Moines G&CC’s exemplary wine-dinner program to provide tips for special steps and approaches that can be taken with menu development, marketing and promotion, presentation and service to keep wine programs fresh and creative.
The 2017 Chef to Chef Conference will also include a keynote address after Sunday night’s opening dinner by Michael Leemhuis, President of Ocean Reef Club, on “Shaping Your Personal Future: Characteristics and Traits of Successful Hospitality Leaders.”
The 2017 Conference agenda will also include a General Managers’ Panel on “Maximizing Success and Satisfaction in Your Club Careers.” In a session that emphasizes audience Q&A and interchange, General Managers of clubs with exemplary culinary reputations will provide insights from their career experiences into the keys for successful chef-GM relationships, and for how to best address and devise workable solutions for the operational and management issues that commonly arise in all club F&B and culinary programs. Presenters and participants in this session will include: Kevin Carroll, CCM, General Manager and COO, Atlanta Athletic Club, Johns Creek, Ga.; Joe Krenn, CCM, Chief Operating Officer & General Manager, Farmington Country Club, Charlottesville, Va., and Brett Morris, General Manager/COO, The Polo Club of Boca Raton (Fla.).
The 2017 Conference agenda will also include a return of the always-popular “Chef to Chef Live” breakout sessions moderated by Jerry Schreck, Executive Chef, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa., and other leading club chefs, during which attendees can participate in free-flowing interchanges on a variety of topics that are always of interest and concern to all club chefs.
Registration information can be found here. Those registering prior to December 31, 2016 will qualify for an “early bird” discount and be entered into a drawing to win a 36-inch, Crown Verity gas grill.
