Offered at no additional charge, the sessions provided new opportunities to learn about a variety of operational and management areas.
At the Eighth Annual Chef to Chef Conference in San Diego, which was held February 28 – March 2, 2016 a slate of pre-conference bonus sessions, presented by event sponsors, provided attendees with a unique opportunity to get even more out of the annual Conference.
The sessions were held on Sunday afternoon before the opening Chef to Chef bistro, where attendees had a chance to mix and mingle over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.
The pre-conference session topics included:
- Harnessing the Power of Low-Temp Steam. Presented by Alto-Shaam, this session explored the many functions and benefits of combi-ovens.
- The Challenges of Food Transport and Safety, from 50 Feet to 50 Miles. Presented by Cres Cor, this session covered a full range of equipment-related food storage, transport and handling issues.
- The Power of Blast Chilling: How a Blast of Freezing Air Improves Everything in a Kitchen. Presented by Electrolux, this session offered practical tips on how to increase shelf life and reduce waste.
- Strategic Planning for the Kitchen: Engaging the Entire Culinary Team in Current and Future Operations and Planning. Presented by Kopplin & Kuebler, this session walked attendees through each step in the strategic-planning process, including identifying core values, creating a culinary mission statement, performing a SWOT analysis, and writing and implementing a strategic plan.
- Big Profits. Rave Reviews. Full Houses: How Glassware Can Help Expand Your Business and Build Your Brand Reputation. Presented by Libbey Foodservice, an interactive demo by Master Mixologist Chad Berkey showed attendees how to elevate a beverage program with garnishes, glassware and culinary savvy.
- Exploring the Physiology of Taste and Flavor (“The Umami Bomb”). Presented by Minor’s, this session explored the scientific and practical side of flavor development.
- Cooking Equipment Essentials. Presented by Montague, this session focused on how to develop flexibility in cooking-equipment selections, to allow for changing menus and to reduce wasted movement and downtime, while increasing operational and equipment productivity and lifespans.
- Increasing Efficiency: Working With Your Group Purchasing Organization. Presented by PAPC, this session offered useful tips on how to work with a GPO to maximize savings, spend less time on deliveries and write fewer checks to fewer suppliers.
- It’s Just Coffee, Right? Recapturing Clubs’ Rightful Place in the Habits and Routines of Members. Presented by S&D Coffee & Tea, this session explored how an inspired approach to coffee and tea products and service can produce some of the highest-margin items on a menu.
The sessions proved especially successful because they allowed attendees and sponsors to have a direct dialogue in a non-commercial, educational setting.
“The sponsor session allowed us to be face-to-face with the chefs to discuss in detail what was important to them about a kitchen range,” said Craig C. Smith. CEC, CCE, CFSP, Eastern Regional Manager/Corporate Executive Chef with The Montague Company. “The small group was ideal for interaction.”
View the photo gallery from the 2016 Chef to Chef Conference here.
