Final Speaker Lineup Announced for C&RB’s 2010 “Chef to Chef” Conference

Former White House Chef, Walter Scheib, To Keynote

by Joe Barks (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
January 2010
 

The full lineup of speakers for the Club & Resort Business 2010 Chef to Chef Conference, to be held March 7-9, 2010 at the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach, Fla., has been finalized and posted on the Conference website (www.CheftoChefConference.com). Full speaker biographies, along with complete registration information for the Conference (which has limited capacity, and has already passed the halfway mark for signups), can also be found on the site.

The 2010 Chef to Chef Conference will follow the success of the inaugural Club and Resort Business Chef to Chef Conference, which was held in February 2009 at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas. Once again, registrants attending the 2010 Chef to Chef Conference will qualify for accreditation credits from the American Culinary Federation and the Club Managers Association of America.

After an opening reception on Sunday night, March 7 that will feature hors d'oeuvres from recipes submitted by Conference presenters and registrants, the educational portion of the 2010 Chef to Chef Conference will begin on Monday, March 8, with a Keynote Presentation by former White House Chef Walter Scheib (author of White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen).

Prior to his White House experience, Scheib led the culinary team as Executive Chef at the famed Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. His career also includes experience as Executive Chef at the Boca Raton (Fla.) Resort and Club. He now heads The American Chef^TM, which provides businesses and organizations with ideas for unique approaches to group cooking events and other special-event concepts.

Scheib will start the Conference with remarks on The Next Big Opportunities for Club Cuisine and other insights around this year's Conference theme, "Making Club Cuisine Special."

Educational sessions following Scheib's keynote address on Monday will include:

• Leadership Lessons From a Chef, presented by Charles M. Carroll, CEC, AAC, Executive Chef, River Oaks Country Club,  Houston, Tex. Chef Carroll will draw this presentation from his widely acclaimed book, Leadership Lessons from a Chef: Finding Time to Be Great and his subsequent experiences traveling around the United States to share his messages with culinary students, chefs, industry professionals and executives. Winner of over seventy national and international awards, including three Presidential Medallions from the American Culinary Federation, Chef Carroll held Executive Chef positions at Oak Hill Country Club (Rochester, N.Y.) and The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in New Hampshire before joining River Oaks, which has 1,500 members and a culinary staff of 61, and is currently rated as the number-four country club in the U.S.

• Innovations in Club Dining, presented by William P. McMahon, Sr., AIA, OAA, Chairman, McMahon Group, Inc., St. Louis, Mo. McMahon Group is a full-service consulting firm that has worked with more than 1,200 private clubs around the world. McMahon Group also co-sponsors (with Club & Resort Business) the Excellence in Club Management Awards, and frequently conducts comprehensive surveys for reports that help to identify emerging trends in club operations. In this session, William P. McMahon, Sr. will provide insights into the keys to successful food and beverage operations in club settings and present a preview of findings and trends from a new, survey-based report on Innovations in Club Dining that McMahon Group will be releasing in March 2010.

• New Spins on Old Classics, presented by Vincent Horville, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C. Through live cooking demonstrations Chef Horville will show in this session how exciting new life can be brought to even the most tired of club-menu standards-even to the point of turning "old favorites" into distinctive, signature items.

• Good Food + Proper Nutrition = Healthful (and Profitable) Dining, presented by Patrick Wilson, PC-III, WCC, CCA, CEC, ACE, FMP, Executive Chef and House Manager, The Saint Andrew's Golf Club, Hastings On Hudson, N.Y. In this session Wilson will describe how menus must change with the times, even at America's oldest continuously existing golf club. One of only two chefs in the world who is an ACF-approved examiner and has also completed the Pro Chef exams, Wilson will describe how he has created and positioned a "Modern Fare" menu option-featuring items that are lower in price, smaller in portion, more healthful, and that allow for quicker service-that now enjoys separate-but-equal status at St. Andrew's along with more traditional dishes, which are presented as "Club Fare."

The Monday program for the 2010 Chef to Chef Conference will conclude with a two-hour "live" version of Club & Resort Business' popular "Chef to Chef" feature, during which Jerry Schreck, Executive Chef of Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa., will chair a panel of 2010 Chef to Chef Conference presenters in a format that will emphasize audience participation and questions, to generate candid and practical exchanges about the hands-on subjects facing every club and resort property. In addition to issues raised by the audience, discussion topics to be explored during this session will include:

                  -    Establishing a true and unique F&B identity for your property
                  -    How to make both the front and back of the house look good - at the same time!
                  -    Off-season planning: approaches and techniques that stick|
                  -    Finding, and tapping, new sources of creative culinary energy
                  -    Effective communications techniques to make those old habits not only die hard, but quickly
                  -    Catching the train on changing culinary trends, before it's completely left the station
                  -    The Organization Men (and Women)-Building a permanent structure for your kitchen and your people
                  -    Change is Good-When, and how, to reconfigure equipment, change décor, revamp buffet setups, etc.
                  -    Recipe Research: Finding what you need and using what you find
                  -    Facilities Maintenance: The best ways to save costs while staying safe and clean|
                  -    Hiring & Training: Effective approaches for doing more than just "filling the hole"

Monday's Conference activities will conclude with the Chef to Chef Dine-Around Reception and Dinner, where club and resort chef attendees and presenters will prepare small plates at live demonstration stations. There will also be passed hors d'oeuvres, desserts and an open bar, and special sponsor displays.

 

The Conference will then resume on Tuesday, March 9 with these additional educational sessions:

• The Chef's Expanded Role, presented by Kevin Cottle, Executive Chef at The Country Club of Farmington, in Farmington, Conn., and Matt Murphy, Clubhouse Manager of Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. The session will focus on why, and how, club and resort chefs must now be involved in critical areas that extend well beyond the kitchen, including:

                  - Developing, selling and keeping memberships
                  - Growing revenues and profits-in all operating areas
                  - Long-range strategic planning and implementation

• Kitchen Equipment/Design. To show how to make the best use of equipment and space to improve operating efficiencies, Brad Cornwall, Executive Chef at Blackrock Country Club in Hingham, Mass., will join with Kevin Cromwell, formerly Executive Chef of Charles River Country Club, Newton, Mass., to provide insights from their experiences with both the creation of new kitchens and the retrofitting or reorganization of existing ones.

• Buy vs. Make. Robert Wysong, Executive Chef at The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island (S.C.) Golf Resort, will draw on his experience as 20-year culinarian with private clubs (The Pensacola (Fla.) CC), resorts (The Grove Park Inn and Spa in Asheville, N.C.), independent restaurants and a luxury hotelier (The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, Fla.) to help sort through the options that must be weighed and decisions that must be made to make the right choices about food costs and labor options, without sacrificing quality or the value of fresh-made product.

• Wine/Spirits Pairings. Clive Smith, Clubhouse Manager of Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa., will co-present with Randa Warren, a Master Sommelier who frequently conducts private seminars and classes for country clubs and resorts, to discuss topics including:

                  - how to fully tap the potential of beverage sales, both as stand-alone purchases and as an integral part of all dining occasions
                  - developing real wine expertise on your staff
                  - maximizing by-the-glass sales
                  - boosting revenues through private wine-room dinners and from a fully stocked wine cellar
                  - the value of an accredited sommelier

• Revving up Takeout/Fast Casual Revenues. Christopher Ropp, Executive Chef at Kenwood Country Club, Cincinnati, Ohio, will provide insights on this fast-growing extension of club and resort food-and-beverage programs. Specific topics to be explored will include:

                  - Turning holidays into take-home occasions
                  - Overcoming the potential stumbling blocks of takeout (legal, tax and philosophical) and getting past "we can't do that"
                  - Making the best use of available technology to promote and track carry-out sales

• Making Catering Events Special. Gerald Schmidt, Executive Chef and Director of Culinary for Linger Longer Communities (which encompasses Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. and its 11 food-and-beverage outlets at various clubhouse venues on the property), will draw from his experiences in building up a $6 million operation through a variety of special events to help suggest new ways to inject excitement and innovation-and greater profitability-into all aspects of the all-important catering side of the business.