Consulting

“Customization” a Food Trend I Can Live With

Posted by on Feb 8, 2012 in Consulting, Menu Development, News | 0 comments

I tend to agree with a few of these trends. I especially believe in the customization trend. I started my business partly because I was tired of seeing the same items menus across the city. Chicken Ceasar especially. Why? I wanted to help culinary teams fine their “inner groove”. The top five food trends according to a culinarian | QSRweb.com. Every kitchen has a soul. It is a collaboration of many factors and each should have a unique identity. Just because some else has it on the menu does it mean you have to. I have termed this the “vanilla” factor. Kitchens as well...

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How do people really see your menus?

Posted by on Feb 4, 2012 in Consulting, Menu Development | 1 comment

Menu writing is very important in todays market place. Have you every really thought about how they see the words on the menu. Words are a power medium. The wrong words used out of context can be devistating and bad for business. Everyone sees and interprets the words in a book diferently. Some guests who are detailed orientated my see a spelling mistake and become annoyed, they don’t see the great combination of flavors on the menu. They start looking for more mistakes. Are they focused on choosing dinner or commenting on your bad english. Sequencing of words is also overlooked...

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A Catering Christmas Story

Posted by on Jan 6, 2012 in Consulting, Food | 0 comments

As a culinary consultant I spend many days a week in a variety of kitchens discussing ways to improve kitchen operations. Impromtu demos, menu and recipe design and coaching are always are always happening. Stepping in and out of kitchens you don’t always see immediate impact or maybe I just witness a quick fix. As we are in the height of the holiday season I visted several kitchens these past few days and was given a great gift without even unwrapping something.  It was calmness, professionalism and focus. Owners, operation managers and chef’s always know this time of year is...

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Planning a New Year’s Eve Menu

Posted by on Jan 1, 2012 in Consulting, Food, Menu Development | 0 comments

I write and develop a lot of menus over the course of a year. From small little snacks to elaborate menus for a fundraising gala based on a specific theme.  After all these years some of the questions I ask  myself when thinking about what to serve are instinctive and come very natural to me. I want to stop for a minute and take some time to write down the process I go through when putting together a menu. In this case it was putting together a menu for new year’s eve for my family and best friends.  I break down the menu writing process into several steps: Inspiration or...

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