Current Newsletter
ifec newsletter
june 30, 2010
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President's message
Turning up the heat
So much for the lazy, hazy days of summer. For IFEC members, this summer may be hazy but it's certainly not lazy. Our conference team is working hard to put together the upcoming 2010 Annual Conference in New Orleans, creating a program involving seminars, Office Hours, Chefs Showcase and Food Tours to benefit all IFEC members. Stay tuned for updates!
Cookbook donations
In true IFEC spirit, we've also been looking for ways the 2010 Conference can benefit our host city of New Orleans. Community Service Committee Chairs Mary Humann and John Scoggins have hit on a unique need that our membership is well positioned to satisfy. The Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) lost more than 900 cookbooks during Hurricane Katrina, and is looking to rebuild its collection. I suspect that, like me, each of you has shelves packed with cookbooks. Please bring those you are willing to part with to New Orleans, or else ship them to the address below. SoFab is seeking all types of cookbooks -- from hard-bound to spiral bound, from chef's recipes to church social recipes -- featuring cuisines from all corners of the globe. Menus from Southern restaurants are also on the wish list. Any menus from roadside cafes to fine dining restaurants are welcome.
The IFEC goal is to donate 400 cookbooks and menus. I've got a cool dozen all ready to go, and will undoubtedly come up with some more as I renovate my own kitchen this summer. Surely there are a few culinary gems on your shelves that SoFab can house for the benefit of food historians, researchers and scholars, as well as curious foodies! Please donate to this very IFEC-worthy cause. Note that SoFab is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to the discovery, understanding and celebration of the culture of food and drink in the South. For more information, visit www.southernfood.org.
Ship books to:
Southern Food & Beverage Museum
ATTN: IFEC Cookbook Collection
1 Poydras St., #169
New Orleans, LA 70130
The value of cookbooks and shipping costs may be tax deductible. For an acknowledgement/ tax donation letter, please include your name/address/email inside shipped donation boxes and/or inside books dropped off at the IFEC conference.
Product Presentations
Summer is speeding along, bringing the early bird deadline for Product Presentation applications and other sponsorships for the Annual Conference ever closer: July 15. To help you take advantage of the great opportunities available, go to your "My Membership" page on the IFEC website and select "Product Presentations" from the menu in the box on the left to see the rules and categories. Click on "Apply Now" to sign up. Questions? Ideas? Please contact Carol at ifec@aol.com or 845-229-6973.
Future conference sites
While I can hardly see beyond the November conference in New Orleans, we are a forward-thinking organization, so please note that Nashville will play host to our 2012 Annual Conference (dates TBD). I know I'm looking forward to visiting that great city for some music and tasty morsels; that is, right after we take Washington, DC by storm in 2011.
Thanks to all the great IFECers working on our conference and all our member services.
Stay cool and try to have a lazy day at some point this summer!
Warm regards,
Donna
Donna Hood Crecca
Nightclub & Bar Magazine
IFEC Institute in New Orleans
Here's a message from IFEC Institute Moderator Ed Hoffman, Porter & Novelli, announcing the 2010 program, whose working title is "Harness the Power of Actionable Creative Thinking for a Competitive Edge."
Today's business climate is changing at lightning speed in new and unexplored ways. And the foodservice industry is no exception, calling for innovative and original solutions to be successful. When resources are tight, yet challenges are more daunting, it's time for a new approach.
Join your IFEC friends and colleagues at this year's IFEC Institute for an engaging and interactive workshop focused on actionable creative thinking. Led by ThinkShop, a leading innovation consultancy, you'll learn how to use a simple and flexible process for generating ideas to solve all kinds of challenges. We'll explore how creative people and organizations use diversity, freshness, momentum, realness and even absurdity to bring new ideas to market. And like previous Institute workshops, you'll leave with practical tips and tools that you can begin using right away in your professional and personal life.
We hope you'll join us prior to the start of the 2010 IFEC Conference in New Orleans. You may register for the Institute at the same time as the conference. Registration opens on July 19th.
What: IFEC INSTITUTE 2010 in New Orleans
When: Monday, November 8, 2010
Time: 9 am to 1:30 pm (lunch included)
Cost: $75
Congratulations
To Amber Hensley on her promotion to Director of Communication Strategy for Noble.
To ConAgra Foods for its in-kind food donation of more than 42,000 pounds along with a check for $25,000 to Iowa Homeless Youth Centers. Their contributions were made June 23rd as part of Al Roker's Lend a Hand Today visit. ConAgra Foods and the ConAgra Foods Foundation have donated more than $48 million and more than 232 million pounds of food to end child hunger since 1993.
To Ellen Koteff on her new post as editor-in-chief of the new FoodChannel PRO website. Ellen is host of "The Leaders with Guts" video series which debuted during the NRA Show with her interview of Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group in New York City.
To Melinda Morgan and her team at Morgan Marketing & Public Relations LLC on receiving the designation of California Small Business of the Year from the California Small Business Association. California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore nominated the company, citing its dedication and service within the state.
To Linda Duke and Duke Marketing, LLC, on their new client, Tavistock Restaurants, LLC. Duke will handle public relations for the Emeryville, Cal.-based company and its restaurant concepts, which include Freebirds World Burrito, Sapporo, California Cafe, Napa Valley Grille, Blackhawk Grille, Alcatraz Brewing Company, Cafe del Rey and ZED451.
Amelia and Blake Receive IFEC Awards
The recipients of IFEC's 2010 Professional Development Awards are Amelia Levin and Blake Swihart. Amelia is a freelance writer and recipe developer and a 3-year IFEC member. She will receive $700 to help underwrite her participation in the International Association of Culinary Professionals' April 2010 conference in Portland, Ore. Blake, a 32-year IFEC veteran who won a Betty in 1996, is the principal of consulting firm Foodservice Solutions. He will apply his $1,500 award toward Masters of Science courses with the goal of teaching in the Masters of Food Marketing program at St. Joseph's University of Philadelphia.
Awards are in the form of reimbursements after the recipient has participated in the specified continuing education/professional development activity and provided documentation of expenses. Recipients are required to share their learnings with membership through newsletter or website articles or other means.
Since the program began in 2006, $10,210 has been distributed among 12 qualifying IFECers. Monies come from the Scholarship Fund. Details are available on the website's Professional Development Awards page, accessible from your membership page. Applications for 2011 awards will be posted August 1st.
Thanks to Committee Chair Blair Chancey and committee members Katie Ayoub,
Mary Humann, Amy Muzyka-McGuire and Jami Yanoski for selecting the recipients.
Favorite blogs
When we asked for your favorite blogs on The IFEC Network on LinkedIn, here's what we learned:
Emily Butler, Scheidermeyer & Associates, wrote: "I am doing a lot of work with blogger relations as of late. There are so many fantastic ones out there, and the photography is just brilliant. Here's a few that I personally like: The Pioneer Woman (a whole lot more than just food) http://thepioneerwoman.com/ Matt Bites http://mattbites.com/ and Smitten Kitchen http://smittenkitchen.com/.
From Ann Segerstrom, Segerstrom Communications: "I am a fan of Bret Thorn's blog, http://nrnfoodwriter.blogspot.com/ and I subscribe to the Strong Buzz (Andrea Strong, former food editor at RB). A friend of mine, Amy Sherman, has excellent content on her blog at http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/ ." And later, Ann wrote: "When I found it in my inbox this a.m., I realized I completely forgot about Patti Londre's blog, 'Worth the Whisk.' She's doing a terrific job: I enjoy her meandering detours, as well as her expertly positioned recipes. Also, her brainchild-Camp Blogaway, for bloggers on the rise - is a brilliant idea. Go, Patti." (Patti is a former long-term IFEC member.)
Katie Ayoub, Katie Ayoub Editorial Services, LLC, wrote: "I'm really enjoying Plate blogs and Bret Thorn's blog. I should read more, but time is not my friend. I dip into a few chefs' blogs now and then if they're posted on my FB wall, but none with regularity."
Two folks alerted us to their company blogs. Karen Jenkins, Creative Energy, said her new website www.cenergy.com just incorporated a blog on which she is to contribute regularly. Alexis Louie, Ketchum, recommends checking out @ppetite, a blog by the Ketchum Global Food & Nutrition practice. She says you'll see a lot of familiar Ketchumites blogging about their travels, food trends and personal culinary adventures.
Don Odiorne, Idaho Potato Commission, recommends the blog by The Honey Board's Emily Jack, http://www.honey.com/nhb/features/blog /, as well as http://onions-usa.org/onionista / And Don has a blog of his own, http://foodserviceblog.idahopotato.com /.
Do you have a favorite? Join the discussion on The IFEC Network on LinkedIn. While you're there, check out Ed Hoffman's posting about the upcoming IFEC Institute.
Web site or website?
Tomato or tomahto, potato or potahto? Now that an authority like the Associated Press has given up the fight and weighed in on the side of website, I for one think it's settled. You? The AP said the change [in its 2010 Stylebook] from "Web site" to "website" was based on increasingly common usage both in print and online. "In making the change, the Stylebook team considered responses from our staff as well as readers and users of the Stylebook. It was clear that website has become the widely accepted usage," said Darrell Christian, AP editor-at-large.
Speaking of sites on the Web, Brent Frei, Frei & Associates, who chairs the marketing and PR committee of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, tells us that WCR has launched a revitalized site at www.WomenChefs.org .
The IFEC site has two new pages in the "About IFEC" section. "Hall of Fame" lists presidents, Betty winners and conference sites through the ages, while "Membership Demographics" is just that. Check them out.
Where are they now?
Diane Ridge, former Food Management food editor, is part-timing as a culinary instructor/kitchen manager at The Viking Store in Lyndhurst (Cleveland), Ohio. She is exploring full-time opportunites in food marketing as well. You may contact her at dianeridge@sbcglobal.net .
Will you be a mentor?
We're looking for people interested in mentoring our student scholarship recipients. Here's how it works: We put your name, contact information and area(s) of expertise on a list that is e-mailed to this year's scholarship students. Some of them may contact you for career advice, job referrals, and other information. Please send me a note at ifec@aol.com if you would like to help.
Have news, business or personal? Please send it for the IFEC newsletter!
Edited by Carol Lally
Executive Director
845-229-6973
ifec@aol.com
