Welcome to Ask Our Chef! Once a week our Executive Corporate Chef, Ken Good will give; helpful hints, interesting facts, share favorite recipes and enlighten the readers on general food preparation. For you Foodies out there, this blog will be great fun! Feel free to comment or ask questions as Chef Ken teaches us a few tricks of the trade.
Hello, my name is Kenneth Good. I am the Corporate Executive Chef at Ettline and welcome you to the Ettline Chef Blog. I am a Johnson & Wales University graduate with an AAS in Culinary Arts from Providence, Rhode Island. I have been in the Culinary Arts field for over 20 years and am currently working towards my CEC certification. I am married to a Pastry Arts Instructor and have 4 boys and live in Dallastown. I have worked in all aspects of the industry from Diners, Pizza Shops, Culinary Instructor, high end catering to Country Clubs. Ettline hired me as their Corporate Executive Chef in September of 2007, where I also serve as Center of the Plate Specialist and Equipment Specialist. Working with customers to assist them with their business needs – from menu development and analysis to costing food and staff training – is just part of what makes my job so rewarding. I look forward to sharing tips of the trade with you on a regular basis.
Ken, Just wondering what you’ve seen through the summer as the hottest trend in the center of the plate and what we should be looking for coming into fall as a good item to use price point wise. Thanks for your help,
Chef Jesse B.
Upcoming trends for the fall and holiday seasons, will be small plates and “tasting” menus, this results from customer interest surveys. Customers are seeking better a price point on similar type items and will ultimately help drive sales. Chefs/restaurant owners can look at selling multiple plates to one customer or tasting menus for the table. My recommendations are to take that concept across the menu to include appetizers and desserts.
In addition, I would also focus on more of the seasonal vegetables for your fall menus. Reviewing another article vegetables should be plentiful and price point attractive.
As far as the market outlook, after speaking with our purchasing staff and market reports as of this week, there are no definitive answers. With the value of the dollar, current overseas financial situations, petroleum fluctuations and stock market futures changing daily (sometimes hourly) there is nothing firm to state right now. For example this week the price of live weight cattle is up, but the price of cut cattle is down. I would keep in close contact with your Ettline sales reps and let them help you with our weekly features and menu recommendations.
Thanks for the inquiry Chef Jesse B!