Sysco Supports Diversity

Operating from more than 180 locations throughout the contiguous United States and portions  of Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada, Sysco's product lines are as diverse as the 40,000 associates who support its daily operations. Sysco understands that building a great company is just like creating a great product - you must maintain all the right ingredients. For us, those ingredients are the cultures, backgrounds, ideas, and experiences behind our diverse workforce that embodies Sysco.

Schwan's Food Service

Corporate Chef:

A Day in the Life

Ever wonder what it's like to be a corporate chef? Wonder no more: the four corporate chefs of Schwan's Food Service, Inc., - Kit Kiefer, CEC, CCE, AAC, FMP; Ciaran Duffy, CEC; Peter Genna; and Mike Janosik, CEC, CRC; have painted a picture here for our readership.

All four backgrounds encompass almost every aspect of foodservice, from fine dining to business, hotels, hospitals, and more. And all share qualities common to most chefs: passion, energy, attention to detail, and creativity.

While you're scrutinizing the Halibut at the fish market, choosing fresh produce or overseeing your sous staff, the many hats of the corporate chef include toque, hard hat, and hair net as they make their way through the manufacturing plant or meet with Research and Development staff. And while you're adding the finishing touches to a sauce or plating a dessert, they're hitting the road for a video shoot or a product training session with the sales force.

Typical day? There really isn't one - which is another thing they have in common with you. When they're not at the office working on new product development white paper concepts or tweaking ideas via hands-on kitchen work, they're talking to customers, supporting their sales force, or attending focus groups.

"It's a very different environment," said Peter Genna. "In a restaurant, you gear up for the lunch or dinner rush. Here, we're in the office, networking, doing ideation. The lunch rush I used to know is now the rush to get a new product to market or to get to a sales call on time."

"The job is as much about sales as it is about being a chef," continued Chef Duffy. "Along with product knowledge, you have to have a good, outgoing personality."

While they've largely left behind the 16-hour-days, six-days-a-week schedule many chefs endure, these guys certainly don't punch in at 8 and punch out at 5. Their schedules are grueling with lots of travel around the country attending trade shows and conferences, making sales calls, keeping up on their training and certifications, staying on top of trends, slogging through volumes of research, and, of course, doing plenty of restaurant hopping along the way to see what people are cooking - and eating - from coast to coast.   "Our on-the-road days it's a different world," said Mike Janosik. "It's nonstop scurrying, making presentations in front of lots of people."

"Working directly with customers one on one, developing products that make sense for that customer...bench time - that's my favorite part of the job," Corporate Executive Chef Kiefer said.

"That, and the idea of developing a product that will be consumed by millions of people," added Duffy.

Wondering whether you're cut out for the corporate life? Our chefs have a few parting thoughts.

"It's a different lifestyle," said Duffy. "It's still a business...but it's based not only on cooking but on personality and marketing. I get paid for what I know...not just for what I do."

"Understand where you want to land and work toward it," added Kiefer. "For the right person, this is a great career. We have a very strong leadership team who are well respected in the industry, and they support what we do. This is critical to our success."

Protect and Serve 

Inland Seafood was proud to help sponsor a new sustainable seafood initiative, Protect and Serve, with the Tennessee Aquarium in September. The project was a collaboration with celebrity chef Alton Brown to help people understand the sustainability and discover savory choices that can improve personal health while protecting wildlife downstream. Alton Brown is a James Beard award-winning cookbook author, host of two of Food Network's most popular shows, Good Eats and Iron Chef America. He is also a SCUBA diver who is passionate about sustainable cuisine.  

As a proponent of American seafood Brown is using Protect and Serve to encourage consumers to eat domestic product. As the bumper sticker says, Save a Truly Endangered Species, the American Fisherman. A simple solution to eating more sustainably is to purchase seafood caught or raised in the United States. Buying American not only supports U.S. jobs, but we also believe our own regulations are an important way to ensure sustainable fishing practices in wild caught or farm raised fish. Consumer demand is the driving force to help YOU, the customer, to get involved.  

Plans are underway for Protect and Serve to be presented by other aquariums on the east and gulf coasts most likely starting with the New Orleans Aquarium in 2012.  

Sustainable seafood comes down to trusting not just a product, but also the company selling the product to you. Inland Seafood is often asked about our position on sustainability as chefs and purchasing agents have become concerned about the future of our fisheries. Our customers have increasingly put high value on the importance of purchasing sustainably sourced seafood over imperiled species. We, at Inland Seafood, realize it is incumbent upon us to use our purchasing power to leverage change within the seafood supply. Your growing awareness of the value of the sustainable seafood concept is welcomed by our company. We realize you want reassurance from us that the seafood we sell is not only sustainable, but also environmentally and socially responsible, as well as being industry compliant.

Inland Seafood is keenly aware that generations of overfishing left many of our assessed fish stocks worldwide in need of management. Our oceans are vast and fragile ecosystems that cannot be managed haphazardly. Our ocean resources were our heritage when we came into the world. Every person who holds a temporary title to it owes it to future generations to leave it in better shape. That is our heritage and legacy. Inland Seafood does not take that lightly.

Vicky Murphy

vicky.murphy@inlandseafood.com    

Blockbuster Linen Service

We are your local provider of rental table linens. We provide high quality napkins, tablecloths, aprons, kitchen towels, kitchen mats, logo mats, and embroidered chef wear. Our quality control is second-to-none. Our delivery staff is trained to become familiar with your particular requirements. We are available for any special needs seven days a week.

For more information contact: 

Susan Moss

Cell 404-277-0702

smoss@southeastlinen.com