Creating a Recipe for Success

By John Kinsella, CMC, CCE, WGMC, AAC

As I open our first convention, I would like to reflect on the successes we have achieved since taking office. First, not one of us could have contemplated the terrible storms and the suffering that our members would endure in our southern states, nor could we have anticipated the generosity of our members and the outpouring of love and assistance.

Team work is the first ingredient in our recipe for success, and this year, your board of directors has become a team, supported by the team at the national office.

Our corporate-relations staff is working with our leadership, our convention vendors and, most importantly, our corporate partners to develop marketing programs that provide a return on investment for all parties. Our partners have given us the ability to move supportive funding for Culinary Team USA out of foundation funds and into a stronger role through innovative marketing tools and new advances for their products. We thank Unilever Foodsolutions, Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Tyson Foods, Inc. and Uncle Ben's for their generous support. We are honored to have a winning team to represent the United States in international competition.

These companies are also supporting us in the areas of student membership and convention sponsorship, and they are helping us to strategically place ourselves to recruit members. Tyson is sponsoring 1,000 junior members in 2007, and colleges are creating culinary clubs that will draw students we can enroll as junior members. I believe that we will see other schools getting on board with this project, and the chapters where these schools are located will have a responsibility to ensure that the students are nurtured, welcomed and retained.

I had the honor to represent you at the WACS Congress in Auckland. I congratulate Ferdinand Metz, CMC, AAC; Edward Leonard, CMC, AAC; and Edwin Brown, HAAC, for their stellar leadership in making WACS the great organization it has become. I am proud of the respect that the other member countries have for the United States.

Each board member oversees a task force or committee, and soon you will see an initial report from the strategic-planning committee. Then, the membership task force will review the membership structure and come up with a plan to allow us to embrace a more modern approach to membership and increase our younger-culinarian market.

Our national secretary and vice presidents are developing and instituting plans to use communications vehicles in the regions to grow membership. The publications task force is reviewing how we deliver our message in both electronic and print forms. We are making great strides in accreditation, certification testing and Web-based training. Our plans include more testing centers and proctors and, most of all, instituting a national examination commission to continue to improve our standards.

We are taking our certification programs to the next level by joining the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). To create a lifetime growth pattern for every culinarian, we need to provide a seamless educational approach to certification.

The accrediting commission is seeking recognition by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to accredit culinary management bachelor degree programs. This is a huge step in the industry. The commission is the only accreditation body recognized by CHEA to grant accreditation for culinary and foodservice diploma, certificate and associate degree programs. The board believes that we must continue to set high standards to attract both domestic and international institutions of higher education.

As we take over our regional conferences and the national convention, we will establish a seamless process that will aid our sponsor partners, as well as ensure the best opportunities for our members.

Within the year, the American Academy of Chefs will elect a new chair and vice chair to continue its great traditions. The board sees the AAC as a vital cornerstone in the future of younger members, and it is important that we support our academy members in these efforts.

The Chef & Child Foundation is aggressively taking a leadership role in the war on childhood obesity. We need to get behind these efforts, so please give generously at the CCF auction being held at this convention.

So, simply put, our recipe for success has these ingredients: 20% each team work; an open mind; insightfulness; the courage to make purposeful changes; and working together to ensure a solid future for us all. Mix well--and watch us succeed.