Moving Forward with a True Purpose

By John Kinsella, CMC, CCE, WGMC, AAC

The true purpose of our federation is growth, and during the past two years we have built strong relationships to assure that growth. We are bringing into our federation every year more than 3,000 certified culinarians. These young people are the future of this organization, and without them we are definitely not going to progress and grow. I thank such fine institutions as Johnson & Wales University, Midwest Culinary Institute, The Art Institutes and Le Cordon Bleu Schools North America for their dedication in achieving this goal. I also thank Tyson Foods, Inc. for its investment in the future of these young people.

Unilever Foodsolutions continues to support our Chef of the Year award, ACF Culinary Team USA, and the national convention and regional conferences. Without R.L. Schreiber, we would not have a junior hot-food competition, and without Nestlé FoodServices, our Chef Professionalism award would not exist. Our Student Culinarian of the Year award is sponsored by Custom Culinary, Inc., and Splenda sponsors the Pastry Chef of the Year award.

We are bringing on new sponsors, and these great companies are showing dedication to us as a federation. I am deeply grateful to them.

With the contributions of these companies and their generosity, we will grow and be able to fund our present programs. But there is a shortfall. We still need to find sponsors for the following programs: Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl; and Chef Educator of the Year.

In the next year, I would like to see more certified culinarians and chef members receiving grants and scholarships to continue their education so that they can grow professionally within their companies. We have changed the focus of scholarships to enable us to assist a professional chef in his or her studies. Some of you will balk at this plan, but it is a fact that most of our culinary students are accessing scholarships from their institutions, thanks to the efforts of faculty and the fundraising activities within these institutions.

On another note, we will be following the recommendation of the certification auditor's report, which was received at our board meeting in Chicago in May. The first step in this process will be to select certification levels and write a job analysis for each one. The second stage, after understanding and accepting the competencies for each certification level, will be to set a national curriculum so that our certified culinarians will be able to progress through the certification system. To do this properly, we will need to set up a certification commission that will be independent, like our accrediting commission, to set the standards, testing systems and training of all the exam proctors that we need to be successful. This process will take two to three years, and it will be arduous. I ask you for your patience until we get this done. This is the only way that we can argue for licensure, and I believe every chef should be a practicing licensed professional.

As we move forward, there can be no room for the good-old-boy system. As long as I am your president, I will work to see that we have an open-door policy and stand accountable to you, the members.

Finally, remember that our new chef members and culinarians have a different set of values than we did when we were their age. They do not want to work 80-hour weeks, they want more time for their family and friends, and their standard of education is going to be much higher than that of my generation. They are certainly a fresh breeze in our profession, and I am assured that they will continue to grow the American Culinary Federation in the foreseeable future.

We should not fear change and growth; rather, we should embrace it. In the words of St. Francis, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Let's garner the courage and the wisdom to help us grow. Our members will thank us and, most of all, our standing in the culinary profession will be recognized as the finest in the world.