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Chef Training Helps Promote U.S. Products
A SUSTA Chef Training Program
The recently completed two-week culinary training course at the John Folse Culinary Institute in Thibodaux, Louisiana included nine chefs from the United Kingdom and three from Denmark. This is the third SUSTA-sponsored training of its kind. SUSTA invites key chefs from a foreign country to learn about southern cooking, food products, and history. The aim of this program is to create foreign demand for southern U.S. products.
This year's program directly complemented two on-going SUSTA promotions - the Scandinavian Pecan Promotion and the United Kingdom Regional Foods Promotion. The promotions involved chefs, buyers, and importers from the regions. SUSTA continued activity in these same markets through conducting the culinary training program.
The culinary training participants from Denmark included Chef Keld Johnsen from The Diplomat restaurant at the American Embassy in Denmark, Head Chef Jeff Foster of the prestigious Meyers Madhaus restaurant, and author Helle Bronnum Carlsen, whose published works include eleven cook books.
Chef Johnsen served as the featured demonstration cook in September's pecan promotion in Copenhagen. During the Scandinavian Pecan Promotion, he expanded his pecan recipe repertoire, gained knowledge about the use of pecans in the southern U.S., and developed ideas to increase the demand for pecans. Chef Carlsen is committed to publicizing her experience to advance demand and sales of southern U.S. pecans. She will write a feature article in Denmark's largest weekly magazine Familie Journalen. She will also promote the southern U.S. in other written works.
Chef Foster will make an immediate impact on pecan demand in Denmark. He has contacted buyers capable of procuring southern U.S. pecans and other products for the Denmark market.
The UK chefs were recruited for the culinary training based on their potential impact in high-value food and food ingredients industries. The training program served as recruiting ground and selection forum for two chefs to participate in the second phase of the UK Food Promotion - an upcoming in-store promotion. Candidates from Manchester and London were identified during the training course that can effectively teach UK residence to cook with southern U.S. products.
The UK chefs will also impact demand through immediate purchase decisions and with participation in future SUSTA promotions. Three of the participating UK chefs represent management-level product developers. Two other chefs are affiliated with U.S. product procurement at Tesco and Marks & Spencer supermarket chains. The culinary program also taught southern cooking skills to top management chefs at influential dining establishments in the UK and one program head at the Culinary School at South Trafford College in Cheshire.
Within a week upon his return to the UK, the chef from Tesco, Daniel Chartier, provided some tangible trade leads to SUSTA. His company specifically asked for producers of wheat and maize tortillas, Andouille sausage, tasso, dried chipotle, tomatillo, and maize grits, all products used in SUSTA's culinary training course this past summer.
The participating chefs indicated in a SUSTA-produced survey a determination to publicize their experience of southern U.S. cooking and products. The chefs agreed the most effective method will be lectures to peers. Other survey results indicated that 86 percent will introduce southern U.S. dishes to menus and new product development, conduct public demonstrations, and instruct their professional staffs. Southern U.S. cuisine and products will be featured in UK culinary publications and in presentations to product development marketing teams at H.J. Heinz, demonstrations to senior management and senior buyers at Paco's Restaurants, and in themed southern U.S. buffets at the Sheraton Park Lane in London.
Nearly all the UK chefs indicated a keen interest in working with SUSTA for future promotions. With influence in product development, major supermarket chains, influential dining establishments, and a culinary school, opportunity abounds for the promotion of high-value food products and food ingredients in the UK and Denmark as a result of this chef training program and SUSTA promotions.
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