ACF-KY Chapter presents the "5th Annual Menu Trends" seminar

ACF Kentucky Chapter and Gordon Food Service cordially invites you to enjoy an evening of food, fellowship and idea sharing on Tuesday, November 8th, 2011, at 6:00 pm at the GFS Distribution Center in Shephersdville featuring an educational seminar with Corporate Consulting Chef Gerry Ludwig.

Chef Gerry and members of the GFS Culinary R&D team engage in annual research tours in major American cities, dining in new restaurants that are serving the next wave of leading-edge cuisine. His 2011 tour encompassed over 90 restaurants in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Join Chef Gerry as he highlights the hot new restaurant concepts, menu ingredients and cooking methods that will influence chefs and their menus across the country in 2012 and beyond.

Prior to the seminar, ACF chefs will be serving a buffet dinner featuring a wide assortment of dishes from Gerry's presentation.

As a bonus R&D tool, all attendees will receive a CD containing the plate photos from the presentation with complete descriptions, as well as menu scans from the highlighted restaurants.

Additionally, all ACF members will receive a certificate for one Continuing Education Hour at the completion of the seminar.

Due to limited seating, this event is only open to chefs and food service professionals.

Please RSVP to robert.granberg@gfs.com or belinda.horan@gfs.com

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ACF Kentucky
PO Box 21366
Louisville, Kentucky 40221

Just a reminder to RSVP if you are planning to go tomorrow night! There are a few spaces left.
I'll see you there.

Dan, my partner and I are supposed to go. I talked to Robert about it when you first posted. Hope to see some of you there!

Wow! We had quite the turnout this year! I would like to thank everyone in attendence for coming to the seminar. I hope you found it to be as informative as I did.

Now to stir the pot a little. The final Menu Trend that Chef Gerry discussed this evening was billed as "If you want it your way, go to Burger King"; which addressed the recent prevalence of "We politely refrain from substitutions and menu modifications" disclaimers that are popping up on menus. He showed at least twenty different well known establishments with this printed on the menu. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

The final Menu Trend that Chef Gerry discussed this evening was billed as "If you want it your way, go to Burger King"; which addressed the recent prevalence of "We politely refrain from substitutions and menu modifications" disclaimers that are popping up on menus. He showed at least twenty different well known establishments with this printed on the menu. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

Dano,

Could you please supply me with the names of the local establishments (any establishment for that matter) who subscribe to this practice so that I may put them on the "You can kiss my ASS" list. I'll be damned if someone is going to tell me...the customer...that (for example) I HAVE to have Balsamic reduction on my Halibut. Seriously, this is BULLsh**...The first time I see this on a menu, I...am...outta...there. Put THAT on your ACF "menu trend".

I can understand this concept from both points of view. When he started talking about that last night, I thought "oh, lord". The menus he showed/discussed were not simply dish serving restaurants. They also had high volume. In that type of environment, changes in dishes can cause hiccups on busy lines. Having said that, I don't see a problem with SLIGHT changes for customers, i.e. no sauce, or sauce on the side, or (on a fresh prepared dish) no onions.
What I DO have a problem with are people that go into a restaurant and want to completely redesign a menu item that a chef has taken time to design. If you don't like a dish, don't order it. Seriously...........asking a chef to take out multiple parts of a dish or to completely change a dish (don't grill my fish, bake it) takes extra time and causes mess ups. In America, we've come to expect EVERYTHING to be done OUR way. We are spoiled. We have a sense of entitlement. If you don't like the way a dish is prepared (as listed on the menu), don't order it. Most menus have plenty of choices, so make a different one.

It was nice meeting you last night Trish. It's always good to have another face to put with a name on the fourm.

Well now that it appears that the pot has been sufficently stirred, to be fair, I'll elaborate more on the subject.

The theme for this year was L. A. Restaurants, Reimagining California Cuisine. So this trend which really started with bad boy, bad ass chef David Chang in New York when he opened Momofuko, is currently happening in several Southern California trendy gastropub type places featuring highly specialized dishes. Most of the disclaimers were a simple "Changes & modifications politely declined" Some were clever. For example, "Each dish is a happy family of ingredients, don't kidnap the kids, no substitutions."Or "We respectfully ask for orders to be placed in completion to ensure and maximize your dining experience." One I felt was down right mean spirited. "We might consider your request." that at the same place stated on the menu "We cannot accomodate your children".
All of the establishments he mentioned or talked about, and there were about 30 of them, were either booked solid for months or if they didn't take reservations, lines started forming well before they opened and they stayed packed throughout service periods. So despite the apprehensions of those who may feel like my buddy Steve P., these places have a successful business model that appeals to many other people.

I highly doubt you would ever see this happening at your local mom & pop place with your standard menu. Although, I feel it wouldn't seem out of place at a couple of local places that I'll keep to myself.

Having said that, Chef Gerry went on to voice his opinion that he personally doesn't quite understand this trend himself. He feels (as most of us in The Bizz probably do) that for us in the foodservice industry our job is to entertain people. So if giving the patron what they want, no matter how odd the request, requires a certain amount of flexablity to please our customers, so be it.

You may now return to your regularly schedlued program.