2012 Personal Chef Summit
February 10-12 in SAN DIEGO
Presenters at the 2012 APPCA Personal Chef Summit include …
Nancy Banner (Chef Nancy) is owner and founder of The Holistic Kitchen, LLC, where she began her personal-chef work to help cancer patients stay nourished during and heal after treatment. Chef Nancy has worked in the food and beverage industry her entire career. She earned her bachelor’s degree in hotel administration from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, as well as an AOS degree in culinary arts and restaurant management from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute (1995). Today Chef Nancy blends her classical French culinary training with her personal-chef work and lifelong fascination with nutrition to help eaters lessen their dependence on processed foods and move toward health—through books, lectures, industry consulting and lifestyle diet coaching. Chef Nancy is passionate about helping individuals in all stages of health or disease make dietary adjustments with delicious and comforting whole-food preparations that maximize nutrition and aid the body’s own healing mechanisms to feed mind, body and soul. Her latest book, Chef Nancy’s Recipe for Health, is a four-week program to transition eaters away from SAD (Standard American Diet) and toward an anti-disease, lifestyle diet. Visit Chef Nancy at TheHolisticKitchen.com.
Carol Borchardt, chef and proprietor of A Thought for Food serving greater Memphis, Tenn., was the APPCA’s 2010 Chef of the Year. Borchardt helped write the Personal Chef International Code of Ethics and has served on the organization’s Executive Advisory Committee. Her background in the culinary arts began with instruction from her mother, a prize-winning cook who had a large family to feed. Borchardt honed her skills through a combination of cooking classes, practical experience with a local caterer and self-instruction. Her passion for travel abroad, which afforded her training in Italian gastronomy in Parma, is reflected in much of her cooking. Borchardt moved to the Memphis area in 1995, and after receiving business training through the APPCA’s education arm, the American Personal Chef Institute, she opened A Thought for Food in 2002. Through highly personalized service, Borchardt brings time-starved people back to the dinner table with thought and care toward home-cooked meals. Her specialties include vegetarian and ethnic cuisines; options for those with diabetes, gluten intolerance or sodium restrictions; and fun, healthy dishes that appeal to children. Among her achievements, Borchardt has published a compilation of recipes from four generations of her family in A Recipe Portrait, The Ramczyk-Platta Collection of Recipes.
Jerald W. Chesser, Ph.D., a professor at The Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, is an internationally recognized speaker, author and educator. Prior to entering academe and consulting, he spent more than a decade in restaurant operations, including ownership of a successful a restaurant and off-premise catering company. Dr. Chesser’s consulting has included the Disney Development Company, Copeland of New Orleans, University of Alaska, National Restaurant Association and American Culinary Federation. He teaches, researches and consults in the areas of leadership, human-resource development and the culinary arts. His publications include The World of Culinary Supervision, Training, and Management, 4th edition, and The Art and Science of Culinary Preparation. Chesser, certified as an executive chef (CEC) and culinary educator (CCE) by the ACF, is also a member of the ACF’s exclusive honor society, the American Academy of Chefs. Additionally, he’s a certified foodservice-management professional (FMP) through the NRA. He earned his doctorate in leadership at the University of Central Florida. Chesser has received numerous honors, including membership in the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s College of Diplomates and the ICHRIE Chef Herman Briethaupt and ACF Western Region Chef Educator of the Year awards.
Dana Cox recently wrapped up a one-year trial she dubbed “The Honest Meal Project”: consuming only foods grown on family farms. Nothing processed. And without trying, she lost 50 pounds. Her one-year experiment, which is the basis of a book she’s currently writing, earned her Women Chefs & Restaurateurs’ Catherine Brandel fellowship in 2011, which sent her to Berkeley, Calif., to work in the kitchens of Chez Panisse. As a procurement instructor at the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts in Chicago, Cox lives to equip future chefs with the skills they need to profitably source quality product—skills she honed as buying team leader of specialty foods and wine at Whole Foods Market. There, she became a proponent of the farm-to-table movement and was named a Regional All Star for her commitment to profitably marketing authentic foods and creating a greater awareness for them in the Midwest. Along with her rich procurement background, Cox has also held leadership positions in venerable restaurant and hotel kitchens. She has worked with premiere Chicago-area caterers, including Limelight Events and Wolfgang Puck Catering, as their off-premise chef. While catering, Cox began and still operates her successful personal-chef service, Old Stove LLC, based on fresh seasonal foods and scratch cooking.
Julie Darling is the chef and owner of Just Call Us Catering in San Diego, which specializes in birthdays, wedding receptions and corporate events and providing delicious, wholesome meals to individuals in their homes. A graduate of both the University of Southern California and the San Diego Culinary Institute, in addition to her catering business, Darling owns and operates Just Call Us Kitchen Rental, an incubator-kitchen facility that provides entrepreneurs with health-department-approved production space with which they can launch their food-related businesses. In 2005, with the help of friends and clients who donated food and time, she began preparing dinners for her community’s homeless. Out of this came Just Call Us Volunteers, which recently earned 501(c)(3) nonprofit status from the IRS. Just Call Us Volunteers collaborates with many local nonprofit groups to connect volunteers and healthy food within their programs. In June 2010, Darling went to the White House for the launch of Michelle Obama's Chefs Move to Schools program. Today she actively promotes the First Lady's national initiative, Let's Move!, by connecting local schools with chefs, master gardeners and fitness experts. Darling believes that fresh, whole foods will help children thrive and significantly lower healthcare costs for children, the disadvantaged and homeless.
Debbi Dubbs learned the nuts and bolts of cooking in some of the best restaurant kitchens with versatile and eclectic chefs. Running her own catering company in Southern California, All Thyme Catering, she developed her own style of cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients to bring out the best flavors in food. Dubbs also found that she loved teaching her cooks new recipes; as executive chef of Spaghettini Cucina, she developed The Kitchen Arts Series of cooking classes. Upon leaving there, Dubbs created Deb’s Kitchen, where she continues to teach. As a corporate chef for Melissa’s World Variety produce, Dubbs worked with produce from all over the world and helped transform them into delicious recipes. Classically trained in French technique, Dubbs continues to look for new and unusual ingredients as a forager for a local restaurant. Dubbs has taught at Williams-Sonoma, South Coast Plaza, Kitchen Outfitters in Naples and Spaghettini Italian Grill & Jazz Club in Seal Beach, and hosts food and wine tours to the central coast, Paso Robles and Napa Valley. Frequently quoted in newspaper and magazine articles, Dubbs is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Women Chefs & Restaurateurs and SLO Food.
Brent T. Frei, based in Schaumburg, Ill., serves as the APPCA’s marketing director. Previously, he was director of marketing for the American Culinary Federation (ACF), Inc., based in St. Augustine, Fla., at which he also published ACF’s three periodicals. In 2004, he launched the ACF’s quarterly magazine for foodservice students, Sizzle, the first nationally distributed magazine addressing that market. Before joining the ACF in 2003, Frei was editor-in-chief of Chef magazine for more than six years, as well as associate publisher of Chef Educator Today (which he launched in 2000) for three years. Prior, he was senior food editor of Restaurants & Institutions magazine. Frei is an editorial contributor to Food Management and School Nutrition magazines, and was a finalist in the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ 2008 Bert Greene Awards for Food Journalism. He is a member of ACF Windy City Professional Culinarians, Chefs Collaborative, the International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC), Research Chefs Association (RCA) and IACP, and is a board member of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs.
Caron Golden is obsessed with food. With markets. With farms. With restaurants. And, she gets to play out her obsession by writing about it. An award-winning freelance food writer, Golden says nothing beats feeding the people you love. And if you cook, unless you're a farmer, shopping is part of the pleasure. A self-confessed first-class shopper, Golden loves to share her discoveries. That’s what her blog, San Diego Foodstuff, is all about: fabulous food finds in her region. You can also read Golden’s weekly posts and monthly column, “Local Bounty,” for San Diego Magazine and its Web site, www.sandiegomagazine.com. And listen to her monthly on KPBS radio’s weekday morning show, “These Days,” at 89.5 FM in San Diego and on www.kpbs.org.
Dane Mechlin, co-owner of Nadine & Dane's Personal Chef Services in Northern California, has 23 years’ experience in the culinary arts. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cleveland State University and his culinary degree from the California Culinary Academy. He’s certified as an executive chef (CEC) by the American Culinary Federation. As president of the Northern California Chapter of the APPCA, Mechlin is also an executive trainer, training personal chefs in the Western Region on “The Business of Doing Business as a Personal Chef:”™. His vast experience includes chef and operations manager for the private luxury vacation yacht, Alaska Sea Adventure, and executive chef and catering manager for Horton Plaza Farmer's Market, San Diego’s premier gourmet market. Prior, he was executive chef for the exclusive Melia San Lucas Resort Hotel located in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and before that, was general manager of Marina Sol Resort El Aquario Restaurant & Bar, which he not only operated, but also designed and opened. While studying at the culinary academy, Mechlin apprenticed at the world-famous Masa’s in San Francisco and was garde manger/sous chef at the Bohemian Club on the Russian River.
Diane Phillips, known as the Diva of Do-Ahead, is the author of more than 14 cookbooks, including the James Beard Foundation Award-nominated Perfect Party Food. Phillips is a traveling cooking teacher, teaching her easy, elegant, do-ahead entertaining classes to sell-out audiences across the country. She also consults for the food and beverage industry and has been the spokesperson for Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry and Lipton Recipe Secrets. Phillips has designed food and beverage standards for Hilton Hotels and developed menu items for Foodmaker and General Mills. Her recipes have appeared in national newspapers, Traditional Home magazine, Readers Digest, Women's Day, Prevention magazine and Bridal Guide. Additionally, Phillips has been featured on Turning Leaf Vineyards’ entertaining hotline, giving tips and ideas for stress-free holiday dinners. Catch her on Comcast’s new on-demand Digital Cookbook and on Lifetime TV’s Web site. Phillips teaches at LaCombe en Perigord in the southwestern region of the Dordogne in France, and spends time with her family in Italy every year. “Good Morning America” selected her newest book, Slow Cooker, the “Best Cookbook Ever” as one of the best cookbooks for 2009.
Lee Silber is the best-selling author of 17 books including his popular “Creative Person” series of books for Random House. He is also the founder of five companies including a chain of retail stores and a corporate training company. Silber is a frequent guest on radio and television and has appeared on CNN and NBC and was recently featured in U.S. News and World Report. To learn more about Lee and to get free stuff, visit his Web site at: www.leesilber.com.
Candy Wallace has devoted 40-plus years to the foodservice industry, during which she has served as a commercial chef, caterer, personal chef, private chef, teacher, mentor and, for the past 17 years, founder and executive director of the American Personal & Private Chef Association and Institute. In 2002, the APPCA partnered with the American Culinary Federation to award professional certification to personal chefs—criteria for which Wallace helped develop—and remains the only organization to offer independent, third-party certification of personal chefs. In 2003, Wallace received the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ Award of Excellence as Entrepreneur of the Year for her contributions to building and promoting the personal-chef career path. The Cordon d’Or - Gold Ribbon International Culinary Academy Awards named Wallace Entrepreneur of the Year for 2009-10 for pioneering the personal-chef career path and helping 10,000+ personal chefs establish successful businesses. For her support of formal culinary training and building personal-chef curricula for diploma programs, in 2010 Wallace received a Medallion of Excellence from the Foodservice Educators Network International. Wallace is co-author of The Professional Personal Chef: The Business of Doing Business as a Personal Chef—the first and only comprehensive manual on launching a personal-chef career and operating a successful business.