Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

How ICE’s Online Culinary School Works

abaker — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 15:05:29 +0000

How ICE’s Online Culinary School Works abaker Thu, 10/21/2021 - 11:05 October 21, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

The new fully-remote culinary school program only requires approximately 13 hours per week of your time — all from the comfort of your home.

After more than four decades teaching culinary education in two of the top gastronomic capitals in the United States, ICE has launched an online Culinary Arts & Food Operations program. And the reason is two-fold: Many prospective students tell us they wish to pursue their culinary dreams but are unable to put their lives on hold to attend in-person classes at either ICE campus. Secondly, the demand for well-trained culinary professionals has grown exponentially across the country.

With the launch of our online program, ICE’s award-winning training is easier to access. “This program provides specialized foundational knowledge, skills and essential training that can be accessed from the comfort and convenience of your own home,” says ICE Chairman and CEO Rick Smilow. “Graduates of our online program, together with those from our New York and Los Angeles campuses, will have the training and skills needed to help ease the staffing challenges occurring nationwide.”

ICE’s online program is currently available to students located in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming, with more states to quickly follow.

Learn more about the new Online Culinary Arts & Food Operations Program here.

How Online Culinary School Works

ICE’s online Culinary Arts & Food Operations diploma program has been expertly designed and developed for people to learn the principles of culinary arts in their home. Just like our in-person programs, students enrolled in the online program will receive personal feedback from their chef-instructors and educators.

Over the course of 14 months, students will need to dedicate approximately 13 hours per week to the program, which can be done when convenient for each student. The program is “asynchronous,” meaning students set their own schedule by watching videos on demand with an opportunity to join live lectures each week. Students will cook a variety of dishes and cuisines during culinary labs, attend interactive lectures and discussions, work on projects, read texts, explore techniques and hone skills that are the foundation of fine cooking. This is all done through a central Learning Management System (LMS) called Canvas which will act as the central hub of the experience.

Demos and Labs at Home

Lectures, demos and labs (cooking labs, that is!) are the core part of the Culinary Arts & Food Operations diploma program. ICE has partnered with meez, the all-in-one recipe tool for professional chefs, to give students access to digital, interactive recipes with photos and videos embedded and built-in yields and conversions for scaling and costing.

To prepare for the lab portion, students will be provided shopping lists, equipment needs, set-up and guidance. Students will then document their work by taking a series of photos throughout the process as instructed and upload those photos to ICE’s learning management system.

In addition to photographing recipes, students will write about their experience and discuss taste perception of their dish’s outcomes, a process that introduces students to the culinary world’s extensive vernacular. The written assignment for each lab is then reviewed by an instructor who will provide constructive individualized video feedback.

Professional Equipment Is Supplied

Included in each student’s tuition is a Google Chromebook, digital textbooks, knives, a culinary tool kit including sharpening steel, shears and bench scraper, among other tools, as well as a professional uniform to wear during class. (Students can also wear their uniforms when applying to professional jobs.)

Hands-On Externships

At the end of the online curriculum, students will be required to complete a hands-on externship, giving them the opportunity to enhance their skills and techniques and gain invaluable experience in the industry. Our Career Services team will help match each student with a restaurant or food-related business for them to further their experience in the field as well as establish connections in the industry.

What other ingredients do I need?

The only other thing needed is an internet connection, a place to cook (undisturbed) and — the key ingredient — passion. Cooking is fun and we’re serious about teaching, so bring your passion and desire to learn to your home classroom to get the most out of your experience.

Sign up today.

Culinary Arts Culinary Technique

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"Dream First, Details Later" is Ellen Bennett's Mantra

ablustein — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 18:03:39 +0000

"Dream First, Details Later" is Ellen Bennett's Mantra ablustein Wed, 09/22/2021 - 14:03 The Hedley & Bennett founder shares her career story. October 4, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

Ellen Bennett, the founder of apron company Hedley & Bennett, offers advice for aspiring chefs and entrepreneurs.

A former line cook at two of Los Angeles's most venerable restaurants, two-Michelin-starred Providence and the now-shuttered Bäco Mercat, Ellen Bennett was frustrated that the cooks’ uniform design didn't reflect the restaurants’ sensibility. That incompatibility led Ellen to design a modern, indispensable apron to reflect the artistry and meet the practical demands of chefs. Today, her company Hedley & Bennett outfits more than 6,000 restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, resorts as well as home cooks with aprons and kitchen gear.

On the heels of the launch of her first book, Dream First, Details Later, Ellen joined ICE for a virtual event to share her journey as well as tips for turning a seed of an idea into a reality. Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

What kind of kid were you?

I'm half-Mexican and half-English. In our household we only spoke Spanish, but my very English grandparents only spoke English with a British accent, drank tea, had Great Danes and it was just a wild life full of Shepherd's pie and a ton of mashed potatoes. It was great — I was able to grow up from a young age seeing very different worlds, very different foods and very different approaches to everything. I loved that because no matter how different those two worlds were, we still gathered around food.

What brought you to Mexico City after high school?

My parents divorced when I was about nine years old and it allowed me to be more independent. As I started exploring ways to help my mom at home, cooking really excited me. It was thrilling that I could take an ingredient and turn it into something wildly different. When I turned 18, I decided to move to Mexico City for one month and I actually stayed for four years.

I really like to share this part of the journey because a lot of times, as people are going to school and navigating life, they think it's a straight line. When they start to swirl around and take detours they think, 'Oh, I'm doing it wrong,' but actually you're doing it right. You're learning, you're exploring and you're being exposed to many different universes.

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A post shared by Ellen Bennett ⚡️✨ (@ellenmariebennett)

During those four years in Mexico, you held a lot of different jobs. What were they?

I announced the winning lottery numbers for Mexican television. I worked as a booth babe, meaning I was at trade shows selling products for different companies. I was an English tutor and simultaneously a translator for the Mexican Railroad Union. I was a culinary student and studied restaurant management while I was there.

My path was very windy, not a straight line. It included a lot of old-school tactics like: show up, commit to something, look people in the eye, say you're going to deliver and then deliver. And do it again and again, and build trust. That allowed me to find my entrepreneurial spirit.

At 22, you returned to the States and moved in with your mom and decided to enter the restaurant industry. How did you find a job?

I did it the same way I did it in Mexico: I got a list of the top 10 restaurants in LA, walked in through the back door, found the busboy and I said [in Spanish], "Where's your chef?" Then I walked up to the chef, handed him my resume and gave him a cold pitch. I was turned down by Pizzeria Mozza and all these other chefs along the way. I actually got eight noes and two yeses, and I did it all in one swoop.

What was your introduction to the LA restaurant scene like?

I had gone to restaurant management school in Mexico and cooked a bunch in my youth, but I'd never cooked for a long period of time in a professional environment. So I had to learn everything from scratch. I would clean and watch people while I was cleaning. That allowed me to absorb what I didn't know, while not being in the way. I would be sweeping around people and ask, "What'd you add to that?” and “How did you do this?," literally sticking my nose in everything and being very curious. I was willing to say I didn't know something and people were willing to explain it to me.

Obviously, you made a transition from working on the line to servicing the people on the line with this now multi-million dollar apron company. How did that begin?

At Providence I was shocked at how crappy our uniforms looked and how we felt. It was really bizarre because we were flying in Hokkaido scallops from Japan and sourcing beautiful ingredients from the farmers' market. Yet, we didn't do that for the uniforms we were wearing, and I wanted to fix that. I wanted to give people something that made them feel and look awesome, but filled them with a sense of pride and belonging.

How did you get your first order?

I had nothing but the idea. I blurted out, "I have an apron company. I'll make you aprons!" I really had nothing and I kicked it off. Chef Josef Centeno [aofBäco Mercat] said, "Hey, there's a girl and she’s going to make us aprons. Do you want to buy one?" I began with one order of 40 aprons for Chef Josef and it was the thing that propelled Hedley & Bennett to begin.

It’s really been quite a shift for myself as a person, having gone from a line cook to now a business owner and everything in between. I love sharing our story because I want to inspire everybody else to say, "You know what? I can do that, too. I don't have to do it the way that everybody else did. I can find my own way in the world and do something that's unique and different."

How did you find more customers?

I went to where my clients were. I went to farmer's markets, I went to food events. If Chef Cimarusti [Providence] was going to a food event, I would offer to work at it for free. I knew that there were going to be so many other chefs there. Sure enough, I met amazing chefs on that trip.

I talk about humble enthusiasm in my book, Dream First, Details Later, which is being willing to listen and being excited to share. That, to me, was a great recipe for success because every single chef that helped me would walk away feeling like they contributed to Hedley & Bennett. They would have a stake in the game because they helped make the straps better, or they gave me an opinion on how to make the pocket a little bit more effective, and I would take their advice and I would apply it.

What qualities are important when you're looking to hire new employees?

We look for curiosity and we look for no ego. When I mean no ego, I don't really want to hear about why you think you're so great — I want to hear about things you've accomplished or challenges you've overcome in past jobs. What's the biggest, craziest, most difficult thing that you were able to overcome in another job, and how did you do it and how did you use your problem-solving mindset to get over that hurdle? We also look for really smart people and I want them to be engaged in an interested way. We want people who are looking and asking, "How did you do that?" Never be in interview where you're not asking questions. Really get into the weeds of what you're going to do there, because then that employer knows you're not just thinking about this as a nine to five, but you're thinking about it as an opportunity to grow and to help them be better.

What's advice do aspiring chefs and entrepreneurs need to know?

Every successful person that I know has faced roadblocks and challenges that you never hear about. When you face a challenge, don’t let yourself feel like you’re a failure — and don't quit because of it. Instead, recognize it as a learning moment, and embrace it.

Get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Lean in and embrace that, too. This is not for the faint of heart, but it is possible. I started a company with $300 while I was a $10-an-hour line cook, now it's a multimillion-dollar business. I'm also a woman, I'm also Mexican. There's a lot of cards stacked up against me and I ignored them and instead, I went out and pushed forward.

Entrepreneurship Restaurant Management Tourism, Travel & Hospitality Management Culinary Arts

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A Veteran Opens His Mind to Vegan Cooking and Baking

ablustein — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 15:29:45 +0000

A Veteran Opens His Mind to Vegan Cooking and Baking ablustein Thu, 09/09/2021 - 11:29 Andrew Reinicke's Journey from the Army to Culinary School September 15, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

Inspired by his maternal grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran-turned-cook, former Army officer Andrew Reinicke (Health-Supportive, '21) found his true calling at the Ģ��Ƶ.

The oldest of nine children, Andrew has always associated food with bonding. He remembers that his paternal grandmother, who grew up on a dairy farm in South Dakota and moved to Southern California to open a chain of creameries, was perpetually in the kitchen. “It was her joy to serve food and my fondest memories are sitting around my grandparents’ kitchen table, eating, playing cards and connecting.”

After excelling at theater and debate in high school in San Diego, Andrew, wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. “People told me I was passionate about politics, but there was something special about human beings and food, and that intrigued me from an early age,” he says.

He majored in political science at UCLA and then moved to Washington, D.C. to work at a think tank. Eventually, he joined a former classmate teaching U.S. history at a high school until he was compelled by a duty to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and join the Army at age 30.

Learn more about post-military career training at ICE.

Andrew Reinicke plating a pastry at ICE

Andrew went to Officer Candidate School after enlisting. As an officer, he handled supply chain logistics for weaponry, munitions and equipment, getting “beans and bullets” where they needed to be. He received permission to pursue a doctoral degree at Claremont Graduate University in political philosophies but faced a challenge.

Andrew was diagnosed with epilepsy, causing him to withdraw from his program at Claremont and be processed out of the military. Fortunately, Andrew’s family, friends and faith got him through this difficult time. The military also provided recreational therapy to help guide Andrew on his new path. Ultimately, he came to a positive discovery.

“What made me happy wasn’t the recreational therapy, it was cooking,” he says. Unsure about what to do next with that information, he headed to church and prayed. While kneeling, images began to appear, from mustard seeds to the Last Supper.

“All of these different parables of Jesus of Nazareth came to mind,” he recalls. “They were all centered around food and that was my answer. It was very powerful.” Andrew had clarity that cooking was his professional path. “It wasn’t just a career; it was a vocation. It was something I was supposed to be doing,” he says, deciding to commute from San Diego to check out ICE’s Los Angeles campus.

“The regulation of my schedule has helped even with basic things like sleeping," he says. "It’s really just given me a purpose and a drive that I was lacking ever since the military. School gave that to me."

Culinary School in Los Angeles

Though one of his main passions is pastry, managing his epilepsy pushed Andrew to become a healthier person, leading him to study Health-Supportive Culinary Arts at ICE. The program helped him understand the healing power of food.

“That really opened my eyes,” he says. “Food has traditionally been seen as medicine. You can integrate East and West for health reasons and it can be tasty and fun.”

Vegan shepherd's pie and vegan French onion soup

For his final menu, Andrew tapped into his interest in history and connection to the military by creating a vegan shepherd's pie and vegan French onion soup. “It was a nod back to a time when Scotland and France were military allies, called the Auld Alliance,” he says. “If you had told me two years ago that I would be considering veganism, let alone vegetarianism, I would have laughed in your face. I have learned so much by having an open mind.”

Andrew completed his externship by working as a prep cook at Oceanside Kitchen Collaborative, feeding nutritious meals to community members who need it most while practicing zero waste. He’s since returned to ICE for the Pastry & Baking Arts program.

“That was originally what I wanted to do, baking and pastry,” he says. “ICE met and exceeded my expectations for culinary school.”

Andrew, who’s part Irish, dreams of opening a hospitality business in Ireland and hopes knowing the science behind pastry will come in handy.

“The culinary world is so diverse that there definitely are places for me, whether in food writing or education or the bed and breakfast with the cookery school or a café,” he says. “What I do know is, I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m on the right path.”

Follow your food path with a career program at ICE.

Military & Veterans Health-Supportive Culinary Arts Pastry Arts Baking Arts Los Angeles Career Changer

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From Louisiana Seafood to Los Angeles' Providence

ablustein — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 19:57:12 +0000

From Louisiana Seafood to Los Angeles' Providence ablustein Tue, 08/31/2021 - 15:57 Kenneth's Culinary Arts class ICE alum Kenneth Peterson Jr. prioritized fish and family on his journey to a Michelin-starred restaurant. September 8, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

Kenneth Peterson, Jr. (Culinary/Management, ’21) launched his career at two-Michelin-starred Providence in Los Angeles, hoping to one day open his own New Orleans-inspired seafood restaurant.

Family is incredibly important to Kenneth, who twice put plans to attend culinary school aside to care for his ailing parents, the people who fostered his love for food.

The Peterson family rarely dined out. Kenneth's mom and dad were home cooks, and every Saturday they’d serve their kids breakfast in bed. One Saturday Kenneth decided to return the favor, and while the biscuits were from a can, the eggs were watery and the bacon was undercooked, he had discovered his passion for cooking.

“My love started from my parents serving me and my sister,” he says. “Years later they told me they didn’t want to discourage me, but that I needed cooking lessons.”

That set Kenneth, a Louisiana native, on a course to better his culinary skills. He started cooking more alongside his maternal grandmother to learn her delectable recipes. “As I got older, I became the friend who cooked,” he says. Throughout high school, he hosted gatherings where he prepared drumettes, fried chicken, jambalaya and homemade crispy onion rings. “But when I graduated high school, I did not think about cooking professionally,” he says.

Instead, Kenneth went on to study business and psychology in college while working. He delayed earning his undergraduate degree and moved back home when his mother fell ill. During that time he worked at PepsiCo and then for a commercial cleaning business. Kenneth eventually graduated from the Southern University at New Orleans and during that time bought his own cleaning franchise, which would grow to 37 employees and 22 accounts.

“There was always a void,” he says. “My happy place was in the kitchen and anyone who knows me would second, third and fourth that.”

His mother fell ill again and unfortunately passed away, so Kenneth started caring for his father, a disabled veteran. It wasn’t until the pandemic that the timing was right to revisit the idea of culinary school. He happily discovered ICE’s accelerated program, just seven months, and toured the Los Angeles campus with an admissions representative. Finally enrolling was transformative.

“It changed me as a person as far as my awareness in the kitchen,” he says. “It changed my level of cooking and changed my plating. It opened me up to trying new dishes and helped me see food in a different light.”

Culinary School in California

Though a hurricane in New Orleans caused him to miss student orientation, Kenneth finally moved to Los Angeles enrolled as a dual diploma student in November 2020. In the mornings, he cooked in the kitchen classroom, and in the afternoons, he hit the books for the lecture-based Restaurant & Culinary Management program taught by Director of Restaurant & Hospitality Management, Mishel LeDoux.

“I can’t say enough about Ms. Mishel,” Kenneth says. “She brought so much experience to the program from being in the industry, real-life experience with celebrity chefs. She could show us real data versus examples from a book. It was amazing.”

On the culinary side, Kenneth put his knife skills to the test when he assisted Chef JJ Johnson at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. “I had to fabricate 20 tunas,” he says. “Fish fabrication [in school] was great because I love seafood. I grew up on the bayou.”

Though his aspiration to attend culinary school was postponed by seven years, Kenneth is happy to have finally fulfilled his goal.

“I wanted to learn the fundamentals, I wanted to be respected as someone who went to school, has a diploma, and took the time and dedication,” he says.

For his final menu in the Culinary Arts program, Kenneth made a creole shrimp appetizer with sweet potato grits followed by poached salmon with manilla clams sauteed in white wine, butter and herbs. Eventually, he hopes to apply the knowledge from his programs to open a contemporary, New Orleans-inspired seafood restaurant.

Providence Los Angeles

Kenneth's developed a business plan for a seafood concept in his Restaurant & Culinary Management classes, so his instructor suggested exploring externship opportunities at the most highly regarded seafood restaurant in Los Angeles, Providence, helmed by James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Cimarusti.

With Mishel’s help, Kenneth interviewed with Chef Michael who invited him to stage, cranking out Japanese cod, salmon and cooked scallops from 2 p.m. until midnight. He’d soon be asked to join the team full-time as a line cook on garde manger.

Kenneth has learned about slicing raw fish for sashimi, preparing raw scallops, shucking oysters to-order and making “big, beautiful” Santa Barbara spot prawns. He's continuing to build experience while he maps out his long-term plan of becoming a restaurateur.

“We’re all about hospitality,” Kenneth says of New Orleans. “We thrive on travel and tourism, and at the heart of it, any great restaurateur knows what brings in the money.”

Learn more about earning a Culinary Arts & Management degree at ICE.

Career Changer Culinary Arts Restaurant Management Fish & Seafood Los Angeles Alumni

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Deconstructing Dim Sum with Chef Alan Kang

ablustein — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 16:33:27 +0000

Deconstructing Dim Sum with Chef Alan Kang ablustein Thu, 08/19/2021 - 12:33 ICE students make Chinese small plates. September 19, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

Culinary Arts Chef-Instructor Alan Kang shows students how to make dim sum and talks about his personal connection with this communal Chinese meal.

Students at ICE's Los Angeles campus had the opportunity to participate in a four-hour dim sum workshop, the kick-off to our new extracurricular Deep Dive series, exploring ingredients, techniques and cuisines to broaden students' horizons beyond the classroom.

Born to Taiwanese parents, Chef Alan Kang grew up at his family’s haute Chinese restaurant in Pasadena. After teaching the lesson on Chinese cuisine, Chef Alan sought to expand on its vastness with a dim sum demonstration. “It is one of my favorite memories as a kid and even now as an adult, getting dim sum with friends is something I do often,” he says.

Dim sum is a Cantonese term for the steamed, baked and fried foods served as small plates — and it is not limited to dumplings. In addition to boiled, fried and steamed dumplings, like the shu mai taught in ICE's Culinary Arts program, another dim sum bite is turnip cake. “Turnip cake is one of my favorite dim sum items to eat, but I don't know if it's as popular as the other mainstream dishes so I wanted to spotlight it,” Chef Alan says.

He taught students how to make turnip cake, dumplings, shrimp balls and cheung fun, a rice noodle roll. “Shrimp balls are fun, and I wanted to have a recipe that was easy for students at any skill level or program,” he says.

Students worked in teams and were able to experiment with the recipes, adding their own creativity and ingredients that pleased their palate. When all the dishes were presented, just like at a regular dim sum gathering, students dined on the delights of their hard work. “There’s just something very communal about eating a bunch of small plates at a table and catching up,” Chef Alan says.

Dim Sum Dishes

Dumplings: Making dumplings is not easy. Don't give up or be too discouraged if they don't come out with perfect pleats the first time around. Practice makes perfect.
Cheung Fun: Always give your batter a really good stir before each time you make it, otherwise the rice flour will sit at the bottom of the bowl.
Shrimp Balls: Trimming off the excess spring rolls for the shrimp balls is optional; it's up to you if you want the extra crunchy bits!

Shrimp balls

Here's one of Chef Alan's recipes from the demo.

Shrimp Balls

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 ounces yellow garlic chive, minced
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon lard
1/2 teaspoon white pepper, ground
Spring roll wrappers, as needed

In a food processor, add half of the shrimp, yellow garlic chive, egg white, salt, sugar, cornstarch, sesame oil, lard, and white pepper. Blend until you form a shrimp paste. Place the other half of the shrimp in a kitchen aid stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until the shrimp is broken into pieces. Combine.
Fold the spring roll wrappers and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices. Wet your hands with water and form the shrimp mixture into 1 tablespoon-sized balls. Roll the shrimp balls into the spring roll strips until fully covered. Trim off any excess strips and deep fry the balls until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Drain on a paper towel and serve with Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce.

Study Asian cuisine in Culinary Arts at ICE.

Get ICE Chef King Phojonakang's soup dumpling recipe.

Culinary Arts Global Cuisine Los Angeles Recipe

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Which Delivery Platform is Best For Your Restaurant?

ablustein — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 21:14:22 +0000

Which Delivery Platform is Best For Your Restaurant? ablustein Tue, 08/10/2021 - 17:14 Journalist Kristen Hawley shares business tips. August 21, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

Delivery became a must for restaurants during the pandemic, but which delivery platform is right for your business with so many options? Restaurant industry expert Kristen Hawley talks through the many technology partners in the market and what they offer.

If the pandemic taught us anything about the restaurant business it’s that delivery is a critical revenue stream.

Kristen Hawley, journalist and founder of weekly restaurant technology newsletter Expedite, said food delivery strategy is baked into business plans at a recent virtual event for ICE students. “It is something that operators and investors in restaurants want to see, given what’s happened in the last 18 months,” she said.

No doubt, delivery and takeout have to be considered as part of any restaurant’s overall strategy, and figuring out which platform is the best for your establishment is no easy task. If you are just launching your first concept or perhaps struggled to get delivery right for an existing business, Kristen discusses the pros and cons of various delivery platforms.

“The [restaurants] that started with delivery in the pandemic are keeping with it, with the exception of high-end restaurants,” she said. Most people will be glad to see this trend stick around, as 53% of consumers say takeout and delivery is now essential to the way they live, according to a National Restaurant Association report published in January.

Delivery is big business. DoorDash, Uber, Grubhub and Postmates generated $5.5 billion in revenue between April and September 2020, according to these public filings. “That’s almost double what they made in the same period the year before,” Kristen said.

More Than Just Delivery

The large food delivery companies are Uber Eats (which bought Postmates in November 2020), Grubhub (which owns Seamless) and DoorDash (which bought high-end restaurant delivery platform Caviar in 2019). Kristen said these companies are “huge machines,” but it’s not a must to work with these behemoths since there are smaller platforms that offer the technology needed to run delivery from a restaurant or foodservice business.

Delivery doesn’t mean just one thing. “Those companies take care of marketing to consumers. They take care of ordering and they care of fulfillment; those are separate entities,” Kristen said.

Marketing, ordering and fulfillment each require a service provider unless business owners want to perform these tasks on their own. The delivery platform goliaths cover the full spectrum, but that can come at a cost for restaurants.

The larger delivery companies take a big piece of the revenue pie, charging restaurants in the neighborhood of 30% per order — a paralyzing commission for most small operators and a practice that has come under scrutiny during the pandemic. “There are some concessions happening with the big companies that have realized that the 30% commission, one-size-fits-all isn’t going to fly anymore,” she said. DoorDash, for example, has since introduced tiered pricing options depending on a restaurant’s needs.

Other Delivery Options

Smaller delivery companies offer similar marketing, ordering technology and fulfillment options for restaurants. As Kristen explained, an operator can choose “one or two or all of those things on a smaller scale, with better terms ... There’s no good versus bad. It’s whatever will work for any given business,” she said.

Kristen shared some pointers about these smaller delivery platforms:

Chow Now

Exists to let restaurants accept direct orders.
Restaurants pay a flat monthly rate, not a commission per order.
Offers some marketing with a dedicated mobile app marketplace.
Takes orders but does not deliver the food, instead partnering with other couriers.

BentoBox

This former restaurant website design company added e-commerce so restaurants could tack on merchandise.
Began direct ordering for restaurants during the pandemic, working with tech partners to feed orders into a point-of-sale (POS) system.
Charges $1 per order, and it encourages restaurants to pass that cost on to the customer.
Offers delivery fulfillment for a flat rate of $6.99, which can also be passed on to the customer. The delivery fulfillment is in partnership with a courier, not proprietary delivery drivers.

As Kristen explained, delivery platforms charging flat rates is important as it helps consumers better understand what they’re paying for. “It is an easy way to show the true cost of the convenience of getting it from A to B,” she said.

Toast

POS system and payment processor that offers tableside payment devices.
Offers online direct ordering tied to the POS system through consumer-facing mobile app Toast Takeout.
Fulfillment via partnerships; you will not see Toast delivery people.
Big, well-funded company with lots of resources for restaurants and a very comprehensive ordering and delivery solution.

Tock

Tock started as a reservations platform for high-end restaurants, but the pandemic forced it to pivot and offer delivery via Tock to Go.
Tock to Go charges restaurants 3%, plus a credit card processing fee for delivery.
Flat delivery rate per order, which it suggests be transferred to the customer and not assumed by the restaurant.

Kristen said many restauranteurs may already be working with these smaller platforms in some capacity, so adding on that additional functionality of delivery is likely not a big technological hurdle. Overall, she recommends operators be sure of business objectives and know what each platform offers when shopping around.

“You want to make sure whatever you’re doing does all of these things,” she says, meaning marketing, ordering and fulfillment. “It doesn’t mean one company has to handle all of them, though it could. There are plenty of restaurants that handle their own ordering program but also choose to list on DoorDash and Uber for the marketing exposure and for the fulfillment aspect. There’s no right combination, there’s no wrong combination. You don’t have to choose or be anti-big delivery or pro-big delivery. You can plug in what works.”

Study more business strategies in ICE's Restaurant & Culinary Management program.

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ICE Alum Followed Steve Harvey’s Advice to Culinary School

ablustein — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 20:44:13 +0000

ICE Alum Followed Steve Harvey’s Advice to Culinary School ablustein Tue, 08/03/2021 - 16:44 One fateful talk show led Everton Tulloch on a new journey. Here's where the scholarship recipient is now. August 9, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

An impactful interaction with talk show host Steve Harvey led ICE alum Everton Tulloch (Culinary, ’19) to pursue his passion for food, resulting in a fresh take on life and a new career path.

Four months after getting laid off and in a slump, the normally jovial Everton Tulloch was struggling to crack a smile. Wanting to end her husband’s sulking around the house, Everton’s wife suggested “doing something different” for the day. Little did he know, she'd booked a pair of tickets for the “Steve” show, hosted by Steve Harvey. When Everton heard the news, he felt excitement for the first time in a while — until the couple was seated in the very last row.

But during a commercial break, Steve decided to pay a visit to what he called the “nosebleed section” where the Tullochs were seated, and after meeting them asked, “What’s going on with you young man? Do you want to ask me something?”

It showed on Everton's face that he was hungry for advice. After working for the Coca-Cola Company for nearly 15 years, rising from an entry-level merchandiser to director of sales managing 12 representatives, Everton was laid off as a result of restructuring when his division was sold to another beverage company. Pursuing similar work opportunities, he consistently heard he was overqualified and became very discouraged about his prospects.

“How do you stay motivated when you’ve been out of work?” he remembers asking Steve, who he calls Mr. Harvey. After a bit more conversation between the two — despite producers' pleas to get back on track with the show — Steve gave Everton his best advice: “Sometimes God does that,” he said. “He takes what you think is a blessing to give you a bigger blessing. Your gift is going to make room for you.” Steve inquired what Everton had the most passion for, what his gift was, to which Everton responded, “I’m pretty good in the kitchen.”

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Born and raised in Jamaica, Everton came from a long line of cooks — professional and amateur. “Food played a vital role in my growing up,” Everton says. His father was a chef in the army and his paternal grandmother owned a bakery, while his maternal grandmother was a cook at her husband’s restaurant.

Every Sunday, when the family got together for dinner, Everton paid close attention to how his grandmother prepared her dishes. “My cousins would be outside playing and I would be with my grandmother trying to learn everything.”

He continues to make those recipes to this day, and he learned the secret to her oxtails and curried chicken. But despite the joy he felt when in the kitchen, he didn’t consider it as a career. “I didn’t feel like it was my calling,” he says. “I had a knack for business.”

After completing the next segment of the show, Steve surprisingly offered to pay for Everton's professional culinary education. After the taping, Everton researched schools in Los Angeles where he might want to attend, and ICE’s Los Angeles campus came onto his radar. He took a tour with an admissions representative, and his excitement began to build.

“When I walked down the hallway to see the chefs that had been through ICE — chefs on TV, chefs with accolades or chefs whose restaurants I’ve eaten at — it was an overwhelming sense of pride once I was accepted,” he says. On day one, in awe of his new reality as a culinary student, Everton photographed himself in his full uniform before getting to campus. “I felt so amazing,” he says. “It was like one of those dreams you never knew you had.”

Everton was fortunate to start his journey at ICE with Chef Mike Pergl, who sadly passed away in early 2020. “He made everything a teachable moment, and he showed a genuine interest in our well-being,” Everton says of the instructor who instilled confidence fabricating chicken. “I can’t tell you the last time I bought parts of chicken. I buy the whole thing because I love to fabricate.” Everton shares that the loss of Chef Mike still has an impact on him. “The things he taught me I put into practice, and I made good on what I promised him: I would get a good job and start my own business one day.”

Since that first day at ICE, Everton has been carefully plotting the launch of his Jamaican food truck, and first, he learned the ropes of a fast-paced restaurant kitchen, completing his externship at Hollywood’s Beauty & Essex, where he still works today. “I’m now the trainer for all new hires,” he proudly says. “I train them on how to cook, prepare, clean, do inventory.” He’s worked on every station in the kitchen.

Just as he navigated his way up the ladder at Coca-Cola, Everton excelled on the line at Beauty & Essex. “ICE gave me the tools,” he says. “I’m not scared of anything in the kitchen. Before, I would shy away or try to avoid doing things. ICE is so extensive — from learning how to correctly hold a knife to all the cuisines. The program hits on so many different angles and scenarios. When you leave, you will be well-rounded because you have knowledge of everything food-related, period.”

Everton is grateful to the Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation for providing him with the funding to achieve his dreams and especially thankful that he was able to discover his gift. “Without passion, sometimes you feel like you have no purpose, but following your passion, your life will have purpose and you will do exactly what you have been called to do.”

Follow your calling to career training at ICE.

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Baking with Ancient Grains

ablustein — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 19:02:48 +0000

Baking with Ancient Grains ablustein Fri, 07/23/2021 - 15:02 Credit: Max Pixel We recap a virtual event on the significance of the staple. September 4, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

Chef Roxana Jullapat of Los Angeles bakery Friends & Family shares the significance of healthy grains as a flour substitute, sustainable food source and so much more, as explored in her book, "Mother Grains."

If you’re not so sure how to incorporate sorghum or buckwheat into baked goods, turn to Chef Roxana Jullapat’s cookbook, “Mother Grains,” for a journey exploring eight ancient and versatile grains.

Chef Roxana, a proponent of heritage, spoke with ICE students about the versatility, sustainability and all-around significance of these nutritional grains during a virtual event from her East Hollywood bakery, Friends & Family.

In Los Angeles, Chef Roxana honed her craft working in acclaimed kitchens such as Campanile, Bastide, Lucques, AOC and Clarklewis before opening Cooks County in 2011 with Chef Daniel Mattern. Six years later, they’d open Friends & Family. “I had come into contact with enough grain available to me that I knew that it would influence, in a great way, the repertoire of what we would do in the bakery,” she explained. The sunny East Hollywood spot is known for artisan breads and pastries baked each day, featuring locally sourced, heirloom grains like einkorn.

Chef Roxana picked the eight grains featured in the book — barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum and wheat — because of the importance each plays in reflecting people’s cultural heritage, acting as economic catalysts or as sustainable food sources.

“For example, here in Southern California, where we have a lack of water, a lot of grains are drought resistant, so they play an important role,” she explained. “What does it mean to have a food that can grow even in the most challenging of environments?”

These grains also have a rich and lengthy history. “When we think about wheat as a crop that was discovered and domesticated by Egyptians, people who actually built pyramids had these same grains,” she said. “We can trace these grains back all the way to the cradle of civilization ... That carries a lot of significance and is a very humbling process, too. It really underlines how it is important to preserve it for future generations.”

Read our Director of Nutrition's guide to grains.

It’s not only the grains’ significance that attracted Chef Roxana to use them in her recipes, it’s also the versatility and wonderful flavors. “I would try to let my imagination go crazy and say, ‘What would make this cookie great? Well, buckwheat would be magical here,’” she said, describing the process of converting recipes to incorporate heritage grains. “I started to fantasize and then put them into action.”

For Chef Roxana, buckwheat marries perfectly with chocolate. “Buckwheat is very assertive and to me almost earthy. It smells like soil drenched in rainwater,” she said. “Buckwheat is very polite and can totally take a backseat and let other flavors shine, and that’s definitely what happens with the chocolate.” She recommended trying buckwheat as a substitute for 50% of the flour called for in a chocolate chip cookie recipe. “You get the benefit of using wheat so your cookies won’t fall apart, but you have a really tasty cookie in addition.”

Chef Roxana believes Pastry & Baking Arts students, in particular, will be inspired by using mother grains in their recipes. “They should find it an interesting and fun challenge because we definitely have to put our thinking caps on, especially with the properties of each grain,” she said. For example, some grains are naturally gluten-free while others can act as binding agents, similar to flour. “It’s cool when people that have a little bit of food science background put their heads into grains. Really fun things start to happen,” she said.

In addition, Chef Roxana hopes that these wonderful grains become more accessible to everyone. “We can talk about all these delicious foods, but can we find them? Can we make this recipe?” she questioned. “By promoting the use of these grains, we are sending a strong message to the industry — and by industry, I mean the flour industry — that this is the flour we want to see in the world.”

Study sustainability, nutrition and plant-based cooking in ICE's Health-Supportive Culinary Arts program.

Rice & Grains Sustainability Health-Supportive Culinary Arts Ingredient Exploration

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How the McBride Sisters are Crashing the Wine Party

ablustein — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 16:17:02 +0000

How the McBride Sisters are Crashing the Wine Party ablustein Fri, 07/23/2021 - 12:17 Robin McBride shared her wine company story with ICE students at a recent virtual event. August 7, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

Robin and Andréa McBride's wine business began in 2005, six years after meeting each other for the first time. Now their women-led, Black-owned winery aims to shake up the wine industry.

Half-sisters Robin and Andréa launched their California wine company, the McBride Sisters Collection, in 2005. First importing wines from New Zealand, the duo is making bottles (and cans!) from their own blends today, on a mission to transform an industry dominated by white men with a women-led, Black-owned winery in Los Angeles.

The McBride sisters grew up in the middle of wine country — continents apart. Robin is from Monterrey, California, and Andréa is from New Zealand; for the first half of their lives, neither knew the other existed.

Their biological father wasn’t around for much of either sister’s life, but before he died in 1996, he asked his family to help unite his daughters. Three years later, the sisters who'd been separated by an ocean met at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. As Robin and Andréa's relationship continued, they bonded over their shared connection with wine.

Andréa, who was 16 when she met Robin, moved to the U.S. and attended high school in Los Angeles, eventually attending the University of Southern California for her undergraduate degree. During that time, Robin would drive down from Northern California to meet her sister on the Central Coast, amid vineyards, wineries and tasting rooms. Eventually, the idea of starting a wine company together seemed obvious, but neither sister had previous experience in the industry.

Fear of the unknown did not stop them. Instead, they jumped in feet first to build the McBride Sisters winery, and have since turned their business into one of the largest Black-owned wine companies in the U.S.

Robin graciously joined us for a virtual event to share her journey in the wine world and offer entrepreneurial advice. Here are some of the highlights:

Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

What were your plans after you graduated high school before you knew you had a sister?

I actually finished high school in my sophomore year, I tested out early. Traditional academia was not the place for me at all. I went on to our local engineering school at Monterey Peninsula College and went into the sciences. I've always been a biotech/earth science kind of kid. But I didn't really know specifically what I wanted to do.

I started working early on in instrumentation and that’s where I got an appreciation for processes, engineering and all the things that go into developing a product and bringing it to market. I had this love and appreciation for nature and agriculture. I grew up in Monterrey near Salinas Valley. It’s all based in agriculture, called the salad bowl of the world, where all the lettuce, celery, broccoli, spinach and ground vegetables come from, as well as... Monterrey became a prominent wine grape growing region.

By the time that my sister, Andréa, and I met and got to know each other and understand what our experiences were as individuals growing up, we realized that we have this thread in common. Once we started to understand that about each other, and we had the opportunity to spend time together, it became something for us that was like, okay, you know, how many times do you need to beat us over the head?

How did you embark on that path?

We saw that this was a space where we can affect so much change and do so much good in terms of progress within the industry. However, that being said, wine is a very capital-intensive business, right? We had a few pretty ginormous issues: we didn't own a winery, we didn't own vineyards, we didn't know how to make wine. And, we didn't have any money to start a winery. We had this idea that we felt had legs and we felt that we were the people that were trying to do this. But we didn't necessarily have the experience or resources to launch into what is a very old boys club, right?

Can you tell us a little bit about how you got the business off the ground?

We initially felt that becoming an importer of New Zealand wines was the least capital-intensive way and the lowest barrier to entry. My sister Andréa had wine-making families that she was close to that were literally her neighbors where she was growing up in New Zealand. We thought we can become an importer and we can get a license, which I will never forget was precisely $895, probably all of the money that we had at the time.

My background in electronics and the business I had been in before I was in charge of importing and exporting goods. I knew I could get anything around this globe. Then we did a little bit of deal-making with the wineries down in New Zealand. We brought in these beautiful wines and we had a lot of great success, which speaks a lot to the wines. It also speaks to our tenacity because we really had no idea what we were doing. We just knew that there was an opportunity.

What were those early days like?

I spent my days cold calling restaurants, wine buyers, wine directors — whoever the buyer was for restaurants, hotels, stores all up and down California — saying we have these beautiful and amazing wines that you are going to love. I got hung up on a lot. I got yelled at a lot. What we didn't know was there's a way to go about this business, but we didn't know what we didn't know. We were in the space and really advocating for products that we believed in. We kind of did everything the wrong way, but at the end of the day, it worked in our favor. We got into a lot of really prestigious accounts.

When did you add your own name to the label?

At a certain point in 2017, we were convinced by one of our retail partners who said, “Why do you guys have all these labels? What's behind these wines and what's behind these brands?” So we listened to that, and in 2017 we launched McBride Sisters Collection. We produce wines that can be found in retailers like Target and Whole Foods. We're in the top 2% in terms of scale and amount of wine that we produce in the country. I say that not to toot my own horn, but also to say that it proves our point from when we started 16 years ago that there’s consumer resonance. People outside of what the standard has been, you know, older, white males, and here's a couple of brown women in this space, which is not typically seen as the standard for success. But a few years later, here we are.

How has the industry changed since you entered it?

Literally when we started, we could be at an industry event and we saw it: no people of color and very few women. It's come a long way since, but a few years ago we were seeing that, although the demographics from a total industry perspective showed there was a lot more women, a lot more people of color, the numbers within leadership — executive levels, ownership levels, really anything that’s sort of decision-making, which is going to determine the trajectory of the industry — were really, really low. They were out of proportion. So we asked, “What can we do?” The challenge is not so much getting into the industry, but getting into these positions that are meaningful and impactful to the future of the industry. We created the She Can Fund (She Can is also one of our brands). When we launched that product, which is wine from New Zealand and wine from California, we dedicated each of the wines to each of our mothers. At the same time that we launched the product, we launched the funds specifically dedicated to the professional advancement of women in wine and spirits.

Wine classes at ICE's New York campus.

Marketing is a huge part of your brand. Any specific campaigns that have performed well?

We do things that are very different from what wine and spirits companies traditionally do. We have a lot of collaborations that we've done. With Simon & Schuster we did a book and wine club, which for the wine industry is wild, especially during the pandemic. We've learned book clubs, even if they weren't meeting in person, were meeting virtually and there's always wine involved, right? It seems like a very logical space for us to be in.

We have this partnership, with our Black Girl Magic wines, to bring together black women authors and our wines that are paired with the book that's being featured.

What advice do you have for future entrepreneurs?

Don't act like you don't have challenges, don't act like you don't need [help]. Be really open and really receptive and talk your truth about wherever you're at. Make yourself available, through networking, to receiving that advice. And even if you don't see somebody who naturally you feel like, okay, they know exactly what I'm going through, cast a wide net and be honest and be open and see who is able to help you.

What’s next for McBride Sisters?

We have a lot of big ideas. We think really big, so we have a lot of innovation and, and for us, innovation is new products. A big piece for us is in furthering collaborations and expanding wine into other lifestyle areas. We're looking forward to a lot of collaborations with chefs, restaurants, hotels, travel companies... Also expanding outside of the U.S. In 2020, we were going to be moving into Canada, the U.K., the Caribbean, Bahamas, Australia, New Zealand, all those things. That all came to a stop for a bad reason and a good reason. The bad reason was because of a pandemic. The good reason is that everybody in the United States started drinking more wine. We actually got to a point where we literally didn't have enough wine. We definitely didn't have enough to go out into other markets. Now that we're sort of leveling out, we've got some more wine. So I'm looking forward to expanding into markets outside of the U.S.

Start your own business with a diploma in Restaurant & Culinary Management, and complement your education with a certificate in Intensive Sommelier Training.

Wine & Beverage Sommelier Training Business of Food Entrepreneurship

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Meet Chef Sohrob Esmaili

ablustein — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 17:57:23 +0000

Meet Chef Sohrob Esmaili ablustein Mon, 07/19/2021 - 13:57 The pastry chef went right to culinary school after high school and never looked back. July 20, 2021

By Kiri Tannenbaum — Director of Culinary Relations

Pastry & Baking Arts Chef-Instructor Sohrob Esmaili trained at Jean-Georges and Gramercy Tavern before moving to San Francisco to open the Proper Hotel’s eateries and conquering the Food Network show, Spring Baking Championship.

California-native Sohrob Esmaili had a penchant for cuisine from a young age. “I was really into baking and cooking as a teen, and I would bring things I prepared at home to school,” Chef Sohrob says. His culinary gifts — from lasagna to cinnamon rolls to cheesecake — were welcome by all, especially his teachers. That positive reinforcement encouraged Chef Sohrob to continue to shower his educators with food, all while his mother identified a potential career path for her son.

Aware of his aptitude in gastronomy, Chef Sohrob’s mother suggested he attend culinary school to learn the craft. At age 17, he graduated from high school and a week later began his pastry studies at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. “I was a little scared to leave the house and move far away at a young age,” he says, referring to his decision to remain in Southern California.

While at Le Cordon Bleu he often sought the advice of his chef-instructors, which included Chef Herve Guillard, who’s now the Director of Education and Lead Chef of Pastry & Baking Arts at ICE's Los Angeles campus. As Chef Sohrob’s program neared an end, he decided to further his education at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, where he focused on savory cuisine for his bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Culinary Arts. However, his deep interest in pastry persisted, and early on he returned to focus on baking. “It was a relief to switch back to pastry,” Chef Sohrob says. “Everyone in the class was super passionate, and everyone in pastry really wanted to be there.”

Interested in fine dining, Chef Sohrob completed his externship at the esteemed Jean-Georges restaurant in Manhattan under Executive Pastry Chef Johnny Iuzzini. “It was a very high-strung environment, but I learned a lot,” he says. The 14-hour days were long and yet the training prepared him for his next position as pastry chef at Tribeca’s The Harrison, where he took on more of a leadership role.

When the restaurant closed, Chef Sohrob moved on to the legendary Gramercy Tavern, where he was part of a large pastry department that worked on chocolates, breads, pastries, custards, ice creams and more. He was eventually promoted to sous chef at the restaurant, but California was calling and Chef Sohrob decided it was time to return to his home state.

In 2019 he joined the pastry program at the Proper Hotel in San Francisco where he created the menus for the property’s cafe, bar, restaurant and lounge. “We developed an in-house bread program where we made our own burger buns, sandwich rolls, bread and even cultured our own butter,” he says. There, the pastry kitchen cranked out croissants and danishes for the café, and for the lounge, Chef Sohrob developed Mexican-inspired items including churros with tequila-infused chocolate dipping sauce and bourbon budino (a custard or pudding). “I got very assertive and I wanted to fill up all of our venues with pastries,” he says.

When Chef Sohrob learned of an opportunity to compete in Food Network’s “Spring Baking Championship,” he embraced the challenge. “I was happy to go and be in a room surrounded by bakers and pastry chefs that knew what I was talking about,” he says. To prepare for the competition, he timed himself while attempting mock baking challenges. The vetting process was rigorous and included the show’s producers combing through social media accounts and studying Chef Sohrob’s portfolio. At the end of the day, all of the preparation paid off, as Chef Sohrob was crowned the winner of the series. The humble chef says, “Every week I was prepared to go home, and then I wouldn’t lose!”

After the show aired, COVID-19 hit and the Proper Hotel’s dining rooms came to a standstill. Fortunately, having stayed in touch with his mentors from his school days, Chef Sohrob reconnected with Dean of Students Herve Guillard, who suggested he apply to teach at ICE’s Los Angeles campus.

Chef Sohrob joined ICE in the spring of 2021 and has already made an impression on the students in the pastry and culinary arts programs. One student recently stopped him in the hallway to let him know how he had opened her eyes to the world of pastry. Chef Sohrob attributes her response to his style of teaching and the one-on-one attention he enjoys with students.

One of his favorite things to teach thus far is viennoiserie, as he believes it is a lesson on time management. “There are breaks between turns and you must find projects to fill in the time,” he says. “There are always side projects or ways to prepare for tomorrow; you have to do what is necessary.”

His advice for students, no matter what path they pursue, is to always be comfortable and remain calm. “You need to have a plan and be organized,” he says. “You have to be comfortable or your food will not come out well. The stress will show in your work. Be confident in your abilities, be proud of where you are and what you’ve done, and keep going.”

Study with Chef Sohrob in Pastry & Baking Arts at ICE.

Pastry Arts Baking Arts Los Angeles ICE Instructors

WE WANTED YOU TO WIN!!!!

Submitted by Denise Horsley on March 25, 2024 9:02pm

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! My son and myself wanted you to win Spring Baking Champion...AND YOU DID!!!! We are SOOOOOO proud of you! Enjoy, my friend. :)

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Pastry & Baking Arts