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School of Hospitality Management Dean to Speak On ‘Going Green’ and Meeting Industry Standards

School of Hospitality Management Dean to Speak On ‘Going Green’ and Meeting Industry Standards

Recently appointed dean of the School of Hospitality Management, Dr. Susan Tinnish will be speaking at the upcoming conference ‘The Special Event 2013.’ According to the event website, The Special Event is the world’s largest tradeshow and conference for event professionals. Dr. Tinnish’s session topic, “Managing to be Green: How Industry Standards and Best Practices Can Help You” is scheduled for read more

School of Hospitality Industry Hot Button Update: Brazil and the World Cup

Meredith, May 17th, 2013 | Category: Featured | Permalink | Email this
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brazil blog_lrgBy Dr. Susan Tinnish, Dean of the School of Hospitality Management

Walter Vasconcelos, the director of marketing for the Brazilian Tourism Board recently announced that 147 new hotels will open in the country in time to host World Cup travelers. Brazil will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a 30-day soccer tournament that will travel to 12 cities in Brazil.

Sixteen major global brands will be represented including Sofitel, Hilton and Marriott. Brazil also has invested US $16.5 billion to build seven new stadiums, expand airports, and enhance transportation and telecommunications. Most of the stadiums that will host the games are equipped with green technology, including seven that use solar power as an energy source.

Why is this news important to Kendall’s School of Hospitality Management and Kendall students?

Five things to take away from this article:

  1. This infrastructure expansion demonstrates the importance of hotels to support tourism.  This event will trigger an expansion of hotels and hotel jobs which is directly tied to two of our concentrations – Hotel Lodging and Food & Beverage concentrations.
  2. This event verifies the importance of sports as business, which will be showcased in our new Sports Management concentration.
  3. The supporting infrastructure necessary to sponsor an event is enormous – in terms of jobs and economic impact.  Event management is a concentration at Kendall as well as a focus on events certain classes within the Sports Management concentration.
  4. The emphasis on environmental resource use (solar power, green technology) demonstrates the need for hospitality sector and events to be more focused on sustainability – the center of another Kendall concentration, Sustainable Management in Hospitality and Tourism.
  5. Destination marketing associations are another source of career opportunities in the hospitality industry such as the Brazilian Tourism Board, Choose Chicago or the DuPage Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Hospitality is a global business with opportunities in the United States and throughout the world.  We are excited to watch the situation unfold in Brazil as it plans both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Source:  Edelstein, L. (2013).  Brazil to Open 147 New Hotels Before FIFA World Cup 2014.  Meetings & Conventions May 15, 2013.  Retrieved May 15, 2013 from http://www.meetings-conventions.com/article_ektid54742.aspx?cid=eltrMidWeek.

Bayless Honored as Inaugural Namesake for “Great Chefs Kitchen”

Meredith, April 26th, 2013 | Category: Featured, Green, Inside Kendall | Permalink | Email this
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Celebrity chef Rick Bayless was on hand April 12 to speak with students, faculty and staff as the School of Culinary Arts honored him with Kendall College’s dedication of the “Great Chefs Kitchen.” The commercial kitchen lab that has served culinary students since the Riverworks campus’ opening in 2005 will bear Bayless’ name for the inaugural year of this new program that will annually honor a chef who has significantly influenced and shaped American foodways.

In the foodservice realm, Bayless, owner of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, Xoco and other well-known eateries in greater Chicago, is arguably America’s foremost expert on authentic regional Mexican cuisine. His PBS television series, “Mexico – One Plate at a Time,” along with his gourmet retail lines and award-winning cookbooks, have made Bayless a household name from coast to coast.

“In 1987, Rick started to change the landscape for restaurants in Chicago by demonstrating that Mexican cuisine is extraordinary—and not just tacos,” said Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, HAAC, vice president, Laureate International Universities Center of Excellence in Culinary Arts and the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts. “Beyond his award-winning restaurants, Rick has accomplished more than anyone else in the United States in introducing Americans to real Mexican cuisine.”

At the dedication ceremony, Bayless, who said he’s “just a person who loves the craft of cooking,” called Kendall culinary-arts students the “hope of our generation.” He added that he has always loved Kendall College for embracing the teaching of global cuisines in ways that culinary-arts programs elsewhere may not.

Encouraging students to reach for the stars in their careers and make a positive impact on society, Bayless recalled his first trip to Mexico when he was 14. “It changed my life,” he said. “The cuisine spoke to me. We can share our voices through food, which brings people together. So go wherever food leads you.”

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Bayless has a longstanding relationship with Kendall College, including developing the Frontera Scholarship, launched in 2007—a full tuition scholarship to send a Mexican-American student living in Chicago to Kendall College to study the culinary arts. The 2013 scholarship recipient is third-year baking-and-pastry student Mareli Castellanos, who will accompany Bayless to Oaxaca in late June for a five-day immersion in Mexican baking and pastry arts.

Where are they now? Catching Up with School of Hospitality Management Alum Imran Jivani

Meredith, March 29th, 2013 | Category: Alumni, Featured | Permalink | Email this
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The Kendall College Alumni Relations Office recently caught up with School of Hospitality Management alum Imran Jivani (International Hospitality Management ’11.) He is living in San Francisco, CA and working at Hotel Kabuki, a Joie de Vivre Hotel/Commune Hotels and Resorts.

In his day-to-day as a department head, Imran handles a myriad of hotel guest requests while overseeing the front desk, concierge, bell/valet desk and reservations. “I truly enjoy the “Moments of Truth” that I have with guests whether it is guest recovery or creating a great experience.”

Lobby of Hotel Kabuki

Currently a Front Office Manager, he hopes to be a General Manager in the near future. “I was in the industry for 10 years prior to completing my degree at Kendall.  I like to say that while I walked in to Kendall as an experienced manager, I walked out as a leader,” says Jivani. “The advice, curriculum, and environment at Kendall really allowed for professional and personal growth that has made me much better in my career.”

The School of Hospitality Management at Kendall College currently offers concentrations to fit a variety of hospitality-related interests, including: Hotel/Lodging Management, Restaurant Management, Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (MICE), Sustainable Management in Hospitality and Tourism, and Beverage Management.

“My advice [for current students hoping to enter the hospitality industry] would be to sincerely work with integrity while developing key relationships with all stakeholders (i.e. guests, associates, peers, and executive leadership).  This is the key to success in many fields, but in hospitality, you have to have a gracious nature that is based in a service-first mentality,” says Jivani. “Always go above and beyond what is expected of you and offer your time/ help to anyone who needs it.  You cannot grow in this industry with a ‘not my job’ mentality.”

While Jivani enjoys San Francisco and says “it has too much available to create a list of favorites. I always enjoy a simple day in my neighborhood, Hayes Valley, reading a book and enjoying gourmet single drip coffee,” he is “a Chicagoan since birth” and misses “everything about Chicago, especially Deep Dish Pizza.”

Learn more about the Global Hospitality Management program at Kendall College in Chicago. Any questions for Imran Jivani? Leave them in the comments!

Stein and Mestan Win Silver Medal in National Culinology® Competition

Meredith, March 26th, 2013 | Category: Around Town, Featured | Permalink | Email this
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The team of Eric Stein, MS, RD, CCE, a chef-instructor at the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, and Jaime Mestan, CSC, a Kendall culinary alum (’08) and research chef at Ed Miniat, Inc., in South Holland, Ill., took second place, a silver medal and a cash award of $3,000 at the second-annual Professional Culinology® Competition, March 8 in Charlotte, N.C., held in conjunction with the Research Chefs Association’s (RCA) Annual Conference and Culinology Expo.

The competition, which was sanctioned by the American Culinary Federation (ACF), called for two-person teams to submit concepts reflecting North Carolina regional cuisine via an appetizer for fine dining, a shareable appetizer for casual dining and a fine-dining or casual-dining dessert. Stein and Mestan beat two other teams with their three-concept entry that comprised an “N.C. BLT,” fried shrimp-and-grits ravioli with Texas Pete dipping sauce, and “The Ultimate Southern Sundae.”

Dish created by Kendall College chef instructor Eric Stein - the "North Carolina BLT"

Prior to the competition, teams prepared commercialized versions of their concepts and shipped them to Charlotte. On competition day, each team created the gold standard, fresh versions of their commercialized concepts and was judged in part against how well the plated, commercialized products matched up against the gold standards prepared on site. Entries were judged by a panel of culinary R&D experts against criteria that included originality of concept, nutritional profile, manufacturing feasibility, flavor, aroma, texture, presentation and safety standards.

The discipline of Culinology was pioneered by the Research Chefs Association with the organization’s founding in 1996. The RCA represents more than 2,000 members including chefs, food scientists, technologists, writers, nutritionists, academicians, researchers, consultants, sales and marketing professionals, suppliers, co-packers, distributors and students. RCA is the premier source of culinary and technical information for the food industry and is committed to the advancement of Culinology—the blending of the culinary arts and food science. For more information, visit www.culinology.com.

Photos courtesy of Research Chefs Association, 2013.

From the Kitchens at Kendall College: Spicy Breakfast Sausage Recipe

Meredith, March 25th, 2013 | Category: Featured, Inside Kendall | Permalink | Email this
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Part 4 of our series on homemade sausage! Recipe developed by Chef Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, HAAC, vice president,  Kendall College School of Culinary Arts and the Laureate International Universities Center of Excellence in Culinary Arts.

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Spicy Breakfast Sausage
Yield: 5 lbs.

Nothing beats the heady aroma of pork sausage sizzling in a skillet—unless it’s the sausage you made, yourself. Making breakfast-sausage patties is not difficult, and the results are superlative.  This recipe also packs a punch to help jump-start your morning.

Ingredients
4¼ lbs.pork shoulder (the meat and the fat)
¾ lb. pork fat back*
2 T. salt
2 t. black pepper
1½ t. white pepper
2½ t. ground sage
2 t. chile flakes, ground in the spice grinder
½ t. nutmeg
1¼ t. ground thyme
½ t. ground ginger
1¼ t. ground coriander
1 T. sugar
¾ c.water cold water

Directions
1.Cut the pork and fat into a large dice. Place in freezer until they are very cold. Grind in a meat grinder (with a plate with approximately 3/16” holes) or in a food processor until coarsely chopped.
2.In a bowl, combine all remaining ingredients.
3.Pour the liquid spice mixture into the cold ground meat and fat. Mix vigorously until the meat becomes slightly elastic.
4.Form the meat into small patties about 3” in diameter.
5.To cook, sauté the patties over moderate heat until they are cooked through (165°F with an instant-read thermometer), 5 to 10 minutes.

*Pork fat back is the firm fat from the back of the hog, although the fat from the leg will also work.

Want to learn more about culinary school in Chicago? Take a tour of Kendall with Chef Koetke!
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