Message from the President
The online newsletter always has had the potential to be a forum for alumni to publish articles, to plead for support for efforts especially related to the NECI Alumni Association or other undertakings that affect alumni; to express points of view about various topics of interest to the readers. I am pleased to see in the current issue evidence of these things especially from the alumni who are working hard to get the Association beyond its infancy.
It is important to remember that the articles referred to are written by alumni who also volunteer their services as members of the Alumni Association Board of Directors. We often take for granted the time and energy they devote to the effort.
The Board President, Tim Klauder (1984 Montpelier), arranges a conference call every month for the Association Board of Directors. He organizes gatherings of alumni at every trade show he attends around the country - and he attends most of them. Orrick Nepomuceno (1996 Essex), is a web savvy graduate who has set up the LinkedIn NECI account to help alumni connect with one another. And Michael Levy (1999 Montpelier) is writing about first-hand experiences that should be of interest to a number of graduates.
What the NECI online newsletter can be, among other things, is a medium that expands the conversation about food supplies, beverages, business opportunities, job openings, cooking tips, children - all the things that you would talk about if you were meeting one another face-to-face.
While the internet is a great substitute for NECI gatherings, it never can be the same as spending time together. Knowing this, Tim Klauder is organizing an Alumni Week in June. Vermont is at its finest then, so consider joining Tim and others who are planning an educational but relaxing week of activities.
That week also can be the occasion when NECI's plans for the future are presented to alumni. Currently, there are 18 planning groups at the school, each of whom is examining a facet of the operation with the requirement that they all complete their work by the end of March. Some of the groups have been at it since last summer.
As part of this planning effort, I'll be speaking to the Association Board of Directors on the 21st of this month about plans to restructure the Board of the school to include alumni, an application for regional accreditation, and a conversion to non-profit status.
If you sense that a lot is going on, you are right. Just the range of activities mentioned here should give you some assurance that great efforts are being made to anticipate the needs of future years while also perpetuating what all of us have cherished since the school opened its doors.
Fran
Imagine ordering produce and supplies which arrive by seaplane at your latitude/longitude coordinates rather than by delivery truck at your street address! For the past six years, Gino Gabriel (1999 AOS Culinary Essex) has been cooking on boats ranging from 50' to 200'.
The idea of working as a personal chef on a yacht came to him while watching boats sail on the Hudson River. At the time, he was working at Esca (a Mario Batali establishment), and during his free moments, he would sit by the river to relax and unwind. He figured someone had to be cooking on those boats, so he moved to Fort Lauderdale, the hub for all yachts. He began communicating with yachting brokers, those responsible for hiring crews, and soon hired onto a yacht owned by a family who frequented Esca.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here...
Gino hails from a family that's passionate about food and cooking. One of his earliest memories is of picking squash blossoms to make zucchini fritters.
He attended Penn State University, earned a BA in hotel and restaurant management, but knew he wanted to focus on cooking. When he and his mother opened a café in Philadelphia, he realized he needed to head back to school to refine his cooking fundamentals. Gino chose NECI because of the demographics... he was in his late 20s, a college graduate, and NECI had a wide range of students who were career changers.
While at NECI he interned at the Highlands Inn in Carmel, CA, home of the Masters of Food and Wine, a week long culinary event for folks from around the world . This event opened doors for networking, making connections among peers and mentors.
His second internship was in Italy. He was the first NECI student at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners, a two month program in a castle in the Piedmonte, the renowned wine country and culinary heaven. After completing this program, he worked at Ristorante La Frasca in Emilia Romagna for ten months.
Upon his return to the States, the big question was where to go next: New York City (the culinary capital of the world) or the West Coast (with its comfortable familiarity dating back to his internship days). Opting for NYC, he immediately began a search for a job and an apartment.
His search was helped by a chance encounter with Mario Batali. "Well, I met him walking down a street in Greenwich Village, back in 1999. I recognized him, he was starting to become famous. He had opened Po, a 35 seat trattoria in the Village, and Babbo. He was going into his new restaurant, Esca. Anyway, we started talking. Turns out he and I lived and worked within a half hour of each other while in Italy. We started talking about what I wanted to do and he told me that Esca would open in a few months. In the meantime, because I needed to get situated, he gave me some contact information for an apartment and work. I started at Becco, one of Lidia Bastianich's restaurants, stayed for a month and a half, then moved over to Esca. I worked on the line, then did Tournade, helping out anyone in the kitchen who needed it. It gave me a lot of freedom. I stayed for two and a half years. It was intense hard work, this was the big leagues. Esca is a seafood mecca, serving what I call aggressive seafood. You wouldn't order a filet of sole there, but you'd be inclined to try something out of the ordinary like fish cheeks, tongue and liver. Fish are prepared whole, the way they should be. By the end of two years, I was feeling beaten up and knew I needed to make a change."
And that's when he started sitting by the River...
Gino's Advice to NECI Students
Look, listen and think; then formulate a concept. Don't jump to conclusions. Keep your head up, not down. Slow down before you rush into something; keep things simple. Keep your eyes on the prize. Don't get hung up on titles. I'm a cook. I'm confident about what I do and who I am. It takes a lifetime to become a chef. Make sacrifices to travel.
Message from your Alumni Association President
Success Happens When
You Set the Date!
Get Connected and Network
Take a look at the Calendar of Upcoming Events and plan to attend and get involved...Schedule time to visit trade shows, product demonstrations, seminars, training programs.
Become an active member of any professional association and create many career improving opportunities for yourself.
Identify Your Opportunity
James Beard Foundation
Foodservice Consultants Society International
Research Chefs Association
American Culinary Federation, ACF
American Dietetic Association, ADA
Catering Association Executive, NACE
Catering
Dietary Managers Association, DMA
NECI Ambassadors
Have a look at the NECI Calendar and check out the dates and locations of upcoming events. If you feel you can help by being a NECI ambassador and lend your support, contact us. If you will be attending any shows around the world, let us know.
Alumni Week June 16-22, 2008
Welcome Home, NECI Brothers & Sisters!
Whether you fly or drive to Vermont, join us in the numerous events and activities we are planning for Alumni week. We will have daily scheduled tours as well as a list of Alumni restaurants to visit throughout New England.
If you would like to be included in the First Alumni Tour de NECI (visiting the drinking and dining hotspots across New England, upstate New York and Canada) just send us your information.
Please let us know what other activities interest you; we're thinking of workshops, seminars, and continuing education. More information will be published in future newsletters.
Timothy G. Klauder
NECI Alumni President
Corporate Executive Chef
Blodgett Oven Company
tklauder-at-blodgett.com
802 238 0447
The Preservation Trust of Vermont recently sent a notice that the Pierce Store in North Shrewsbury, Vermont has been renovated. Anyone interested in operating a country store in Vermont should visit www.ptvermont.org for more information.
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Having just closed my restaurant after six years of blood, sweat and tears, it would have been easy to view my venture and career as a failure. This article may appear somewhat self-serving in that it is part of my healing process. The purpose of the article, however, is to share with other NECI alumni the importance of realizing that not all failed business ventures are without merit. To know that there are successes to be found in our failed ventures is critical to our ability to continue on with life, and to not be swayed from executing a sound business venture simply because it could fail. The risks and rewards need to be weighed out, and they are not all quantifiable.
As graduates of NECI, you may have learned by now that your education has truly set you up for success, and a chance to be an outstanding leader in the food service industry. Having worked with graduates from most of the major culinary schools, I have come to realize that NECI grads are consummate professionals beyond reproach. NECI's model, along with its very talented faculty and staff, produces graduates who are so well rounded in the basics and the correct way of doing things, that their ability to succeed very often surpasses that of their peers. As a result, many of us at some point will contemplate entrepreneurship. Owning your own business, especially a restaurant, comes with rewards and risks. One of the most important risks to consider is that the business could very likely fail. Another risk which is very important to consider is that the professional demands you place upon yourself could hinder your ability to have a stable and balanced personal life.
As a young business owner, I was very aware of the financial and personal risks, but beyond the obvious rewards of potential financial gain and independence from working for "the man," I was unaware of the many other successes I would accomplish as an entrepreneur. Although my restaurant eventually ran its course and closed its doors, I realize that given the chance to do it all over again...I would. Sure, the failed restaurant was a financial nightmare in the end, but the things I gained were priceless.
First of all, I shielded myself from a lifetime of questioning what could have been if I had only struck out on my own. This would have haunted me till the day I die. Now I know. Secondly, I learned more about myself and my abilities than I ever would have working for someone else. As an employee, you are limited by your job description, your employer's faith in you, and their willingness to assume the risks of your actions. As a business owner, you set your own gauge. I learned what I was made of, for better and for worse. I will forever have these experiences to guide my future decisions. This learning experience, although an expensive one, was no less an investment in "my education" than another college degree, and in my opinion, more valuable. I now hold a master's degree in "personal awareness" from the University of Hard Knocks. My largest success was not exactly what I gained, but what my community gained from the existence of my restaurant. As a business owner, you quickly come to realize that you have become an integral part of your community. You truly earn your citizenship, as your organization becomes integrated with the local, state and federal economy. Your business pays local, state and federal taxes which provide infrastructure for the world in which you live. As a member of the local chamber of commerce and other local organizations, you become a team member in the decision making processes that affect your community. Being in the food business gives you an awesome ability to give back to people less fortunate through food and monetary donations. The food business also allows you the opportunity to support responsible food producers and vendors. As an employer, you enable the livelihood of so many people. To give a good person a good job is an awesome thing. To see those people experience their own successes, and raise families while in your employ is an amazing experience.
To run a business and to be its team leader is to learn like never before the importance of synergy in everything we do, whether at work or at home. To come to understand synergy and apply that understanding in life is a success that trumps any failure.
As Alumni Association President Tim Klauder was crisscrossing the country in December, he discovered an article in which Boston chefs named the up and coming talent in Bean Town. Two NECI alumni made the cut: Nick Terrafranca (2002 AOS Culinary Montpelier) and Jason Maynard (2004 AOS Culinary Montpelier). Nick is the executive chef at 28 degrees; Jason was sous chef at the hotspot Sonsie and then left to become a line cook at the upscale Troquet. The article features "young, still under the radar talent working in kitchens all over Boston." To read more, click on www.stuffatnight.com, then click on "Stuff at Night" in the center of the page. Scroll down to "Worth Their Salt...Local Veteran Chefs Choose Their Favorite Young Guns."
1989
Linda Stevens (AOS Culinary Montpelier) from Bennington, NH wishes to hear from anyone in the 1987-88 classes at NECI who remember her. She catered both in Massachusetts and in Maine for a number of years, and also worked at the Hotel Lafayette in Boston and at the Bedford Village Inn in NH for a brief time. Today she works as an executive/administrative assistant in various businesses on a temporary basis after leaving a six-year executive assistant position with the president of a non-profit organization. Catering is still her greatest love. Please contact her at chiefjim-at-tds.net
1991
Tom Bivins (AOS Culinary Montpelier), Executive Chef at NECI, was quoted in an article from The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan about the one day opening of Wintermarket in mid December. Modeled after London's Borough Market, Wintermarket offered food grown and produced within 500 miles of NYC. One goal of the day's event was to spread awareness of sustainable food. Tom has worked with Nova Kim and Les Hook, two Vermont foragers who brought mushrooms, Jerusalem artichokes, wild ginger and dandelion greens to Wintermarket. "Wild is the original organic," Bivins was quoted as saying. "Politics have finally hit the plate."
1994
Ellen McFarland Jackson (AOS Culinary Essex) is food writer and stylist in the Portland Oregon area.
1997
Marisa Badalamenti Anand (AOS Culinary Montpelier and 1999 BA Food and Beverage Mgt) wrote in from Providence RI. She is currently the General Manager of Pei Wei Asian Diner in Cranston, RI, an offshoot of PF Chang's China Bistro. She has been with the company for a year and GM since July. Check out the concept at www.peiwei.com
2001
Dave Zablocki (AOS Culinary Essex) sent in the link for a Wall Street Journal video clip featuring Wine Cellar Sorbets. This Brooklyn based business produces wine based sorbets that are non-dairy and no juice. Click here for the link.
Kathleen Maloney (AOS Culinary Montpelier) has been the General Manager of Smokejacks restaurant in Burlington VT for ten years. Her champagne recommendations were recently featured in a Burlington Free Press article - along with the signature Smokejacks Champagne Cocktail. www.smokejacks.com
2004
Tad Engstrom (AOS Culinary Essex) is the chef at Sweet Basil restaurant in Greensboro, NC. The restaurant is housed in a 100 year old farm house, serving locally grown produce and chemical free cuts of meat. The concept was to support local businesses, such as local organic wineries and the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market.
Margaret McIntire (AOS Culinary Montpelier) is now working at the Brass Elephant in Baltimore, MD.
2005
Hugh Amano (AOS Culinary Montpelier) connected with our beloved Sandy Webb recently. He has accepted the position of Executive Sous Chef with Uncommon Ground in Chicago. For more information, click here.
John Miller (AOS Culinary Montpelier) is the Executive Chef of Saffron, serving Mediterranean cuisine, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. The restaurant is in its first year of operation, and has been well received. www.saffron-hawaii.com
2007
Jill Lanpher (AOS Baking and Pastry Montpelier) is presently a rounds chef for the Baking and Pastry program at NECI.
