Chef Voyages

Marcey Miller, What I Learned, April 2009, Traveling Chefs

Marcey Miller, What I Learned, April 2009, Traveling Chefs

I had one of the traveling chefs in our grill area since he had to use that to cook the burgers and the other one was in a more open area between my deli and my pizza station where he was behind the line, but there is no glass so he was able to interact with the guests. It’s actually really interesting how the guests can recognize a new face and that really brings people in and makes the day special. They get to see the chefs make the item and the chefs get to talk about it and tell the guests what account they’re from. My customers thoroughly enjoy seeing a new face and enjoying a new product made special for that day.

The week before the chefs come I send out an e-mail blast, here it’s called the Pitt News, which goes out campus wide to let them know who the traveling chefs are, where they’re from, a little about their background and what they’ll be preparing. I also do some signage around the register. Then I run the Pitt News again a few days before the chefs are due to arrive just in case they didn’t see it. It’s mainly e-mail and a minimal of other marketing because I mainly serve the same 300 to 350 people that come in every day. It’s really easy for them to pass by signage. They come in and they look at my welcome station and see beer battered fish and that’s what they’re looking for so they’re not looking around at anything else.

The traveling chefs talk about the ingredients and how they made it. We also have recipe cards for each item so if people like the item they can take the card and try to recreate the item at home. The Thai lettuce wrap that we did was very well received. They loved it so much we said we’d try to feature it once a month. We already have incorporated our Hemisflavors program, which features nine different countries and a lot of international foods, so it’s kind of hard to say that an item is going to be on the menu weekly, so we usually say within the month we’ll try to feature that item.

I believe the traveling chefs program has been around about four years, but it’s picked up more with the interest in our Hemisflavors program. We are trying to show everyone the different foods that we can make. A lot of Hemisflavors items are healthier and fresher products. The traveling chefs program is a great way to just make the guests aware of what we’re capable of doing.

I would definitely say that although all these chefs are within my company, I don’t get the time to actually talk to them like I do with this program. Talking with them is a great way to learn. I met a gentleman who had a degree in criminal justice, but he’s working as a chef for us. So for me it’s just interesting to learn from their backgrounds. I learn about the diversity of our team and I can learn about what different accounts’ chefs bring to Parkhurst. Plus, they work with my staff on the day and teach them how to prepare the item.”