6:10 PM

Moving from savory to sweet, Chef Chad Pagano demonstrated the difference between making dessert at home and for a crowd. Inviting Martin Rucker and Herb Taylor to whip up a batch of chocolate mousse, he added gelatin and simple syrup to the standard recipe, and explained the persuasive power of pastry in a restaurant’s marketing plan.

Chef Chad Pagano whips up chocolate mousse with Martin Rucker and Herb Taylor.

5:40 PM

To finish up the long day of learning, we treated our NFL guests to a duo of cooking demos with Chefs James Briscione and Chad Pagano. James recruited Babatunde Oshinowo and Adalius Thomas to help him revive his southern roots, preparing a seasonal succotash dish.

Chef James Briscione prepares southern succotash with Babatunde Oshinowo and Adalius Thomas.

5:10 PM

For the day’s final lecture session, our entire Culinary Management faculty came together for a passion-filled panel and Q&A session. The core message was this: “Don’t be comfortably mediocre.” Define the mission statement of your business and invest time in recruiting staff who live and breath those core values. “Think about the team you were on that most motivated you. Those qualities are the same that will make a positive work environment in the service industry.”

The ICE Culinary Management faculty join forces for an end of day panel.

4:20 PM

Shaking things up, resident ICE mixologist, Anthony Caporale, shared the secrets behind “shrinkage”—in particular, bar theft. A veteran bartender, Caporale has witnessed every scam in the trade, from over-pouring to padding the tip jar. When it comes to hiring staff, he warned, “What I want in a bartender is someone who can count. If he/she can’t count, than that person isn’t a bartender, but a drink mixer.” To ensure the message hit home, Caporale recruited players to run a simple bar scam.

Anthony Caporale teaches former NFL linebacker, Eric Alexander, how to run a bar scam.

3:40 PM

After lunch, Hospitality Consultant John Moser presented an overview of the hotel industry. The NFL players were shocked to learn that, due to the labor set-up in hotels, pricey room service creates very little or no revenue. They also gained perspective on roles that are often under-appreciated, such as that of maid service, which Moser called one of the most difficult jobs in America.

John Moser shares his insider perspective on the hospitality business.

2:15 PM

During a delicious lunch, prepared by ICE Chef Instructors (and football fans) James Briscione and Chad Pagano, our NFL students were treated to a keynote speech by CEO of Rosa Mexicano, Howard Greenstone. A veteran of the restaurant industry and former college athlete, Greenstone shared his successes and failures on and off the field. Of his many resonant points, two stood out in particular. First, don’t micro-manage your staff. Referencing Chef Ted’s earlier demo, Greenstone, stated, “You shouldn’t be in the kitchen chopping up steaks unless you’re the chef.” He also reminded players that, while it’s great to love the business, ultimately those who are successful are in it to make money as well.

Howard Greenstone shares his professional wisdom with NFL workshop students.

Chef Instructors James Briscione and Chad Pagano prepared a delicious lunch for our guests from the NFL.

1:08 PM

In the morning session, the players learned about the four major products of any restaurant business—food, service, design/environment, and “sizzle”—and considered the different types of business opportunities available in the culinary and hospitality industry. They then dove into the details of financing a restaurant and elements of a successful business plan.

Terrence McGee and Larry Tripplett with Dean of Culinary Management Stephen Zagor

Switching things up, the players headed to our demo kitchen, where they learned about the economics of food waste with Chef Instructor Ted Siegel. To demonstrate his point, Chef Ted broke down a boneless beef loin, one of the most expensive cuts of meat.

Chef Instructor Ted Seigel shows Jason Avant and Will Smith how to break down a boneless beef loin.

10:11 AM

This morning, we welcomed 21 current and past NFL players and their wives to ICE for a one day Hospitality and Culinary Management Workshop. From attendees already working in the culinary industry—one retired player owns his own wine label, while another works as a chef—to current players getting a head start on a future career, the group represented a diverse range of interests and passions. Introductions revealed the extracurricular talents of the group, from photography to writing to music, with enough brass players to form a formidable horn section.

Martin Rucker, Vincent Rey and Babtunde Oshinowo listen to Stephen Zagor’s lecture.

ICE Dean of Culinary Management, Stephen Zagor, kicked things off with a quick restaurant quiz. Players were surprised to learn that it isn’t a “love of food” that launches most culinary management careers – rather, it’s the fact that working in the food industry “looks like fun”. Undercapitalization is the biggest pitfall for new restaurants, whereas guests rate cleanliness as the most important aspect of a food business. As for the fabled statement that “90% of restaurants fail in their first year”, Zagor revealed that, in fact, 50% of restaurants survive their first two years of business.

Will Smith and Jason Avant learn the ins and outs of financing a food business.

Last night, five ICE students competed head-to-head in the 17th Annual Calvados Nouvelle Vogue International Trophies. Hailing from the Culinary and Hospitality Management programs, the students were given the unique opportunity to train with Anthony Caporale, renown beverage expert and ICE Mixologist and Beverage Instructor.

Craig Joseph, Carol Arciniegas, Anthony Caporale, Edward Dickman, Anthony Causi and Ellen Richards

The competition was held at the Intercontinental New York Hotel’s Barclay Bar, the first Calvados bar in the country, boasting more than thirty types of this traditional French brandy. From cream to chocolate, thai basil to jalapenos, the range of cocktails presented by the students truly demonstrated the spirit’s fruit-driven versatility.

Professionals from the New York Chapter of the US Bartenders’ Guild competed alongside the students, vying for the chance to compete in the Calvados Cocktail finals this April in Normandy, France.

Craig Joseph pours his winning Calvados cocktail.

Culinary Management student Craig Joseph took home the prize with “The Normandy”. We look forward to seeing Craig at the finals in France and congratulate all the competitors on their impressive bartending skills!

“The Normandy”

The Normandy

By Craig Joseph

By Carly DeFilippo

What’s it like to be the co-owner and executive chef at one of New York’s most buzzed about restaurants? Just ask Daniel Holzman of The Meatball Shop.

As Daniel shared with current ICE Culinary Management students, his road to food fame was hardly a smooth one. His self-proclaimed “bad attitude” resulted in his being fired from many of his previous jobs. It’s hard to imagine the affable, funny Holzman as such a controversial personality, and he credits his shift in perspective and maturity, in large part, to his experience at TMS.

Holzman entered the restaurant world at the age of 14 and, from the beginning, was working through the ranks of high-end kitchens, including that of Le Bernadin. When it came time to choose a career path, however, he realized that only his ego aspired to become the executive chef at a fancy restaurant. In truth, Holzman knew he’d be much happier in a less grueling, more fun work environment – like that of The Meatball Shop. He explained that only a select few chefs have the tireless work ethic, talent and drive to survive in a top tier environment. Luckily, as Holzman proves, there are many kinds of culinary success.

Speaking of success, Holzman credits his to a number of different factors. He opened his restaurant with his best friend – a risky decision, but one that ultimately panned out, due to their complementary strengths. His partner, Michael Chernow – “the cool one”, in Holzman’s words – is more of a front-of-house personality, while Holzman oversees the kitchen. Daniel cautions that partnerships are like marriage, and he and Chernow went so far as to attend couples counseling for several years. He insists that you need to join forces with someone you like, that you can be brutally honest with and that you won’t hide behind if things go wrong. But Holzman’s most resonant advice regarding partnership was this: choose carefully what you fight for. There will be potential for arguments at every turn, and its best to save your influence for the times when it matters most to you. He went on to add that many things he has “let go” ultimately worked out the way he would have hoped.

To that point, Holzman finds, “Decisions are like money.” Running a small business, if you don’t have the ability to up employees’ pay, you can increase their stake in the business by providing them with more influence and responsibility. In fact, Holzman’s goal was always to create a business that wasn’t dependent on one person’s creativity, talent or personality. The employees who run his three – Lower East Side, Williamsburg and West Village – locations are as essential to TMS’ success as Holzman himself.

Another predicting factor of the shop’s success, for Holzman, was the business plan. He had been working for months on the elaborate idea of a Byzantine restaurant, but was struggling to write up a comprehensive plan. Once he and Chernow finally fell upon the meatball concept, writing a business plan became “easy”, and almost fun. To boot, because the duo wrote their own plan, (instead of relying on the guidance of a financial advisor or other mentor) they were able to persuasively respond to the questions of potential investors, who responded enthusiastically to the idea.

When it comes to growth, Holzman cautions against being too hasty. He and Chernow were very familiar with the LES neighborhood where they opened their first shop, but in moving to the West Village, they struggled to anticipate the habits and expectations of their clientele. Knowing a neighborhood is just one of the elements of thoughtful, slow growth that Holzman advises. He also suggests to try own as much as you can of each subsequent location, because the more investors you have, the more pressure there is to expand at an accelerated pace. In addition to managing multiple locations, press appearances and other engagements can interfere with the day-to-day management of a restaurant. To ensure smooth operation, Holzman knows he has to invest time on-site, working side-by-side with his staff.

When asked about hiring, Holzman referenced the old adage: to predict someone’s future, you can only look at their past. But good-natured, passionate and transparent, Holzman seems to have surpassed even his own expectations. Who knew opening a restaurant could be such a transformative experience?

How does an aspiring marketing professional become one of New York’s top bakers? Like many of our students, Amy Scherber was a career changer, motivated by her passion for food.

Amy introduces ICE Culinary Management students to her Chelsea Market store.

In the 1990s, New York was far from the bountiful paradise of bakeries that we find today. When Amy’s Bread opened in Hell’s Kitchen, it was a pioneering force in a bread wasteland, a powerhouse concept that has flourished over more than twenty years of business. It’s no wonder that when Culinary Management instructor Alan Someck decided to take his Culinary Management students on a bakery fieldtrip that Amy’s was the obvious choice.

After a brief tour and tasting at Amy’s Chelsea Market outpost – including her signature semolina bread with golden raisins and fennel seed – students got to ask the nitty-gritty questions. As it turns out, Amy had just signed a lease for another space when the opportunity to open in Chelsea Market came on her radar. She lost money in the deal, but knew that the then-empty warehouse would provide the opportunity to fulfill her vision: to open a bakery where customers could see the bread-making process. Today, most of Amy’s baking has been outsourced to a large space in Long Island City, but she intends to maintain this transparent mission. The oven from her original Hell’s Kitchen location was recently installed in the Chelsea Market space, and her staff will resume on-site bread baking in the near future.

Shoppers look on as Amy takes ICE students behind the oversize windows of her signature store.

Amy also shared insight into the trials and joys of expanding her business. Certain products, like her olive twists, were as much a product of exhaustion and accident as proactive innovation. That kind of exhaustion can fuel creativity, but many bakers fail to overcome such odds. As Amy explained, the price margin in bakeries is much smaller than in restaurants. For example, her strawberry shortcake – made with high-quality ingredients such as greenmarket berries – can only retail for a meager $4-5, whereas a restaurant might charge $12 for the same product. Moreover, starting a new small business is more expensive than most owners anticipate, as it takes time to build credit.

In addition, Amy explained that it’s important to know your stores. Her West Village customers buy the most coffee, Chelsea Market moves the most bread and Hell’s Kitchen is a hotspot for sweets. But where other owners might stop there in calibrations, Amy strategizes to the day. If Wednesday afternoons show a trend toward increased sweet consumption, but Monday is more of a morning bread crowd, she adjusts and re-adjusts to fit her customers’ needs. And let’s not forget – on top of retail customers, she has over 300 wholesale accounts to attend to.

When asked expressly for advice, Amy urged Alan’s class of budding entrepreneurs to spend time working in the type of business they would like to open themselves. While aided by her study of Economics in college and time baking in restaurant kitchens, Amy admits she wishes she had spent more time working specifically in bakeries before starting her business. Last but not least, she underscored the importance of a coherent concept. Even if someone has a fully-developed business idea, it is essential that the consumer can effortlessly grasp it – from the name to the decor, the service style, the product, etc.

ICE Culinary Management students, Amy Scherber and Professor Alan Someck.

Looking out onto the eager eyes peeking into Amy’s oversize windows, it’s clear that she applied this final lesson early on. Her famous oversize windows breed a connection between staff and those they serve, an honesty and intimacy that has been an underpinning of Amy’s philosophy from day one.

Irene Wu and her sister, Rita in their restaurant, Baumgart's. (http://food.lohudblogs.com)

When ICE President Rick Smilow and Anne E. McBride wrote Culinary Careers: How to Get Your Dream Job in Food they discovered a plethora of food jobs they had never heard of before. Since the book’s release, they have been discovering even more interesting career paths in the food world. DICED shares some of them with you in a reoccurring feature, “Unique Culinary Careers.”

Students at ICE study for careers in the kitchen but also for careers in the front of the house running and managing restaurants in the ICE Culinary Management program. While working at ICE, Irene Wu was inspired by the students of ICE and decided to embrace her lifelong passion for food and take on managing the newest location of her family’s restaurant Baumgart’s in Nyack. The family-run restaurant offers a Chinese and American menu, complete with an ice cream bar for dessert. Wu, the restaurant’s Operations Director, manages the staff, ordering, and day-to-day operations. We talked to her about what it’s like to be on the other side of the kitchen, owning and operating your own culinary business.

How would you describe your job?
I operate and manage the front of house at one of my family’s restaurants. We are a family-owned pan-Asian and American restaurant in the New York and New Jersey area. Originally, Baumgart’s was an ice cream soda shop in the ‘40s and ‘50s. My parents bought the space in 1988 and basically just started serving what they knew, which was Chinese food. They also kept the diner decor and the best of the homemade ice cream. From there, people really enjoyed it and we were fortunate enough to expand to multiple locations. We opened in Nyack in September 2011. More…

Do you dream about working as a chef? Ever wonder what it would be like to have a career in the culinary or pastry arts? Have you thought about opening your own food business? Attending an ICE open house is a unique opportunity to learn more about working in the culinary industry and how our 6- to 13-month career-training programs in Culinary Arts, Pastry & Baking Arts and Culinary Management can teach you the skills needed to flourish. Seize this opportunity to achieve your dreams!

In addition to hearing about the programs, you’ll participate in live culinary and pastry demos with ICE’s Chef Instructors. Also, the ICE education team and career services staff will discuss ICE’s training programs, career opportunities and our alumni’s success in the industry. Learn everything you need to know about our programs, admissions, and financial aid.

Following are the details:

Date: Saturday, May 19
Time: Doors open at 10:00 a.m., Presentation begins promptly at 10:30am
Place: The Institute of Culinary Education, 50 W 23rd St., New York, NY
R.S.V.P.: Abbey Florence,aflorence@iceculinary.com or 212-847-0700 ex. 437

Seating for the event is limited. Reserve your spot now to get an inside glimpse at ICE and learn all about how ICE changes lives through culinary education.

The diverse student body at ICE attracts many different people. With a wide variety of age, experience, and goals, no two ICE students are alike. We like to share snapshots of life inside the classrooms with a look at ICE students. Robert Esselborn came to ICE after a career as an active duty weapons instructor in the Army. Though ICE may seem a far way from the military, Robert always loved watching food prep as a kid and exploring restaurants with his wife and trying different foods. He decided to follow his passion to the kitchens at ICE and enrolled in the Culinary Management program. We asked him to tell us more about how his interest in food developed and his goals after culinary school.

Where do you come from?
I come from Staten Island in New York.

What is your dream once you finish culinary school?
To open a restaurant and have my family there for my pre-opening.

What are your pastimes?
I love to drive and work on my Corvette, remote control gas car “Jato” and play golf.

What do you cook when you’re home alone?
I experiment with marinating meats, and I cook pasta, meat sauce, and soups. Also, I love to make beef jerky.

What’s your least favorite food?
Sushi.

Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
My wife and I were cooking for the first time together in Manhattan, Kansas and we were frying up chicken cutlets. I started heating up the oil and told her to watch it while I was breading the cutlets. Suddenly, she started to scream. I turned around to see three-foot flames and the house quickly filling up with smoke. I threw a lid over it and the fire went out. We decided to go out to eat. The next day I had to paint the whole kitchen.

ICE’s Culinary Management Instructors are seasoned industry professionals who are still active in the industry, working on their own projects while teaching classes at ICE. With such a wide range of experience between them, we decided to ask Julia Heyer and Vin McCann to take a closer look at the business of running a restaurant and sound off on some of the hottest topics in the restaurant world. Today, they tackle if it is feasible for a restaurant to offer hyper-local and seasonal cuisine.

Julia Heyer
We all hear about seasonal, local and hyper-local cooking. (Hyper-local in NYC always makes me wonder why I would want this. Where did the vegetable come from? The small patch of grass between the sidewalk and Second Avenue? Why would that be something guests would covet?)

Be that as it may, hyper-local, seasonal and fresh is certainly a trend and this week Restaurant Management Magazine online wrote about taking it to the next level.

Now, Vin, we have given our share of opinions about proclaimed experts — be they mixologists, food writers or PR mavens. It is another “expert opinion” that renders parts of the article problematic and caused my eyebrows to approach my upper hairline. A proclaimed finance expert with restaurant experience claims that “true freshness” requires clearing out of all produce and vegetables at the end of each night. Every night! Say what? More…

Meet the Culinary Entrepreneurs is a unique lecture series where a variety of food professionals come speak with students from ICE’s Culinary Management program.

Yesterday, ICE alum Gina Stipo the owner of Ecco La Cucina cooking school in Siena, Italy, came and spoke with students and guests about her experience opening and operating her own culinary tourism business in the heart of Tuscany.  Hosting culinary tours allows her to combine her love of food and experiencing the local culture, as well as share her passions with others. Through hands-on classes, workshops and week-long immersions into the food, wine and culture of Italy, she shares her knowledge of regional cuisine and history with visitors to the area. Culinary tourism is a very unique business and great way to experience a culture when traveling. Stipo said,”I so often have people tell me that a cooking class was the best part of their vacation. And that goes beyond me. It could be any cooking class anywhere.” More…

ICE’s Culinary Management Instructors are seasoned industry professionals who are still active in the industry, working on their own projects while teaching classes at ICE. With such a wide range of experience between them, we decided to ask Julia Heyer and Vin McCann to take a closer look at the business of running a restaurant and sound off on some of the hottest topics in the restaurant world. Today, they look at the recent New York Times review of the ever-popular Shake Shack and try to get to the bottom of what it is that has people lined up around the block for a burger and fries.

Vin McCann
Recently Pete Wells, the Times food critic, spanked Danny Meyers for Shake Shack’s, Meyer’s growing burger chain, operational inconsistency. The piece was both striking and instructive for a number of reasons. First, it raised the question of if Mr. Wells’ interest in a burger chain signals a new field on the Times’ radar screen.  Can we look forward to future reviews of Chipotle and Red Mango? Or was this a one-time scold of a high profile industry operator for not imparting the rigorous standards of his fine dining establishments to his lower priced concept?

In another vein, the piece raised a number of salient business points. The concept of having multiple units on the lower end of the industry’s price spectrum thrive on diligent brand development and sound operational systems, both of which are driven by an objective of consistency. From Wells’ perspective Shake Shack turned up wanting in both departments.

The criticism also raises the inevitable dilemma that all restaurant concepts, whether chains or otherwise, must resolve, namely the fusion of the expectations that are raised and the performance that is delivered. In Wells’ eyes, Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) brand seems to promise more than it delivers on the food portion of the experience, but manages even in his critical eye to provide the memorable signature of Meyer’s hospitality. This raises the question — can hospitality carry a burger chain? More…