From the President
By Chris Donato, CEC, Nestle Professional

ACF Charlotte continues to stay engaged with the community by supporting events sponsored by other groups. On March 29, we’ll attend the Charlotte IFSEA chapter’s Grazing with the Chefs at the Art Institute of Charlotte. Tickets can be purchased by calling Chef Ron Ahlert at the Community Culinary School at 704-375-4500. Then, on April 14, we are off to Charlotte’s 15th annual Taste of the Nation at The Atrium Uptown. This is another great effort to fight hunger in our community that also promises to be a foodies’ delight. For details, visit www.charlottetasteofthenation.com

The ACF Southeast Regional Convention will be held April 23-26 in Birmingham. I hope many of you will consider attending. We have three local chapter members up for awards: Chef Philip Lloyd for Chef of the Year, Chef Michael Rosen for the Chef’s Professionalism Award sponsored by Nestle, and Chef George Schmaren for the Herman G. Rusch Life Achievement Award. Our chapter has also been nominated for an achievement award for community service, which I hope to bring back to display at our May meeting.

Thanks go to Chef Geoff Blount for hosting last month’s meeting at the CPCC Harris Campus and to Chef John LaTour and our junior chapter for hosting our February Chef’s Monday. I encourage our student members to take an active role at our monthly meetings by volunteering to help set up and show off some of your newly-earned culinary skills. Please feel free to call me at 704-575-7276 to discuss your involvement.

As we begin to move into the busy spring season, I extend to each of you a personal invitation to put down the working tools of our craft and attend our monthly meetings on the second Monday of each month.

Enjoy Life, eat well and often…

ACF Charlotte President’s Ball Boasts Big Attendance

Tom Stroozas, ACF Charlotte

The 38th annual ACF Charlotte President’s Ball is now in the history books. This year’s event, held at the Charlotte Marriott Center City Hotel on Sunday, January 31, was a foodie’s delight and featured great cuisine, fellowship, awards, and scholarships. And for the second year in a row – snow and ice!

Congratulations to ACF Charlotte’s Chef of the Year, Geoff Blount, CEPC, from CPCC, and Yossi Shem-Avi, of US Foodservice, on being awarded the Associate of the Year for the second year in a row! In addition, the following were awarded Distinguished Service Awards for their significant unselfish contributions to the industry: Biriam Thompson, Community Culinary School of Charlotte; Chris Jones, SYSCO Food Services of Charlotte; Ashley McGee, CEC, Johnson & Wales University; Mike Henninger, Low Country Shellfish; Jean Pierre Marechal, Marriott Center City Hotel; and Michael Rosen, CEC, Charlotte Motor Speedway. And this year’s recipient of the Joseph P. Jarmatcki Jr. Presidential Award for community service was Philip Lloyd, CEC, from the Country Club of Salisbury.

ACF Charlotte presented its first-ever Mary Margaret Traxler Hospitality Scholarship and several industry partner scholarships to deserving local culinary students. A total of $6,500 in scholarships was awarded to the following students: Christopher Lee, Beth Thompson-Peace, Sandra Birmingham, and Tequilis Knox, who will be continuing their culinary and hospitality education at Central Piedmont Community College. Special thanks again to SYSCO Food Services of Charlotte and US Foodservice for their continued scholarship partnerships.

The theme for this year’s ball, “Southern Fare with Charlotte Flair,” was sponsored in part by North Carolina Bank and Trust. In addition to acknowledging SYSCO Charlotte and US Foodservice for being scholarship partners, we’re also grateful for the additional sponsorships from S&D Coffee, Piedmont Natural Gas, Advance Food Company, and PreGel America. Special thanks go out to Chef Jean Pierre Marechal of the Marriott, Chef Philip Lloyd from the Country Club of Salisbury, and Chef Michael Rosen from Charlotte Motor Speedway, who co-chaired the event.

Special thanks to chefs Jeff LaBarge (CPCC), Doug Allen (Premier Hospitality), and Mark Martin (Art Institute of Charlotte), who continued this year’s scholarship committee and for their efforts to review the plethora of scholarship applications and making the tough decisions.

Again, special thanks go out to our sponsors who helped make this year’s event one of Charlotte’s best in recent memory! But most of all, thanks to those who attended in support of ACF Charlotte and what our chapter contributes to our community, for without your support it just would not happen.