Arizona Food Service Network

The Arizona Food Service Network connects all people, events, resources, and organizations associated with Arizona food, food service, and food science.

Posts

International Pizza EXPO

By

” With more than 8,000 attendees and more than 500 manufacturers/suppliers, International Pizza Expo is held each March in Las Vegas. This is where the Pizzeria industry meets to buy, sell and exchange vital information. Pizza Expo also features 70+ seminars, cooking demonstrations and workshops, keynote speeches, networking events as well as the World Pizza Games, International Pizza Challenge and introducing the International Italian Sandwich Championship.”

Learn more about the event here.

Demonstrations

Keynote Speakers

Workshops

Shoutout for the Arizona based “Restaurant Business Expert”

1:00 PM – 5:00 PM W01 Restaurant Business Essentials, Part I: Critical Systems for Success ($250) David Scott Peters, Restaurant Business Expert Type: Workshop

New at Show

International Italian Sandwich Championship

Not only do I now want pizza, but I also want to go! Great event

International Pizza Expo – 2020Sun, Mar 29, 2020 – Wed, Apr 1, 2020

Description

Dates: Sun, Mar 29, 2020 – Wed, Apr 1, 2020

Location: Las Vegas Convention Center

FAQ

Floor Plan & Exhibitor List

NRA Release of the 2020 State of the Restaurant Industry Report

By

Press release from Cision PR Newswire here. Download report here, Free to members, $349 to nonmembers.

Here’s the free version, “What’s Hot Culinary Forecast” PDF

Interesting and inspirational. Discussed three of these trends on Tuesday without even trying. Always a guideline for me with culinary trends will be reverting back to this with a local example of the trend in action.

Top 10 overall restaurant trends for 2020

  1. Eco-friendly packaging
  2. Scratchmade
  3. Plant-based proteins
  4. Healthy bowls
  5. Creativity with catering
  6. Delivery-friendly menu items
  7. Revamped classic cocktails
  8. Stress relievers (ingredients that promote relaxation/relieve stress)
  9. Specialty burger blends (mushroom-beef burgers, etc.)
  10. Unique beef and pork cuts

For sure doubling back on this information.

The James Beard Award Semifinalists for 2020

By

Drum roll, please….. The James Beard Foundation published the list of the 2020 Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists and here’s the list for Arizona. Many new categories, many new faces, and many familiar ones too.

Best New Restaurant

Vecina, Phoenix

Outstanding Baker

Don Guerra, Barrio Bread, Tucson, AZ

Outstanding Bar Program

Little Rituals, Phoenix

Outstanding Chef (Presented by All-Clad Metalcrafters)

Nobuo Fukuda, Nobuo at Teeter House, Phoenix

Outstanding Hospitality (Presented by American Airlines)

Kai, Phoenix

Outstanding Pastry Chef (Presented by Lavazza)

Country Velador, Super Chunk Sweets & Treats, Scottsdale, AZ

Outstanding Restaurant (Presented by S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water)

Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix

Outstanding Restaurateur (Presented by Magellan Corporation)

Mike Mastro and Jeff Mastro, Prime Steak Concepts, Scottsdale, AZ (Dominick’s Steakhouse, Steak 44, Ocean 44)

Outstanding Wine Program

FnB, Scottsdale, AZ

Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Producer

Stephen Paul, Hamilton Distillers, Tucson, AZ

Rising Star Chef of the Year (Presented by S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water)

Cassie Shortino, Tratto, Phoenix

Best Chefs (Presented by Capital One)

Stephen Jones, The Larder + The Delta, Phoenix

Bernie Kantak, Citizen Public House, Scottsdale, AZ

Shinji Kurita, Shinbay Omakase Room, Scottsdale, AZ

Danielle Leoni, The Breadfruit & Rum Bar, Phoenix

Maria Mazon, BOCA Tacos y Tequila, Tucson, AZ

Chrysa Robertson, Rancho Pinot, Scottsdale, AZ

Silvana Salcido Esparza, Barrio Café Gran Reserva, Phoenix

Samantha Sanz, Talavera, Scottsdale, AZ

Jeff Smedstad, Elote Cafe, Sedona, AZ

Ryan Swanson, Kai, Gila River Indian Community, Chandler, AZ

The 2020 James Beard Awards Gala will take place on Monday, May 4, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The 2020 Leadership Awards will be held on Sunday, May 3 in Chicago, and the 2020 Media Awards will take place on Friday, April 24, at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York City.

For more information and tickets, jamesbeard.org/awards.

You’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right- Write!

By

A line from When Harry Met Sally, it’s something that plays in my head when someone says I need to write more content for the site. I agree, so here I am.

Part of my writing goals is launching two newsletters. Yes, not one, but two. One for the American Culinary Federation Chef’s Association of Arizona and one for the Arizona Food Service Network.

The ACFAZ newsletter is being refreshed and at the next board meeting, that structure will be confirmed. There’s an email blast that goes out to share information but the feedback from members and meeting attendees is, they would like to see a newsletter.

For the AZFSNetwork newsletter, that’s a little more involved as that’s directly tied with the website which we’re working on the finishing details there as well. Pricing and structure are the main focus, something easier said than done.

I’d show you the template for the AZFSNetwork but I want to work on that some more so I’ll wait for now. They both have similar formats but have different goals and the same applies to the audience. Part of the AZFSNetwork Newsletter will include a link to the ACFAZ Newsletter.

For the ACFAZ, my goal has always been for members of the association to talk about their “why’s” for ACF Certification and getting involved with their local chef’s association. I’ll have more to add to this next week in preparation for the March 9th meeting and then, of course, the follow up from the meeting.

WordCamp Phoenix was February 7-9 and I’m still following up from that conference too. Great networking and information about the WordPress platform, online marketing, and small business tips, I always enjoy WordCamp, I highly recommend this to marketing managers and especially those using the WordPress platform for their website.

Here are a few of the slides from presenters from this year’s event. Still filtering through this information as we make changes. Always something to do or fix in the digital space. As for writing, my confidence level has increased with my subscription to Grammarly Pro. Woohoo, that helps.

Some of the presenter’s slides are below, would like to list them all when I find them.

Kimberly Lipari – Understanding Website Health

Aaron D. Campbell – Why WordPress in a World with Options?

Rich Tabor – Designing & Building Gutenberg Blocks

Bet Hannon – The Business Case for Accessibility

Zac Gordon – 100 Things to Know About Building, Selling and Supporting Online Courses and Content at WordCamp Phoenix 2020

Francesca Marano – The Art of Networking

As for writing, yes, I know what I’ve gotten myself into and that makes me laugh a bit when I think about it. “What the hell was I thinking?

As for writing styles, Anthony Bourdain became the voice in my head for writing, even with all his arrogance and disdain for vegetarians, it was his voice that helped me write and encouraged me to develop a writing style.

Surprisingly, remembering how much Anthony has influenced me, reminds me of how much of a loss his passing means to me. My two favorite episodes of his are from Part Unknown, they are of are Punjab, India and Lyon, France, and I may have to revisit them soon. Shout out to Anthony, you are missed, my friend.

Onwards and upwards, keep moving forward, and that I am.

Madonna Kash

Next ACFAZ Meeting, March 9th

By

On March 9th, ACF Chef’s Association of Arizona welcomes Culinary Love, a local collective of chefs promoting wellness in the hospitality industry.

Culinary Love believes we are “an industry in need” of supporting the individuals who give so much of themselves in kitchens and dining rooms across all venues of foodservice.

The meeting will feature a panel discussion with ACF and Culinary Love members.

ACF Chef’s Association of Arizona is Walking to End Homelessness on April 18th at the Phoenix Zoo. Participants get a free pass to the Zoo that day!

Walk the Walk to support UMOM New Day Centers as we fight to end homelessness in our community.

Wear a chef coat, toque, or apron, to show your chef pride! If you cannot join us or the walk, please consider a donation in support.

Find our team page here:
https://fundraise.umom.org/team/279554

Click “Join Team” and follow directions to register for $5 or Click “Donate” if you cannot join the walk, but would like to donate in support.


AZBIZCON20: Small Business Expo and Education

By

Join Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA) for AZBIZCON! Experience a half-day expo with networking opportunities to connect all business professionals; entrepreneurs, small and large businesses. We will offer the opportunity to learn from mentors who are the most influential in their industry during our Leadership Mentoring Forum.

Get tickets and more information from the Arizona Small Business Association Facebook page.

ACFAZ with 2020 vision

By

It’s the middle of February and past the New Year, New Me stuff yet for the ACFAZ, it continues. The first meeting of the year, and with the new board happened January 13th at Agave Farms and yes, it was a good turn out with many reasons to get excited about the new year for the association. Pictures of that event are below.

Agave Farms is a great place to hold an event, get involved with a community garden, but also a great place to purchase plants as well. I was impressed with their selection of roses. Roses grow very well in Arizona yet the colors of roses offered at local retail stores are very limited. Only one color is what I found last year.

ACFAZ January Meeting at Agave Farms

The new board election confirmed at the November 4th meeting held at Southwest Gas. Below are pictures from that event, and here is a list of the new ACFAZ Board of Directors.

ACFAZ November 4, 2019 Meeting

Fast forward to February again, much follow up happening and have to get into blogging again and getting the newsletter(s) fired up too. There is also chapter information I need to share too, and working on that too. You can see some of that on the ACFAZ.org website and on the ACFAZ Facebook page.

The next ACFAZ meeting is March 9th at Barry Goldwater High School in the school’s restaurant, Avenue 27, which is also their culinary arts department.

Here’s information about this event.

“On March 9th, ACF Chef’s Association of Arizona welcomes Culinary Love, a local collective of chefs promoting wellness in the hospitality industry.

Culinary Love believes we are “an industry in need” of supporting the individuals who give so much of themselves in kitchens and dining rooms across all venues of foodservice. The meeting will feature a panel discussion with ACF and Culinary Love members.

ACF Chef’s Association of Arizona is Walking to End Homelessness on April 18th at the Phoenix Zoo. Participants get a free pass to the Zoo that day!

Walk the Walk to support UMOM New Day Centers as we fight to end homelessness in our community.

Wear a chef coat, toque, or apron, to show your chef pride! If you cannot join us or the walk, please consider a donation in support.

Find our team page here:
https://fundraise.umom.org/team/279554

Click “Join Team” and follow directions to register for $5 or Click “Donate” if you cannot join the walk, but would like to donate in support.

Thank you!”

Returning the Favor- The Joy Bus

By

Mike Rowe has his new show called Returning the Favor. It’s a show that features organizations and individuals across our country who are doing good things to help others in their communities. Mike returns the favor by featuring their stories on the show and giving them the material and financial contributions in return.

On January 31, they featured one of our local organizations on the show, The Joy Bus organization, which is a nonprofit organization that delivers gourmet meals to homebound cancer patients. You can watch this episode by clicking the link below.

Donate to The Joy Bus here.

The Joy Bus Diner, 3375 E Shea Blvd c1, Phoenix, AZ 85028

The Joy Bus Diner

2020 Winter Fancy Food Show

By

The 2020 Winter Fancy Food Show, the largest specialty food and beverage show is January 19-21 in San Francisco.

  • 80,000+ specialty foods & beverages
  • Thousands of new products
  • Industry’s top networking events
  • 1,400+ exhibitors from around the globe

Check out the event website for more information about this event, and the Specialty Food Association.

Details

Start: January 19, 2020 @ 8:00 am

End: January 21, 2020 @ 5:00 pm

Location

Moscone Center 747 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Event Category: Industry Event/Conference

Event Tags:food show, San Francisco, Specialty Food Association

Website: https://www.specialtyfood.com/shows-events/winter-fancy-food-show/

Organizer

Specialty Food Association

Phone: 646-878-0301

Website: https://www.specialtyfood.com/