Anyone who’s ever worked in a kitchen knows that there is a serious gender disparity in the restaurant industry. Despite gains in recent years, most chefs in American restaurants are still male. The James Beard Foundation is trying to change that with their Women in Culinary Leadership grant program.
The grant is designed to help female chefs and restaurateurs with at least two years of experience in food service kick their careers into high gear. Grant winners are placed in training positions with upper echelon chefs. This year 22 grants are available, three times more than last year. Applications for 2016 are due on Jan. 20. In addition to mentorship, grant winners will receive $500 a week to cover living expenses during the training period.
It’s great that the James Beard Foundation is a leader in restaurant gender equality. Studies show that having a relatively equal mix of men and women in any field increases creativity and problem-solving. The restaurant industry needs creativity to thrive, so having more women in the kitchen doesn’t just benefit female chefs, it benefits anyone who works in food service.
Read the full article here: Opportunity Knock for Ambitious Female Chef/Restaurateurs
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Customers Want Plant Protein More Than Ever
Would you believe that GQ magazine’s burger of the year for 2016 was tofu-based? It’s the truth. While red-blooded meat lovers may have a hard time reconciling themselves to this, more people want to eat vegetarian meals at American restaurants than ever before.
Vegetarian options at U.S. dining establishments used to consist mostly of side dishes and salads, but now more than a third of all restaurants include a vegetarian main dish on their menu. The number of restaurants offering plant-based entries has jumped 6.3 percent in the last four years, and National Restaurant Association director of research communications Annika Stensson predicts that 2016 will see those numbers increase even more. As always seems to be the case for hot menu trends, Millennials are the main drivers of the vegetable boom, with 14 percent of Millennial consumers reporting they order only plant-based foods when eating out.
What does that mean for you? It means that if you don’t have at least one veggie protein based dish on your menu, you’re being left behind by changing consumer preferences. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to include plant protein on your menu, with startups like Beyond Meat offering substitutes for animal products that taste like the real thing.
Read the full article here: Plants Will Continue to Take Over The Plate in 2016
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