Supermarket Chefs: More than Just a Showdown

By: Rick Stein, Vice President, Fresh Foods, Food Marketing Institute 

Last year at FMI Connect Chef Elizabeth Davis from Hy-Vee competed against 14 supermarket chefs in a live competition for the Grand Champion title. Elizabeth took home the prize of a trip to the Italian Culinary Institute for her Yu Sheng Citrus Salad Platter for Chinese New Year. I caught up with Elizabeth to see how her trip went and talked to her about our plans for Supermarket Chefs at FMI Connect this year.

First, let’s hear about the trip. Elizabeth shared that attending the Italian Culinary Institute in Calabrian was a life changing experience for her. “I think we ate every hour on the hour trying new ingredients and dishes that were both new and old made to perfection,” shared Elizabeth. “It was truly an honor to learn from such an esteemed Chef, John Nocita. Now I am taking what I learned and applying it to my daily work.”

It certainly does sound like an inspiring experience for Elizabeth and it helped grow her culinary skills. So I shared with her some of what I’ve been hearing about supermarket chefs from the FMI members on the Fresh Executive Council. The Council is focused on increasing collaboration across all fresh foods departments and particularly between Supermarket Chefs and Senior Vice Presidents/Vice Presidents of Deli, Foodservice and Fresh Prepared. We see a great opportunity to do this at FMI Connect by taking the energy from the previous year’s competitions and transitioning that into a comprehensive learning experience where Supermarket Chefs learn the business side of managing fresh foods departments and executives learn the ins-and-outs of meal planning and culinary trends. Our goals is that these Supermarket Chefs teams leave with a better understanding of each other’s goals, a closer connection and inspiration to take their store’s culinary departments to the next level.

Elizabeth was intrigued by the idea and thought the opportunity to learn more of the business side, particularly from some star-powered culinary experts and profitable grocerant specialists would be highly valuable for her and her team. And while we will no longer have the competition aspect of the Supermarket Chefs program, we are bringing back some of our exceptional Supermarket Chefs to demonstrate their skills and insights. In addition to having Elizabeth as a speaker, Chef Rachael Perron of Kowalski's Markets and Keoni Chang of Foodland Super Markets will talk about the leadership lessons they have learned.

See the full program and learn more about our redesigned Supermarket Chefs program at www.fmiconnect.net/SupermarketChefs.