WELCOME!

Dear Colleague,

I know what you are thinking--

"Another Chef's Club?"

"Another Chef's Webpage?"

"Why should this one be any different?"

Perhaps the best way to explain our goals at www.ProfessionalChef.com and the Professional Chef's Association (and maybe more importantly than goals--our certainty of achieving them) is to look at what's out there--both chef's clubs and web pages--and see what, in my opinion, could be improved upon with many of them.

Let's start with chef's clubs of one kind or another.

First, most are essentially local, which can be fine for local events and causes, but which, in our jet-setting international working world, limits their scope. Next, because they rely on the "spare time" of members to meet and work, they're limited by the successfulness of their members' careers--let's face it, most busy, successful working chefs don't have the time to devote to outside planning--they're too busy, like we are, inside their own kitchens. This means that sometimes the higher ideals and goals of the local organization fail to materialize, and, in spite of the sincerity of the chefs involved, they become more social clubs than active career-enhancing organizations.

Is that a bad thing? Not in theory, but when one over-priced and under-attended "banquet" leads to another, sometimes enthusiasm wanes, and people naturally lose interest or give the group a lower priority. These groups can be fun and they're great for local networking...when everyone finds the time to get together. But what do they do to help your career and improve your professional expertise and help you keep in touch with developments outside of your local area in the wide world of culinary professionalism?

Now then: what about web pages dedicated (allegedly) to taking a professional look at the culinary arts and the business of hospitality? Well, if you examine them the way I have been doing for the past several months you'll find a few things in common. First, they spend more time and effort on having a "New York Art Director Chic" graphic look than they do on content. Secondly, they pay lip service to professionals but by and large are there for the general public because they have no professional connection beyond the site itself. In the end, they mostly wind up being like a frothy, frilly, beautiful pastry that looks great but was made without any butter, sugar, or eggs--only a group of chemicals with flavorless anagrams for names. And as for "currency" of information, a quick look at the "last updated" or copyright dates will astound you--if the food you served was this "fresh," the health department would shut you down!

SO what's the answer? ProfessionalChef.com and the Professional Chefs Association, of course! If I didn't think we could do better, I wouldn't be writing this now.

First, about our web pages--while we welcome the curious, the aspiring professional, and the "food fan" to our public areas--what we've called "The Front Of The House"--make no mistake: ours is an endeavor for, by, and about Professional Chefs.

Frankly, the public areas are out there to help YOU, our Professional Chef members, spread the word about what you're doing--whether it’s a new menu, a special recipe, a cookbook, a winemaker dinner or personal appearance, or merely your regular restaurant's particulars. Everybody can use good publicity, and of course we'll spread the word about your work to the world at large via our "Front Of The House" website--and help you find good help when you need it by gathering information from outside sources and compiling it in a place we expect the whole world to gather as we all spread the word. So we're not out to exclude non-pro's…but we're here primarily for YOU.

That focus is in our appearance too. We hope our "look" appeals, but we make no claims for any Art Institute lineage--our goal is to inform, to be genuinely useful and not merely "cute" or "catchy." We're pro's, but pro's are the people who work with self-assurance and practiced skill--not flash-in-the-pan slickness. Uncluttered clarity, the essence of a well-run professional kitchen, is reflected in our style as well.

Now about our  www.ProfessionalChef.Com and our Professional Chef's Association. First of all, those of you who like lots and lots of meetings and committees taking you out of your kitchen and away from your family are going to be a little disappointed…you'll have to find some other way to take up all that endless free time you have...NOT.

Part of being a professional in the kitchen is avoiding waste--and that goes for wasted time too. We're not going to drag you to meetings for meetings' sake--and we don't have to! This website IS our perpetual meeting, our online connection for the best kind of networking, sharing ideas, and arriving at solutions to the problems that plague us all. We'll do that lots of ways--through everything from articles to message boards to live chat events to shared recipes and tips to inside news and information to…well, there's no limit, and I encourage you to write to me with ideas for further enhancements.

Next, we are very serious at the Professional Chefs Association about maintaining real standards of quality and education, and that's why we're launching our own Chef's Certification program with an emphasis on the business skills that go beyond great gastronomy. The world's greatest culinary masterpiece is only as strong as the solid business that creates, serves, and pays for it on time. Coupling this top-notch training and continuing education with the top "head-hunter" organizations in the world, we'll be a constant resource for you to find the very best staff--or become part of one. Best of all, in a world of inflated resumes and "qualifications" that are often high on titles and low on hands-on practicality and experience, you'll be certain to know that if someone has achieved Certification from the Professional Chef's Association, they are truly the real thing.

We will also help you make connections to the top supplier and purveyor firms in the world--with special considerations for members to be sure. We're also seeking out the very finest in services that will enhance both your personal and professional lives, including expanded legal, financial, marketing and other business-building experts. Once again, we'll obtain unique opportunities and deals that you won't find anywhere else. In all of these benefits, you'll have the advantage of knowing that your interests as Professional Chefs will be considered first, because those doing the considering share your professional point of view.

As a member, you'll even have your own unique e-mail address that proclaims with its domain name your life's work and achievement--when people send mail to you@professionalchef.com, they'll know exactly what kind of pro they're dealing with--and that mail domain will become a coveted mark of quality in the industry worldwide. I don't know about you, but somehow I think the address above has a little more "class" and cache than "hotmail" or "yahoo."

So will we also have events in the "analog" world offline as well as in this digital cyberspace online? Yes. And they'll be superb events worth traveling for and participating in. By streamlining the process online, we'll be able to first find out what you really WANT in an event (instead of either guessing or imposing any one person's ego on the plans) and then deliver it and make it worth the effort to attend. And when you do enjoy our "live" events, you'll do so knowing that you're rubbing elbows with some of your true peers from around the world, and not only the same local group you see all the time anyway.
Of course, our local Chapters are another source of face-to-face camaraderie and fellowship, and they're forming every day. They will serve as the "building blocks" for our larger regional and national events, and our website will literally become the "web" that holds us all together. Local is great, but sometimes, the best ideas come from far away places and thanks to your connection to ProfessionalChef.Com, you'll never be far away from the great Professional Chefs of the world, and our information will be updated as soon as it happens, or even before, thanks to our dedication to make these pages as instant as the Internet itself. Stay tuned, as they say, and we'll tell you more as time goes by.

In fact, there's a lot more to the Professional Chef's Association and ProfessionalChef.Com inside, so explore our online home and discover for yourself what we're about, because in life, web pages, chef's clubs AND kitchens, the proof truly is in the pudding or mousse if you prefer!

And one more thing--if you like what you see, if you see the promise and the way we're going about delivering on it, and if you realize that we really ARE something different in both chef's clubs and web pages dedicated to our common profession and craft, why not consider joining us as members of Professional Chef and taking advantage of all we've got to offer?

I can tell you this--I as the founder, our expert staff, and all of our current members of the Professional Chef's Association are dedicated to making sure that you will never regret that you did. And its not only because we're all such good or noble people that we feel this way--you see, we need YOU to help us build a truly world wide web of colleagues and friends with one common goal--to make our working lives and our personal lives more rewarding by using the power of the online world's communication technology and our own common sense about what's right for professional chefs like YOU!

I look forward to your membership, participation, and fellowship and to creating together something--both an organization and a website--that will make future observers ask a very different set of questions than those I anticipated from you at this letter's beginning.

What I want to have people ask someday when they see some OTHER chef's club or website is this:

"Another chef's club? Another chef's website? WHY? Its already been DONE to perfection..."

..by the Professional Chef's Association, here at our online home, ProfessionalChef.Com!

Cordially,

Chef Walter Neuhold,

Founding Member

email- Chef Neuhold

--W.N.