Sizzle - Fall 2010

Lori Daniel used a purple pen to complete the application for alumni mentors for the Faculty and Alumni Mentor Program at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), Hyde Park, N. Y. The other mentors used black or blue ink. This caught student Jamie Gorczynski’s eye, and the rest is history. This simple act led to a deep and rewarding student/mentor relationship, which today has blossomed into a full-blown friendship.

In fact, such simple decisions made one day can last a lifetime, and selecting a mentor is certainly one of the most important decisions a culinary student will make.

According to Blake Hallman,
an instructor at the Culinary
Institute of Charleston at
Trident Technical College in
Charleston, S.C., the whole
idea of mentoring is to put
somebody new with someone
with experience. “A smart
person learns from another
person’s successes and
failures. I think a mentor is
responsible for making sure
students recognize what will
be required of them in the
real world.”
David Moeller, CEC, CCA,
a chef-instructor at Sullivan
University, Louisville, Ky.,
says his experience has been
that not every student needs
or wants a mentor, but that
it often naturally happens,
whether in a culinary school or
restaurant environment.

“A lot of people don’t realize they had a mentor until after the fact,” he says. “You think at the time, ‘That’s the toughest person I ever worked for.’ But you will appreciate it in the future when you realize how much you learned.”

A tale of two mentees

Moeller took culinary student Marsha Lynch under his wing about 10 years ago. “We were about the same age, and she had decided to change careers from the banking business,” says Moeller. “She definitely knew this was what she wanted to do, and that makes a difference. We just kind of clicked.” Lynch had Moeller as an instructor for a few classes and joined the culinary competition team, which he coached. Initially, she was drawn to him after he quizzed her on how to make a cream soup and did not like her answer. But this interaction gave Lynch a sense of his passion and knowledge.

The CIA’s Gorczynski, who
is currently an inventory
management specialist at
Whole Foods Market, Golden,
Colo., was also making a
career change from graphic
design when she decided to
attend culinary school at the
CIA and met her mentor,
Daniel, who is founding chef
and co-chair of Two Chefs on a
Roll, a manufacturer of custom
and private-label savory and
bakery products based in
Carson, Calif.

“I wanted to explore other avenues and learn about working in a corporate office or owning a company versus working in a kitchen,” Gorczynski says. “So, I went to the mentor office and went through the binder of alumni mentors and found Lori. The fact that she used a purple pen told me she was not afraid to step outside the box. We’ve been friends ever since.”

FS FoodGroup

Mic Smith

Scott Roule, executive chef for Big Daddy’s Burger Bar and Paco’s Tacos and Tequila in Charlotte, N.C., has been with FS Food Group for nine years, working for a number of the company’s concepts. Over the past five or six years, after he felt he had enough experience under his belt, he began mentoring younger employees.

“You come out of culinary school with all different kinds of ideas about what’s out there, but with no idea what you are doing,” he says. “Culinary

Scott Roule, left, works with an employee at Big Daddy’s Burger Bar, Charlotte, N.C. He suggests looking for a mentor who is fair with criticism and praise.