Professional chefs attracted to potatoes at StarChefs Congress

Farm and Ranch Report January 12, 2011 The StarChefs Congress is a tradeshow for chefs and foodservice professionals and when the U. S. Potato Board participated in the event for the first time last fall, it’s booth was quite popular.

Triou: “We brought, I think around a thousand or 15-hundred of our menu innovation brochures and we went through every single one of them.”

That’s Kathleen Triou, Vice President of Domestic Marketing for the USPB. She says the goal in attending the Congress was to meet chef influencers and build awareness of the outstanding taste of U.S. potatoes. What attracted attendees to the Potato Board’s booth were some up and coming chefs.

Triou: “We had featured David Varley and he is of the Bourbon Steak in Washington D.C. and Louis di Bicarri of Sel de la Terre in Boston. And the two of those rising star chefs created the most amazing, innovative, one did a breakfast item and the other one did an evening appetizer using U.S. potatoes.”

At times the professional chefs were standing three deep to get a taste of the dishes.

Triou says attending the Starchefs Congress was great for networking and there will be follow up.

Triou: “We will ask them for some of their own recipe development for features on our website and within our publicity elements as well as asking them for testimonials and inviting some of them to participate in video demonstrations where we will not only feature U.S. potatoes, but also their innovative potato ideas.”

Triou says some of the chefs have added, or plan to add, potato dishes to their menus.

That’s the U.S. Potato Update. Brought to you by the United States Potato Board, maximizing return on grower investment. I’m Bob Hoff for Northwest Aginfo Net.