The public sector isn’t alone in its effort to promote dietary health. Chefs and restaurant owners feel a growing responsibility to help consumers make sound nutritional choices — a challenging task given the changing nature of the dining industry.
“Chefs are dealing with a more knowledgeable customer base,” says Jean Hertzman, director of food service management in UNLV’s department of food & beverage management. “Guests know more about food, and they’re asking for more nutritional options. When (restaurateurs) read about McDonald’s getting sued over obesity, they develop a bit of a preventive response. They figure they need to offer healthier alternatives.”
Technology is helping that effort. Patti Shock, chair of UNLV’s tourism & convention administration department, says handheld computer devices loaded with nutritional data aren’t the only advances poised to make eating out a healthier experience. A better understanding of genetics will soon enable doctors to create specific diets targeted to an individual’s DNA profile — a development that will require even greater nutritional knowledge among chefs.
“Chefs have to constantly educate themselves, paying attention to the newest products and techniques available,” Hertzman says. “With globalization, people are much more familiar with foods that might have been considered exotic 10 years ago. But chefs need to learn how to use those products more to create menu variety.”
That’s a daunting task even when cooks can focus exclusively on culinary innovation. Most executive chefs today, though, must spend more time outside the kitchen than in it. The line between managers and chefs is blurring, Hertzman says, as chefs take a more active role in front-of-the-house functions such as greeting guests. As restaurants tie their fortunes to prominent celebrity chefs, public relations becomes more essential a role than cooking.
“An executive chef at a restaurant in a Las Vegas casino doesn’t do any cooking, other than for very special occasions,” she says. “Their biggest emphasis now is on the business side. A knowledge of accounting, financing, and computer systems is more important than ever. Executive chefs are the business managers of their operations. They need to understand inventory, cost control, and human resources issues.”
