crutcheiflsChef Jeremy Critchfield began his culinary career at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. At The Breakers, he started out learning all areas of the kitchen from the butcher shop to pastry. His next move was to The Four Seasons, Palm Beach, Florida, where he served as Chef Tournant for The Restaurant, a AAA 5-Diamond establishment.

After his time in Florida, Chef Critchfield became the Company Chef and location Executive Chef for Glacier Park, Inc. in Montana. Here he oversaw the culinary operations of six hotels. From Montana, he moved south to become the Banquet Chef at the Mobil 5-Star, AAA 5-Diamond Wigwam Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. While in Phoenix, Chef Critchfield was also part of the team that re-opened the Royal Palms, a boutique luxury hotel in the city’s downtown area.

His next career change took him to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa in Farmington, Pennsylvania as the Banquet Chef. It was at Nemacolin Woodlands that Chef Critchfield started his journey to eventually become Executive Chef and Director of Food & Beverage Operations. While at Nemacolin Woodlands, Chef Critchfield designed and implemented many new programs and systems that enhanced the operation. His successes were realized in guest satisfaction and budgetary achievements.

After three years, Chef Critchfield joined the Sea Island Company in Georgia as Chef de Cuisine. One year later, Critchfield was promoted to Executive Club Chef of – and opened – The Lodge at Sea Island which was quickly awarded both AAA 5-Diamond and Mobil 5-Star ratings.

In May 2003, he returned to Nemacolin Woodlands as Executive Chef. In this top culinary position, he oversaw a team of 125 associates at the resort. His extensive background and previous tenure at Nemacolin Woodlands prepared him for the next challenge of accepting the additional role of Director of Food & Beverage Operations in May of 2004 and consolidating leadership of the F&B Division. Directing over 400 associates in 17 kitchens, 12 restaurants, conferences and catered events is a challenge Chef meets daily at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. All of this is possible with the support of an outstanding leadership team dedicated to the best in cuisine, service standards and event planning.

Critchfield is an honors graduate from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Academy of Culinary Arts. He was the founder and former president of their Ice Carving Association. He and his wife Lisa reside in Farmington, Pennsylvania.

Don Smith, Executive Chef, St. Charles (Ill.) CC

Executive Chef Donald S. Smith was born and raised in Arlington Heights, Ill and has been involved in the restaurant business since the age of 15. After starting as a dishwasher and then moving up to busboy, managers took notice in Don’s attention to ?detail and spotted a “promising young man” —from there, ?Don was allowed to work in the kitchen, garnishing plates, and shortly was promoted to a line cook.

After graduating from high school, Don got his first opportunity to experience working for a “real” chef at Allgauer’s in the Northbrook (Ill.) Hilton. He recalls exactly what this chef told him at that time, because the words stayed with him and were the basis for his goals in the following years. “If you work hard,” the chef told him, “you can be head chef by the time you are 25 years old.”

While working at Allgauer’s, Don received his Associates Degree in Food Service Management from Harper College in Palatine and then went on to enroll in Dumas Pere, a French culinary school in Glenview, Illinois.

Upon graduating, Chef Smith went on to quickly experience the full world of culinary arts in a variety of work environments. He started by working at the James Tavern and then the Westmoreland Country Club as sous chef. From there, he moved on to run the kitchen at Fedoras, rated one of Chicago’s Top Ten restaurants by the Chicago Sun-Times in 1989. Smith then moved on to Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northbrook, also as the sous chef, for three years. Then, it happened – he landed the job as Head Chef at Bannockburn Bath & Tennis Club at only 25 years of age (just like the chef told him seven years earlier). His hard work had paid off!

Don then took a position as sous chef at Northmoor Country Club for two years, spent three years as head chef at Poplar Creek Country Club, followed by two years at Riverside Golf Club and then back to Bannockburn Bath & Tennis Club before finally taking his current position at St. Charles CC.

Don has been a member of the Club Chefs’ Association of America for many years and has served on the Board of Directors of the Chicago chapter as its Treasurer and, in 2005, as the Club’s President. Don was named the organization’s “Chef of the Year” in 2007.

Drawing on his vast experience in planning and executing events at a wide variety of venue, Chef Smith’s presentation in this session will include these areas:

David Meyers, Principal, David Meyers Associates, Ltd.

With more than 25 years of hospitality management experience as an Executive Chef and General Manager, David Meyers has practical experience at nationally recognized properties including the 5 Diamond/Star Ritz-Carlton Hotel Chicago, and Platinum Private Clubs including The Standard Club of Chicago, Twin Orchard Country Club (Long Grove, Ill.), and North Shore Country Club, where he successfully managed for fifteen years. Formally trained in both the hospitality management and the culinary art disciplines, David earned an Associates degree in Hospitality Management and completed a three-year Chef Apprentice Program under strict American Culinary Federation (ACF) guidelines. His continuing professional relationships include the Club Managers Association of America, ACF and NACE organizations, and as a Board Advisor/ Instructor to the Triton College Hospitality Management Program. He now runs David Meyers Associates, a recognized leader in placing exceptional culinary management talent to the hospitality industry.

Meyers will be joined by Michael Redmond, whose career path has taken him through all of the traditional chef-position ranks to his current management position with one of the country’s most prestigious private clubs, to lead a session that will include discussion of these areas:

Paul Verica, Executive Chef, The Club at Longview, Charlotte, N.C.

Since arriving at The Club at Longview in 2005, Chef Paul Verica has quickly emerged as one of the fastest rising stars in club cuisine As detailed in a C&RB “Chef to Chef” profile (“A Garden Adds Variety,” December 2007), Verica has already made his mark at the new (opened in 2003), high-end private club in the challenging Charlotte market through a variety of innovative approaches, including a fresh “market menu” program that increased weekend cover counts by 15% in a six-month period, with almost a $3 increase in check averages. He’s also generated 20% of the produce used for his operation through an extensive home-grown garden that’s been planted outside the clubhouse.

Innovations driven by Chef Verica have extended to a takeout business that he says “has been a great revenue stream for us, especially in the summer and around the holidays. At Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he reports, “we now offer a selection of fully prepared meals that members can order for their family holiday feasts. We’re now feeding over 200 people on these holiday occasions just with to-go meals. The revenue is great, and it frees up more space in our dining room so we can maximize the number of covers that we do for the buffet.”

Verica will draw on his experiences, as well as those of others he’s consulted within the club industry, to provide insights on areas that will include:

Paul O’Toole, Executive Chef, Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, Newark, Del.

In addition to his role as Executive Chef at Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, Paul O’Toole, CEC, AAC, is the Executive Culinary Officer for Forewinds Hospitality. In this capacity he is responsible for overseeing the culinary programs at all Forewinds destination properties including, food and beverage quality control, menu development, culinary staff recruitment and training, as well as instilling the Forewinds standards for all restaurant operations and banquet and catering services.

Chef O’Toole brings 30 years of culinary hospitality experience to his position with Forewinds. Prior to joining the company in December of 2005, he served as an independent consultant providing expertise in food and beverage operations for both start-up and existing facilities since 2000.

Chef O’Toole entered the world of country club food and beverage operations in 1984 as Executive Sous Chef for Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square, Pa. In 1994 he then joined Waynesborough Country Club, Newtown Square, Pa, where he spent 10 years as Executive Chef.

In 1995 Chef O’Toole joined 1492 Hospitality Group, Inc, Avondale, Pa, where he served as Executive Chef responsible for the food and beverage operations for five restaurants and two premier golf club facilities. Additionally he began a popular monthly cooking class series at both Mountain Branch Golf Course, Joppa, Md., and Hartefeld National Golf Club, Avondale, Pa.

Chef O’Toole has hosted and co-hosted numerous culinary events for major PGA tournaments and currently serves as Board Chairman for the Delaware Valley Chef’s Association of Greater Philadelphia. He is National Education Chairman for the American Academy of Chefs, and has been recognized by the American Culinary Federation’s Delaware Valley chapter as Chef of the Year (1992) and Culinarian of the Year (1991). O’Toole has served as mentor to two of the last five United States Culinary Youth Team Member Apprentices and was named as a candidate for Northeast Regional Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) in 2002.

During his career Chef O’Toole has also developed a “specialty niche” in public and private club F&B consulting, and as such has become known as a roving “Mr. Fix-It” that has led him to work with over 20 of America’s top 100 clubs, including Sea Island Resort in Georgia and Mid-Pines Resort in North Carolina. In these engagements, Paul has immersed himself in food and beverage operations to help identify and fix problem areas and map out plans for giving F&B that extra push that’s needed to go to an elite level. Many of the concepts developed in his restaurants are pieces he has gathered through his many experiences.

Specific areas covered in this session will include:

Michael Redmond, Assistant General Manager, Food & Beverage, he Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington (D.C.)

Michael Redmond, CEC, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and prior to taking his current position at The Metropolitan Club, previously held Executive Chef positions at the Genesee Valley Club in Rochester, N.Y. and the Lafayette Country Club in Syracuse, N.Y. Redmond’s many accolades and medals received through over 25 years of club culinary experience include the National What’s for Dinner, Beef Award; gold, silver and bronze medals in a number of ACF contemporary competitions, and winning the national 2003 NAFEM Competition. He has attended both the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany and the Bocuse D’Or in Lyons, France. His peers have honored Chef Redmond via the American Culinary Federation’s Chef of the Year Award in 1992 and 2003 for the Syracuse, NY and Rochester, NY chapters, respectively. Chef Redmond frequently gives lectures and demonstrations for club members, vendors, culinary organizations and club and restaurant management teams. A shrewd understanding of operations in the back of the house, a first-class work ethic and real-life anecdotal humor combine to make Chef Michael Redmond a memorable presenter, in addition to his reputation as one of the country’s finest and most respected club chefs.

Specific areas covered in this session will include:

Todd Rogers, Executive Chef, Sea Island (Ga.) Resorts

For the past seven years, Executive Chef Todd Rogers has been at the helm of Sea Island Resort’s food operations, which now include four dining venues at the property’s famed grand hotel, The Cloister, as well as two world-class restaurants at the Lodge at Sea Island. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who previously worked at Ritz-Carlton properties and at The Nemacolin Woodlands Resort &?Spa, Rogers has advanced Sea Island’s award-winning distinction, with The Georgian Room at The Cloister being selected as a Best New Restaurant by Esquire magazine in 2006, and The Lodge being rated “#1 for Top Dining” by the Zagat Survey, in 2004 through 2006.

Rogers will draw on his experience directing the resort’s 13-outlet, 180-person culinary operation, which requires 17 kitchens totaling 40,000 sq. ft. and includes a 24-hour pastry operation, butcher shop and a general commissary, to cover design-related areas that will include:

Ted Gillary, Executive Director, and Kevin Brennan, Executive Chef, The Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit, Mich.

Perhaps no private club is better suited to provide insights into exemplary food and beverage management practices than the 4,000-member Detroit Athletic Club (DAC), which was recently honored with the Michigan Quality Council’s 2008 Quality Leadership Award (modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award). It was the first such award evr earned by a hospitality organization in the state.

Much of The DAC’s success in F&B, which has grown in the past 15 years from $2.5 million to now over $7 million, comes from the seamless working relationship between the “front of the house” staff directed by Executive Director Ted Gillary, and the “back of the house” staff under Executive Chef Kevin Brennan. Gillary and Brennan first started working together over 20 years ago at The Recess Club in Detroit and continued their partnership for seven years at Orchard Lake (Mich.) Country Club and now for the past 15 at the DAC. As Brennan noted in a recent profile in Club & Resort Business (“The Cadillac of Club Cuisine,” February 2008), Gillary and he share a common vision that “food is the cornerstone to success in a club operation.”

In this session, the two will share how they and their staffs have learned how to work seamlessly together in the DAC’s nearly 100-year-old, six-story architectural landmark building in downtown Detroit, through an emphasis (again in Brennan’s words) on “integrity, strong leadership, team-building skills, and a focus that benchmarks our club against the best in the country.”

The session will also provide insights into how the DAC has established and implemented its distinctive Consistent Performance Process (CPP), used to 1) document the club’s F&B vision; 2) detail what must be done 100% of the time to keep customers happy; 3) create standards and procedures to execute parts one and two; 4) plan and execute rigorous and ongoing training, which includes staff certification; 5) measure results non-stop; and finally, 6) implement action plans for continuous improvement.

“CPP is a flexible process that is rooted in change,” says Brennan. “It is based on setting guarantees in each of our departments, and is the daily measure of our successes and failures. We are blessed to have a large culinary and stewarding staff, but CPP is vital to staying consistent.”

Other areas covered in this session will include:

Phillippe Reynaud, Executive Director of Culinary Operations, Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, Fla.

A passion for food and assisting at age 12 in his parents’ restaurant influenced Ocean Reef Club’s Philippe Reynaud to pursue a career as a professional Chef. Interested in all aspects of the culinary arts, Chef Reynaud has developed his cuisine throughout the years with extensive training in various French regions, East Africa and California. French-born and classically trained, Chef Reynaud began his culinary education with a formal three-year apprenticeship at France’s Casinos in Cannes, Deauville and Antibes. After graduating he became certified from the esteemed Culinary Academy of Nice in 1979 at the top of his class. He then worked in several provinces of France under reputable chefs to learn their cooking styles, techniques and knowledge of regional cooking.

In 1981, Chef Reynaud began his professional life in the U.S. and served seven years as Executive Chef of the award-winning Westwood Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles. He later opened and ran the kitchens of the renowned Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, and at the luxurious Stein Ericksen Lodge in Deer Valley, Utah. In 1991, Chef Reynaud returned to Los Angeles and dedicated eight years to managing the culinary operations of the exclusive Jonathan Club.

Since June 2000, Chef Reynaud has been a member of Ocean Reef Club’s senior management team, responsible for the culinary operations of 14 restaurants and lounges within the Club. He oversees every menu development and manages over 120 culinary associates and chefs in season. Chef Reynaud thrives on creating original menus for special events and celebrations and takes pride in participating in local events and fundraisers for the community.

Chef Reynaud is a member of the American Culinary Federation, The Euro-Toques, La Chaine des Rotisseurs and the James Beard Foundation.

Areas covered in this session will include:

Billy Strynkowski, Executive Chef, Cooking Light magazine

As Executive Chef for Cooking Light magazine (the nation’s largest food and healthy lifestyle consumer publication) and its resident “celebrity chef,” Chef Billy Strynkowski has gained followers with his positive attitude, healthy and delicious recipes, and helpful cooking tips. His natural performance skills, engaging personality and well-rounded culinary experience have made him the unassuming culinary go-to guy for millions of Americans.

“Chef Billy,” as he is commonly known, is a regular guest on CNN and has appeared on dozens of other TV shows including ABC’s The View and Good Morning America as the face of Cooking Light. When he’s not developing recipes in the Cooking Light Test Kitchens, Chef Billy is traveling around the country hosting Supper Clubs and other Cooking Light events.

Since 2005, Cooking Light readers have enjoyed a monthly helping of Chef Billy with his column, “Kitchen Tips with Chef Billy.” Featured in the First Light section of the magazine, “Kitchen Tips” offers basic suggestions and facts every cook should know.

A member of the Cooking Light team since 2001, Chef Billy also supervises the Food Village at the U.S. Open Tennis Center every September, making certain his cooks serve high-quality food to over a half million tennis fans. Prior to joining Cooking Light, he was the Executive Chef for Restaurant Associates at the Time Inc. headquarters in New York.

Chef Billy is a culinary graduate of Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I. A resident of New Jersey, Billy spends his spare time cooking for friends.