Current Newsletter

ifec newsletter
August 2010
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President’s message

No Bourbon Street Blues
We’ve all seen the headlines and watched the news reports of the oil spill in the Gulf region. It’s heartbreaking to see this area hit yet again by such a disaster, but also heartwarming to see the assistance they are receiving from around the country yet again, and the resiliency of the residents. Of course, questions abound about the extent of the damage, both to the region’s ecosystem and economy. And as IFEC members prepare for the 2010 Annual Conference in New Orleans in November, questions about the impact of the oil spill on the Crescent City are top-of-mind for many.

I had the pleasure of visiting New Orleans for the Tales of the Cocktail event (yes, it’s a five-day cocktail confab, go ahead and giggle; it’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!) and can report that New Orleans is indeed open for business. The French Quarter is abuzz with visitors and the dining scene is vibrant as ever. Carol Lally, our outstanding executive director, and I visited the Royal Sonesta, site of the 2010 conference, and were delighted to hear that it was business as usual at this beautiful property in the heart of the French Quarter.

That said, the Gulf oil spill was in evidence in the form of various fund-raising activities to support locals affected by the spill, such as laid off oyster shuckers, and fewer local oysters on menus, but there was also a genuine sense of appreciation among hospitality professionals that conventioneers and vacationers alike were still coming into the city. So if any IFECers are feeling a bit nervous about visiting New Orleans for the conference, rest assured that the city is ready, willing and more than able to accommodate us and looks forward to our arrival!

Beer, Bar and Sugarcane Tours
While there, IFECers will enjoy several tastes of New Orleans, thanks to the culinary talents of the team at the Royal Sonesta and the local chefs who will join us for the Chefs Showcase. Several fabulous Food Tours are shaping up to give you a first-hand look at the local culinary scene. Among them is the Northshore Brewery Tour, stopping at Abita Brewing Company, the oldest craft brewery in the southeast and one of the oldest in the U.S., and Heiner Brau brewery, where copper tanks and a German brewing tradition yield some very tasty brews. During the Corrections and Cocktails Tour, IFMA 2010 Silver Plate Winner (Corrections), Food Service Director Major Jim Beach, will take us on a “behind the bars” tour of his facility, the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office, followed by a visit with Daniel Victory, New Orleans Magazine’s Bartender of the Year last year, at his newly opened Victory Bar.  And the Sugarcane Country Tour will begin with a taste of rustic living, including fried catfish, at The Cabin Restaurant and then provide a sample of the lush life at Houmas House Plantation and Gardens, for a guided tour of the antebellum estate; New Orleans food historian Elizabeth Pearce will act as tour guide on the bus to and from these locations.

Looking Ahead
Our conference program this year is designed to help you navigate the changing media landscape and wrap your hands around the digital trend. Our Scholarship Benefit Auction committee, led by Don Odiorne (Idaho Potato Commission) and Ann Segerstrom (Segerstrom Communications), is way ahead of that curve! We’re pleased to announce that auction donations and bidding will be handled online for the first time ever.  Stay tuned for more information.

Believe it or not, we’re already looking beyond this upcoming conference. Carol and I just returned from Washington, DC, where we visited three hotel properties hoping to host our 2011 Annual Conference. While in our nation’s capital, we enjoyed an evening with the DC IFEC contingent, and came away energized by their ideas and enthusiasm for the ’11 conference.

With less than three months to New Orleans, though, we’re focused on making 2010 a conference to remember. Please be sure to send us your ideas for making it a success!

Warm regards,
Donna
Donna Hood Crecca (Nightclub & Bar Magazine)
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About people
Congratulations to Lauren Highfill Williams (Sahlman Williams Public Relations), who married this summer . . .

. . . And to Betty Bastion Varese (former IFEC executive director for whom the Betty Award is named) who married Michael Varese 45 summers ago.  The two celebrated their Sapphire Anniversary July 24th.

Sheri Oppenheimer, has left her post as Communications Manager-Campbell's North America Foodservice to focus full time on her health coaching business, Full Plate Health, LLC, where she offers individual and corporate programs designed to help busy professionals who struggle with weight and stress management reach their health goals, once and for all. Sheri is offering complementary one-hour health consultations to all IFEC members, and can be reached at sheri@fullplatehealth.com or (215) 840-9400.

On a trip to Alaska recently, Pat Burke (recently retired from Basic American and now marketing director, Artisan Candies ) visited IFEC’s 1991 President, Mary Deming Barber. Mary has been in Anchorage for 19 years, where she lives with her husband Alan and their two teenage sons. See the IFEC Photo Gallery “Member Photos” for snapshots.

Melinda Morgan Kartsonis’ firm, Morgan Marketing & Public Relations LLC, signed on with Tastee-Freez LLC to create and execute strategic campaigns for the company’s 60th anniversary as well as generate consumer and trade publicity for their products and locations.

Best wishes to Rosa Brantley Garcia on her new addition. Thomas Matthew Garcia was born May 19th. Stats:  9 lbs, 21 inches long.  See his photo in IFEC’s “Baby Faces” Photo Gallery.  Rosa will be back at Marriner Marketing Communications this fall.

You can follow Ellen Koteff’s  new “Leaders with Guts” video series on www.foodchannelpro.com. Ellen may be reached at ekoteff@yahoo.com.

Digitally speaking
Education programs at the New Orleans conference will focus on the ways in which the use of digital media  is changing the nature of business-to-business foodservice communication as well as how editors and publicists can work together to keep information and images flowing. 

In a survey of 267 B2B editors by the American Society of Business Publication Editors and the Medill School/MediaManagement Center at Northwestern University, editors said that the most important skills for their job success were writing and editing Web content, managing workflow/workload between Web  and print, and writing and editing e-newsletters. No secret that publicists are looking to develop similar skills.

To help you buff up your digital writing skills, we are are offering a “Writing for the Web” workshop led by Harry McCracken.  Mr. McCracken is an award-winning editor , creator of Technologizer, a technology-oriented website, and a former editor in chief of PC World . He will cover how to balance writing for search, navigation and the B2B reader; when to use and how to write lists, subheads and meaningful links;  ways to organize and format content for maximum readability and more. 

In another session, a panel of IFEC editors and publicists moderated by IFEC President Donna Hood Crecca (Nightclub & Bar magazine) will examine how digital properties are changing responsibilities on both sides of the desk.  They will also share methods they have found successful for collaborating on digital content.

Cookbook donations to SoFAB:  Please keep ‘em coming
The wonderful Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) in New Orleans lost more than 900 cookbooks during Hurricane Katrina (www.southernfood.org).  IFEC’s Community Service Committee is leading a drive to help. SoFAR, IFECers have contributed 178 volumes.  That’s almost halfway to the goal of 400. How about gleaning your shelves for cookbooks you can share – menus, too.  Ship or bring them to the conference.  If you ship, use the book rate.  For an acknowledgment/ tax donation letter, include your name and address. Thanks to Committee Chairs Mary Humann (The Humann Factor LLC), and John Scroggins (NOBLE) for spearheading this.

Shipping labels should read:
Southern Food & Beverage Museum
ATTN: IFEC Cookbook Collection
1 Poydras St., #169
New Orleans, LA 70130

Professional Development Award: What Amelia did with hers
Introduced in 2006, the Professional Development Awards program provides tuition reimbursements to qualifying IFEC members pursuing professional development activities.  Freelance Editor Amelia Levin used her 2010 award to help fund participation in IACP’s annual conference. Here's a tidbit from her report: 

"This year, I had the pleasure of listening to one of my favorite writers of all time, Ruth Reichl, speak about the changing nature of the magazine business. Having just gone through the shuttering of Gourmet at the time, the notion that “print is dead” was ripe in hers and everyone else’s minds.

"Her message? Print is not dead. However, print can no longer stand on its own. In the modern-day publishing industry (including magazine, book and newspaper publishing), brands must nowadays have their own strong, solid “platforms” – meaning, a print medium enhanced by a clean, concise and interactive website, a system for delivering mobile information (e-newsletters, blogs), and a decent social media engagement. Websites and blogs can work without print. But print can no longer work without online, Reichl said.

"That’s not necessarily news to us. But what I’ve gathered is that this idea of a “platform,” meaning an established, online presence with a core group of readers, must be a part of every brand, whether that brand is a book, a magazine, a public relations agency, a food product, and even the writer, editor or publisher herself." Find Amelia's full report in the "Professional Development Awards" section at www.ifeconline.com.

ZESPRI sweepstakes and contest offer trip to New Zealand
ZESPRI Kiwifruit invites IFEC members to enter a sweepstakes or a blogger contest to win a trip for four to New Zealand.  The lucky winner of The Great Kiwi Adventure sweepstakes will receive a trip for four to New Zealand ($10,000 value), complete with seven nights’ accommodations, day trips, and an opportunity to meet a kiwi who grows kiwi.  According to ZESPRI, Kiwifruit have been grown in New Zealand for 100 years and the sweepstakes brings the New Zealand heritage alive and honors ZESPRI’s nearly 3,000 grower-owners.  www.thegreatkiwiadventure.com.

Bloggers have a second chance to win a trip for four to New Zealand. The Kiwi A-Go-Go contest, , challenges bloggers to creatively showcase kiwis (fruit or country) on their blogs. www.zesprikiwi.com/kiwiagogo

Both contests run through October 31. Blogger posts will be evaluated monthly, with judges selecting the winner from six semi-finalists in early November.

mushroom account – transfer – Claudia Pesce – back in JUne

Welcome to 18 new members
IFEC extends a warm welcome to the following folks who have joined us since April:

Jacob Abel, Marketing Associate, Nestle Professional Vitality
Meghan Bonneville, Kohnstamm Communications / Client: Kettle Cuisine
Margot Bookspan, Assistant Account Executive, Ketchum Public Relations / Client:National  Cattlemen's  Beef Association
Kathy Carlson, Marketing Manager, Agri Beef Co/AB Foods LLC
Elaine DeMare, Senior Account Executive, Ketchum / Clients: Ventura Foods, Mexican Hass Avocado  Importers Association
Jennifer Giambroni, Director of Communications, California Milk Advisory Board
Eric Giandelone, Director of Research/Foodservice, Mintel
Sarah Hada, Director, Corporation Communications, Compass Group
Katie Hamm, Assistant Account Executive, Fleishman-Hillard / Clients: Dow AgroSciences, Midwest Dairy  Association, Mr. Goodcents
Stephanie Hart, Account Supervisor, Deep / Clients: Otis Spunkmeyer, Torani
Crystal Hedrick, PR Manager, NOBLE / Client: FRENCH'S Foodservice
Amy Idzik, Account Supervisor, Schafter Condon Carter / Client: National Pork Board - Food Service
Emily Jack, Marketing Assistant, National Honey Board
Alison Kovaleski, Marketing Communications Manager, Foodservice, Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products
Valeri Lea, Director of Account Services, deep / Clients: Lamb Weston, Nestle USA, Otis Spunkmeyer,  Torani, Mission Foods, Escalon, Ecofiber, Aisle 411
Maria Santonato, Manager/Integrated Communications, NOBLE / Clients: U.S. Foodservice, Grande  Cheese Company
Andrea Schepke, Account Manager, EvansHardy+Young, Inc./ Clients: National Honey Board, Idaho  Potato Commission
Amy Ware, Brand Director, Torani
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Send your news to IFEC
Do you have news about yourself or your business? A  favorite website or blog? A good book to recommend?  Share it with your IFEC colleagues, by sending it to the newsletter, please!

Edited by Carol Lally
Executive Director
845-229-6973
ifec@aol.com