May 17, 2007
In This Issue:
- Cottage Grove
High School Celebrates Mother's Day at The
Village Green Resort
- ProStart Student
Wins Scholarship to WCI
- Salem Schools
Sweep First Oregon Coast Invitational
- Online Restaurant
Reviews Bring In More Diners
Cottage Grove
High School Celebrates Mother's Day at The Village
Green Resort
ProStart students Jessica Perkins, Corey Daniel
and Makija Davis, and their teacher Sina Kiilsgaard
from Cottage Grove High School recently helped
at the Mother's Day Brunch at The Village Green
Resort. The students were first introduced to
Chef Scott Yeager through the Lane County Culinary
Competition. Chef Scott was so impressed with
the students' professionalism and culinary talents,
he invited them to assist during his Mother's
Day brunch. In addition, all the students were
offered jobs at The Village Green Resort. Chef
Scott is committed to helping students develop
their careers in the hospitality industry and
has shown the importance of helping support
these future leaders of the industry.
ProStart Student
Wins Scholarship to WCI
Western Culinary Institute's Annual Future
Chef of America Scholarship Cook Off proved
that ProStart students are tops! 2nd Place winner,
Will Allen, of Taft High School was thrilled
that he won a $1750 scholarship towards his
education at WCI. ProStart Instructor Pam Simpson
said, "Will was beaming today with his
2nd place win." In addition, Taft High
School was the 2007 Regional team winner for
Most Professional Team. Congratulations!
Salem Schools
Sweep First Oregon Coast Invitational
Three Salem area schools swept the top three
spots at the first-annual Oregon Coast Invitational
high school cooking competition at Southwestern
Oregon Community College Oregon Coast Culinary
Institute.
South Salem High wrapped up first place in
the seven-team competition Saturday. West Salem
wound up finishing second and McKay High third.
Team members on the first-place South Salem
team each received $2,000 scholarships to OCCI.
West Salem team members each received $1,500
scholarships and the McKay teammates each earned
$1,000 scholarships. Along with the individual
OCCI scholarships for the students, South Salem
High will receive $500, West Salem $400 and
McKay $300 to purchase culinary arts equipment.
Participating four-member teams included representatives
from Myrtle Point, Hidden Valley and St. Helens
high schools, along with a second team from
West Salem. Each four-member team had 90 minutes
to prepare a three-course meal for four, featuring
seafood as the protein for the entrée.
The rest of the meal included an appetizer or
salad and dessert. Judges from local restaurants
and OCCI, along with Changzhou Institute of
Technology Chef Pan Guoqing from China critiqued
and scored the dishes.
Online Restaurant
Reviews Bring In More Diners
Online restaurant research has quickly become
critical for many diners, with many of them
not trying out a new place before hitting the
Web. That often means browsing customer feedback
and searching for a restaurant's own site on
Google.
In the restaurant business, word-of-mouth publicity
has always been crucial; it's just that now,
with the growth of online customer reviews,
diners' opinions aren't restrained to their
circle of friends, said Hudson Riehle, senior
vice president of research for the National
Restaurant Association. The Web has created
a larger audience for amateur reviewers.
"Word of mouth continues to be the most
important source of information to typical American
consumers," he said. "How that word
of mouth transpires has changed substantially
in the past few years."
To read more on this issue: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/more-diners-dish-online-eateries/story.aspx?guid=%7B0D5DBF3E-17E6-4C21-B242-5AB03BD57E99%7D&dist=hplatest
