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Editor's Travelogue

It's really rewarding to work with our clients. I just returned from an annual review and planning session visit with a client we have been working with for over two decades. Here's what they sent me in a follow-up email:

“Every year one of my great pleasures is being graced with your strategy visit. It is one of life's great pleasures to have access to a mind such as yours. Your ability to consistently work at a “high concept” level is amazing and your ability to instantly create a mental diagram of the issues, sort them, evaluate them, and provide logical insights is unparalleled. Also, having access to your network of people who make things happen in this field is a monumental benefit to any organization.

In other words, thank you for another great year!”

Chef-a-Palooza

I had no idea what the event was until our Production Alliance restaurant member invited me to participate in the event they named chef-a-palooza. The word palooza is derived from the word lollapalooza that dates from a late 19th/early 20th century American idiomatic phrase meaning "an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance." So the chef-a-palooza I was fortunate to attend consisted of 12 of our restaurant partner's executive chefs cooking and presenting new appetizer, entrée and dessert recipes that each had created for consideration as new menu items. It was a lot of tastings over a number of hours. I tried my best to pace my tasting portions so I didn't fill up too soon. Afterwards, I could have gone a day without eating. We found a few winning dishes that will go on the menus. When I returned home, I found I had gained two pounds from all the eating. 

As long promised, in this issue you'll find some photographs of the Helio Center that we designed and produced in Da Nang, Vietnam, which opened earlier this year. We also have a number of very interesting articles and an announcement about our latest industry white paper that is now available for download.

As always, I hope you'll enjoy the articles and will find some information of value.

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