Drexel University Center for Food & Hospitality Management hosted their seventh annual Philly Chef Conference from March 1 to March 2. Members of the hospitality industry ranging from James Beard award-winning chefs to real estate developers for restaurants nationwide spent two days exploring the most important issues and topics facing the hospitality world. Here are three big takeaways from the conference: 

1.     Restaurants and soil can save the world.

Owner of Mission Chinese Food Anthony Myint emphasized this topic while talking about how connecting chefs and dinners can help eat our way out of the climate crisis. In his presentation, he talked about regenerative farming and his non-profit organization, Zero Foodprint. Through their programs, restaurants collect an (optional) 1% fee from diners to help farmers change their practices. 

This is where regenerative farming comes in, which you can learn more about here. Myint discussed a study which determined that a 2% increase in the carbon content of soil could offset 100% of all greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere.

2.     Food halls are transforming. 

There has been a huge boom in the number of food halls over the last decade, according to Trip Schneck, Phil Colicchio (Colicchio Consulting), Ed Eimer (Eimer Design) and Ahktar Nawab (The Connect Group). Food halls are an outlet to encourage tourism and business development, all while helping connect the community. As the average size of food halls decrease and the number of locations increase, their very definition is changed. Secondary cities have seen the largest growth in food halls, and smaller rural cities are expected to see a rise over the next decade. Food halls are a great approach for those who want to get into the restaurant business, but are worried about controlling operating costs.

3.     Human connection is vital.

One topic that was part of nearly every panel of this year’s conference is human connection. At their core, restaurants and hospitality have a mission of connecting people over food. Restauranteur Will Guidara spoke about easy and simple techniques hospitality professionals can use to develop a deeper connection with guests. For example, at Eleven Madison Park, Guidara noticed no one would speak up when asked about ingredients they did not like. He realized when he shared some that he doesn’t enjoy, others were encouraged to join the conversation, thus breaking the barrier between server and guest.

During another presentation by Chelsea Gregoire, she discussed challenges that bars and restaurants face with onboarding new staff. She believes in the next 10 years there will be over 1.3 million new jobs in the hospitality industry. Her advice for training new talent and teaching them how to connect with customers is to teach why they are doing something, not just how to do it. When staff have a better understanding of the meaning behind what they are doing, they are able to feel more empowered to connect with their co-workers and guests.