New Corporate Chef Group Piggybacks Off an Established Partner

There’s already an association for corporate chefs—the International Corporate Chefs Association  (opens in a new tab) (ICCA)—but that group isn’t as focused on the little guys.

But the founder of that group, which targets top research-and-development chefs at the 200 largest food chains, is ready to focus on small players whose edible creativity and nimbleness could make them bigger players down the road.

The Global Culinary Innovators Association, which launched at the National Restaurant Association’s NRA Show 2014, hopes to give a little love to chefs creating tasty new products at smaller-scale chains. For ICCA founder Kevin Ryan, the association represents an opportunity to help these companies grow, while putting a larger association’s strength behind them.

“ICCA can help [GCIA] members [by] creating the structure for their organizations as they grow, and the GCIA will add a creative touch with their nimbleness and opportunity to adapt to change faster,” Ryan told Nation’s Restaurant News  (opens in a new tab), adding that the organization came about as the result of years of discussion with ICCA board members.

The organization—whose board includes employees of Tavistock Restaurant Group, Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurants, Crave Restaurants, zPizza, Boston’s Pizza Restaurants, Which Wich Superior Sandwiches, and Burgerville—will share resources with ICCA, including a single executive director, creating a situation meant to financially benefit both organizations.

The new group will hold its first event, a “culinary combine,” in November in Seattle.