911 Remembered

It was a day of horror that none of us within the Hospitality Industry will ever forget. Hundreds of our colleagues, whose only crime was to go to work to create, to serve, were killed for no reason except to justify hate. 

Yet as time passes it is so easy to remember only the pictures that broke our hearts of falling steel and explosing flames and forget the faces. 

We must not forget our many friends and colleagues who worked within the Towers. Each and every one of them had a name. Catherine Hernandez has not forgotten.

She has said this, "My father, Norberto, was a pastry chef at Windows on the World in Tower One.

"For ten years, he made many fancy and famous desserts, but the sweetest dessert he made was the marble cake he made for us at home...

"Whenever we parted, Poppi would say, 'Te amo. Vaya con Dios.'

"I want to say the same thing to you, Poppi. I love you. Go with God." 

If you can, call for a silent moment this September 11th and ask your staff to pause for a minute or two to remember these remarkably talented members of our Industry - how much they loved what they were doing and how we each have a responsibility to carry their legacy forward into a better world, one that we are creating by what we do each and every day. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012 

Rural Holiday Inn Express Offers True Hospitality during Washington State's Great Taylor Bridge Fire

The heart of the Hospitality Industry has always been large. No matter where disaster strikes, members of the Industry have always done all that they could to help others impacted by fear and pain, whether harmed by man or nature.

During the tragedy of 9/11 hundreds of hotels and restaurants in New York City stop service and offered everything from food to staff to the thousands so cruelly and senselessly injured.

Now, once again the Industry has shown its heart. Not this time in New York City, one of the world’s leading centers of commerce, but in a much smaller town located in rural Ellensburg in Washington State.

The Holiday Inn Express in Ellensburg is a small hotel by the world’s grand standards. And it’s also located not far from the vast Taylor Bridge Fire, now raging out of control.

Home after home has burned, leaving hundreds without shelter, clothes or lodging. And although over 800 firemen are laboring around the clock to stop this furious Fire, the flames are only 10% contained and now cover an area equal to half the size of the nearby city of Seattle.

Ellensburg’s small Holiday Inn Express, in the finest tradition of our Industry, has chosen to open its doors and, using Facebook, has asked those who could, to bring clothing, blankets, books and toys to the Inn to help the Fire victims.

They have also prepared high protein sack lunches for those in need of a meal.

This small hotel’s courage and true professionalism should be a reminder to us all that no matter where we are in this wide world, from the might of New York City to every small rural town, we are all here to care, to make a difference, to help each other, to serve those in need. 

If you are in the Pacific Northwest and wish to help sort the donations arriving at the Holiday Inn Express or give recovery funds, call 509-962-9400 and see how you can be part of the kindness that is the hallmark of our Industry.  

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

Chefs around the World to Remember 9/11 by Wearing Red Bandanas

As the anniversary of 9/11 approaches, chefs from New York to Mumbai will pause and take a moment to tie in a red bandana in remembrance of Welles R. Crowther, who represents the bravery found that day among the horror of hate and destruction.

A young man who dreamed of being a firefighter but became instead a financial trader, he gave his life to save other, still wearing his good luck red bandana.

He brought the frightened and confused to their feet in the burning building urging, “Everyone who can stand, STAND NOW. If you can help others, DO SO.” Then he led group after group to safety only to meet his own death high within the now collapsing south Tower.

He was a remarkable young man who had learned early in life the “there was no ‘I’ in the word team”. And this is a concept known to all the professionals of our industry - we are a team. But a team that extends beyond the boundaries of our properties.

We serve the world and so the model we project should be a mirror to the world of what life might be – gracious and kind, inclusive and receptive.

Welles Crowther could have run, thinking only of himself. Instead he turned, as the chefs and staff of Windows on the World did, to help, to serve, to say we are not alone in this world. 

Ths September 11^th will you be wearing a red bandana to tell others that life truly matters, that caring matters in every thing we do?

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011