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For Chris Loss, director of the Ventura Center for Menu Research and Development at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, each day is a balancing act - part chefs coat, part lab coat.
Loss, who assumed his position as head of the $1.5 million, 8,000-square-foot facility in St. Helena, Calif., early this year, says he strives to be a liaison between food scientists and chefs to improve the efficiency of the research and development process.
His own background similarly blends the creativity of the culinary arts with the methodical nature of science. After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., in 1993, Loss worked briefly for a research and development company before deciding to study food science at Cornell University. There he earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees.
Today he taps into his varied training while overseeing the six-month-old center's educational programs and assisting foodservice clients who go there to customize their own research and development projects and partake in educational programs both on-site and online.
What are your responsibilities at the Ventura Center for Menu Research and Development?
Part of my job is serving as a liaison between the culinary arts and the more technical food scientists, building collaborative efforts. I handle project development with potential clients. I also teach classes: an online course in food science and technological applications and [a course on] food safety for Greystone's certificate classes. The CIA is involved in a number of special conferences and executive-level summits, so I'm involved in helping to organize those as well.
What changes have you seen in the R&D process, and how does the center address them?
There's an increase in competition in the industry. The consumers are demanding greater variety, and their preferences are changing radically and dramatically. That demands a more efficient and effective R&D process. It used to be that the R&D process worked its way through an operation - marketing takes care of innovation and ideation, then ideas are handed off to food scientists who would solve some...