Join Kalsec & Menu Matters for a Trends & Tastings Evening.

Discover the future of food in 2025! Mike Kostyo, VP of Menu Matters, will share insights from their highly anticipated 2025 Consumer Trends report while Kalsec's Culinary team will demonstrate how these trends have inspired innovative savory dishes. Experience the latest flavors and taste sensations through a tasting menu showcasing Kalsec's culinary expertise and commitment to using natural ingredients to create innovative and delicious foods. Join us on a flavor journey that will delight and inspire you for the new year.

Events Details:

Date: December 5, 2024

Time: 5:00pm-7:00pm CDT

Price: Members- $50, Non-Members- $60, Students- $10

Location: College of DuPage - Culinary and Hospitality Center, 425 Fawell Blvd, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

Mike Kostyo, VP of Menu Matters and an industry trend expert, will introduce Menu Matters' highly-anticipated 2025 Consumer Trend Report. This report dives into the core consumer needs the food industry will need to solve for in the year ahead, revealing the challenges and opportunities that brands can capitalize on. Within each of those need states, we'll also unveil the on-trend foods, flavors, ingredients, cuisines, and dishes that should be in your toolbox as you innovate against these need states. Consider this your roadmap to on-trend decision-making for 2025.

In tandem, Kalsec Chefs, Anna Cheely and Ken Burns, will guide you through a series of dishes where they have leveraged their culinary skills with the extensive range of ingredients the Kalsec Taste & Sensory Solutions portfolio offers to build flavors that both excite an inspire.

By attending this session, you'll gain invaluable insights into consumer trends and learn how to translate them into innovative, flavorful products using Kalsec's expertise and natural ingredient solutions.

Bios:

Mike Kostyo is the Vice President of Menu Matters, a food industry consulting firm based in Chicago. Kostyo was a recurring guest on Fusion TV’s “The AV Club Show”; has been featured on NBC Nightly News, WGN Radio, CBS Radio and Gimlet Media’s “Why We Eat What We Eat” podcast; is regularly featured in newspapers and magazines; speaks at numerous conferences across the country annually; and was a judge on Food Network’s “Eating America.” He has a master’s degree in gastronomy from Boston University, plus certificates in the culinary arts, baking arts, wine and artisan cheese production. He is also a freelance writer, serves on the board of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, and is on the advisory committee for the Arkansas Food Innovation Center at the Market Center of the Ozarks.

Chef Anna Cheely works in the Taste and Sensory Innovation department finding culinary-based solutions for customers, from seasoning and sauce manufacturers to CPG companies. She began her career in culinary school and worked in New York restaurants, followed by a Master of Science at the University of Georgia in sensory and food science. In her current role as Lead Scientist – Taste Solutions & Sensory, she combines the world of culinary techniques and knowledge with food science to give customers multifaceted solutions.

Ken Burns FAMILY, FOOD & FUN are the primary areas of passion of my life. I am a lifelong foodie, an innovator of wants and needs, and a creator of positive eating experiences.

My foodie passion drove every academic and professional decision of my life. Academically, I achieved a Culinary Arts degree from Cincinnati State, a Food Science degree from University of Cincinnati and most recently a dual concentration MBA from Xavier University. Professionally, it led me to Givaudan, as a Research Associate for 3 years. To Kroger, as a Product Development Scientist for 8 years. Most recently to Michigan and Kalsec as a Lead Scientist & Chef for the last 3 years.