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So he moved home and soon found himself back in the kitchen at Going to Fox Valley Tech helped Rockman’s Catering, where he had cooked during high school. Biesack liked the job, but he was struggling to figure out his next step me develop as a person. when a co-worker mentioned the accelerated Culinary Arts program at Fox Valley Technical College. Biesack was immediately interested. Mark Biesack Though he had some initial fears that FVTC wouldn’t compare to Johnson and Wales, they melted away when he toured the campus with Chef Jeff Igel, department chair of the program and 13-year and you cover each other’s back instructor at the college. “Chef Jeff’s attitude and professionalism grabbed me right away,” Biesack recalls. “The quality of the kitchen facilities at Fox Valley Tech was impressive, and when you’re all under pressure.” In October, Biesack left the resort it was obvious that the instructors were skilled and committed to students. I didn’t feel like I to take a new job with Bon was sacrificing anything to go to school there.” Appetite Management Company, a In fact, Biesack was so energized by his classes, instructors, and fellow students, that he moved to Appleton just two weeks after starting his first semester. He also joined the FVTC California-based food service Culinary Club and volunteered for a wide range of activities, including annual pie sales and provider to corporations, colleges, and universities around the country. helping cater private events. “There are plenty of chefs who have never gone to school, but He is now a cook on the Lawrence going to Fox Valley Tech helped me develop as a person, and I tried to learn everything I University campus in Appleton. could about the business,” he explains. He particularly learned a lot from Jennifer Although he took a pay cut, Solloway-Malvitz (“Chef Jenn”), who teaches baking and pastry making. Biesack was drawn to Bon Appetite’s commitment to freshness Next steps and scratch cooking, along with The work paid off. Shortly before he graduated in April 2008, Biesack was hired as a sous advancement opportunities. “I chef at Fox Hills Resort in Mishicot, Wisconsin. A few months later, he was promoted to really like the company’s values and executive chef. The job had a wide range of duties—everything from preparing ability to maintain them while still for the week’s functions by scheduling appropriate staff and writing menus to being profitable,” he says. “I’m keeping his eye on costs. He also created a new system for cleaning and only 25 and I have a lot to learn, so organizing the kitchen, and made it a point to work alongside his staff, whether I feel like this is a really good place they were cleaning or cooking. “I’m not the kind of executive chef who can’t for me to be right now.” grab a mop or do dishes when a dishwasher calls in sick,” he says. Biesack says that dealing with people is one of the best aspects of the business. For more information, visit “I fell in love with the dynamic of the kitchen a long time ago,” he says. “You www.fvtc.edu/culinary. can’t duplicate anywhere the feeling you get when you’re working in a kitchen
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Key Ingredient: Exceptional Faculty The popularity of cooking shows and the Food Network has contributed toward making Culinary Arts a “very hot” program these days, says Department Chair Chef Jeff Igel. To meet the demand, the college offers both traditional and accelerated versions of the popular two-year program, which appeals to students of all ages (the oldest graduate so far was 70 years old). Graduates receive the training they need to succeed in this highly competitive field, which encompasses a wide range of positions with hotels, restaurants, hospitals, private clubs, cruise ships, colleges, and corporations.
Culinary Arts staff in the college’s herb garden.
The faculty is one big reason for the 37-year-old program’s success. Most of the instructors have worked all over the world. Five of the program’s six chefs are certified by the American Culinary Federation, the world’s largest professional organization for cooks and chefs. And yet Igel says there is no pretension or complaining about long hours from faculty members. “We purposely hire people who are energetic and passionate about what they do,” he notes. “Sometimes I work 70 hours a week teaching, helping students outside of class, chaperoning trips, and spending time with the Culinary Club,” he adds. “But it’s a labor of love. That’s why we’re all here.”
focus fall 2009
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