Pioneer Of Personal-chef Career Path Named Entrepreneur Of The Year

Candy Wallace, founder and executive director of the American Personal & Private Chef Association (APPCA), has been named Entrepreneur of the Year in the 2009-2010 Cordon d'Or - Gold Ribbon International Culinary Academy Awards.

Noreen Kinney, founder of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based awards program, will honor Wallace and recipients of other award categories at a reception on April 30 at the Don CeSar Resort in St. Pete Beach.

"It is truly gratifying to receive an award for a labor of love," says Wallace, who created the personal-chef career path nearly 20 years ago for herself and others who sought to remain working in foodservice, but in a nontraditional way. "Owning and operating a business as a personal chef provides many food professionals-such as chefs of a certain age, women and chefs in transition-a way to continue cooking for a living on their own terms."

Wallace founded the American Personal Chef Association in 1996 as the first significant national effort to recognize the impact of personal chefs on Americans' evolving lifestyles and to provide career and management training to those who aspire to become personal chefs with their own businesses. She led the positioning of personal chefs as culinary professionals, culminating in 2002 with a formal partnership with the American Culinary Federation to award certification to qualified personal chefs. The following year, she was honored with the International Association of Culinary Professionals' (IACP) Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Wallace earned additional industry accolades in 2006 by formally acknowledging the contributions of private chefs to society and addressing their specific professional needs by restructuring her organization to become the American Personal & Private Chef Association.

In recent years, Wallace has forged relationships with professional culinary-training programs in colleges and universities nationwide to bring the opportunity of culinary entrepreneurship to aspiring cooks seeking a certificate or degree. "A personal-chef business has become an accepted path to realistic financial support for a family or individual while providing deep personal satisfaction in owning and operating a valid foodservice business other than a restaurant," she says. Last month, the Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI) presented Wallace with its Medallion of Excellence to recognize her superior service to the foodservice-education industry.

"The world is changing," Wallace says. "It has been my honor to offer professional cooks and chefs a legitimate, realistic career option amid the new culinary landscape."

About the Cordon d'Or - Gold Ribbon International Culinary Academy Awards
Noreen Kinney, recognized globally as a culinary-arts instructor, author, celebrity chef, restaurant reviewer and culinary judge, established Cordon d'Or - Gold Ribbon in Europe in 1985 for use in her culinary-arts activities. She launched the International Culinary Academy Awards program after relocating to Florida in 1995. Members of the Academy annually nominate and vote on awards for Culinary Hall of Fame, Culinary Life Achievement, Culinarian of the Year, Culinary Entrepreneur, Chef of the Year, Cuisine of the Year, Educator of the Year and Cooking School of the Year. The Cordon d'Or - Gold Ribbon Annual International Culinary Books, Cookbooks and Culinary Arts Awards program honors top authors.

About the American Personal & Private Chef Association
The American Personal & Private Chef Association (APPCA), based in San Diego, promotes the "business of doing business" as a personal or private chef through ongoing peer interaction and education while fostering professionalism in all aspects of cookery. Through i