The International Food & Beverage Forum has announced its plans for continued support of scholarships for food & beverage students and new IF&BF leadership in the wake of the passing of founder Kurt H. Fischer this past year.
Since the passing of Fischer, former IF&BF Vice President Lee Evans has assumed the leadership role of The International Food & Beverage Forum.
Founded on June 23, 1993 by Fischer, the mission of the International Food & Beverage Forum has been since its beginning:
“The mission of the International Food & Beverage Forum® is to enhance global dialogue, knowledge, viable creativity and to foster the education of young hospitality professionals”.
Through sponsorships and its silent auction held previously in November, the IF&BF would raise monies to fund scholarships for students who are studying food and beverage and planning to enter the hospitality industry upon graduation from their studies. Over the past 16 years, 164 scholarships were awarded in the United States, Australia, Germany, South Africa and Switzerland amounting to a total close to US$ 800,000! Inspiring and creating great opportunities for young, aspiring food and beverage students has been a major part of the mission of the IF&BF since its beginning. The International Food & Beverage Forum is a U.S. The IF&BF is a 501(c) (3) tax exempt organ-ization under the U.S. Federal Tax guidelines.
From left to right: Richard Willetts, Patrick Willis, Scott Webster, Christophe Marziale
In addition, Evans has announced that the International Food & Beverage Forum has re-organized and will now consist of Global Regions headed up by a Regional Vice President for each region. The newly appointed Regional Vice Presidents are as follows:
North America: Richard Willett, VP Food & Beverage, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Canada
Europe: Patrick Willis, COO, MARC (Marlon Abela) Restaurant Group, London, England
Asia Pacific: Scott Webster, Director, Australian Culinary Consultants, Carrington, NSW, Australia
Middle East/Africa: Christophe Marziale, Hotel Manager/Group F&B Director, Millenium Hotels, Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq
According to Evans, “Under this new structure, the International Food & Beverage Forum Region Vice Presidents core responsibility will be to assist in growing membership and supporting the quarterly newsletter with perspective member aided regional and seasonal recipes.”
“Our goal is to streamline the expenses for the Forum,” continued Evans. “And to use at least 80% of funds generated through memberships and benefactor donations to continue to provide as many scholarships as possible.”
Additionally, the Forum will continue to meet periodically to further promote the remainder of the group’s original mission…..to enhance global dialogue of food & beverage knowledge and to generally promote the importance of food & beverage to the hospitality industry.
“The showcasing of recipes from various regions of the world is an ex-ample of increasing global dialogue,” says Evans. “The sharing of global food & beverage trends has been very important to the Forum through the years and we hope that it will be going forward, as well.”
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