Sept. 20, 2024 – Avid readers of biographies and autobiographies are naturally good conversationalists. They have mental repositories of authentic, fascinating stories, often how one individual inspired another to greatness. As a high school senior in Lewiston, Maine in 1990, Rene Marquis competed in a culinary competition in New Hampshire. Chef Fritz Sonnenschmidt, a master chef and one of the judges, told Rene he should come to his school, the CIA. “I didn’t know the CIA in Hyde Park. I only knew of the Central Intelligence Agency at that point in my life. I found out there was a school in Hyde Park and that’s where I went,” Chef Rene Marquis, CEC, CCE, CCA, AAC, National President of the American Culinary Federation (ACF), said to Chaîne during a Sept. 13 telephone interview.

Rene’s decision was not a difficult one to make. “First of all, the CIA in Hyde Park at the time had the largest concentration of master chefs in the United States. Ferdinand Metz was the President and Fritz Sonnenschmidt was the Culinary Dean. To be honest with you, walking into the front of that school was like walking into a Grateful Dead concert. You could smell different foods being cooked. You could hear pots and pans clinking and clanking. You could see big chef toques through the kitchens that had glass windows. Just the excitement in the air, the air of all of that going on was just tremendous,” Rene said.

Two years later Rene was wearing a chef’s toque as a CIA graduate with a degree in culinary arts. He made a cross country move to begin his career at The Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado, an iconic hotel/resort built by Spencer and Julie Penrose in 1918.

U.S. Army

Rene’s talents and personality are clearly magnetic because just three years after a master chef recruited him to the CIA and now a young chef working at The Broadmoor, a U.S. Army general asked Chef Rene to come and work for him. But there was one catch. Rene had to enlist in the Army.

“I joined the Army. They paid off my student loans. I got a cash bonus for joining the Army,” he said. He was in the Army now, first completing basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina and then advanced culinary training at Fort Lee in Virginia. With a college degree, he was on a fast track to becoming an Army Food Service Specialist for the general who had recruited him in Colorado. From Virginia, Rene packed his duffel bag for MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida where the general worked in U.S. Central Command, one of six generals on the base who had “Enlisted Aides” assigned to him. Aides included a chef responsible for daily meals for the general and his family in their home as well as entertaining the many guests who visited. “Every day was a new challenge,” Rene said. He might find out at 11 a.m. that the general was having eight guests for dinner so Rene had to create the menu, shop, prepare the food, and ensure the table was set properly for an excellent dining experience. He had some help around “game time” through the Army’s Protocol Office, which assigned military personnel with hospitality experience to assist but for these events, Rene was largely a one-man show from developing the menu to loading the dishwasher.

He worked for that general for two and a half years until the general retired. Rene enjoyed his Army career. Throughout his 21-year career as an Army chef, he worked for eight different generals. As a CIA student, Rene never dreamed he would one day compete in the Culinary Olympics and the Culinary World Cup. As an Army chef, Rene was a member of four culinary teams that competed in two Culinary Olympics and two Culinary World Cup competitions. Overall, they won 17 Gold Medals and 16 Silver Medals.

“It was not only great representing my country as a soldier but I was also afforded the opportunity to represent my country as a soldier and a chef,” he said.

In the early 1990s when Rene was recruited, the Army was in the process of upgrading their food service for both officers and enlisted soldiers.

“When I first joined 32 years ago, dining halls were called Mess Halls. And they were a mess! It was like Beetle Bailey – using a metal tray and slopping food onto it. Through the years and historically through the Army especially, the Army changed all of its dining to be like restaurants you would be competing against in the civilian world,” Rene said. Army chefs were instructed to prepare food similar to fare being offered in restaurants such as Ruby Tuesday, Cracker Barrel and Applebees to name a few.

The new rationale was mutually beneficial.

“The Army moves on its belly and food is the number one morale booster of any service member who is deployed. If you’re eating good food, you’re a happy force,” he added. And at bases in the United States, soldiers can save a lot of money by eating at the dining halls instead of restaurants off base.

Rene explained the U.S. Coast Guard is now upgrading their food service seeking civilian expertise by offering enlistees with a culinary degree or extensive culinary experience a $50,000 signing bonus. “It’s a lot of money for enlisting for three years.”

 

ACF and Land O’Lakes

In 2013, Chef Marquis retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of Master Sergeant. But he is busier than ever today basically holding down two full time jobs, one as Corporate Executive Chef for Land O’Lakes and since 2023, the National ACF President. Rene said he likes to tell people: “I am a corporate chef by day and an ACF volunteer by night.”

Founded in 1921 by 320 dairy farmers as the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association, Land O’Lakes was the first company to make butter from fresh, sweet cream and sell it in individually wrapped sticks as opposed to making it from sour cream and selling it in tubs, according to information on the Land O’Lakes website. Today more than 1,000 farmer-owners are part of the cooperative. Rene travels each week around the country for his job with Land O’Lakes. “I am responsible to show companies and restaurants how to use Land O’Lakes products to make their food better than it already is. The foods we produce are the best of the best. You start with the best ingredients, you end up with the best dishes,” Rene said.

National ACF President

The Land O’Lakes team was excited when ACF members elected Rene in 2023 as their new National President and they are very supportive.

An ACF member for more than 30 years, Rene took the national reins with deep knowledge of the organization from his experience as the Tampa Bay Chapter President. Under his tenure, he significantly grew membership and the number of volunteers. As National ACF President, he is looking to do the same and guide the organization of 14,000 members into the future.

“ACF is the authority of cooking in America and with the current leadership and current Board, we’re taking this organization back to what it used to be, a very successful organization run by the members for the members,” Rene said. He is the first ACF National President with military experience.

One of the first changes he implemented was to bring ACF culinary competitions and the national convention together under one roof. “It’s great to have a 3-ring circus but if the rings are in different tents, you don’t get to see what’s happening in the rings.” In addition, in Phoenix recently for the 2024 National Convention, all presenters were ACF members so attendees and presenters were on the same page, understanding in detail what was important to members.

In a post pandemic environment, it is more important than ever to be aware of the headwinds facing the industry. Every chef not only lives it daily but also works tirelessly to overcome challenges that remain. Rene sees signs the industry, even fine dining, is bouncing back. But if it was up to Rene, take out meals, delivered to homes in paper bags, would go away forever, a practice that gained traction during the pandemic, especially among young adults, and is still pervasive today. “This generation is fine eating out of a brown paper bag that is being delivered by a driver. I, myself – that’s not acceptable.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He offers food for thought. Even though the driver is merely delivering the food, he or she is still handling it without any training. Is the driver’s car free of dog and cat hair? Has the driver sampled any of the french fries? How long has the food been in the car? “The only companies that have mastered delivering food, in my opinion, are pizza places and Chinese restaurants,” Rene said.

One of ACF’s core functions is chef certification and training, a service for customers and employers alike that speaks volumes about chefs’ qualifications. Rene offers a good analogy about why chef certification is so important. “I wouldn’t go to a doctor that didn’t have a M.D. after their name to get a heart transplant. So when you think about going to a restaurant that has an ACF certified chef, you assume they’ve met all the criteria that comes with that.” While many businesses dropped certification requirements during the pandemic, Rene said more and more employers are now making that a condition for employment. The Army cannot mandate ACF culinary certification but military chefs who earn certification on their own put themselves on an easier path to promotion.

Enrollment in culinary schools is also rebounding although Rene explained that so many schools closed during the pandemic, enrollment is up in schools still open but overall, the number of students entering culinary schools has decreased from pre-pandemic levels. And the nature of students’ culinary expectations has certainly changed, one of the challenges facing the industry. As many seasoned chefs comment, today’s culinary graduates want instant gratification, a large salary, and to be their own boss – or better yet, the next Food Network star straight out of the gate.

Another of Rene’s pet peeves in the post pandemic world is the hesitancy of customers to order a $30 entrée while they think nothing of purchasing two, $15 items from a food truck. “And they are still hungry after their food truck meal,” he added.

Younger generations are looking for dining out to be an experience. They are interested in seeing their Caesar salad made tableside or their meal prepared in front of them as many Japanese steakhouses do. Rene said for an extra fee, some restaurants offer a mise en place feature, bringing out a cart of all of the ingredients in the dish the customer ordered. Young customers are also interested in learning about wine pairings. While serving in the Army, Rene selected all of the wines for the generals, a task with which he was comfortable because of his CIA education.

He advises people not to fall into traps of wine cliches. “I serve plenty of red wine with chicken,” he said. He selects wines based on the accompaniments, flavor profiles and sauces in the dish. One of his favorite chicken dishes is the French classic, Chicken Chasseur or Hunter’s chicken. He does not hesitate to serve a merlot or pinot noir with it for a delicious pairing.

ACF Task Forces

Guiding the ACF nationally with a new format for their convention while implementing a course correction for the organization has kept Rene very busy but he definitely must have burned a lot of midnight oil last year. He led an initiative to establish 13 new Task Forces to focus on specific areas. He is particularly proud of the new ACF Asian Chefs Alliance Task Force, chaired by Chef Kenny Tang. Chefs specializing in all types of Asian cuisine now have a hub for information on certification training and the certification process itself.

Rene also stood up a Military Task Force, a first for the ACF. Because of the nature of military service with frequent deployments and base changes, military chefs historically have not been a part of the organization but that will now change as ACF reaches out to them with a “boots on the ground” approach. Jeffrey Phillips, a retired two-star general, is the chair. More chefs in white toques, white jackets and camouflage pants will be a trendsetting look on bases worldwide no doubt!

The 11 other new ACF Task Forces Rene established are:

1. Baking & Pastry
2. Chapter Compliance
3. Chapters Supporting Chapters
4. Diversity & Inclusion
5. Finance & Investment
6. L. Edwin Brown Award
7. Strategic Relations
8. Chef & Child
9. ACFEF Knowledge Bowl
10. Women in Culinary Arts
11. Senior Living Chefs

Rene’s email inbox is likely a nonstop flow of requests and replies as he leads the charge for the ACF into the future with energy, enthusiasm and military precision. That will be his pace for the next few years, a pace he heartily embraces because he is helping ACF members advance their careers and his corporate clients serve great tasting food.

Upon his second and third professional retirements, he should think about writing his autobiography!

Links
American Culinary Federation (ACF)
Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Hyde Park, New York
Land O’Lakes