Talkin' to the Rotary

I had the pleasure today of speaking to one of the local Rotary clubs (the Frederick lunchtime crowd). Let me tell you, I was FREAKING OUT. There are 250 people in the club and this is by far the largest group I've ever spoken to. Plus, these are some of the sorta movers and shakers in good 'ole Fred-rock, so I wanted to make a good impression.

I thought about topics. I didn't want to come off all "me me me", but I wanted to be sure that they understood what The Kitchen Studio is and be interested enough to give us a try. Then it came to me: Food Trends. That could be related to both the world we live in today AND The Kitchen Studio. Here are some of the trends I spoke about:

• Fine Dining Restaurants offering bar & prix fixe menus to appeal to a more cost-conscious crowd as well as their usual customer
• Bistro fare becoming more popular than ever as we look to comfort food during an uncomfortable economic time
• Cooking class enrollment increasing (yay, and please keep on coming to see us!)
• Kids cooking like crazy (Summer Camps are Still Registering! Visit our web site!)
• Kitchen gardens and the appeal to plant an organic garden at The White House
• 100-Mile Cooking (eating only food that comes from within 100 miles of your home, something that could easily be done in such a rich agricultural area like ours)
• Private Cooking Classes ('nuff said)
• Food Blogging (duh)
• Culinary Team Building (the most fun thing EVER in a work/team-building scenario)

I have to say, the group was fantastic. They were good spirited and laughed at all the right places. Many members even spoke to me after I finished, which was a welcome end. I was sweating bullets beforehand and thought I might throw-up on my shoes, so I'm pretty happy that didn't happen.

Cookies were passed out, brochures were distributed, and I really enjoyed myself. It just came to show yet one more reason that I love owning a small business in Frederick.