The AARP magazine circulation is 24 million. The emphasis is on older people.  People magazine is 4 million. It is solely devoted to people. Every Day With Rachael Ray has a circulation of 1.7 million. Its content is related to people and food. There are 1.57 million readers for Bon Appétit and  Food Network Magazine 1.37 million.

My conclusion is if you are looking for a wide circulation for your work, write about people and food. 

How to Interview and Profile a Celebrity Chef

Interviewing is a complex skill. Don’t ask questions the answers to which you could have found in advance. Try instead to think of questions no one else has asked. But if you are not certain the information you have is right — ask for confirmation. Facts need to be verified. It is okay to go back and check but not too often (you should have been listening carefully in the first place).

Study the pros to learn how to be a better interviewer. Don’t ask confrontational questions like “Do you think the recently fired chef is a jerk?” Instead ask, “What were your impressions of XXX” or “Many people are saying….” Or “What can you say to people who think…?” or “Do you think it is possible that…?” Like a good waiter, you have to learn when to wait; when the subject of your interview is about to say something else but is hesitating to reveal something important, just wait. The tension of silence may cause him to blurt out something interesting.

Don’t quote anonymous sources. This is the bailiwick of political reporters. If you print false information purposefully or even accidentally, you can be sued. You can also be in serious trouble if you reveal anything that is clearly intended to be off the record, even if the subject of the interview has not specifically said this is privileged information.

Your job is not to provide your opinion or share your experience. The profile is not about you. It is the writer’s job is to present the subject’s story accurately. A playwright puts words in the actors’ mouth. An interview puts another person’s words on the page in the rhythm and cadence in which they have spoken.

If there is a question that may anger the person being interviewed, save it until the last. It’s like nibbling around the edges before taking the last bite. Everyone has an agenda. Determine your own agenda first.

Food Job

A man says he wants to be a writer and loves to be around famous chefs.

As you know, the obituaries of culinary legends are written long before they actually ascend to the great banquet in the sky.

I suggest he can write an obituary column with the title: The Dead Beat.

What do you think of when you think of Mario Batali? Pony tail, shorts, plump knees, orange crocs? What do you think of when you think of Donald Trump or Lady Gaga? Public faces (and private fortunes!) are created by brand managers.

In a way, we too create ourselves. We develop our own unique style that encompasses how we speak, how we wear our hair, how we dress, how we walk, what we read, which TV programs we watch and how we communicate our thoughts. We may behave differently in the company of close friends than when we are going for a job interview, but, essentially we are who we are.

The difference between us and “them” is “they” are supposed to stay in character all the time. We show a different face to our beloved than to the repair man, who failed to show up — again!

Brand Manager Job Description

A brand manager is a creative professional, who develops a public image for a person, product or an entire company with the objective of  increasing his, her or its revenues.

For example, we think of Ben & Jerry as great philanthropists who produce super ice cream. We think of Starbucks as earth-friendly folk who generously provide health benefits for their employees and make high priced coffee that is sold in a paper cup.

These images are creations of marketing experts who have specialized knowledge within specific fields.

A culinary brand manager understands the demographic profile of food television viewers, analyzes food trends, researches packaging innovations and coordinates the strategies of advertisers and marketers. A brand manager can manage to create a new TV program for a “failed” or obscure chef or a movie deal for a blogger.

The brand manager invents novel or traditional products to be endorsed or manufactured by a food celebrity and distributed to consumers, who are eager to buy.

The goal of a culinary personality brand manager is to create a unique, instantly recognizable, endearing personality, who is inclined to repeat words like “Bam!,” “EVOO!” and “Y’ALL” to further the ultimate objective which is to make heaps of money for the “brand,” whether or not the brand is Emeril (Lagasse), Rachael (Ray) or y’all.

Characteristics of Brand Managers

Common traits of brand managers include: being results oriented and highly creative innovators, who possess strong interpersonal, communication and analytical skills, and entrepreneurial leanings. (Source: About.com)

Average salary is $76,100 though CNN places this figure at $90.000 or even higher for a senior executive.

Education/Experience Requirements: A Bachelor’s degree and 4 years of field experience. (For culinary brand managers, it helps to have culinary training but it isn’t crucial.)

Sample interview questions for an applicant to this field include:

1.    Describe a time when you went above and beyond for a customer.

2.    What would you do to maximize the brand image in this region?

3.    A new competitor is entering the market. How do you protect your market share?

4.    Tell me about a brand that does not compete in your current category that is not doing performing well and why?

5.    Walk me through your resume – tell me why you’re qualified.

6.    Give me an example in which you have led a team successfully to accomplish a task

7.    Why should we hire you as opposed to someone else?

8.    In trying to market a product, how do you differentiate one brand of product to another.

9.    Do you have a culinary degree? (Source HR Management)

Getting Started

Check out The Center for Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin as well as the Top 10 Brand Management Blogs for getting started and gaining insights.

There is a Victorian saying; “every meal is a lesson learned.”  It is at the dining table we first learn not only what to do, but perhaps more importantly, what not to do.  Manners, it turns out, are as important to the pursuit of living as the culture of dining. Knowing exactly how to behave at the table was as important to cavemen as in today’s corporate dining room.  In order to become a fully accepted member of a group, or to be recruited as a team player, it is essential that everyone abides by the same rules and minds their manners.

There are many kinds of behavior that we consider bad manners.  Bad behavior results in the offender being permanently expelled from the group.  What may be tolerated, though not applauded at home is often unacceptable in public. Learning how to behave when in other countries is crucial to the negotiation of contracts of all kinds.  It therefore is essential to learn:

• How to behave in the company of others i.e. no cell phones, oppressive perfume or repellent after-shave lotion, no reading materials, no kissing, hand-holding or other overt touching/feeling and overall no boorishness of any kind particularly the kind that could become the subject of a Saturday Night Live skit.
• How to dine at a formal dining table including how not to address the wait staff.
• How to select the correct silver, crystal, and the correct use of the napkin.
• How to be mannerly when in the company of natives from countries other than one’s own.
• How to offer and respond to a toast.
• How not to spit out food that is offensive to you.
• How to request the check or be grateful to the host who, (thank goodness,) graciously beats you to it.

Business is booming for etiquette coaches.  Climbers of corporate ladders are recognizing how important it is for them and their significant others, to at least appear to be “cultured.” The hiring decision may rest on what and how the prospective employee behaved during an interview conducted over dinner.

Pamela J. Holland, co-author of Help! Was That a Career Limiting Move? Career Skills Press, 2001 and CEO of Brody Communications in Philadelphia, a company that provides dining etiquette training to corporate clients says, “I think this renewed interest in civility and manners is a reaction to young entrepreneurs who arrived in the workplace wearing sandals and a T-shirt.”  And Pauline Winick and Dale Webb, founders of the Protocol Center in Miami observe: “Regardless of one’s place in the work hierarchy, it is hard to argue against good manners.  If you are competing for a job or promotion against others with the same level of competency but you have the social skill, too, you always clobber your rivals.”

According to Michael Bateman, writing in London’s The Independent on Sunday, there are several ways to let dinner guests know it’s time to leave. “A Frenchman may ask if you’d like something, a fruit juice perhaps.  In Japan, if the guests fail to take the hint, the host and hostess may leave the room and not come back.  That usually does the trick.

To become a dining coach you must carefully study Miss Manners Guide to Excrutiangly Correct Behavior, Judith Martin.  Norton, 2005. She guides the reader into the correct way to extract a sliver of green leafy food from its lodging place between your teeth.

It is sound advice for us all, not to order the fried eggs, sausage, hash browns and a fizzy drink for breakfast if the host has requested half a grapefruit and a pot of herb tea. We are counseled not to reach into the plate of the prospective boss without his express permission, not to pick up the steak with your hands and gnaw the bone, not to dip your bread in the gravy, not to hold your fork like a shovel, not to use chopsticks for the first time when being interviewed for a job. And never, ever wear a lobster bib. Finally, it is even more important to grasp the unwritten rules than the more obvious ones.

Staff turnover is very costly so employers try their best to make sure a prospective new employee will not only become a productive member of the team but also fit in well with the organization. The last step of the evaluation process frequently involves going out for a meal. The hopeful employee will be judged on his ability to converse agreeably, a tendency to fidget, the number of times he experiences ian urgent need to leave the table to go to the bathroom and above all, his table manners.

A table manners coach can prepare a candidate for acceptance or rejection.

This is a great job for a Mom.