Culinary Showcase

Entry Details

In the unremitting evolvement of the Connecticut Chapter, the addition of a community focused fundraising event was the clear next step in fulfilling our mission - THE MISSION of the Connecticut Chapter of the CMAA (CMAACT) is to advance the professional and social relationships for Connecticut Club Managers promoting personal success for its members through education, training, and social networking.   Our education teaches us that to advance our professional and social relationships and promote personal success, we must create pathways for our members to share their talents. We achieve success in these areas through escalating our level of philanthropy to BENEFIT our community, HONOR those who have walked this path before us, and to CELEBRATE those who are now the new leaders in our philanthropic journey.

Implementation

In 2019 the Connecticut Chapter folded the Connecticut Club Chefs Association into our Chapter. We made a commitment to include future educational and social initiatives that would enhance the experience and relationships between the culinary professionals and the food and beverage departments club wide.   The Culinary Showcase was a long-standing successful event hosted by the Connecticut Club Chefs Association to benefit Stamford Hospital’s pediatric care unit. It was understood that this was to become part of CMAACTs future events. On what was to be our introductory year, we had the onset and setback of covid. On Monday, January 9, 2023, we hosted the 26th Annual Culinary Showcase benefiting, honoring, and celebrating the industry we love!  Hosted by Rockrimmon Country Club the showcase was attended by over 400 people, represented by 19 club culinary teams, and supported by local vendors. CMAACT members showed their love and support by donating gifts for the pediatric unit of Stamford Hospital, “David’s Treasure Chest” and through admission to the event.  Added this year, we commemorated the life of one of our own, a long-time supporter of the Showcase, Chef Mark LeMoult, of the Greenwich Field Club, who died in a car accident just months earlier. As attendees strolled the displays, they were able to scan a barcode and vote for their favorite dish, and ultimately, the winner of the 1st Annual Mark LeMoult Golden Toque Trophy. When all tallies were done, the top three chefs took the podium to be honored and we also honored Chef Mark LeMoult. His loving family was present and shared beautiful words about Chef Mark and then announced the evenings winners.  As always, it takes a team effort for these events to come to fruition, and this was no exception. This cohesive committee was led by Board Members, CMAACT Social Committee, the management and staff of Rockrimmon Country Club and a representative of Stamford Hospital.