Talks with Ainenl Shudder to Halt

-Montreal
-Talks with Parisian master Claudien Ainenl at the Scouting Summit in Montreal in attempts to add him to the Feast Fest team in 2012 have come to a shuddering halt, Head Scouter Jim Dall says.

Dall reports that Ainenl will settle for no more than $800,000. FFers had prepared for Ainenl a $550,000 contract to present to him upon the beginning of the next offseason in December.

"Ainenl had given us the impression that he was willing to come to the table and be flexible with his pay amounts," commented Dall. "We weren't prepared for a demand of $800,000. It hit us like a ton of bricks."

Dall said that top-tier chefs such as Lynn Avi, Jim McAllister, and the Mason Duo rake in anywhere from $750,000-$900,000 a year for their participation at Feast Fest, but, "due to his commitments to his restaurant, we assumed he would have less time to practice Americana styles for Feast Fest. Because of this, we placed him in our minds on a lower line of power than a top-tier chef. And, although Ainenl accepted this and did not demand his position with the event be raised, he is demanding a salary amount wherein we would have to give him a higher position to meet his demands."

"We're sort of at a stalemate right now."

Brianna Galen-Ames' negotiations have also fallen apart, as she is unsuccessfully trying to worm her way through the lawbooks of the event to raise the maximum salary from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000.

Dall says, "We just raised the maximum amount from 1 million to 1.5 million a couple weeks ago. We've been through that whole rigmarole. We're not ready to jump back into that again, not this soon."

Ainenl and Scouters Meet for Summit

-Montreal
-Scouters and Claudien Ainenl are meeting and Brianna Galen-Ames is participating via webcam here at the first day of a two day scouting summit in Montreal.

The summit could be groundbreaking, as it could potentially result in adding Ainenl's talents to Feast Fest 2012, and it could make or break the possibilities to re-add former FF chef Brianna Galen-Ames to the event.

"Our negotiations with Ainenl have gone very well so far. We seem to be in agreement on most of the most vital contractual facets and details," said Head Scouter Jim Dall. "We are also participating with Brianna Galen-Ames by webcam and we are finding contractual agreements with her as well, but we need to discuss with her a way to make sure she gets accepted should she be re-signed, because she was treated pretty badly by some of the chefs."

And as a matter of fact, it was her unpopularity with the chef body that is preventing her from attending the summit in person. She slipped on a wax floor after being forced out of a conference room by her former fellow chefs Oct. 20, and she ended up breaking her ankle.

Galen-Ames Confirms Webcam Participation

-Chicago
-Brianna Galen-Ames has confirmed she will participate via webcam at the Scouting Summit Tuesday and Wednesday in Montreal.

She must participate via webcam from her Illinois home due to the broken ankle she suffered Oct. 20 when she was forced out of a conference room by an angry crowd and slipped on a wax floor.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry