-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-Stephen Dreim has been officially cleared of any and all involvements in a bribery scandal that involved two Feast Fest newcomer chefs that won't even see action Nov. 22 due to their firings Monday.
The independent investigation concluded that Dreim's $52,750 raise had been failed to be preannounced to execs due to "a clerical error", and that of the six scouters accused of taking bribes from Dutch chefs Anah di Vri and Peter di Vris in August, only one worked as part of a four-scouter team negotiating Dreim's raise. "The three other scouters...were not even aware of the di Vris/de Vri scandal at the time they negotiated with Dreim," said Head Scouter Jim Dall, joining the investigation fresh off a private jet from Tunbridge, Vt., where he finished a four-day, four-state chef contract negotiation trip Thursday.
So Dreim's name is cleared, and now both parties can put this behind them and go off all happy into Nov. 22, right?
Wrong.
That WOULD be the case, only Dreim resigned Thursday morning, a mere eight hours before his name was cleared, incensed with the allegations of bribery being put to his name. "Dreim felt his image and name were being slandered, and we understand that," Dall said. "Now we must work on patching up our relationship with him."
But, should he wish not to return, feeling permanently alienated, "we must respect that decision."
FF will meet with Dreim Friday.
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Thursday, October 18, 2012
Dall Flying Home
-Montpelier, Vt.
-Head Scouter Jim Dall is aboard a private jet, flying back to Feast Fest headquarters in Los Angeles after a four-day, four-state newcomer chef contract verification swing. Here's a rundown of what the Feast Fest Scouting Department Head accomplished during his East Coast travels:
--- Visited Bonita Springs, Fla., home of newcomer chef Patti Anriyyi, and negotiated contract extensions with her. Anriyyi wished for a multiple-year contract but only received a one-year contract. Anriyyi ultimately agreed to a two-year, $298,457-per-year deal, with a 2014 option.
--- Visited Oxford, N.C. Tuesday to negotiate contract amounts with newcomer chef Alan Johns. Johns accepted a $323,451 one-year deal, up from an original $316,454 two-year deal. Dall also visited the Jenkins family of Feast Fest Official Culinary Provider L.A. Wild at their family farm in Ingleside, N.C., Tuesday and Wednesday, where (see separate article) Jan Jenkins, while giving Dall a tour of the farm, lost control of his pickup truck and drove it into the side of a barn. All three aboard, Jan, wife Suzy, and Dall, were uninjured.
--- Visited Stroudsburg, Penn. Wednesday to try to quell a newcomer chef, Brent Bruskins, who wished for a $310,000 contract raise from his original $345,000 offer, as well as a fourth-line-of-power spot instead of the sixth-line-of-power slot he was originally offered. Dall and Bruskins compromised on a $453,177 deal and a fifth-line-of-power spot.
--- Visited Tunbridge, Vt. Thursday (see separate article) and gave Tony Ruscoso a $231,000 deal, up from an original $91,234 offering.
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-Head Scouter Jim Dall is aboard a private jet, flying back to Feast Fest headquarters in Los Angeles after a four-day, four-state newcomer chef contract verification swing. Here's a rundown of what the Feast Fest Scouting Department Head accomplished during his East Coast travels:
--- Visited Bonita Springs, Fla., home of newcomer chef Patti Anriyyi, and negotiated contract extensions with her. Anriyyi wished for a multiple-year contract but only received a one-year contract. Anriyyi ultimately agreed to a two-year, $298,457-per-year deal, with a 2014 option.
--- Visited Oxford, N.C. Tuesday to negotiate contract amounts with newcomer chef Alan Johns. Johns accepted a $323,451 one-year deal, up from an original $316,454 two-year deal. Dall also visited the Jenkins family of Feast Fest Official Culinary Provider L.A. Wild at their family farm in Ingleside, N.C., Tuesday and Wednesday, where (see separate article) Jan Jenkins, while giving Dall a tour of the farm, lost control of his pickup truck and drove it into the side of a barn. All three aboard, Jan, wife Suzy, and Dall, were uninjured.
--- Visited Stroudsburg, Penn. Wednesday to try to quell a newcomer chef, Brent Bruskins, who wished for a $310,000 contract raise from his original $345,000 offer, as well as a fourth-line-of-power spot instead of the sixth-line-of-power slot he was originally offered. Dall and Bruskins compromised on a $453,177 deal and a fifth-line-of-power spot.
--- Visited Tunbridge, Vt. Thursday (see separate article) and gave Tony Ruscoso a $231,000 deal, up from an original $91,234 offering.
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Ruscoso Seals $231K deal
-Tunbridge, Vt.
-Feast Fest newcomer Tony Ruscoso was able to slam down a $231,000 deal Thursday following intense negotiations with Head Scouter Jim Dall.
The Vermont-based Italian-American chef at a 4-star Vermont mountain resort had signed with FF in June, but received a notoriously low $91,234 at signing for a seventh-line-of-power slot. The Scouting Department originally said that they gave him a very low offer because "[Ruscoso] is likely to be a one-year chef." They came to this conclusion due to a gaffe Ruscoso made, saying he was "looking forward" to "experimenting" with his culinary career by joining Feast Fest, the word "experimenting" making scouters think Ruscoso did not plan to become a fixture with the event. Thus, they offered him $91,234 at signing, the lowest entry-level offer in six years, with $114,233 for a 2013 extension and $189,534 for a 2014 extension. "Tis is a year-by-year, take-it-as-we-go contract, to conform with Ruscoso's wishes for 'experimentation'," so said Scouter Mike Meeckley Jun. 28.
Dall swung through Vermont Thursday to visit Ruscoso, where Ruscoco claimed that the "experimentation" remark was a "badly chosen, out-of-thin-air term that was not meant to display the message that I would be a come-and-go chef." Rather, "I have been following Feast Fest for years and wish to become a fixture within it," Ruscoso clarified.
Thus, Dall and Ruscoso came to terms with a three-year, $231,000 deal, with an option for 2015 which could deal Ruscoso anywhere from $209,000 to $272,000 per year, depending on his performance at the event.
Still, even with the major raise, Ruscoso will still harbor the second-lowest chef contract for 2012; only Jane Jockell, set to cradle $227,450 this November, will rake in less. (The Mason Duo have the highest contracts: $924,332 each this Thanksgiving.)
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-Feast Fest newcomer Tony Ruscoso was able to slam down a $231,000 deal Thursday following intense negotiations with Head Scouter Jim Dall.
The Vermont-based Italian-American chef at a 4-star Vermont mountain resort had signed with FF in June, but received a notoriously low $91,234 at signing for a seventh-line-of-power slot. The Scouting Department originally said that they gave him a very low offer because "[Ruscoso] is likely to be a one-year chef." They came to this conclusion due to a gaffe Ruscoso made, saying he was "looking forward" to "experimenting" with his culinary career by joining Feast Fest, the word "experimenting" making scouters think Ruscoso did not plan to become a fixture with the event. Thus, they offered him $91,234 at signing, the lowest entry-level offer in six years, with $114,233 for a 2013 extension and $189,534 for a 2014 extension. "Tis is a year-by-year, take-it-as-we-go contract, to conform with Ruscoso's wishes for 'experimentation'," so said Scouter Mike Meeckley Jun. 28.
Dall swung through Vermont Thursday to visit Ruscoso, where Ruscoco claimed that the "experimentation" remark was a "badly chosen, out-of-thin-air term that was not meant to display the message that I would be a come-and-go chef." Rather, "I have been following Feast Fest for years and wish to become a fixture within it," Ruscoso clarified.
Thus, Dall and Ruscoso came to terms with a three-year, $231,000 deal, with an option for 2015 which could deal Ruscoso anywhere from $209,000 to $272,000 per year, depending on his performance at the event.
Still, even with the major raise, Ruscoso will still harbor the second-lowest chef contract for 2012; only Jane Jockell, set to cradle $227,450 this November, will rake in less. (The Mason Duo have the highest contracts: $924,332 each this Thanksgiving.)
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• DREIM RESIGNS •
-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-In a threatened but still shocking move Thursday, Feast Fest fixture Stephen Dreim has announced his resignation from Feast Fest after being investigated as part of a bribery scheme that led to the Monday firing of two Dutch newcomer chefs.
-In a threatened but still shocking move Thursday, Feast Fest fixture Stephen Dreim has announced his resignation from Feast Fest after being investigated as part of a bribery scheme that led to the Monday firing of two Dutch newcomer chefs.
"This was Mr. Dreim's choice," said Arthur Ayeiy, Feast Fest Executive Assistant, who spoke on behalf of Head Scouter Jim Dall, who is in the middle of an East Coast contract negotiation swing. "We never said to Mr. Dreim that he was obligated to leave our event, and the fact that he has chosen to do so is to us deeply saddening." Ayeiy said that the FF team was not going to let the issue drop, however. "Mr. Dreim claims wholeheartedly that he has no connections to the bribery scandal involving [Dutch newcomer chefs Anah] de Vri and [Peter] di Vris, and we wish to believe him. However, Dreim resigned before we were able to reasonably conclude our investigation. We will be continuing our investigation into this incident, and, if we find, as we believe, that Mr. Dreim is innocent, we will try to pursue renegotiation and re-signing to the event for Mr. Dreim."
Dreim received a $50,000 raise one day after de Vri and di Vris each received $469,000 raises. Those raises were illegitimately received due to bribes the Amsterdam-based newcomers had issued to scouters. Dreim was included in the investigation for three reasons: 1) His raise, though $419, 000 less than de Vri and di Vris' raises, still falls considerably above the average one-year raise range for a Feast Fest chef, which is $5,000 to $25,000, 2) the raise's proximity to the Dutch chefs' raises, and 3) the fact that none of the three questioned raises were preannounced to Feast Fest executives, as is policy, before being announced to the public. This last factor happens occasionally and is not unheard of; for example, completely legitimate Jim McAllister and Lynn Avi raises in 2007 and 2010, respectively, failed to be preannounced simply because of clerical errors.
Head Scouter Dall released a brief statement by phone from Tunbridge, Vt., saying in part, "The resignation of Steve Dreim is a true sorrow. I hope that we can clear his name in this scandal and get him back in the kitchen on Nov. 22, given, of course, we can patch up our shaken relations with him."
The consensus across Feast Fest's hierarchy early Thursday seemed to be that Dreim was never under serious interrogation, that he was only included in the investigation as a precaution and to wholly ensure that he did NOT have connections to the de Vri/di Vris incident, and that Dreim can and should be signed back once the investigation is over. The investigation, scheduled to conclude sometime next week, is widely expected to find that Dreim has no connections to the bribery incident.
Dreim, however, has other plans. "I gave Feast Fest the best years of my career," a defiant Dreim cried Thursday before storming out of the Beachview Resort in Marina del Rey, where Feast Fest was convening. "To be betrayed like this, to be slandered and grouped in with these lowdown, shameless chefs... it's a branding that I cannot believe and that I refuse to receive. Thus, for the good of my career and to dispel any 'controversy' that Feast Fest seems to believe I am connected to, I am resigning."
When asked if he would consider re-signing with Feast Fest should he be found innocent and should Feast Fest wish to patch up relations with him, his answer to reporters was one word: "No."
He then slipped into a private limousine, and he had the chauffeur drive Feast Fest straight out of his life.
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Correction
The entry about Jim Dall and the Jenkinses crashing into a barn erroneously stated that Dall is in the middle of an East Coast recruiting swing to end the offseason in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Rather, Dall is visiting these states to confirm the 2012 contracts of four newcoming chefs to the event this year.
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Dall, Jenkinses Fine In North Carolina After Pickup Truck Crashes Into Chicken Coop, Side of Barn
-Ingleside, NC
-Feast Fest Scouting Department Head Jim Dall and Jan and Suzy Jenkins, head of Feast Fest's Official Culinary Provider, L.A. Wild, are safe after all three were involved in a pickup truck crash at the Jenkins' private Carolinas farm.
The Jenkinses, who reside in Los Angeles but are in the middle of a monthlong visit to a family farm in their native North Carolina. Head Scouter Jim Dall, who is a "great friend" to the Jenkinses, was being put up in their farmhouse in the middle of an East Coast recruiting swing to end the FF offseason, in which Dall visits Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
The Jenkinses gave Dall a tour of their farm Wednesday, with Jan driving a 1960s pickup truck over the 98-acre tract of land. Jan lost control of the pickup and drove it into a chicken coop before crashing it into the side of a barn. Dall and Suzy were unhurt; Jan sought medical attention but was also found uninjured.
The crash ripped a gaping hole through the back end of one of two barns at the farm in Ingleside, N.C., about 35 miles northeast of Raleigh.
Dall tweeted after the incident, which occurred about 5 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, "drove into barn and clucker coop at NC farm, scary!"
Dall said over the phone to Feast Fest execs that he was "feeling completely fine, just a smudge rattled" after the collision upon arriving in Stroudsburg, Penn. late Wednesday.
The Jenkins also reported to Feast Fest that they were "shaken, but sound" afterward. The Jenkins plan to return to Los Angeles to begin Feast Fest preparation in collaboration with L.A. Wild "at the beginning of November."
"Great privilege hosting Jimmy Dall of Feast Fest at our farm for a couple days, and hope that crash didn't sour him on us!" Suzy Jenkins wrote in an email to Feast Fest execs that was carbon-copied to Dall.
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-Feast Fest Scouting Department Head Jim Dall and Jan and Suzy Jenkins, head of Feast Fest's Official Culinary Provider, L.A. Wild, are safe after all three were involved in a pickup truck crash at the Jenkins' private Carolinas farm.
The Jenkinses, who reside in Los Angeles but are in the middle of a monthlong visit to a family farm in their native North Carolina. Head Scouter Jim Dall, who is a "great friend" to the Jenkinses, was being put up in their farmhouse in the middle of an East Coast recruiting swing to end the FF offseason, in which Dall visits Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
The Jenkinses gave Dall a tour of their farm Wednesday, with Jan driving a 1960s pickup truck over the 98-acre tract of land. Jan lost control of the pickup and drove it into a chicken coop before crashing it into the side of a barn. Dall and Suzy were unhurt; Jan sought medical attention but was also found uninjured.
The crash ripped a gaping hole through the back end of one of two barns at the farm in Ingleside, N.C., about 35 miles northeast of Raleigh.
Dall tweeted after the incident, which occurred about 5 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, "drove into barn and clucker coop at NC farm, scary!"
Dall said over the phone to Feast Fest execs that he was "feeling completely fine, just a smudge rattled" after the collision upon arriving in Stroudsburg, Penn. late Wednesday.
The Jenkins also reported to Feast Fest that they were "shaken, but sound" afterward. The Jenkins plan to return to Los Angeles to begin Feast Fest preparation in collaboration with L.A. Wild "at the beginning of November."
"Great privilege hosting Jimmy Dall of Feast Fest at our farm for a couple days, and hope that crash didn't sour him on us!" Suzy Jenkins wrote in an email to Feast Fest execs that was carbon-copied to Dall.
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