-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-You thought you'd seen the last of him, didn't you?
Well, you were wrong. Daved Leineken, the scouter who made huge waves about this time a year ago for accusations that he bribed former chef Brianna Galen-Ames and was subsequently fired, called Feast Fest "a horrendous...downright tyrannical employer" in an interview.
"We'd work hours and hours on end...with no breaks, the benefits were completely disproportionate to the workloads we were taking on."
In fact, Leineken now spends his days eating caviar and Godiva chocolates in front of a personal home movie theater thanks to the $51 million he made on commissions for signing a whole smorgasbord of now-superstar Feast Fest chefs in his 12 year career from 1999-2011: Galen-Ames, the Mason Duo, Lynn Avi, Joe Pasik, Jan Stephan, Andruw Stephan, Daniel Mettling, Danyela Harris, Laelech Crellas, Jon Chu, Petr and Andri Jones, Guilliame Jacquetaine, and many more. Of the 66 chefs in the event, Leineken signed or was part of a team of scouters which signed 32 of them--almost half. In 2010, Head Scouter Jim Dall announced Leineken as a potential successor to his position.
But the Galen-Ames matter, coupled with his reputation as a ruthless, greedy scouter, led to his fall from glory.
"There is no truth to the comments Mr. Leineken made" in a Feast Fest Press interview, Event Mgr. William Vanderbilt.
The interviewer himself, one Donald Virkenn, said he was "aghast at the falseness" of what Leineken was saying to him during the interview.
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The NCA Feast Fest lives here
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Piscot To Sit Out at Edelyn
-Phoenix
-Arizonan Feast Fest newcomer Lillian Piscot will sit out the Edelyn Cooking Arena exhibition in Punta Gorda, Fla., on Sunday, due to a broken leg she suffered Monday.
Although the leg "should be healed sufficiently" for Feast Fest, the Edelyn exhibition is "a definite no" as she is still in the initial stages of recovery.
"We wish Piscot the best and the speediest recovery and hope she will be recovered in time for Feast Fest on Nov. 22," said Event Mgr. William Vanderbilt.
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-Arizonan Feast Fest newcomer Lillian Piscot will sit out the Edelyn Cooking Arena exhibition in Punta Gorda, Fla., on Sunday, due to a broken leg she suffered Monday.
Although the leg "should be healed sufficiently" for Feast Fest, the Edelyn exhibition is "a definite no" as she is still in the initial stages of recovery.
"We wish Piscot the best and the speediest recovery and hope she will be recovered in time for Feast Fest on Nov. 22," said Event Mgr. William Vanderbilt.
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Breakthrough in Dreim/FF Talks
-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-Feast Fest gave in to Stephen Dreim's demands of a formal apology and $1,500 compensation in order to coax him back to the bargaining table Wednesday.
"We believed that Mr. Dreim's demands were unjust," admitted Scouter Phillip Alex, "but when Mr. Dreim held out and we were unable to get him to relent, we gave in to his demands in order to move along the constipated process of getting him re-signed."
Scouters presented Dreim with a $631,221, staggered 3-year deal, with Dreim receiving $631,221 this year and having his annual salary upped by $5,750 in the two successive years. The deal also includes a 2015 option.
The $631K-and-up deal is $87,000 above what Dreim was originally scheduled to receive this year.
"It's an effective raise to lure him back," Alex said.
However, a fellow Scouter, Stefanie McOneguew, remained her colleagues that the sentiment of the chef body as a whole towards Dreim "must be factored in toward our decision.". McOneguew noted that a significant portion of the chef body called Dreim haughty and conceited and said they were "relieved" at Dreim's resignation. "We are further studying Mr. Dreim's relations with fellow chefs throughout the years. If the claims of these chefs are largely true, we would reexamine Dreim." Because, as McOneguew said, "Those qualities are unacceptable among our chefs. We wouldn't hire the best chef in the world if he/she was belligerent to our chefs. Attitude and commitment come first, talent second."
Dreim has yet to respond to the new deal, but claimed to be "thankful" for the apology the event issued, saying that he and an agent were "reviewing the case and the recent offer received."
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-Feast Fest gave in to Stephen Dreim's demands of a formal apology and $1,500 compensation in order to coax him back to the bargaining table Wednesday.
"We believed that Mr. Dreim's demands were unjust," admitted Scouter Phillip Alex, "but when Mr. Dreim held out and we were unable to get him to relent, we gave in to his demands in order to move along the constipated process of getting him re-signed."
Scouters presented Dreim with a $631,221, staggered 3-year deal, with Dreim receiving $631,221 this year and having his annual salary upped by $5,750 in the two successive years. The deal also includes a 2015 option.
The $631K-and-up deal is $87,000 above what Dreim was originally scheduled to receive this year.
"It's an effective raise to lure him back," Alex said.
However, a fellow Scouter, Stefanie McOneguew, remained her colleagues that the sentiment of the chef body as a whole towards Dreim "must be factored in toward our decision.". McOneguew noted that a significant portion of the chef body called Dreim haughty and conceited and said they were "relieved" at Dreim's resignation. "We are further studying Mr. Dreim's relations with fellow chefs throughout the years. If the claims of these chefs are largely true, we would reexamine Dreim." Because, as McOneguew said, "Those qualities are unacceptable among our chefs. We wouldn't hire the best chef in the world if he/she was belligerent to our chefs. Attitude and commitment come first, talent second."
Dreim has yet to respond to the new deal, but claimed to be "thankful" for the apology the event issued, saying that he and an agent were "reviewing the case and the recent offer received."
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
EB unanimously rescinds "Halfgiving" Measure
-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-A proposal to introduce a second Feast Fest per year that would have taken place in June and which surprisingly caught fire in the event's Organization Senate and was passed up to the Executive Board by a 26-24 vote was unanimously destroyed by that Board Tuesday.
The Executive Board, which includes Event Manager William Vanderbilt, Executive Assistants Arthur Ayeiy, Beryl Shady, and seven others, voted 10-0 against the proposal.
The proposal, after repeated attempts to introduce a second Feast Fest into November fizzled out due to logistical hurdles, called for a proposed second Fest to be positioned in June, halfway between two Thanksgivings, and to call it "the Halfgiving Feast Fest."
Shady called it "totally out of our event's spirit" and condemned it.
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-A proposal to introduce a second Feast Fest per year that would have taken place in June and which surprisingly caught fire in the event's Organization Senate and was passed up to the Executive Board by a 26-24 vote was unanimously destroyed by that Board Tuesday.
The Executive Board, which includes Event Manager William Vanderbilt, Executive Assistants Arthur Ayeiy, Beryl Shady, and seven others, voted 10-0 against the proposal.
The proposal, after repeated attempts to introduce a second Feast Fest into November fizzled out due to logistical hurdles, called for a proposed second Fest to be positioned in June, halfway between two Thanksgivings, and to call it "the Halfgiving Feast Fest."
Shady called it "totally out of our event's spirit" and condemned it.
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Aiber, Scouters at Odds
-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-As if the whirlwind of contract offers and panicked scouters swirling around Feast Fest tigress Lynn Avi's "1%" possibility of leaving before Thanksgiving 2013 weren't enough, scouters also struggled with contractual deals for Alexei Aiber.
Aiber's contract is not up yet, but it is at a critical hinging point. In 2008, Aiber was signed to a five-year deal with an option for 2013.
Now, the big question is whether Aiber will allow scouters to exercise that option. Aiber is a Feast Fest fixture (2012 will be his 15th Feast Fest) and a fan favorite, but the aging Aiber is considering "slowing down" and "caring for my ailing mother and my wife, who is battling MS." The comments sound uncannily similar to those of a fellow FF fixture and "Original 7" chef Marc Monde before he announced his choice to leave Feast Fest following the 2004 event.
Aiber says he "is 50/50" currently on whether he will leave or stay in 2013, but the scouters are pressing him hard to accept an offer. They slid toward Aiber a $21,447 bonus if he signs the option.
Aiber, however, says he won't be putting his John Hancock anywhere yet. "This is a decision I might not even make until next summer," Aiber said, and somewhat annoyingly added, "I think it's immature and unbusinesslike for the scouters to pressure me into making a decision so soon. Bonus or no bonus, I'll exercise the option only if it feels right."
Aiber refused a request from scouters to hold a private meeting between the two which would have been scheduled for Thursday morning.
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-As if the whirlwind of contract offers and panicked scouters swirling around Feast Fest tigress Lynn Avi's "1%" possibility of leaving before Thanksgiving 2013 weren't enough, scouters also struggled with contractual deals for Alexei Aiber.
Aiber's contract is not up yet, but it is at a critical hinging point. In 2008, Aiber was signed to a five-year deal with an option for 2013.
Now, the big question is whether Aiber will allow scouters to exercise that option. Aiber is a Feast Fest fixture (2012 will be his 15th Feast Fest) and a fan favorite, but the aging Aiber is considering "slowing down" and "caring for my ailing mother and my wife, who is battling MS." The comments sound uncannily similar to those of a fellow FF fixture and "Original 7" chef Marc Monde before he announced his choice to leave Feast Fest following the 2004 event.
Aiber says he "is 50/50" currently on whether he will leave or stay in 2013, but the scouters are pressing him hard to accept an offer. They slid toward Aiber a $21,447 bonus if he signs the option.
Aiber, however, says he won't be putting his John Hancock anywhere yet. "This is a decision I might not even make until next summer," Aiber said, and somewhat annoyingly added, "I think it's immature and unbusinesslike for the scouters to pressure me into making a decision so soon. Bonus or no bonus, I'll exercise the option only if it feels right."
Aiber refused a request from scouters to hold a private meeting between the two which would have been scheduled for Thursday morning.
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Avi Offers Elevated
-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-Feast Fest tigress Lynn Avi had two additional offers thrown her way by Feast Fest Tuesday here in the middle of Fall Meeting & Conference Week.
Avi has been expressing "only an extremely slight consideration" toward dropping out of Feast Fest for 2013, as her contract expires, in order to return full-time to her restaurant Lala and also to potentially take up a television offer. Avi has said, "I don't quite know how I'll juggle all three at once if I accept that TV offer. I may not, but if it looks really appealing then I'd have to figure out how to make all three commitments work." Although she says that "the probability of me leaving Feast Fest is only about 1%", these comments mortified scouters when they were released Sept. 7. Thus, they rammed down two new contract offers on the heels of one issued Sunday night.
Avi, who will receive $887,463 this year, received a 5-year, $903,455-deal Sunday (all monetary figures are per-year figures, for example, $903,455 every year for five years, not $903,455 over five years).
Feast Fest followed up Tuesday afternoon by dishing out (no pun intended) $909,456, 6-year and, two hours later, $912,973, 5-year deals, the latter deal having options for both 2018 and 2019.
Avi has not yet formally responded to any of the offers,but she said Tuesday that "I don't want people to think that my lack of responses means I'm being greedy and waiting for the scouters to up the offer even more. Rather, I'm carefully taking time to think all this over."
The two sides cannot officially make a deal until the offseason in December, but reaching an agreement now would mean "we'd just have to sign the papers in December and then it'd be done with," so said Head Scouter Jim Dall.
-Feast Fest tigress Lynn Avi had two additional offers thrown her way by Feast Fest Tuesday here in the middle of Fall Meeting & Conference Week.
Avi has been expressing "only an extremely slight consideration" toward dropping out of Feast Fest for 2013, as her contract expires, in order to return full-time to her restaurant Lala and also to potentially take up a television offer. Avi has said, "I don't quite know how I'll juggle all three at once if I accept that TV offer. I may not, but if it looks really appealing then I'd have to figure out how to make all three commitments work." Although she says that "the probability of me leaving Feast Fest is only about 1%", these comments mortified scouters when they were released Sept. 7. Thus, they rammed down two new contract offers on the heels of one issued Sunday night.
Avi, who will receive $887,463 this year, received a 5-year, $903,455-deal Sunday (all monetary figures are per-year figures, for example, $903,455 every year for five years, not $903,455 over five years).
Feast Fest followed up Tuesday afternoon by dishing out (no pun intended) $909,456, 6-year and, two hours later, $912,973, 5-year deals, the latter deal having options for both 2018 and 2019.
Avi has not yet formally responded to any of the offers,but she said Tuesday that "I don't want people to think that my lack of responses means I'm being greedy and waiting for the scouters to up the offer even more. Rather, I'm carefully taking time to think all this over."
The two sides cannot officially make a deal until the offseason in December, but reaching an agreement now would mean "we'd just have to sign the papers in December and then it'd be done with," so said Head Scouter Jim Dall.
2013 Exhibition Schedule Released
The official schedule for the Feast Fest exhibitions for 2013 has been released, and, as expected, it includes the addition of a second international exhibition, and the first in Europe.
In October 2011, Lynn Avi signed a document saying she would agree to give up the annual exhibition at her restaurant Lala in 2013, in hopes of implementing European expansion. It is possible that the three Feast Fest chefs who currently hold exhibitions at their own restaurants--Avi, Jim McAllister, Joe Pasik, and (beginning in 2013) Daniel Mettling--would rotate relinquishing their own exhibition to conform with the European expansion. All of those four chefs say they agree with this plan.
The schedule is as follows:
*new venue
*Mon., Jan. 21 - The Dining Room, Yosemite, Ca.
Sun., Jan. 27 - Edelyn Cooking Arena, Punta Gorda, Fla.
Fri., Apr. 12 - Notes, Long Beach, Ca.
Tue., Jun. 4 - Myskvåard Cooking Arena, Zurich, Switzerland
Tue., Jul. 2 - Nø, Boston, Mass.
Sat., Aug. 31 - Kitchen Stadium, Tokyo, Japan
Mon., Oct. 28 - Edelyn Cooking Arena, Punta Gorda, Fla.
Sun., Nov. 3 - Windows on the Water, Morro Bay, Ca.
Edelyn Cooking Arena in Punta Gorda, Fla. will keep its position as the only venue hosting two separate exhibitions, but it will no longer open and close the exhibitional season. Instead, Daniel Mettling's "The Dining Room" in Yosemite National Park will open the season, with Edelyn's first exhibition coming six days afterward.
In addition, Windows on the Water and Edelyn's second exhibition's traditional positions -- WotW in Morro Bay hosting the second-to-last exhibition and Edelyn in Florida hosting the last, a system used every consecutive year dating back to 2004 -- will be switcharooed, with Windows closing out the exhibitional season, on Nov. 3, for the first time ever.
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In October 2011, Lynn Avi signed a document saying she would agree to give up the annual exhibition at her restaurant Lala in 2013, in hopes of implementing European expansion. It is possible that the three Feast Fest chefs who currently hold exhibitions at their own restaurants--Avi, Jim McAllister, Joe Pasik, and (beginning in 2013) Daniel Mettling--would rotate relinquishing their own exhibition to conform with the European expansion. All of those four chefs say they agree with this plan.
The schedule is as follows:
*new venue
*Mon., Jan. 21 - The Dining Room, Yosemite, Ca.
Sun., Jan. 27 - Edelyn Cooking Arena, Punta Gorda, Fla.
Fri., Apr. 12 - Notes, Long Beach, Ca.
Tue., Jun. 4 - Myskvåard Cooking Arena, Zurich, Switzerland
Tue., Jul. 2 - Nø, Boston, Mass.
Sat., Aug. 31 - Kitchen Stadium, Tokyo, Japan
Mon., Oct. 28 - Edelyn Cooking Arena, Punta Gorda, Fla.
Sun., Nov. 3 - Windows on the Water, Morro Bay, Ca.
Edelyn Cooking Arena in Punta Gorda, Fla. will keep its position as the only venue hosting two separate exhibitions, but it will no longer open and close the exhibitional season. Instead, Daniel Mettling's "The Dining Room" in Yosemite National Park will open the season, with Edelyn's first exhibition coming six days afterward.
In addition, Windows on the Water and Edelyn's second exhibition's traditional positions -- WotW in Morro Bay hosting the second-to-last exhibition and Edelyn in Florida hosting the last, a system used every consecutive year dating back to 2004 -- will be switcharooed, with Windows closing out the exhibitional season, on Nov. 3, for the first time ever.
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