By Janice Randall Rohlf
Michael Pillarella has served as executive chef at the Wianno Club in Osterville since 2012. He credits this prestigious position in part to receiving his American Culinary Federation (ACF) executive chef certification. “It’s just been an incredible journey, developing these friendships, helping educate people and raising their levels of professionalism,” he says. Today, as president and co-founder of the ACF Cape and Islands Chefs Association, he is busy not only keeping the organization viable, but also reacting to the challenges COVID-19 has placed on the industry and on the community as a whole.
When did you first get involved with the American Culinary Federation (ACF)?
I got involved with ACF in college, at Johnson & Wales, in 1996. I started competing on the junior level with the ACF Rhode Island chapter. From there, my opportunities expanded thanks to the exposure I had to industry chefs, professional judges and also to the ACF itself, which put me on a path to ACF certification.
Why did you choose to reinvigorate the ACF Cape and Islands Chefs Association?
When I moved to Cape Cod in 2011, there were only two options for joining professional culinary organizations in Massachusetts: The Epicurean Club of Boston or the Rhode Island chapter of ACF. Both were about an hour and a half away. I figured if it didn’t work for me, it probably didn’t work for a lot of other people on Cape Cod and the Islands. Mickey Beriau, former chef at White Cliffs Resort in Plymouth, and I decided to breathe new life into the local ACF chapter, which went defunct sometime around 2004. We solicited the opinion of other chefs in the region and extended ourselves into the South Shore because chefs there felt they needed representation closer to home than Boston. We started the local chapter in 2017.
What does the ACF offer its members?
ACF has been around since 1929 and has a strong background in professionalism and education. It has helped out a lot of chefs, including myself, by guiding their career path and allowing them to aspire to different levels of certification and different levels of professionalism. It’s also a huge networking tool, and one of the best things it offers is camaraderie. Because the Cape is such a small community, we chefs have always heard about each other but rarely have the opportunity to come together. With ACF, we finally get to meet, develop friendships and become network partners.
What is ACF’s relationship with CCCI?
CCCI, Jeni Wheeler (executive chef and program director of Faith Family Kitchen) and I all have a core mission–taking care of people–and we each do it in a different way. We’ve all chosen to use our talents and our skills to look after folks in the culinary industry in a way that’s relevant. CCCI has a strong desire to help people acquire skills, as do we. We’ve given away close to $7,500 in scholarships over the last couple of years strictly for culinary programs and to get people ACF certified. CCCI offers training and cross-utilizes the talent there by helping participants get into Jeni Wheeler’s programs. We’re all intertwined by a desire to move the region’s food service industry in a positive direction.
How has ACF reacted to the pandemic crisis?
COVID-19 made us foresee a huge need for people in the local restaurant industry to have some food stability. As a chapter, ACF had been donating heavily to both Cape Kids Meals and the Faith Family Kitchen. Harry Henry of CCCI, Jeni Wheeler and I got together to form Cape Cod Table Collaborative four months ago. Our main goal was twofold: put unemployed cooks back to work and provide meals for those in need. Through a grant, we got a stipend to pay the cooks and they in turn have been cooking for the community. We started with little more than an idea, and today we have served more than 15,000 meals.
How did you pull it all together in such a short time?
In the beginning, the Cape Codder Resort was instrumental in helping us, as they provided all the meals and the staffing. That was huge. Jeni Wheeler coordinated the food deliveries, and I and others coordinated the trucks and delivery of the meals. It turned into a group effort, and the best part was that none of us knew what we were getting into. That made it a lot easier.
What are the goals the ACF Cape and Islands Chefs Association, short-term and long-term?
Right now, of course, our #1 goal is that everyone stays safe. #2, we ask that everyone be understanding of each other’s needs. As the ACF, we are trying to be there for logistical and network support—Can we get employees to you? Does anybody need a job? We are trying to keep people employed. This is a different world and no one has the right answer for everything. Let us know how we can help. If you need a resource, give us a call (508-681-4905) or email chefmichael@wiannoclub.com
Longterm, we hope to increase the size of our ACF chapter so it’s a stable entity. Once this is achieved, we hope to get one or two people per year certified through ACF, and our larger goal is to be able to host a certification site here. The closest one is in Rhode Island. We want to be able to be a resource to get people certified and have that happen here on Cape Cod.