How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
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Uncle Tobia, who cooked for a pope,<br />
taught Richard Guss<strong>on</strong>i that people eat<br />
with their eyes as well as with their mouths,<br />
The family <str<strong>on</strong>g>business</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
By R Lee Sullivan<br />
Cu ~slre Internati<strong>on</strong>a' founder R&ard Guss<strong>on</strong>i at tis restaurant Nicola's<br />
Bringing culinary art to instituti<strong>on</strong>al dining .<br />
? IN TxE THia1'tas Richard Guss<strong>on</strong>i's<br />
~ Uncle Tobia worked at the Vatican as<br />
a chef for Pope Pius XI, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> shorth•<br />
before the war moved to Nenr York .<br />
where he cooked for aNIafia familv<br />
headed by syndicate boss Mllie Moretti<br />
. Sometimes Uncle Tobia visited<br />
his niece (Richard Guss<strong>on</strong>i's mother)<br />
in Tenanv, N .J ., where he made<br />
young Richard his sous chef. "Uncle<br />
Tobia never let anv<strong>on</strong>e else in che<br />
kitchen when he was cooking except<br />
me," Guss<strong>on</strong>i recalls . "He preached<br />
to me about cooking <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the mystfque<br />
of <strong>food</strong> ."<br />
Guss<strong>on</strong>i, now 40, has turned diese<br />
serm<strong>on</strong>s into a thriving catering <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
restaurant management <str<strong>on</strong>g>business</str<strong>on</strong>g> : His<br />
Dallas-based Culinaire Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
operates the Texas state capitol building's<br />
cafeteria, three corporate cafeterias<br />
for the Texas branches of companies<br />
like Apple Computer as well as<br />
dining rooms at two local Embassy<br />
Suites hotels . He also caters about<br />
300 c<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong>s a vear .<br />
What did Uncle Tobia teach him?<br />
That people taste with their eves as<br />
uell as nith their t<strong>on</strong>gues . "Presentati<strong>on</strong><br />
is merch<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>ising, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> merch<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>ising<br />
is criticai," is the wa .v Guss<strong>on</strong>i<br />
puts it. His stafl-s'cn•es stirordfish, for<br />
instance, tiered <strong>on</strong> a bed of threecolor<br />
pasta, with asparagus laid oaer<br />
the 5sh toward the fr<strong>on</strong>t ofthe plate in<br />
a cascading effect, adding depth <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
c<strong>on</strong>trast .<br />
Applying these principles, Cullnaire<br />
feeds 42,000 salespeople who<br />
attend !N-tan• Kav Cosmetics' annual<br />
comenti<strong>on</strong>-that's 160,000 meals<br />
o.-er a 12-dav period . That c<strong>on</strong>rract is<br />
worth $1 .5 milli<strong>on</strong> . Culinaire Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
is privately owned by Guss<strong>on</strong>i,<br />
who expects the company to<br />
earn $1-I milli<strong>on</strong> this rear <strong>on</strong> revenues<br />
of $22 milli<strong>on</strong> .<br />
At the snack bar he runs at Dallas'<br />
140 Forbes 2 Augusr 14, 1995<br />
2046673398<br />
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/agf97d00/pdf