August 2025 Newsletter

President's Letter

I just returned home from the 2025 National Convention in Las Vegas. It was a week of learning and networking with Chefs from around the country. I was able to be present at the AAC diner where Chef John Kaufmann CEC, AAC, HOF was honored with the new AAC Legend award and presented with the maroon jacket emblazoned with the AAC logo. I was also able to sit down with Chef John and talk to him about the chapter’s past and future; more about that at a later date. The 2026 National Convention with be in Grand Rapids, Michigan June 27- July 3^rd. I have offered my support to the Michigan chapters to help with this event. If you would like to assist, please let me know. This is a great opportunity to go to a National Convention. A quick drive around the lake is an easy way to get there. When I spoke with other Chefs, many of us thought it would be a great opportunity to bring the family and stay for the Fourth of July. If you have never attended, I encourage you to go to this one.

We have an event coming up on Monday, August 18^th at ITW, 155 Harlem Avenue, Glenview, Il 60025 and arrival time is 5:30pm-5:45.

5:45pm-6:15pm we will hold an ACF meeting with the Chicago Chefs and NW Indiana Chapter.

6:15pm-7:45pm will be a MOD suite demo, interactive culinary demo utilizing a HD French top and new Combi.

7:45-8:30 food machines area, any product you would like to use will be available to test the equipment.

On September 4^th-6^th Washburn College will be hosting a Baking and Pastry Forum. We will be sending out more details.

Thursday September 25^th the NW Indiana Chapter will be hosting their 3^rd annual Farm to Table event at Fair Oaks Farms, 856 N 600 E, Fair Oaks, Indiana 47943. The farm has hotel accommodations, and I encourage you to come if you can. There will be 30 Chefs and vendors producing local favorites as well as spirits tastings, live entertainment, and raffles. It will be a great turnout with chapters from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin attending. This is a great networking event also.

On Monday, October 13^th Rational will be hosting an event in collaboration with Joe Jurgielewicz duck, featuring their new dry aging cabinet made by Meatico in Italy. Rational always puts a great event together so we hope to see you there.

We are hosting a certification event in December at Northwestern University, and we plan on hosting two certification events per year moving forward—one spring and one fall certification.

We are planning our Centennial anniversary party for March 2026. We originally were planning on this November but decided we need more time to properly plan this event. My hope is to be able to bring the Club Chefs, Research Chefs, Escoffier societies, Chefs Hall of Fame, and Chefs from around the country. If you are interested in hosting the event, we would love to talk to you.

We have several people and companies reaching out wanting to host events with us. My hope is that next year we can offer multiple events per month so more of you can join us.

We are focused on building our chapter and working with our neighboring chapters to offer as many events and value as possible. Chef Jake Williams CEC, AAC and I are already working hard at setting up 2026. Chef Jake has also been building education and certification committees. Towards the end of the year, we will start working on competition committees. If you would like to be involved, please reach out. Let us know what your needs are, what you would like to see, and what we can do to provide what you need professionally from the ACF.

Thank you for your time and we hope to see you at our upcoming events.

Best regards, 

Chef Corey Grupe

President, ACF Chicago Chefs

Back to top