 
Candy Wallace
APCA Executive Director
was honored as
Entrepreneur/Businessperson
for the
2003 IACP Awards of Excellence
at IACP's Annual Conference Awards Gala
in Montreal on April 12, 2003.
BACKROUND:
The IACP Awards of Excellence are presented annually
to honor members whose outstanding achievements and
unending pursuit of excellence embody the highest
standards of the association.
Any current, active member of the International
Association of Culinary Professionals who is engaged in,
or recently retired from, a full-time career focused on
the culinary industry may be considered for an IACP
Awards of Excellence excluding Lifetime Achievement and
Humanitarian Awards, which are also open to non-members
of the IACP.
Winners are determined by majority vote of the
IACP Membership and were announced Saturday, April 12th
at a Gala Awards Ceremony in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in
conjunction with the 25th Annual Conference of the
IACP.
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Brief Resume of Achievements:
Candy Wallace is executive director of the American
Personal Chef Institute & Association based in San
Diego. Rather than starting a business, Ms. Wallace's
efforts the past 10 years have advanced and legitimized
the role of the personal chef and facilitated the start
of new industry.
From 1992 to 1996, while operating her own personal
chef service, Ms. Wallace recognized the need for
education, support and promotion for the growing ranks
of personal chefs. Today, after establishing a two-day
comprehensive training program, more than 3,000 personal
chef businesses have been successfully opened using
materials created by Ms. Wallace. Today, three trained
regional directors conduct seminars across the country.
The training program is now available for sale in
videos, audiotapes, and a college-edition textbook.
To combat the isolation unique to this career path,
Ms. Wallace created a Web site to foster communication
within a fragmented industry. The site doubles as a way
for chefs to network and to develop community chapters
while also serving as personal chef registry so clients
looking for chefs anywhere in the country can review
their information and contact them.
Ms. Wallace's perseverance on behalf of personal
chefs has now validated this career. In 2002, after
years of prodding, the American Culinary Federation
partnered with Wallace’s company and announced its first
new certifications in their 73-year history: Personal
Certified Chef, and Personal Certified Executive Chef
Candy's Acceptance Speech:
"This is WONDERFUL!!!!! Thank you. Thank you!
It wouldn't be honest if I said 'I can't begin to thank you for this award', because I'm here right now to tell you EXACTLY how happy I am to accept this award.
I'm accepting the award on behalf of approximately 6,000 personal chefs across the continent who have been out there on the front lines with me building a new culinary career.
It's been my priviledge and my PLEASURE to have trained and supported over 3,000 of those working personal chefs through the American Personal Chef Institute and represented them through the American Personal Chef Association over the course of the last 8 years.
We started out as a Fad. We worked really hard and became a Trend, and now, we're percieved as the 'hot, new, personal service with staying power'! It had long been my goal to establish personal chef as a Legitimate career path in the culinary industry, and a viable alternative career for culinarians looking to leave institutional cooking situations. I actually achieved that goal last July when I signed a partnership between the American Personal Chef Association and the American Culinary Federation at their National Conference in Las Vegas.
Not only did this formally validate the personal chef career, we adopted and rolled out specific personal chef certification that had been jointly developed by ACF and APCA. (and that only took me 6 years...)
It is my pleasure tonight to announce that we are currently working with your IACP Certification committee to develop a personal chef specific addendum to your CCP (Certified Culinary Professional) Certification. I am so thrilled about this, since it will give all personal chefs the opportunity to choose which professional certification path they choose to pursue, and I'm big on options!
It is now my goal to continue to teach, support and represent successful personal chefs through our organization and through the industry in general so this personal chef industry can grow and thrive and some day be as successful, vibrant and EFFECTIVE as IACP.
And finally, for those of you who have survived a conversation with me regarding personal chefs, I want not only to applaud you for your stamina, but to thank you for your graciousness and patience in the face of my overwhelming enthusiasm for this project.
My heart is so very full tonight.
Thank you."
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