The United States Potato Board’s (USPB) Vietnam Representatives partnered with the Washington Apple Commission and the US Meat Export Federation at the 2012 Saigon Professional Chef Guild (SPG) Annual Meeting. This was SPG’s sixth annual meeting and was held at the Equatorial Saigon Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, March 13, 2012.
This event was attended by 294 chefs representing the entire Vietnam Hotel, Restaurant and Institution (HRI) industry, including local family dining restaurants.
“Nearly 95 percent of the invited chefs were in attendance, and this was a nice surprise,” said Phuong Dang, USPB’s Vietnam Representative. “There were more chefs in attendance than we expected, and they were very interested in US potato products. This was a good chance for the USPB to interact with the regional HRI industry and chefs and tell them about US potatoes and potato products.”
Vietnam Chefs sampling US based potato products
US dehydrated, table-stock and frozen potato products were showcased at the USPB’s booth and floor display. The SPG chefs enjoyed many innovative recipes and cuisines made with US potatoes.
Most of the chefs showed great interest in US table-stock potatoes, saying they looked very attractive, had unique colors and shapes, and they thought they tasted good. In fact, the Equatorial Hotel’s Chef Vincent Tan prepared three recipes for the event to serve on the buffet line. These recipes were Japanese Style Pancake with US Potato, Missouri Classic US Potato Salad and US Stuffed Baked Potatoes, which were far-and-away the most favorite dish served.
Take-home kits with USPB printed materials, brochures, stickers and leaflets were sent to each meeting participant. The 2012 SPG Annual Meeting was a good chance to establish key business contacts in the Vietnam food and beverage industry