Candy Wallace Biography

Candy Wallace has devoted nearly 40 years to the foodservice industry, during which she has served as a commercial chef, caterer, personal chef, private chef, teacher, mentor and, for the past 17 years, founder and executive director of the American Personal & Private Chef Association and its educational arm, the American Personal & Private Chef Institute.

Wallace combined her years of experience at the stove with her experience in the corporate world to create an educational channel that allows culinarians to pursue a career as business owners who cook for multiple clients in non-traditional venues.

Her contributions to both the personal- and private-chef sectors of the foodservice industry have elevated the awareness and stature of each segment. As a result, Wallace “ more than any other icon in foodservice “ has helped to establish the validity and esteem of each career path.

In 2002, Wallace propelled the personal-chef segment of industry light years by signing a partnership agreement with the American Culinary Federation, Inc. (ACF) to award professional certification to eligible personal chefs, criteria for which Wallace helped develop. APPCA remains the only organization to offer independent, third-party certification of personal chefs. In 2003, Wallace received the International Association of Culinary Professionals™ (IACP) Award of Excellence as Entrepreneur of the Year for her tireless efforts in building the personal-chef career path and promoting personal chefs.

Since then, Wallace has received honors from prestigious professional culinary-training programs across the nation, most recently from Sullivan University™s National Center for Hospitality Studies in Louisville, Ky., and The Secchia Institute for Culinary Education at Grand Rapids (Mich.) Community College, for her unequaled dedication to shaping and promoting the personal-chef career path and assisting postsecondary institutions with implementing certificate and degree-granting personal-chef training.

For her career-long support of and contributions to formal culinary training in the United States, in 2010 Wallace received a Medallion of Excellence from the Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI). The Cordon d™Or “ Gold Ribbon International Culinary Academy Awards named Wallace Entrepreneur of the Year for 2009-10 for pioneering the personal-chef career path and helping more than 10,000 professional personal chefs achieve their dreams of establishing their own successful businesses cooking for others.

Wallace is co-author (with Greg Forte, CEC, CCE, AAC) of The Professional Personal Chef: The Business of Doing Business as a Personal Chef (Wiley, 2008). This ground-breaking textbook for the academic market is the first definitive, comprehensive manual on launching a personal-chef career and operating a successful personal-chef business.

Wallace is a longtime supporter and member of Les Dames d™Escoffier, Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, IACP, ACF and other notable organizations. She has served or currently serves as a board member of the San Diego chapter of Les Dames d™Escoffier.

Candy has been a presenter at the National Meetings of the American Culinary Federation, The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), Women Chefs & Restaurateurs and the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and is a member of Les Dames d™Escoffier International

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