Industry Leaders

Maneet Chauhan: Why BBQ Is Booming—and How to Do It Right

Maneet Chauhan knows how to win a barbecue battle. The acclaimed chef and restaurateur coached her team of pitmasters to victory on last season’s BBQ Brawl on Food Network. Now she’s back as a coach on the current season, ready to defend her winning legacy.

In an exclusive interview with CFE News, Chauhan opens up about her love of live-fire cooking, the influence of Indian culinary tradition on her BBQ philosophy, and the advice she’d give to operators looking to tap into the soaring popularity of all things barbecue.

Marcus Samuelsson’s Message to the Cruise F&B Industry: Stay Curious

At F&B@Sea, celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson emphasized a point that every chef, caterer and hospitality professional understands: food is never just food. It is memory, identity, discipline, discovery and connection.
Samuelsson spoke on the main stage in April at the annual Miami conference, which brings together the global cruise F&B community.

How to Retain Culinary Talent: 3 Lessons from The Breakers Palm Beach

To better understand how The Breakers creates an employee-centric culture for its culinary staff, CFE News recently sat down with Jeff Simms, The Breakers’ executive chef of banquet culinary. Simms oversees more than 100 banquet and pastry culinarians while helping to deliver cuisine for up to 25,000 guests each month.

New York Restaurant Show Catering Panel Discussion Recap

At the 2026 New York Restaurant Show, CFE News Editor-in-Chief Sara Perez Webber moderated a candid catering panel featuring four of most respected names in New York catering: Robin Selden and Jeffrey Selden, managing partners of Marcia Selden Catering and Naked Fig Catering; Carla Ruben, founder and CEO of Creative Edge Parties; and Danielle Shapiro, regional director of sales for Elior North America.

Catering Trends: Small Plates Make a Big Impact

The once-ubiquitous heaping buffet platter is losing its place at the table. At corporate gatherings and weddings alike, caterers are seeing a decisive shift toward smaller, more curated food experiences that prioritize presentation and guest engagement over portion size.

That was among the key takeaways from the inaugural meeting of the CFE News Editorial Advisory Board, held this month. The board brings together leading U.S. caterers to discuss the trends and challenges shaping the industry.

MIBE Summit: Helping Hospitality Leaders Reach New Heights in 2026

With the Rocky Mountains as its backdrop, the upcoming MIBE Summit—taking place Jan. 25-27 in Denver—is embracing a theme that feels especially fitting.

“It’s called ‘Unleash Potential,’ and it’s the idea that we’re all summiting our own mountain,” says Anthony Lambatos, the founder of MIBE (Make It Better Every Day), a culture-building and training organization for business leaders. “We all have our own challenges. How are we going to get to the top?”

Caterer Close-Up: Mary Rohan of Miami’s Bill Hansen Catering

Black-and-white photos of the beach line the walls of Mary Rohan’s office at Bill Hansen Catering in Miami. They’re a calm counterpoint to the constant motion outside the door—and a clue to the flavor point-of-view she brings to one of the city’s busiest catering operations: Caribbean-inspired cooking with a global lens.

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