Restaurant & Food Media VIPs Speak at ICE NY: Inside The Chef Assembly 2026
Industry VIPs show up at ICE campuses regularly — among them are esteemed chefs, bakers, restaurant owners, food writers and culinary entrepreneurs. Last Monday, the school’s NYC campus hosted the Chef Assembly, an annual meeting of hospitality’s most influential players, and its panel discussions and networking opportunities did not disappoint.
Founded in 2013, the inaugural Chef Assembly was called the Philly Chef Conference — and it was, as the name implies, held in Philadelphia. Subsequent conferences were hosted in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as well as two in NYC. (ICE also hosted last year’s event.)
Though branding and host cities have changed since its inception 13 years ago, The Chef Assembly's aim has remained constant: cultivate dialogue around industry trends and happenings, and foster long-lasting relationships that yield impactful change.
In a segment on TV news channel NY1 highlighting last year’s event, Chef Assembly Founder and Executive Director Mike Traud shared his thoughts on its significance.
“One of the main reasons I created [The Chef Assembly] was to bridge the gap between the industry and education — to really unite students with industry leaders … to elevate, educate and celebrate what’s going on in the restaurant industry.”
The connections Traud references are one of several “soft” perks of attending ICE. With campuses in two major culinary capitals, the beating heart of the industry is often — and quite literally — just down the hall from our kitchen classrooms.
ICE Alumni Lead Panels… and Share Wise Words
This year’s panelists featured food journalists, cookbook authors and restaurateurs, among others. Two of its biggest headliners were ICE alumni and James Beard Award winners Mashama Bailey and Missy Robbins.
Chef Mashama Bailey, chef and co-owner of Savannah’s The Grey and L’Arrêt in Paris, is a James Beard Award-winning Culinary Arts graduate and one of ICE’s 50 Distinguished Alumni. Currently serving as the Chairwoman of the Edna Lewis Foundation board, she is a leading voice in preserving and advancing African American culinary traditions. Chef Bailey spoke at our 2024 NYC commencement ceremony and was recently named to the 2026 TIME100 list.
For Bailey, attending culinary school was as much about building a network as cooking. The latter, she says, “isn’t a solo thing.”
“I think that's the benefit of going to culinary school. You're with a group, you're with your class, and those people — you're gonna know those people for your entire career, and that’s really important.”
Chef Missy Robbins is a Culinary Arts graduate, one of ICE’s 50 Distinguished Alumni and the chef and co-owner of Brooklyn restaurants Lilia and Misi (among others under her Grovehouse Hospitality umbrella). After cooking in Italy and leading acclaimed kitchens in Chicago and New York, Robbins launched Grovehouse Hospitality Group with Sean Feeny in 2014.
Since then, she's earned multiple James Beard Award nominations and won Best Chef: New York City in 2018. In addition to restaurant ownership, she has authored two cookbooks, one of which (PASTA) received a James Beard Award nomination in 2022.
Together, these chefs offered candid insights on topics ranging from leadership and mentorship, to restaurant culture and the realities of building successful hospitality businesses.
Hire Experts Who Know What You Don’t
At a panel on how to run and operate a restaurant group, Robbins and fellow guest speakers Simon Kim and Gabe Stulman discussed what it takes to grow restaurants into sustainable hospitality groups (and why scaling successfully isn’t just about culinary talent).
The conversation addressed infrastructure, hiring, burnout, culture and more.
Kim, the founder of Gracious Hospitality Management, focused on building systems to support long-term growth, warning that without proper infrastructure, “passion bursts out.” He also emphasized the importance of hiring experienced leaders in areas outside your own expertise.
“I started by looking for people who do the things I don’t do well,” he explained.
Stulman, the CEO and Founder of Happy Cooking Hospitality agreed, noting that the worst thing you can do to talented hires is “put them in a cage.”
Bigger Isn’t Always Better
Robbins explained her preference for smaller scale operations over “restaurants everywhere,” noting that she’d spent significant time thinking about both the kind of restaurant culture she wanted to create and the personal — versus professional — life that defines her success.
“I know exactly how I want to spend my time,” she said. “I’ve worked hard to build the life and business that I want.”
Throughout the discussion, the panelists emphasized that hospitality businesses succeed through people, mentorship and culture as much as food itself.
Humor and Hard Truths… Served Hot
In a late-in-the-day panel titled, “Hot Topics,” The Sporkful’s Dan Pashman pressed panelists Mashama Bailey, Buddha Lo, Luke Fortney and Bettina Makalintal on today’s burning industry questions. Among these were:
- How do you feel about fusion? Fortney: “Fusion has become the f word of foods.”
- Thoughts on the $77 rotisserie chicken kerfuffle? Bailey: “We have to afford staff a cost of living.”
- Are your guests drinking as little as restaurant trends suggest? Bailey: “Everyone’s sober. The staff is drinking less, the guests are drinking less.”
- What’s one thing that would help restaurants survive? Makalintal: “Open places that are more approachable and affordable… so people can dine there more often.”
- Advice for aspiring restaurateurs? Lo: “It’s really hard work, but if you love it, you’ll make it work.”
The panelists addressed several distinct topics during the discussion. First, Fortney joked about the 90-minute turn time at restaurants: “It’s like, ‘When you’re here, you’re family,’ but family has got to go after an hour and a half.”
Next, Lo raised the issue of gender equity in restaurant communications, noting, “I insist nobody use the phrase ‘You guys’ in my restaurants.”
Finally, Pashman spoke on the American perception of entrepreneurship in the hospitality sector, adding, “I don’t think a lot of diners have an appreciation for how hard it is to run a restaurant.”
Closing Comments on Chef Assembly 2026
The Chef Assembly provides a window to all things restaurant and hospitality, and it serves as a reminder that opportunities for connection abound. Throughout the event, attendees and ICE students engaged with experts and gleaned insights on everything from contemporary culinary arts to restaurant management.
🍴Learn more about visiting VIPs and past ICE exclusive events — and get information on our career programs (we also have online programs); continuing education courses; and recreational classes.
