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USA Rice Launches New Web Initiative for Foodservice at The Culinary Institute of America Forum

MenuRice.com - The Complete Rice Resource for Food & Culinary Professionals

St. Helena, CA, September 12, 2006 – USA Rice Federation today announced a major new web-based initiative in collaboration with The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). USA Rice’s MenuRice.com website for foodservice professionals was launched during the CIA’s Flavor, Quality & American Menus leadership forum, of which USA Rice is a sponsor. “The centerpiece of this innovative online resource is a new CIA Professional Chef Discovery Series on U.S. rice created by the CIA, recognized leaders in education for food professionals,” said Stuart Proctor, President and CEO, USA Rice Federation. 

 “We are excited about collaborating with the USA Rice Federation on this groundbreaking project,” commented Greg Drescher, CIA Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives.  “With the explosion of interest in international cuisines—from Asia to Latin America and the Mediterranean—foodservice professionals are eager to learn more about the versatility of U.S. rice as a partner with a whole range of world flavors.” 

The Professional Chef Discovery Series at the CIA’s ciaprochef.com, one of America’s leading online resources for food professionals, features dynamic modules of demonstrations and other instruction by the CIA’s world-class faculty members and other top industry educators.

Both websites, USA Rice’s MenuRice.com and the CIA’s ciaprochef.com will host “The Professional Chef Discovers Endless Menu Possibilities with U.S. Rice” series, which has information about rice and videos featuring creative menu ideas and rice cooking techniques.

New Resource Fits a Need
 USA Rice created the new web initiative in response to the foodservice industry’s demand for authoritative information, creative recipe ideas and profitable menu solutions that are available 24/7 for busy chefs and culinary professionals.

 “The goal of the new initiative is to demonstrate that for all foodservice segments, U.S. rice offers operators endless menu possibilities that deliver today’s flavors and eating experiences that are authentic, adventurous and global,” Proctor said. “Research shows that 90% of consumers eat rice in restaurants, and 81% say they specifically order rice.”

Website Design and Features
Key to developing the site were insights from research conducted by the USA Rice Federation revealing that more than 80% of foodservice professionals use the Internet several times a week for product and nutrition information, recipes, menu trends/ideas and industry news.  Based on these and other research findings USA Rice, in collaboration with industry leaders such as the CIA, Ideal Media, publishers of Restaurant Business and FoodService Director magazines, and a team of nationally-recognized culinary professionals from Foodservice Solutions, developed the contemporary, user-friendly site. Web site design and content was tested among foodservice professionals.
MenuRice.com’s features include:

  •  Recipes & Culinary Center – easily searchable recipe database and option to view and print recipes in foodservice or standard format
  •  Education – rice information, recipes and video cooking segments created by CIA chefs with rice cooking techniques and culinary applications for the foodservice environment
  •  Chef’s Corner – Q&A interviews with chefs as a peer-to-peer forum to share culinary ideas, recipes and food philosophies
  •  Foodservice Industry Segments – information, trend articles and applicable recipes specific to each foodservice segments’ business needs 
  •  Media Center – easy access for editors and writers to trends, industry news, downloadable recipes and high resolution images
  •  Sourcing Options – informs operators where and how to source the wide assortment of U.S. rice varieties available including long, medium and short grain rice and specialty varieties including aromatic, arborio, sushi, and more

Accessing Information
To encourage visits to MenuRice.com, USA Rice will conduct a communications campaign in the foodservice industry beginning in October with print and online advertisements, e-mail newsletters and event sponsorships.  Visitors to the site are welcome to offer comments on content and ease of use. For a personal walk-through of the website contact Susan Gunther at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . For complete information on rice in foodservice, go to MenuRice.com.

The USA Rice Federation is the national advocate for all segments of the rice industry, conducting programs to increase worldwide demand for U.S. rice. The U.S. produces an abundant quantity of long, medium and short grain rice and specialty rice including U.S. jasmine, basmati, arborio, red aromatic and black japonica.