Editors' Blog

Paul King is the editor at FoodService Director magazine. A journalist for more than three decades, Paul began his career as a general assignment reporter, working for several daily and weekly newspapers in southwestern Pennsylvania. A fortuitous move to New York City in 1984 sent his career path in another direction when he was hired to be an associate editor at Food Management magazine. He has covered the foodservice industry ever since. After 11 years at Food Management, he joined Nation's Restaurant News in 1995. In June 2006 he was hired as senior editor at FoodService Director and became its editor-in-chief in March 2007. A native of Pittsburgh he is a graduate of Duquesne University with a bachelor's degree in journalism and speech.

The “New” Foodservicedirector.com

By: Paul King

01-31-2012

More online-content and breaking news featured on new site.

After months of hard work by our team, the new foodservicedirector.com was launched today. This is a site that is very much in tune with the needs of our readers: plenty of valuable content in an easy-to-navigate format that also engages visitors and invites them to interact more with FoodService Director in all its platforms, including the magazine, Facebook and Twitter.

You no doubt also will notice that FSD Update has a different look and...

Throw in the Towel?

By: Paul King

01-27-2012

Articles questioning if the USDA should just give up do not sit well with Paul King.

Well, the new school meal guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture were released Wednesday, and the early commentary is pretty predictable. The School Nutrition Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly ADA) are strongly supportive of the new measures. Fruit and vegetable growers and suppliers are happy; meat producers, not so much.

As of this writing, I’ve only found one newspaper columnist who has written about the announcement. Michael A. Walsh, with the tabloid New York Post, weighed in Thursday and—not surprising to anyone familiar...

Student Becomes the Teacher

By: Paul King

01-24-2012

Eat’n Park's Jamie Moore leads presenters at Farming for the Future conference.

Next week, when more than 2,000 farmers, food processors, students, environmentalists business people and chefs gather at Penn State University for the 21st annual Farming for the Future conference, one of the presenters will be one of our industry’s most ardent supporters of sustainability.

Jamie Moore, the director of sustainability for the Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, based in Pittsburgh, will lead a team of chefs who will present on various topics associated with sustainability and the foodservice industry. Contract management firms Parkhurst Dining Services and...

“Selling” Out

By: Paul King

01-18-2012

Proposed bill would allow corporations to buy cafeteria naming rights.

I read an interesting article over the weekend, about a Florida state representative who wants to allow corporations to pay for the right to have their names attached to elementary and secondary school cafeterias. Rep. Irv Slosberg, a Democrat from Boca Raton, has introduced the “Public School Food Service Enhancement Act” into the state legislature.

The bill would give school districts the ability to sell naming rights to cafeterias, similar to what sports franchises do with their stadiums and arenas. In an article in the ...

Letter of Hope

By: Paul King

01-03-2012

Inmate asks for help becoming a registered dietitian.

Over the years, I have received several letters from inmates incarcerated in state or federal facilities. These letters usually come from prisoners seeking pen pals, or from people who want to complain about the quality of the food at the prison.

So when I arrived in my office Monday, after an 11-day break, to find a letter from the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, N.Y., I knew exactly what I’d find when I opened the envelope.

And I was wrong.

What I actually found was a heartwarming missive that came from an inmate who wants to...