Schwan’s Chef Collective is continuing its journey of educating and inspiring consumers, chefs and the culinary community through a planned series of new chef-led events in 2017. Since The Schwan Food Company developed the Schwan’s Chef Collective in 2015, it has grown to include 17 internal and external talented chefs from across the country that work to incorporate trends and new flavors into new, great-tasting frozen-food concepts.

“In 2017, we will accelerate the integration of Schwan’s Chef Collective into how we think about the renovation and innovation of the foods we provide to our customers and consumers,” says Dimitrios Smyrnios, CEO of The Schwan Food Company. “We are proud of our work to distinguish Schwan from other frozen-food manufacturers by having restaurant chefs from around the country collaborate with our own chefs, food scientists and marketers, as well as our retail and foodservice customers. Our collection of talented food professionals is translating emerging culinary trends into great-tasting frozen food that runs that gamut from wholesome to indulgent.”

In 2016, Schwan’s Chef Collective’s innovation did not just take place in Schwan test kitchens. The culinary group traveled around the country—from a Minnesota high school lunch room to trendy Huahua’s Taqueria in Miami and Katie’s Pizza and Pasta Osteria in St. Louis—to seek out inspiration for new products, recipes and cooking tips. From there, recipe videos, cooking tips, and product innovation (including two new products in the Schwan Product Innovation & Development pipeline) came to life.

“The collaboration (in Schwan’s Chef Collective) has been awesome, and I love that we are contributing something tangible and real,” says Adrienne Cheatham, a Schwan’s Chef Collective member from New York.

The work of Schwan’s Chef Collective is closely aligned with the ingredient simplicity commitment of Schwan, an initiative to make foods that are free from undesirable ingredients.

“Schwan is a company that I can stand behind because there’s honesty in it, and that’s something just as important as the quality of what you serve,” says Stephanie Cmar, a Schwan’s Chef Collective member out of Boston. “I really love just being a part of it.”

In 2017, Schwan’s Chef Collective will continue to bolster the company’s commitment to innovation and excellence by taking the latest food trends center stage with a variety of activities centered on education and community involvement. 2017 events include: A Freschetta pizza innovation summit; content-generating taste tours in Los Angeles with Chef Jet Tila and in New York; and a kitchen collaborative focused on K-12 food-service pizza with a community service partnership initiative.

In addition to their work inspiring new food concepts for Schwan retail, foodservice and home delivery customers, Schwan’s Chef Collective members are able to gain insights from their experiences both inside and outside of the kitchen that help develop their careers, expand their networks and reach their personal goals.