Forum for Food Pros, but not Chefs?

[foodnfoto]

While I understand that this forum is called "ChefTalk", there are many of us who are food professionals (some former chefs) who make their livings without providing food "service". There seems to be no place to converse with others who share our perspective. Would it be possible to start one here at ChefTalk?
I'm talking about food retailers, R&D professionals and researchers, food writers, recipe developers, editors, stylists, photographers, media producers, food and bev PR and such. I've searched all over the net and can find no forums of any quality. Egullet is pretty good, but it's too much of a mish-mash of foodies, pro and otherwise, to wade through.
I really like the specificity and friendly nature of this site and keep coming back year after year although I don't post as often as I used to.
What do others think? Are we all too quirky and unafiliated to relate to?

[cakerookie]

I may get reprimanded for this but why not start your own. Plenty of free forums out there and they are not hard to set up. I have tried to start my own a few times but its hard to get folks to join. You have given me an idea though. Cheftalk would be a great place for that.You just have to hope Nicko sees this post and responds to it. The other hard thing about it is promotion. No place to promote your forum.Spam is not a good idea either. Good Luck. But if anyone is interested we could crank out a forum like that.

[Chef Kaiser]

Originally Posted by cakerookie

I may get reprimanded for this but why not start your own. Plenty of free forums out there and they are not hard to set up. I have tried to start my own a few times but its hard to get folks to join. You have given me an idea though. Cheftalk would be a great place for that.You just have to hope Nicko sees this post and responds to it. The other hard thing about it is promotion. No place to promote your forum.Spam is not a good idea either. Good Luck. But if anyone is interested we could crank out a forum like that.

hi,

i think it would be a nice idea, to also talk with suppliers here on this site, for them to truley understand chefs too. We just had a photo shoot and made a pasta, and at the very end we added some Arugula. When the photographer got it he felt to move things arround and by the time he took the photograph, we took away the pasta and made it fresh again. Well just a situation were the chef and photographer have to understand each other.

regards

[shroomgirl]

Event planners too.....there's a whole lot of crossover. And I agree that there are several of us that don't do the same gig day in and out. With stage work being so popular around the country I think it'd be a wonderful addition to cheftalk.

[chrose]

Originally Posted by Chef Kaiser

hi,

i think it would be a nice idea, to also talk with suppliers here on this site, for them to truley understand chefs too.

Actually that sounds like a great idea! Unfortunately they are not of the same mind set as we are. Still it would be really nice if the people that sell the items, had a better idea of what the needs are and not just thoughts of their bottom line!

[panini]

I say we only let them post on Monday afternoons after lunch and only with an appointment

[cakerookie]

Pan you are still a riot. Monday afternoons sounds good...........

[shroomgirl]

the dark side of sales.....they'd definately need their own place to post or else it'd be sales pitches all day long. It'd be fun to have some of the farmers around here read what's going on in the cooking world....guess my posts would need to be edited dramatically....

The other appendages of the cooking world...photographers, stylists, writers, etc have alot to offer kitchen cooks. Several of the professional groups I belong to have a mix of members and it's always fun coordinating events with people that have different expertises. It was also good to get feedback from Suzanne when my patience was stretched thin by proformance chefs not getting in their supplylists or recipes in a timely manner. She gave me gold with her clear cut instructions.