Great Wolf Lodge Announces Star-Studded Junior Chef Council.
Great Wolf Lodge Introduces Inaugural Junior Chef Council
The Nation’s Top Kid Cooking Show Champions and Culinary Tastemakers To Create Menu for Kids by Kids
Great Wolf Lodge is excited to announce the formation of a Junior Chef Council, a panel comprised of the country’s top kid chefs and culinary tastemakers who will come together to advise on and help develop a new kids’ menu for the company’s 17 indoor waterpark resorts. The Junior Chef Council is the culmination of an extensive search to identify youthful and passionate culinary talent who will bring a unique perspective to Great Wolf Lodge’s ever-evolving and innovative food and beverage program.
Great Wolf Lodge’s Junior Chef Council members include MasterChef Junior Season 2 winner, Logan Guleff (15) and MasterChef Junior Season 5 winner, Jasmine Stewart (13); Jonas Cora Ehrlich (12) and Gavin Cora Ehrlich (10), sons of Iron Chef Cat Cora and wife, Nicole Cora Ehrlich; Madeline Zakarian (11) and Anna Zakarian (9), daughters of Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian; and Conrad Elliot (8) and Jed Elliot (6), sons of Chef Graham Elliot. While Conrad is an official member of the Council, Jed will serve as the Council’s official taster, ensuring his brother and other members are delivering on the culinary goods.
Great Wolf Lodge has placed a tremendous emphasis on expanding and enhancing the culinary offerings found at its family-friendly resorts over the past two years. With the launch of its Colorado Springs resort 18-months ago, the company introduced an elevated farm-to-fork dining experience called Barnwood that has now expanded to three additional resorts; and it recently established a food hall style Tex-Mex restaurant called Timbers Tacos which debuted at new resorts in Georgia and Illinois. The new kids’ menu will initially be featured exclusively at full-service restaurants at Great Wolf Lodges across North America.
“The idea of a Junior Chef Council is something we have been discussing internally for the past year. We’ve really enriched the culinary offerings for parents, and thought it would be fun to create a menu for kids, by kids,” said Great Wolf’s Vice President of food & beverage, John Suley. “And these are no ordinary kids, these are true junior chefs who have been around the culinary arts for years and will help create a kids menu unlike any other in the country.”
The six-person Junior Chef Council brings a diverse culinary background to Great Wolf, and will work together on developing a completely new kids menu. The talent level is equally impressive. Logan and Jasmine each won a rigorous TV cooking competition, while the other members of the Junior Chef Council bring a different degree of culinary experience to the group, being children of some of the world’s most talented chefs.
When asked why they wanted to be part of the inaugural Great Wolf Junior Chef Council, these young chefs and tastemakers all hit on a similar note.
“When I was approached about partnering with Great Wolf Lodge and being a part of the inaugural Junior Chef Council, I was immediately interested. I am tired of seeing bland kids menus that don’t offer any interesting choices, it tends to be the same basic items no matter what restaurant you visit,” said Logan, who recently won the prestigious Best in World Gourmand Award for his cookbook - Logan’s Chef Notes and Half Baked Tales - a graphic novel adventure, making him the youngest person to receive this honor.
“I love to cook and look forward to working with these other talented kids as part of Great Wolf’s Junior Chef Council. A lot of my friends have already gone or are planning to go to the new Great Wolf Lodge here in Georgia, so it will be fun to have my menu items featured there,” said Jasmine, who is inspiring kid home cooks to be better bakers with a new six-episode series, Jasmine’s Delightful Desserts, offered by lifestyle projects website Craftsy and its Cooking With MasterChef video lessons.
“Cooking, for us, is as much about the overall educational experience as it is making great food. We are a family of eight so creating delicious recipes together that we all like teaches us something new each day, and we are really looking forward to learning within this group of young chefs and tastemakers,” said Jonas Cora Ehrlich and Gavin Cora Ehrlich.
“Food is a huge part of our life and we learn a lot cooking with our dad, so being part of something that gives Jed and me time in the kitchen with other kid chefs is really cool and should be a great experience,” said Conrad Elliot.
“On family vacations, it is so helpful when everyone can sit for a meal at the end of an adventure filled day and be happy with the menu. We are so excited to chef it up for Great Wolf and bring kids across the USA yummy healthy plates,” said Anna and Madeline Zakarian.
The Junior Chef Council will get together as a group later this summer at one of Great Wolf’s world-class resorts in order to collaborate on their menu with the resort’s executive culinary team, with plans to roll-out the menu nationwide later this fall.