How Chef Lance Franklin Of Cura Hospitality Is Helping To Promote Healthy Eating

An Interview With Martita Mestey

Patience is one of my strongest cooking skills and learned this throughout my career. Rushing food rarely turns out well. I find taking the time to do some of the old-school practices, like cooking rice over the stove, has really helped to elevate my cooking.

In this interview series, called “Chefs and Restaurateurs Helping To Promote Healthy Eating” we are talking to chefs and restaurateurs who are helping to promote and raise awareness about healthy eating. The purpose of the series is to amplify their message and share insights about healthy eating with our readers. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Chef Lance Franklin, Corporate Executive Chef at Cura Hospitality.

As a native New Orleanian, Chef Lance grew up reveling in the rich culture of the city’s culinary exploits attending culinary school locally to start his culinary career. As an apprentice at the New Orleans Hilton Riverside, Lance learned a lot about the industry and the people that make it work. After working for Lowes Hotel and The Ritz Carlton, he worked for a non-profit organization where he helped to usher in healthy food programs for surrounding area schools. In the spring of 2010, he opened his first restaurant, The Crimson House, where he became one of the youngest Executive Chefs in New Orleans. In 2013 after being a Sous Chef for Boyd Gaming, Lance joined Aramark becoming a culinary leader in a brand-new health system. He helped to open two brand new healthcare accounts including the University Medical Center, which is the largest hospital in the region for trauma. Lance also transitioned three new hospitals and supported multiple accounts helping to solidify their brand and operations. Separately, Lance is also an advocate for healthy teachings, eating and cooking, coaching aspiring chefs, catering events, and the occasional visits to area schools.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know’ you a bit. Can you share with our readers a story about what inspired you to become a restauranteur or chef?

I grew up in New Orleans, LA, where food thrives and is a huge staple within the community. Being surrounded by that lifestyle and culture really shaped my love for food. My dad was also a huge factor — he worked in the food business as a Banquet Captain at the Hilton. He taught me everything I know, from my first recipe to food fundamentals and how the business works.

Do you have a specific type of food that you focus on? What was it that first drew you to cooking that type of food? Can you share a story about that with us?

Recently, my focus has been really health-based. I am lactose intolerant but as a lover of food, I never truly paid much attention to how I should be eating or ways around using dairy products. By needing to start my own health journey, I found I could help others like me. Food plays such an integral part in keeping our body fueled and I learned more about how different foods affect our bodies. I started taking my extensive knowledge of food and applying it to my cooking; I played with recipes and learned how to make delicious fan favorites healthier.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that has happened to you since you started? What was the lesson or takeaway you took out of that story?

Going way back to my days as a kid and before blu-rays, VHS was the hottest thing. My twin brother and I were visiting my dad, and we stumbled across an unlabeled videotape. We decided to take a chance and watch it. We would have never guessed what would have been on that tape — my dad with a huge drum of food that was on fire, in front of a large, cheering crowd! I was completely amazed! When I asked him about it, I found out he was making banana foster, and knowing that you could do something so incredible with food, I wanted to learn how to make the dish myself. That dish alone has shaped and molded my career.

None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?

As I have mentioned, my dad has always had a huge impact on me in every aspect of my life. He, and my brother, were always cheering me on and fostering an environment that allowed me to cook and fall in love with being in the kitchen.

I am blessed enough that I have met people (or motivators) in every aspect of my cooking career who have wanted to see me succeed. Whether they have helped hone my cooking skills, provided impactful life advice, or helped me to present myself as a professional, I am lucky to have been surrounded by so many terrific people.

In your experience, what is the key to creating a dish that customers are crazy about?

As I have grown in my career, I have come to trust my skills and knowledge and understand what strengths and weaknesses are. I think taking a dish and giving it a fresh and contemporary approach is a great way to connect with customers. Customers will keep coming back for what they love, and it’s key to give them what they want but to also stay true to your own creativity and process and present those favorite dishes in a slightly unique way.

Personally, what is the ‘perfect meal’ for you?

I have to say redfish — I love fish and it’s my favorite! Definitely would have to pair that with a fresh salad, a glass of wine, and then fresh-baked bread.

Where does your inspiration for creating come from? Is there something that you turn to for a daily creativity boost?

My go-to source for inspiration for new recipes would be the grocery stores or local farmer’s markets. I find myself wandering farmer’s markets when I am in need of new ingredients or am stumped on what to make. The latest find I stumbled upon is black garlic! Before seeing it at a farmer’s market, I had no idea that there was such a thing and it’s a terrific flavor with unique properties that have elevated my dishes.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? What impact do you think this will have?

Elior North America has been working on a Waste Nothing Initiative and my team at Cura Hospitality (along with the entire company) has been really into coming up with new and exciting ways to eliminate waste within the kitchen. I’ve challenged myself to re-use and reinvent food scraps I normally throw away — for example, using carrot straps and banana peels as bacon substitutes, turning browning lettuce into kimchi, making hot sauce out of varying vegetable scraps, etc. I am so proud to be a part of a company that is taking this kind of initiative to be solving a growing problem within our world.

Ok super. Let’s now jump to the main part of our interview. You are currently leading an initiative to help promote healthy eating. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?

Something that has been near and dear to me is elevating healthy eating and helping others learn more about how food affects their body. Elior’s BeWell platform is a great tool that is utilized within all of our dining centers that provides healthy meal options for our patrons. It’s a comprehensive tool that helps gives insights into the meals that we serve and also gives our customers their favorite comfort foods with a healthy twist.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

It goes back to how I was not treating my own body right when it came to my own limitations. I am lactose intolerant but really didn’t pay attention to what I was eating and I needed to change. It’s easy to get passionate about healthy eating when the company you work with encompasses healthy eating and instilling those habits in every sector.

Without saying specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was helped by your cause?

As a whole, Elior has been an amazing community to be a part of. They have really taken care to build a staff of like-minded individuals who believe in their mission and goals. Everyone I have met at Elior is open to ideas and collaborating on how to better serve our customers.

Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?

I think we have made a great start as a society with the way we are beginning to rethink health, but there is so much more to be done and it starts with our kids. We are still teaching the food pyramid in school when that has been outdated for many years. We need to put more effort and eliminating the misinformation and put out the right information so that the public as a whole can better educate themselves.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started as a Chef or Restaurateur” and why? Please share a story or an example for each.

There are so many to choose from but let me narrow it down to the top five.

1. You’ll never be able to grow in this business and become as great as you intend to be until your personal life is in order.

• This went over my head at first but once I thought about it more and focused on better understanding my personal life and what I needed to do to be my best, I started to see positive growth in my career.

2. Practice makes perfect.

• I had to practice with multiple kitchen scales at home when I first started out. I was the only left-handed person and kept running into the problem of bumping into my peers and making a mess so I needed to re-learn and practice at home so that I could do better at work. Ratatouille, the Pixar movie, is actually one of my favorite movies because it’s so accurate. I had to learn how to keep my elbows in and my peripheral up while cooking so that I was aware of everything around me.

3. Patience is key!

• Patience is one of my strongest cooking skills and learned this throughout my career. Rushing food rarely turns out well. I find taking the time to do some of the old-school practices, like cooking rice over the stove, has really helped to elevate my cooking.

4. Build professional relationships.

• With about any industry you are in, you end up spending a large amount of time with your co-workers and getting comfortable with them. That is great, but I believe it’s important to remain professional and to keep work and personal separate. If there is a personal issue and a falling out, it will affect your work and within the food industry, that level of animosity will translate over to the food; causing poor quality for your guests.

5. If you love what you do, you can do it through all seasons of life.

• My father always preached this and I have always lived by that. Whatever life throws at you, you will always have your work and your passion to look forward to.

What’s the one dish people have to try if they visit your establishment?

The dessert round! I am always trying to do something cool in the kitchen. I’ve made King Cakes from scratch and added crimson icing and sugar to it. I always encourage people to try my bananas foster to tell my childhood story on how I learned what the dish was and also because bananas foster over bread pudding has to be one of my favorite dishes on the planet.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them.

Definitely Marcus Samuelson — I have been following his career for a long time. He is very passionate about food and we share similar likenesses and I think we would have a great conversation. But I would have to cook for him!

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!