Eleven questions for Vincent Mangual, Manager of the 4food Commissary

Chances are that you have seen Vinny, upstairs teaching the Back of House team how to finish your (W)holeburgers to perfection, or downstairs in the Commissary leading a team that prepares all of our products from raw ingredients daily. Vinny, instantly recognizable by the handsome tattoos that peek out from his chefs whites, has been with us from well before we opened. Vinny, who has recently lost more than 30 pounds, is an inspiration for us all and poster boy for de-junking himself and his community.

1.     What is the commissary kitchen and what does it produce? The commissary kitchen is where all the bulk food items are prepared for our guests. It is where the magic of 4food starts.

2.     What are the greatest challenges in managing the commissary? Definitely, it’s keeping stock of all of our 300 natural ingredients. Such a large and diverse array takes a lot of looking after when you consider that one bad apple can destroy a guest’s lunch!

3.     How do you ensure 4food is fresh? By purchasing very fresh ingredients and producing small batches of fresh product - enough to run out of (which is why we have a dynamic menu board). 

4.     Do you have a favorite build? The Mac Daddy - salty from the pancetta and sweet from the brioche and the bbq sauce.

5.     What are you working on now? Our summer scoop menu - we have a lot of new products in store for our guests. 

6.     What does De-junking mean to you? That  our products are natural and fresh, and purchased locally when it makes sense; that our beef, pork, lamb, and turkey is raised humanely and fed a natural diet; that nothing is fried and that everything is fresh.

7.     What is your favorite 4food story? On my 3^rd day at 4food, Perkins our broad line supplier showed up with a truck with 10 pallets of small wares. It took 10 hours to check in that order, and another 10 hours to set up the kitchen with all the supplies, but at the end of that day we were in the de-junking business!

8.     Do you have a hero/mentor?  So many... but without my mother and father pushing me to go to culinary school all those years ago I don’t know where I would be now.  Thanks mom and dad.

9.     What is your proudest 4food moment? On September 7^th last year we opened our doors for the first time to the public, who were finally able to see and experience the result of all of our hard work.

10.  What do you think we could do better? Though our overall guest experience has greatly improved, there will always be room for further improvement.

11.  Do you have a message to 4foodies? DE-JUNK YOURSELF (AND LET US HELP)!!!!

On the Buildboard Chart:

Where do the hits come from?

As of May 1^st 2011 the best-selling branded (W)holeburger in our short history is the 4food created Mac Daddy with 1321 sales, followed by aharris’ CaliBurger which is the best-selling user-created (W)holeburger with 866 sales.

Six of the top Ten (W)holeburgers are user-created: CaliBurger, MGR Lamb, Cali4nication, Crispy Aardvark, Low Cal Sal, & Erica against four that are 4food created: Mac Daddy, Juke Joint, Green Giant, and Somos Americanos. User created (W)holeburgers constitute 45% of the sales of the top 10, 52% of the top 15, and greater than 80% of all (W)holeburgers sold at 4food. Of the top 10 bestselling (W)holeburgers in Buildboard Chart history 63% of unit sales are beef, 16 % veggie, 10% lamb, 7% turkey, and 4% salmon.

At #1 this week as it has been for over 5 weeks is newmanra’s mighty MultiGrain-Turkey-Spinach and Pine Nuts-Avocado-Manchego-Hummus-Sweet Chili-Onion Cali4nication, which ended the week a beak in front of  aharris’ in-state competition, the CaliBurger. Rodgersmg’s yummy MGR Lamb is a head behind at #3 but has pvanessche’s Lamb of God (#7) on its tail.  At #4 antyson’s “tribute to his messiness Charlie Sheen” #winning is what we call a “nice little earner”, having raised $110.50 for the American Diabetes Association and counting.