“My story is that of ‘The Perfect Storm,’ ” says Bruce Sandground. “My great grandparents had a kosher bakery in Baltimore. Their name was Morganstein and they called the bakery Morning Star.” His ancestors moved on to having grocery stores in the Washington, D.C., area; his grandmother married a dairy farmer; his mother is a dietician and nutritionist; she married an attorney who is a “foodie” and has a wine cellar with 2,000 bottles of wine.
So, the food and beverage industries are definitely in Bruce’s blood. He credits his lineage as being the reason he is where he is today, teaching others how to provide the best in services and palette pleasers to the public.
Bruce is currently the management and hospitality instructor at the 12-year-old Arizona Culinary Institute in Scottsdale. ACI was founded by former Governor J. Fife Symington III and his partners to “focus on traditional French methods of cooking that would prepare its students for a career in the culinary field.” Bruce is instrumental in the 94% placement rate the school has attained. He brings in chefs from around the Valley to watch the students in action and to speak to them about requirements and also takes his students on field trips to fine restaurants. The 140 students range from 17 to 77 years old, some just starting out, some looking for career changes. They are taught all aspects of cooking and baking as well as an overview of restaurant and hotel services. Bruce teaches them about restaurant management and career development, plus, with a nod to his parents, wines and nutrition.
Bruce attended the Cornell Hotel School – he proudly points to the diploma hanging on his classroom wall. There he majored in food and beverage, but also learned the ins and outs of running a business. Starting as a dishwasher, he worked his way up to be the assistant executive steward at the Regent International in Washington, D.C. He then ran his own restaurant, the second location of The Sign of the Whale, a well- respected establishment that is still open in D.C.
While running the restaurant, Bruce met his wife, Kathleen, who was educated at the Boston Conservatory of Music and was working as a singing waitress. Since Kathleen is Catholic, they were married by a rabbi from Georgetown University alongside a priest. Kathleen has arthritis and kept urging Bruce to move somewhere with better weather. Bruce told her that if he could sell the restaurant, he would move to Arizona. He sold it in July of 2001, and by September they had relocated.
Bruce first sold spices to the local restaurants, enabling him to get to know all the important chefs in town. He tried his hand at opening a Sign of the Whale restaurant in Tempe, but it didn’t last long. Building upon his Cornell Hotel education and his knowledge of local chefs, he joined the faculty at Arizona Culinary School and finds it to be a perfect match. On the side he has been a kosher sous chef at the Arizona Biltmore during Passover week and also tends bar from time to time. “I’m passionate about wines, spirits and beer,” he says enthusiastically.
The Sandground children, Lauren and Forrest, are both students at Arizona State University. “They call themselves ‘Cashews,’ Bruce grins, “because they’re Catholic and Jewish.” Lauren is a senior and a Flinn scholar, one of Arizona’s highest scholastic honors. She plans to be a lawyer. Forrest is a freshman in business. It’s yet to be seen if the “perfect storm” genes will appear in the children. Though, as Bruce says, “My brother is a contract attorney, but he represents chefs!”
It may be too perfect for them to ignore!
