How The Sausage Is Made
By Ellen Duffy
There is a major contrived disconnect in the classic fine dining model between the kitchen and the dining room. Typically, the kitchen is well-hidden in the back. The public, shielded from "how the sausage is made," expects an establishment to bend over backwards and meet their every whimsical demand. That is the public's age-old perception of "hospitality."
Now is our golden opportunity to inform them about the inner workings of a food establishment and what it takes to make one survive. As an industry, we may never have another "teachable moment" in a time like this one.
I don't have the answer to what the new, successful business model looks like, though I am seeing a lot of brave entrepreneurs trying out some promising strategies. What I am sure of is that educating the consumer about what really goes on behind the curtain is absolutely critical. If we continue to struggle behind closed doors until we get it right, they will be left wondering about things like why the cost of their meals has risen, and why service looks different now.
Management encourages the charade of boundless accommodation. Service staff are incentivized to the point of sycophancy by the tipping model, with no regard for the hardship placed upon the kitchen or the business’ bottom line. Guest accommodation, however ridiculous the requests, generally means better tips, and that is what pays their wages. As servers, they're just maximizing their take. Can you blame them?
The wellness industry continues to indoctrinate the public with bad (false) information. The line between "allergy" and "aversion" has been blurred. Anaphylaxis and feeling a little fat are two very different physiological responses to an ingredient, yet the public is ENCOURAGED by popular culture to call every special dietary need an allergy, just to ensure that it is taken seriously by back of the house staff. Front of the house staff is happy to oblige because it doesn't affect their bottom line at the end of the night as they count their tips. Placing blame on the guests, the wellness industry, service staff, or management is futile.
We are in a unique position of opportunity, in this post-covid epoch, to reinvent the place that restaurants hold in society. In the face of major supply chain delays, inflated commodities prices, and a mass exodus of hospitality workers, the historically thin profit margin of restaurants is shrinking away to nothing. The current market makes change imperative for survival of these businesses, which are an integral part of American culture.
Gone are the days of boutique restaurants that made the best of whatever ingredients were available that day, offering one, maybe two options to diners, in a "take it or leave it" way. Thanks to the economy of scale enjoyed by more profitable chain restaurants, patrons have come to expect pages-long menus with endless matrices of options for every dish- multiple sides to choose from, steaks temped to order, etc. Starbucks, for example, allows customers to dictate the temperature of a drink, down the ludicrous increment of 0.5°F.
Your average, beloved mom and pop simply cannot afford to operate this way and turn a profit, though many try in vain. The loss of profit affects everyone involved, from the owners' paychecks, to the staff's working conditions, to dangerous risks taken with food safety in the name of frugality; that lost money has to come from somewhere, if they are to stay afloat.
There continue to be many growing pains as the industry reinvents itself through trial and error. There will be casualties. It will take time. Fortunately, restaurant people are adaptable and resilient by nature; we have that on our side.
Ellen Duffy is a Boston area chef and writer with fifteen years of experience in the industry.
Opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Best Served. To achieve our mission of bringing more voices to the table, we are committed to sharing a variety of viewpoints across the industry.
