Salt Fat Acid Defeat: The restaurant before and after Covid
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I would do just about anything right now to have a weekly date night away from kids. To be waited on hand and foot while a culinary expert prepares me an amazing meal.
That said, for boring “meal replacement”-where you pile the kids in the car to go out so you don’t have to cook- there’s less of a reason to use a restaurant. Delivery apps are so much more ubiquitous. Meal kit deliveries are much more a staple of every home.
Instead they use “server”.
Butler:
1 : a manservant having charge of the wines and liquors. 2 : the chief male servant of a household who has charge of other employees, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and performs various personal services.
"No, you can go manserve elsewhere for now."
I was a private chef, and in my situation (off-season Historical European Hotel) no, it really isn't... what experience do you speak from to make such a statement?
Culinary work, after you strip all the romanticism, is at it's core slave labour.
You want the truth, or the BS story you get from the banal Food Networks or Top Chefs of the World that lets you delude yourself that its ok to not tip much or at all when you go out in what is horrible Industry attached to an even worse business model? And BOH (cooks, dishwashers) doesn't get any of that mind you.
Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential was, at times clearly embellished for attention grabbing purposes to sell books, a very accurate depiction of the Industry. Which is why he became the patron saint of sorts to the Culinary World, despite being an admittedly mediocre chef.
There was a time I really wished everyone had spent a summer working in a kitchen to gain perspective on what that thing really is, now it's very unlikely to occur after COVID.
Still, it's pretty eye opening.
Were you paid? Could you leave the job if you wanted?
Then it’s not slave labour.
I've been screwed out of payment by kitchen/hotel owners after providing my service, yes... which is why I retired for the 2nd time after losing 3 months of payment in my last gig in Italy after accepting to continue while the owner had the chance to recover investment over the Summer and cover expenses, one guy there (a barman) was on his 6th month of working without pay as he couldn't find work in 2013 anywhere at his age (50s) but could take home uneaten leftovers off of gusests plates or extra we had at the end of service to his elderly parents who he looked after. It was heartbreaking. It's just some of the perils of working in a precarious profession in a failing economy and as an undocumented worked (me) while doing my apprenticeship. You accept it and you move on, but you never forget.
I soon learned to do roofing, re-framing and other misc refurbishment jobs on homes after that Fall and swore to myself I'd never come back while I finished my apprenticeship in Ag--then I got the bug and came back in 2018 after quitting IBM.
Also, I have friends that are chef(s) and owner of their kitchens that were shut down during COVID, and for them the anser is also: No.
The State government told them to shut down and the State/Federal governments left them out in the cold after complying with the outdoor restrictions and buying lots of expensive equipment and re-hiring staff after doing things by themselves during the take out option only operation. They sunk their, and much of their extended family's life savings into building those businesses and some didn't qualify for PPP and bet it all once more just to cover the previous loans.
You only think it's 'exaggeration' because you likely are afforded a great deal of security from your position in tech where you don't even understand just how lucky/privileged you are to be able to work from home and still earn a (bloated) salary and not have the incompetence and corruption of the State make you shut down your operation with little to no fall back plan after having sunk $10,000+ of dollars in loans to continue to operate and still be shut down.
I could go on, but the answer is that not being paid for your labour is normal, we have things called 'stages' that equate to working interviews in which you are not paid is the 'norm.' In Europe (where I worked for a significant part of my career) and Asia it's typical to stage for weeks, even months before to show you can be relied on to do basic tasks and show up on time and not endanger yourself or others.
Is this legal? Probably not, but its the norm.
I've worked in both Industrys (culinary and tech) and even tried to merge the two together, founded my own startup and then worked at a Multinational Corp and was on later stage round interviews at SpaceX when COVID hit.
And all of those Industries, for me at least, have their dark sides that people never want to talk about except for me for some reason, so I stand by my claim about culinary despite people in that Industry thinking I have had this very romantic and idealic career when I tell them what and where I've worked over the years.
My passion for food (and what it can do to nourish and change individuals and communities) is the only thing that let me believe being physically and verbally abused was acceptable, get paid nothing, work long (sometimes unpaid) hours when I was running my own kitchen and often while injured (from farming in the AM) just to make ends meet and be able to practice my Art was worth it. I'm glad to say I've hit a peak I will never reach again and I'm old enough and mature enough to be able to bow out with my head held high and fall back on other skill sets with some basic re-training.
So, again... it's only exaggeration to you because chances are you never worked a day in the Industry and aren't aware of how common those stories are.
> Were you paid? Could you leave the job if you wanted? Then it’s not slave labour.
That’s not a great definition of “slave labour” because, for starters, “getting paid” and “ability to change jobs” are not binary.
“labour which is coerced and inadequately rewarded” (Oxford)
If you are not paid well and you can leave the job then it’s not slave labour, it’s just a crappy job.
One has to understand these are the very same people who stand by when they see Apple use contractors and deny them pay and just think 'oh well...' and go back to working for Apple and then through a convoluted form of mental gymnastics compartmentalize things to such an extent that they cannot see themselves as a critical part of the problem (even when those very people being exploited at their countrymen and something their parents fled to to the West for because of an acute form of diffusion of responsibility.
It's an illness and a reflection of a very sick Society, to think that small restaurant owners aren't labouring under some very convoluted form of slave labour at the hand of the State and Federal government is beyond me. They went into so much debt, and aren't working for money, simply the survival of the business in the face of forced consolidation by massive Industry and tech conglomerates.
And the fact that this is ok amongst so many in Society goes to show how slavery never went away, it just got obfuscated and presents itself in more tolerable and palatable forms for the majority of people once they reach a certain point (or the illusion of it) in Life.
You can't walk away for from a loan where you used your and your family's house as collateral, and the fact that most of these owners aren't even breaking even and just going into further debt because of continued lockdowns that the very politicians who enacted them (Newson, Pelosi et all in CA) are on tape showing how they think they're exempt for them shows how diffusion of responsibility better than anything else how slavery just changed flavours with the same ingredients.
There are people in actual slavery all over the world and there is a world of difference between having a crap job or getting screwed out of money and being a slave.
And no, I’ve never worked in hospitality, but I’ve had my share of terrible jobs and I have friends that work in the industry.
I completely agree that most people in the industry are underpaid (especially in the US... it’s criminal the way servers are expected to live on tips).
But again, it’s not slave labour.
It's the FAANG Silicon Valley cult way of thinking and it's why its so fucking gross; everything amounts to exploitation of 'low skilled' work force to make unprofitable things palatable for Seed rounds and then VC money in order to buyout your competition or suffocate it in the cradle and ensure a monopoly and massive 'growth' and then attach it to surveillance based business model(s) and call it 'optimized marketing' and now you have a billion dollar valuation and a frothy IPO exit scam for the VCs, which translates to bloated compensations and meaningless titles (they call themselves 'engineers' when it suits them but reduce themselves to mere 'coders' when shit blows up in their faces) for those with little to no morals and a narrow skill set--yes, I can code, too, and I also worked for a Megacorp at one point and I still maintain its a very narrow skill set.
Not to mention how soul-sucking it is to just sit at a desk all day and stare at a screen while editing or debugging some BS platform that optimizes how to make people hate each other more online and call it optimizing 'engagement' while using casino style addiction behavior models. So, I'm afraid it becomes inevitable since empathy is something that I fear erodes with time, and is lost altogether in the wrong environment--insular echo chambers with no room for dissent and stigmatization and cancel culture at arms length if you ever step out of line.
Ultimately, it's a reminder that people who benefit from the system are the first and most adamant to refute these claim, and we're on HN.
I just wonder how shallow their collective lives must be to be so willing to exploit another person and make light of their situation and still follow the 'making the World a better place' BS narrative that's become emblematic with all that is wrong with Silicon Valley and big tech in general these days.
I mean it's almost like people here forget that debtors prisons were a form of imprisonment with slavery at its core and were a thing in the US not that long ago, some still exist today [0], and dates back to the inception of Western Society (Greece) where it was common practice after succumbing to large amounts of debts which had to be paid off.
In the end its like creating a culture where everyone wants to be Jeff Bezos with an almost ambivalent of not outright misanthropic view of the World. It's pathetic but also why I'm glad we're seeing an exodus of them out of CA in masse, I mean how else could they see that amount of homelessness and poverty and be ok with buying endless amounts of distractions and toys to serve their infantile appetites to see the misery the helped create: CA now houses 50% of the US' homeless.
0: https://truthout.org/articles/these-seven-states-still-opera...
For most people it means precisely what you said, ie. someone to cook, bring you drinks and food, and no cleanup.
Preface: I'm a former chef and cook, in addition to my foray in finech, with a background and a short stint as a private chef while traveling in Europe during the off season: why don't you just hire a private chef?
I'm wondering if their will be a push for an app that functions much like task rabbit model for chefs, wherein you could fill your day with 'gigs' as in 'Breakfasts at the Jones' 8-11am,' 'Lunch and Dinner at the Wang's 1-10pm' kind of format.
California also has relaxed laws on using private residences functioning as kitchens for business (Cottage Food laws, that varies by County) but this format could be done again and not have the pitfalls of other attempts that were easy to take down and could even be done at scale. Some restaurants on Pearl Street Mall in Boulder are just refurbished homes and this model can function with the right incentives.
I personally retired for the last time, with no desire to ever go back at this point, but I would gladly consult to see something like this happen since so many BOH and FOH workers will likely never be able to go back to work as the Industry is completely wrecked in the US.
As you said, you want to go back, and the truth is we cooks masochistically like our role in that model, but where we really all think we thrive in best is utilizing our creative skills in a smaller scale where the entire menu is your own and you can see direct feedback from a smaller crowd/family.
Edit: Damn auto correct!
If they're like me, the reason they're not going to restaurants now is because they don't want to risk getting Covid-19 (my state is doing well enough they started allowing indoor dining again, for example, but I'm still only having takeout delivered).
Inviting a stranger into your home isn't any better. I haven't even let my own parents inside my home since this started.
It disappoints me that I'm not able to get any enjoyment out of this sort of experience. The very idea of being waited on hand and foot makes me uncomfortable, but I suspect I'm in the minority on that one.
If I'm paying $50+ for a steak and had to change out of my graphic T-shirt to walk in, I expect that I'm paying for someone to ensure it's a great experience and they're ready for it (plus a healthy tip, of course.)
If I'm paying $13.99 for a burger and a beer, I just need them to bring me my food and refill my drink every once in a while.
During which decade the population of New York city increased by 2%, while the number of restaurants increased 30%. So a shakeout was due.
The author is correct, though, that with Grubhub, Yelp, and Groupon all extracting money from the restaurant industry, it's become much tougher.
The average home cook would likely recoil at putting those amounts into their own food
This may be a bit of a cherry-picked example but I had a tasty side dish at a nice restaurant so I thought I would try making it at home so I looked up the recipe
The first one that came up was this:
https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/recipes/Pommes-Aligot-Reci...
It contains 1.5 lbs of cheese, a cup of heavy cream, and makes... 4 servings
I didn’t make it.
Sauces are fun too. Like Hollandaise and Bearnaise or mayo and such... Eggs and butter/oil...
The real issue with a lot of restaurant food is simply huge portion sizes that tempt diners to overeat.
The real issue with heart disease is more about atherogenic lipoproteins than cholesterol, and genetics are a more important risk factor than diet.
It makes perfect sense though, restaurants rarely provide nutrition information so their sole performance metric is taste.
A reminder that one of the reasons we don't have a lot of outright starvation in the US is because we have so many businesses that serve food -- restaurants, grocery stores, etc. We never think of businesses as being in the business of "solving world hunger." We think non-profit organizations do that for poor starving nations or something, but historically Persia, India and Greece all revered the honey bee as a mental model for doing business -- as opposed to, say, going a-viking and simply stealing everything you could from neighboring nations -- a cornerstone of creating civilization and fostering peace and prosperity.
In the decade before Covid hit, the net number of new restaurants and bars in New York alone increased by more than 7,000, to 23,650, twice the rate at which businesses citywide expanded.
I wonder if that is related to the demographic trend of people marrying later (if at all), having kids later (if at all) and having fewer of them and other demographic trends that together add up to a great many more households with just one to three people.
A lot of current American culture and expectations and ideas about how things supposedly are supposed to work are rooted in post World War II culture that caused the Baby Boom. "The Boys" came home and they encouraged women to quit jobs to give them up for the men and there was money in the bank and military benefits and a vast latent demand for housing and the means to finally meet it, which gave birth to the modern American suburb and widespread prosperity of a sort the world has never seen before.
This means a lot of our cultural ideas are rooted in a stay-at-home mom doing the cooking and cleaning. There is a lot of stuff that implicitly assumes this model and fails to work when this is not our reality and the truth is this is not our reality for most Americans today.
For people already scoffing at the idea of wanting a servant to serve you your meal, this is a standard expectation in American culture, we just usually call her "mom" and gloss over the fact that she is a de facto servant.
One of my many neglected project ideas is to somehow write about how to keep yourself adequately fed under challenging conditions and one of the things that drives that interest is the frequency with which I see complaints online that people are either going broke and getting fat ordering takeout or going broke and getting fat eating microwave meals or similar. Cooking for just one person takes almost as much time and effort as cooking for a whole family and doesn't come with built-in conversation, so eating alone doesn't simultaneously help everyone in the family bond emotionally, keep up with family news, etc. At best it just keeps you fed and that's it.
There are benefits to having one person do the cooking, like it means they can get good at it while other people put time and effort into other things. It provides efficiency of time use at the societal level to have some people cook and some people not bother to learn.
I think we need to do more takeout and we need to revive a practice that was alive and well when I was child but seems to have died out: The walk-up window for takeout. Now we have drive-throughs and no walk-up windows and this de facto assumes everyone has a car and it penalizes people who don't. (No, they often will not serve a pedestrian at a drive-through.)
For the pandemic, I really like Little Caesar's Pizza Portal and I don't see why we can't do something similar for more eateries. You order online, get a code, walk in and punch in the code, get your food and leave.
One of the hidden benefits is that one person can pay with their debit card and another can pick up because you don't sign for it. At most places, if you order online, you need to be prepared to sign the receipt which is a problem if one person is paying and another is picking up.
I also would love to see an updated version of the "food court" -- an outdoor socially distanced seating area that serves multiple local eateries with walk-up windows and/or food "portals." Being waited on by waitstaff is of relatively little interest to me personally, but being able to get food conveniently without having to cook it or do the cleanup is quite valuable to me and was when I was homeless.
As someone who is doing vast majority of the cooking in the house for the past couple of years, since my wife has been more stressed out (work and otherwise), it is really nice when someone else in the house can help out even a little bit with the meal, even if it's as simple as slicing meat or dicing vegetables.
Yes, I've gotten pretty decent at cooking, but having some sort of a break, or not having to put quite so much effort into it sometimes is nice. Usually saves time too.