Michelin USA, Danny Dyson, Fee Suits, and more...
Family Meal - Friday, July 14th, 2023
Hello Friday,
And hello again from D.C., where a few nights ago, the newer, slightly hidden “speakeasy” cocktail bar made last call early, turned me away at the door, and told me to head to an older, more brightly signed / foot traffic friendly cocktail bar that was slammed inside and out.
Anecdotal evidence of something, I’m sure.
Let’s get to it…
Michelin Atlanta – Headline in Eater ATL: “Michelin Finally Decides Atlanta Is Worthy of Its Coveted Dining Guide.” Headline ALT: “Further Embracing City Subsidy Strategy, Michelin Snags Undisclosed Amount from Atlanta Tourism Board.” No dig at Atlanta industry! But I’d still love to know what Michelin is putting in its pitch deck to local governments these days…
Michelin Texas? – Maybe without Dallas? Robb Report’s Tori Latham went asking around about a potential Texas guide, but “Travel Texas, the state’s tourism board, declined to comment, and [Carte Blanche chef Casey La Rue] said that the Dallas tourism board told him it would never pay. (The Dallas tourism board did not respond to Robb Report‘s request for comment.)”
Dallas! How are you going to be “the new Dubai” of the luxury restaurant world (per the NYT) if you don’t pay to play?!
And Michelin CA – Meanwhile, in guides that do exist, Michelin CA announced its 2023 Bib Gourmands ahead of the release of the full guide on Tuesday. Press release with 10 new CA bibs here.
The Tipping Points – Headline in Bon Appetit: “Restaurant Industry Leader Danny Meyer Doesn't Think You Need to Tip For Coffee or Takeout.” I get why editors wanted that as the eyeball grabber above Li Goldstein’s story, but the 7min CNBC video she summarizes had some more interesting stuff in there too, including this from Meyer:
“Inflation has done what politicians could never do and it brought people back to the labor force. As you well know, during COVID, our entire industry was on its knees. No one could work at the beginning, and then no one wanted to work after that in the industry. At this point, most of us have hired back well over 100% of those who couldn’t work. But we’re like a vacuum cleaner gobbling up any human being who will come to his industry, and we need workers badly.” Meyer says because menu prices are going up, tip amounts are going up, which is bringing FOH back to work. “Most tipped employees in a full service fine dining restaurant are approaching $35-50 an hour.”
He blames the end of the USHG no-tipping experiment firmly on COVID, which begs a follow-up I didn’t hear asked…
P.S. - Re that $35-50 range, a captain at no-tips-allowed Dirt Candy told CNN’s Audie Cornish last month that he makes $37.50 per hour and feels relatively happy and stable. That’s from an episode of The Assignment podcast called… “Gratuitous Gratuity?”
The Fees – In Seattle, “Filed by two former servers, a class-action lawsuit accuses Canlis of violating the Seattle Wage Theft Ordinance and state statutes, with allegations that the restaurant failed to pay wages for first-day trial/training work; that it required or allowed employees to perform work off the clock; and retained a 20% automatic service charge rather than distributing those funds to employees, despite menus and customer bills reading, ‘All of these funds are distributed to our team’ prior to mid-2022.” Italics mine. Details via Bethany Jean Clement in the Seattle Times.
And last but not least: The Host – FYI TV fans, per Matt Stevens in the NYT: “Kristen Kish, an acclaimed chef who won the 10th season of ‘Top Chef’ more than a decade ago, will return as the next host of the long-running culinary competition, Bravo announced on Tuesday. She will succeed Padma Lakshmi, who said last month she would be departing the show, which she had hosted for 19 of its 20 seasons.”
Welp. I was honored to be one of the final two people in the running as far as you know. Thanks again for your consideration, Bravo, and best of luck to you, KK!
And that’s it for today! I’m off to spend the weekend terrorizing all the most kid-friendly restaurants in the District (and probably tipping like crazy in apology).
Wish me luck, and I’ll see you all back here Friday for next Family Meal!
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