RRP not PPP, Bon Reply All, Onwuachi optimism, Super IRC, and more...
Family Meal - Friday, February 5th, 2021
Hello Friday,
FYI: Tuesday’s paid Family Meal is copy/pasted below as usual. If you’d like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays…
Woo boy. Maybe a bit much on the media here, and I’m sorry but we have apparently reached the stage in the pandemic where I am writing fanfic Super Bowl ads featuring Mitch McConnell pouring Cointreau over Tom Colicchio in a graveyard.
But more on that later.
Let’s get to it…
The Relief – “The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed an amendment to the budget Thursday calling for direct relief to the restaurant industry in a 90-10 vote. The Restaurant Rescue Plan which was initially proposed in a bipartisan effort by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.), was based on the original RESTAURANTS Act that was put forth in June.” Details via Joanna Fantozzi at NRN.
It’s a start, but “calling for direct relief” is basically just creating a new row in the big budget spreadsheet. There’s still no actual number in the $$$ column, though lots of outlets are reporting $25B as a likely final tab. (Sample “sources say” from the NY Post’s Ebony Bowden and Carl Campanile here.) We shall see.
The Optimists – Impressed to see Kwame Onwuachi and Food & Wine are announcing plans for “Family Reunion, a multi-day celebration of diversity in the hospitality industry… this August at Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Virginia.” Sheila Johnson’s resort is set to host “Carla Hall, Edouardo Jordan, Nina Compton, Carlton McCoy, Mashama Bailey, Rodney Scott, Gregory Gourdet, Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Pierre Thiam, and more” seven months from now, which sadly still seems like an aggressive timeline for an event involving mass travel, group overnights in a sprawling hotel, and lots of eating and drinking together in a small, horse country town… But hey, good luck, all!
And maybe they’re right? In the US, the NYT reports, “If the country maintains its current pace of administering first doses, about half of the total population would be at least partially vaccinated around early July, and nearly all around early December, assuming supply pledges are met and vaccines are eventually available to children.”
Meanwhile, with a fair number of caveats, the NYT’s Allison McCann reported yesterday: “Britain is on a pace to give the first shot of a two-dose coronavirus vaccine to its entire population by the end of June!!!” (Exclamation points mine. The British would never.)
The Media Media – “In the summer of 2020, Bon Appétit faced an online reckoning. It imploded, seemingly overnight, former employees calling it a racist and toxic workplace. But the story of what actually happened there started ten years earlier.” Now Sruthi Pinnamaneni and the Reply All podcast team is tackling that story in an audio miniseries that launched yesterday. “This is Chapter One, ‘Original Sin,’ of… The Test Kitchen.”
Not going to minute mark it because you should definitely listen to the whole thing, but a few quick thoughts on this first episode:
First, right off the bat, Pinnamaneni makes it clear that while she talked to “much of the white leadership” at BA and Conde Nast, we’ll “only hear from the people of color” on the podcast — a big editorial decision that I questioned at first, but came to really appreciate by the end of the first hour. How much would repetitive apologies (or non-apologies) really add when Yewande Komolafe, Sui Li, and Eleanore Park are there to tell their stories?
Second, Park says that she challenged Andrew Knowlton on his placing a sandwich shop run by a white man on top of the annual Hot 10 restaurant list one year, when there was a Chinese-American-run restaurant at number three doing much more interesting, complex work. Knowlton confirms he responded to Park with a non-sequitur about how attractive the Chinese-American chef’s white wife was, and how the chef “Did really well for a Chinese guy.” Wow.
Third, Pinnamaneni does a fantastic job bringing the subjects through questions of hindsight and the rise of white food celebrities. I heard it as a version of the boiling frog analogy where there are a bunch of different frogs in a bunch of different pots on a gas range, but only one pot boils. (In this version, getting boiled equals becoming famous, Alison Roman is in the hottest pot, BA leadership is the invisible hand turning up her flame just a skosh, and all the other frogs are people of color. Perfect? No. But you’re asking me to explain why the frogs want to be boiled and how frogs would even adjust their own dials, and I won’t.)
Fourth, I think Pinnamaneni is wrong to say BA went back and edited recipe bylines “quietly” in October, 2020. BA research director Joseph Hernandez put out a very public statement four months earlier announcing they were going to be combing through past posts and making those kinds of changes.
Finally, the line that killed me: “And for anyone who’s still wondering at this point: Are they good? Just try their food.” Pinnamaneni asks that near the end to counter inevitable questioning of all the “Why was I passed over for promotion?” anecdotes. It drives home the fact that whenever bigotry is discussed at a personal level, it will always be forced to jump that magic, flailing hurdle: “OK, I hear you, but was this that?”
The Brand – In Expedite, Kristen Hawley reports on a new platform within a platform backed up by a different platform. It’s @Pizza, the umbrella brand for indie pizza shops on Uber Eats, backed in part by the Fuck Jerry instagram meme account, and created by the virtual restaurants company behind Steve Aoki’s pizza kitchen. “According to [the CEO], participating pizzerias benefit thanks to marketing efforts and prime placement within the Uber Eats app. @pizza’s listing lives permanently in Eats’ ‘national brands’ section alongside the likes of Burger King, Taco Bell, and Panda Express.” Coming soon to other commodity-ish ghost concepts (@wings, @burgers, @boba) near you?
The Acquisition – Speaking of Uber, it announced plans to buy Drizly this week, which makes me wonder if that could either A) Screw over restaurants by ruining attempts to upsell booze in food orders, or B) Create a new phenomenon (that we should all definitely call Ghost Somms) wherein restaurants sell booze under virtual brands and compete with liquor stores on the side? TBD.
The PSA – In Grubstreet, Chris Crowley has an update on Zia Sheikh’s Restaurant After Hours mental-health group, which is launching “a new program of peer-to-peer support groups aimed at struggling restaurant workers next week… Hosted virtually on Zoom on Tuesday nights over the course of 12 weeks, the program is free, and will approach a different subject each session… Leading the conversations will be Erin Reifsnyder, a board member and mental-health counselor who worked in the hospitality industry for ten years… More information can be found on the RAH website.” NB: The Grubstreet article also has a list of other mental-health resources like “Kat Kinsman’s Chefs With Issues, Ben’s Friends, Healthy Hospo, and Denver’s Culinary Hospitality Outreach and Wellness.”
For Design Fans – Eater Miami is hosting the official press photos for Uchi’s new outpost there, and…. hm. I’ve come out against cinder blocks before, but the ropework(?) in that partition actually softens and improves it somehow? I generally hate drop ceilings in upscale situations, but either those are just fancy sound baffling panels or they’ve managed to make drop look good? And I’d have to see what the glow on those long, upside-down boat pendants looks like at night, but… neat? Maybe it’s the pandemic talking. I just want to go out to dinner. Please.
And last but not least: The Ad – The Independent Restaurant Coalition has partnered with Cointreau on a Super Bowl Ad! Cointreau corporate is pretty clear the ad is about liqueur, not IRC, but in an Instagram preview, Andrew Zimmern says the call to action for viewers is to “Write a love letter to your favorite restaurant,” which apparently means saving a template on Instagram and tagging your local? Won’t pass judgement till I’ve seen the Sunday version, but right now there’s not even an email capture element, and that seems like a wasted opportunity for an organization trying to build broad support for… anything. Anyway, I was feeling cynical so I wrote a new version for IRC-Cointreau to consider. It’s called “Pour One Out” and it’s at the very, very bottom of this email.
Call my agent, AZ.
And that’s it for today.
Heads up: Next weekend is Chinese New Year, which means I’ll probably have to take Friday off. With that in mind, Tuesday will go out to both paying and non-paying subscribers, so… I’ll see you all here Tuesday for next Family Meal.
Oh, wait! In my best Peter Faulk... just one more thing: Are you on Clubhouse? Still ambivalent about it, but there may be potential in those live audio chat rooms so I’m going to give a go at moderating one with Kristen Hawley of Expedite. On Monday morning at 10:30AM EST / 7:30AM PST we’ll informally discuss all the restaurant / food tech / food media stories we’re following to start the week. Come tell us what we’re missing or what I got wrong! Should be fun. Join us!
(And if you don’t have Clubhouse (explainer here), the invite-only thing is lame, but they give out new invites time to time, so email me and I’ll do my best.)
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or temperature increases and shorter growing cycles to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, please chip in here. If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself!
Here begins the copy/paste of the Family Meal that went out Tuesday, February 2nd, to paying subscribers. If you’d also like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays…
Backlash memes, Austin Grey, Bordeaux nouveau, and more...
Hello Tuesday,
And hello to paying subscribers only!
Let’s get to it…
Choose Your Own Rorschach Indoor Dining Rollercoaster Minefield Adventure – With news that some of America’s biggest restaurant markets will re-open and/or expand in-person / indoor dining options this month, we’ve entered yet another all-bad-options phase of the pandemic. Whoohoo.
In NYC, Grubstreet’s Chris Crowley reports that while some restaurateurs (e.g. Dirt Candy’s Amanda Cohen) will be keeping doors closed, “Ravi DeRossi’s Overthrow Hospitality sent out an email blast for a ‘one of a kind Valentine’s Day,’ announcing the restaurants would reopen for the day.” And Simon Kim told the NYT that Cote, “already had a 100-reservation waiting list for Valentine’s Day. ‘Now that we are opening indoors, it’s going to mean we no longer have to hemorrhage tens of thousands dollars each week.’”
The LA Times and Eater Chicago had similar some-will-some-won’t re-opening takes last week, but what’s been interesting at this point on the ride is that despite everyone understanding the long-term plan was always an advance-and-retreat restrictions strategy, new COVID variants and the tantalizing closeness of vaccination have a lot of people very angry at the idea of cranking this rollercoaster back up the climb. Fortunately for the industry, most of that anger is directed at government leadership and/or guests, but some sample media tweets this week…
Food & Wine Restaurant Editor Khushbu Shah on Twitter: “Just because the option exists to dine indoors doesn’t mean you should take it!!!!”
The New Yorker’s Helen Rosner: “Got an email from a friend recently saying ‘The real story here is that the customers who do indoor dining are assholes’ and you know, he's completely right.”
Meanwhile, some of the funniest cry-laugh thoughts on this whole mess are on Max and Eli Sussman’s Instagram account. I can’t pick just one, but trust me (and the 13k-something followers — maybe you — who knew before me).
But but BUT: The backlash is not just tweets and memes! There’s a larger message too. The headline on that first Grubstreet article is: “Restaurant Workers Should Be Allowed to Get the Vaccine Immediately.” Chris Crowley’s argument in sum: “If New York bars and restaurants are going to reopen for indoor dining, then the people who work in them should be eligible for vaccination. It’s that simple.”
Would that it were.
That Hotel $$$ – “Savannah chef Mashama Bailey is opening two restaurants in Austin this year, based on her acclaimed Georgia restaurant the Grey. The restaurants in question… will be located within forthcoming downtown hotel the Thompson… aiming to open this summer.” Eater’s Nadia Chaudhury says the Grey partner John O. Morisano is involved, and (sorry I missed it but) “Bailey first shared the Austin restaurant details on Cherry Bombe’s podcast in late January.”
The Opportunity – FYI: The JamesBeardFoundation has a new (to me) “Resources Page” on their website. Let me know if you find anything especially useful! Some the links seem a bit self-promotional, but hey, if you’ve got a relief fund, a resources page of your own, a fantastic industry newsletter, whatever… get in touch with them and self-promote away?
And last but not least: For The Somm – “In 2019, [Bordeaux,] perhaps the world's best-known wine region, proposed adding seven new grape varieties to the six red and eight white varieties already permitted to be used in bottles of Bordeaux. All of the new suggestions were specifically chosen for their potential to flourish even in the less hospitable conditions caused by global warming.” Missed this last week, but per Food & Wine’s Mike Pomranz, on Tuesday, “France's Institut National de l'Origine et de la Qualite (INAO) officially approved six of those new varieties, with plantings allowed as soon as this coming season…. The newly approved varieties are four reds—Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan, and Touriga Nacional—and two whites—Alvarinho and Liliorila—all of which are described as ‘well-adapted to alleviate hydric stress associated with temperature increases and shorter growing cycles.’”
Free winemaker marketing consultant tip: Definitely put “Well-adapted to alleviate hydric stress.” on your bottles of Alvarinho. “Wellness wine” is a confusing, but profitable category.
And that’s it for today!
I’ll see you here Friday for next Family Meal.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or temperature increases and shorter growing cycles to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, please chip in here. If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself!
OK… Still here? Here’s my super bowl ad:
PROPOSED COINTREAU SUPER BOWL AD DRAFT: “Pour one out.”
Open on TOM COLICCHIO standing on what appears to be a grassy hilltop.
TOM: The restaurant industry is in trouble. Cornerstones of our communities and millions of jobs are at stake. We have shut down to help keep you safe, but now we need you to help keep us open. That’s why the Independent Restaurant Coalition is asking congress to allocate $125 Billion over the next year to help—
Tom is cut off mid-sentence by a violent shove from an off camera figure. He falls into what we now see is an open grave beside him. Mitch McConnell walks on and is revealed as the shover.
MITCH: But we’re not going to do that. So, folks. Pour one out for restaurants.
Mitch opens a bottle of Cointreau and begins pouring it onto Tom as Tom sputters in shock.
MITCH: Pour one out for the places we’ve loved and lost.
Cut to a mashup of vignettes in across the country.
Mask-less woman wearing “Pro-Freedom. Anti-Mask!” shirt pouring Cointreau onto sidewalk in front of a restaurant as a flustered host points to “Customers Must Wear Masks” sign: Pour one out for restaurants.
TONY XU (wearing a DoorDash shirt) and DARA KHOSROWSHAHI (in an Uber Eats shirt) pour Cointreau on the deck of a yacht as masked staff on jet-skis ferry delivery bags on silver trays: Pour one out for restaurants.
GAVIN NEWSOM pours Cointreau onto floor in middle of a crowded, maskless private dining room: Pour one out for restaurants. [He looks at camera, holds finger to lips as if to say shhh as door shuts to reveal a “CLOSED DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS” sign.]
A man hunched over a computer with Yelp! open onscreen and “YOUR TAKEOUT SUCKS” visible in an open comment box pours Cointreau in desk trashcan: Pour one out.
A partygoer pours Cointreau out at a carefree, underground party, shouting over music: Pour one out.
Back to MITCH: Pour one out for restaurants.
He tips bottle back upright quickly, and cracks a smile.
MITCH: But not too much. Don’t want to waste the good stuff. [Whispering now:] Money.
NARRATOR: Cointreau. Pour one out. (Must be 21 or older. Don’t drink and drive. Almost no taxpayer dollars were wasted on this ad — or restaurants.)
End end.