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Hello Friday,
Quick reminder that copy / pasted below as usual is the Family Meal that went out on Tuesday to paid subscribers. If you’d like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays too…
This is late. I’m behind on everything. How are you?
Let’s get to it…
The Wonder – Heads up, chefs: Your new ally / boss / competition has $500M and absolutely no concerns about building a sustainable business. Wonder, founded by the Jet(dot)com and Diapers(dot)com guy, partners with restaurants to create delivery menus with a VC twist. Per Joshua Brustein in Bloomberg: “The food is partially prepared in a centralized facility, a 40,000-square foot [commissary]. Then, a customized Mercedes Sprinter van… is dedicated to each restaurant, staffed by a single employee who responds to orders made through Wonder’s app. The driver travels to the destination, parks at the curb, heats up the food in specialized ovens, and carries it to the customer’s front door. Wonder says its target delivery time is about 30 to 40 minutes.”
Sounds totally reasonable and I foresee no problems whatsoever. But if there is a massive pivot (read: bait and switch) on the horizon, I hope it doesn’t compromise the brands of those of you already taking the money... “One of Wonder’s first moves was to strike deals with prominent restaurants, including Bobby Flay Steak and Nancy Silverton’s Pizzeria Mozza, or working directly with high-profile chefs like Marcus Samuelsson to develop Wonder-exclusive brands.”
P.S. For more on Wonder and a lot more restaurant tech news, I once again recommend fellow newsletterer Kristen Hawley’s Expedite. She is more diplomatic than I, if you’re into that kind of thing.
The Crypto Crypto – Some news in the Discord: Tom Colicchio and Spike Mendelsohn are launching Chfty, “a collection of 8,888 of the most delicious NFTs baking on the Ethereum Blockchain.” It’s essentially a private digital club whose membership is denoted by ownership of one of those nearly 9k pizza cartoons. Members will presumably get benefits like access to events, recipes, guitar lessons, whatever.
The public reception has been… lukewarm. Colicchio’s announcement tweet was ratioed by 500+ mostly uncharitable quote tweets (some guy named @ass_dad said: “please pack your knives and go fuck yourself”) and just 200 likes. But honestly, all the crap people are giving Tom and Spike feels too focused on the NFT side of things and the art (the art is special). If they had launched an email-and-password based T&S Foodie Fans club with an annual membership you could buy and sell on Stubhub, this wouldn’t be a big deal. And precisely because it doesn’t actually feel like a very big deal, I think this thing could even go as high as: Don’t Buy!
Awards and Lists and Teases, oh my – “After a hiatus in 2020, the Eater Awards have returned.” All your 2021 Best Restaurant, Bar, Design, Bakery, Solo Dining, Meal in a Bowl, Pandemic Pop-up, Converted School That’s Also A Food Business Incubator, etc. etc. needs are available in NYC, Las Vegas, LA, Dallas, Houston, Boston, DC, Seattle, Philly, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis – St. Paul, Portland OR, London, and possibly others. Congrats, all!
And congrats to the 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles, as compiled by the LA Times Food section in one big, unordered list!
And congrats also to everyone getting good PR from the World’s 50 Best Bars Sponsored By Water list, including the top 1-10: Connaught Bar (London); Tayēr + Elementary (London); Paradiso (Barcelona); The Clumsies (Athens); Florería Atlántico (Buenos Aires); Licorería Limantour (Mexico City); Coa (Hong Kong); El Copitas (St. Petersburg); Jigger & Pony (Singapore); and Katana Kitten (NYC). Plus the others from the US — #28: Café La Trova (Miami); #30: Dante (NYC); and #34 Attaboy (NYC).
And congrats finally to DC’s Bammy’s, Dauphine’s, Moon Rabbit, and Oyster Oyster who are slated to be included in some way in the Michelin Guide there next year, per a teaser Wednesday.
Phew. Congrats!
Congress Cares – Still very early days on this, but for accounting to keep an eye on: “A bipartisan group of U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers introduced a bill on Tuesday that would bring back the Employee Retention Tax Credit, which expired on Sept. 30.” Details via Joanna Fantozzi on NRN.
The NRA Cares – “The Restaurant Law Center — an affiliate of the National Restaurant Association — and the Texas Restaurant Association on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s upcoming limits on using the tip credit for side work. Scheduled to go into effect Dec. 28… Employers will only be able to use the tip credit if the worker spends less than 20% of hours worked during a workweek or less than 30 minutes continuously on tip-supporting work.” Lisa Jennings has that story in RH.
That Cafeteria $$$ – I did not see this coming and am still not sure what to do with it, but RH’s Mike Buzalka reports: “Aramark has entered into a ‘strategic collaboration’ with Starr Restaurant Organization, one of the largest multi-concept and independent restaurant groups in the country with concepts like Buddakan, Barclay Prime, Upland and The Clocktower.” Yeah, that’s that Aramark. College campus buffet Aramark. National Park price gouge Aramark. Prison convenience store profiteer Aramark. That Aramark now has a minority ownership stake in Starr Restaurants, “an exclusive licensing agreement that will allow Aramark to operate designated Starr concepts and brands… [and a mandate for] joint business development opportunities and creative and operational knowledge exchanges among culinary teams and senior leadership of the two companies.”
The following is a joke and I do not encourage theft from restaurants EVER, but (big wink) someone please steal me a Buddakan branded cafeteria tray when you see one! These toothpicked cocktail weenies aren’t going to ironically serve themselves.
And last and least: The Bros – In case you somehow missed it, the most viral restaurant review of the year was published this week by Geraldine DeRuiter on her Everywhereist blog. It’s a bit of a rough takedown of Bros in Lecce, Italy centered (in my mind) around a ceramic mold of the chef’s mouth that guests were asked to lick food (foam) out of. And the real problem isn’t even the licking. It’s that the foam isn’t some Wonka fantasy color that makes this all a laugh. It looks like… Uh. You tell me.
I do not know enough about the restaurant’s team to get in on the all-caps glee that DeRuiter has about this situation, but do know that after a review like that, a simple “Thanks for the feedback. We’re trying to take risks and the nature of this business is that customers take risks with us….” might have been more effective than what Bros did, which was asking “What is art? What is food? What is a chef?” via a metaphor about painting horses.
I mean, you don’t have to be high to look up at the sky and know that if they can make fun of Insane Clown Posse for asking earnest questions like that, they can make fun of anyone.
And that’s it for today! Except of course for Tuesday’s Family meal which is copy / pasted below.
I’ll see paying subscribers here Tuesday and everyone else in one week for next Family Meal. If you’d like to be back here on Tuesday too…
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or joint business development opportunities and creative and operational knowledge exchanges to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, become a paying subscriber! If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself!
Here begins the Family Meal that went out to paying subscribers on Tuesday, December 7th, 2021:
Kids vax menus, Reef fires, Related's coterie, Alinea's retreat, MFG's major, and more...
Hello Tuesday,
And hello to paying subscribers only! If you got this as a forward and would like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays too…
Let’s get to it…
The Mandates – Big news in NYC yesterday: “Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a sweeping coronavirus vaccine mandate for all private employers in New York City… Employees who work in-person at private companies must have one dose of the vaccine by Dec. 27; remote workers will not be required to get the vaccine. There is no testing option as an alternative.” (Italics mine.)
Crucially, for restaurants: “The mayor also announced that the rules for dining and entertainment would apply to children ages 5 to 11, who must have one dose to enter restaurants and theaters starting on Dec. 14, and that the requirement for adults would increase from one dose of a vaccine to two starting on Dec. 27, except for those who initially received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.”
Details in the NYT via Emma G. Fitzsimmons.
Good luck to hosts across the city! I’m sure Cable TV will keep everyone calm.
The Regulators – Meanwhile, in SF, the Chronicle’s Janelle Bitker reports, “Though the Board of Supervisors voted in July to make [outdoor dining] parklets permanent, the city also imposed new rules and regulations that may force many restaurants to tear their outdoor dining structures down. Laurie Thomas, executive director of city trade group Golden Gate Restaurant Association, estimates that as many as 90% of parklets will need to be removed or significantly changed to meet the guidelines, which span more than 60 pages.”
Prog rock had it right: Confusion will be our epitaph.
The Fiery Ghosts – Big shout out to ghost kitchen operator Reef Global Inc. for allowing the Wall Street Journal’s Eliot Brown to include the phrase, “In addition to the three fireball incidents…” in a roundup of the company’s many growing pains! Finishing that thought: “…Reef has faced multiple citywide shutdowns over permitting and other regulatory violations, challenges connecting to local utilities, higher-than-expected costs and a labor shortage, said former executives and managers. Many former employees described the environment at Reef as chaotic.”
The piece includes some usual startup hurdles (government!), but I liked that this sentence could be copy/pasted into any article about “disrupting” the restaurant industry: “Reef’s operational strains illustrate the challenges of meeting investors’ high expectations in the food business, a sector typically defined by low profit margins and modest growth and one that depends on executing daily in the nondigital economy with workers, supplies and logistics.” (Maybe could add “perishable goods” to that list of challenges, but who’s counting?)
That AARP $$$ – Related, the real estate development company founded by Momofuku money man Stephen Ross, is opening a “luxury senior living facility” in San Francisco called Coterie. And they’re using a familiar trick to draw the rich, elderly masses: Fancy restaurants with well-known chefs. “‘These are the people that I’ve been cooking for for the last 20 years in San Francisco,’ says chef David Lawrence [of Fillmore 1300 and Black Bark BBQ], who’s joined Coterie to serve as food and beverage director. ‘This is my clientele. They are growing gracefully, and still want to eat great food, and I want to help with that.’”
Apartments will range between $8,000 and $25,000 per month, according to Clair Lorell in Eater. Doubt Maude would be into it, but hey, if you want to live high, live high.
The Media – The Infatuation and Zagat are out with their first-ever annual diversity report, and kudos to them for making this public (right?). Haven’t read through all the carefully worded text yet, but the breakdown between freelance (31% white) and full-time (57% white) is interesting! DEI folks, let me know what you think?
Awards Season – ATTN Cookbook authors, food photographers, digital media types, et al: Applications are now open for the 2022 IACP Awards. You have a couple months to get yours in, but there are waived or discounted fees in many categories till mid-December. There’s even a Newsletter Award, for which: “The writing must display a master of editorial standards such as an engaging lede, form, and style.” Shit pals thats us!
Some sad news – In Chicago, Eater’s Ashok Selvam reports, “Brian Mita, the chef behind Bucktown Japanese restaurant Izakaya Mita, died on Friday, December 3, surrounded by loved ones at Stroger Hospital after a two-and-a half-year battle with cancer. He was 43. Mita, a native of the northern suburbs, ran the restaurant alongside his mother, Helen.”
And last but not least: The skyscrapers – Late to these stories, but two bits of tower news worth mentioning this month. First, from Selvam again: “The Alinea Group’s foray into Downtown Chicago, announced in 2020, won’t be happening. The company has elected to pull out of providing the food and beverage at the upcoming St. Regis Chicago hotel, which is scheduled to open in June.” Alinea blamed the withdrawal on “the impacts of COVID on staffing shortages and supply chain issues.” (Which is totally fair? But not exactly the bullish “I know what I’m doing and the rest of you are bad at business” vibe Nick Kokonas has been putting off for a lot of the pandemic...)
And second, Major Food Group announced they “will be partnering with JDS Development Group ‘to conceive, build, and operate MAJOR. [period obnoxiously included in the name] a new residential-hospitality tower’ that will rise 1,049 feet to become the tallest building in Miami.” Hillary Dixler Canavan has details and speculation in Eater. The press release says Ken Fulk is on board to design the F&B spaces.
Cool cool cool, but… Dinner at Carbone to anyone who can explain to me how this isn’t just a vertical, MFG version of Celebration, Florida on cocaine?
And that’s it for today!
I’ll see you all here Friday for next Family Meal.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or three fireball incidents to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, become a paying subscriber! If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself!