When established commercial and social norms are upended it can often take years for new business models and behaviors to take their place. As I suggested in my last column, the shaky foundations on which much of the restaurant industry is built are beginning to crumble and, in many cases, collapse entirely.
This is apparent across the hospitality sector, from high-profile closures of some of the world’s best restaurants (typified best of all by Rene Redzepi’s decision to shutter Noma, in its current format, at the end of this year), to the scaling down of previously large and reliable restaurant chains to reduce soaring costs.
But business, like nature, abhors a vacuum and I’m interested in what might fill the newly, or soon-to-be vacated spaces, previously occupied by enterprises that have become too unsustainable to survive thanks to social and commercial pressures. These pressures have come in many forms, from an unwillingness to accept exploitative working practices that have been the bedrock of the fine-dining sector for decades, to inflationary financial pressures of the last four years that have increased costs across the board. Essentially, it has resulted in an exposing of fault lines that make traditional models hard to sustain – morally or economically.
A potentially radical realignment
While these twin pressures might be terrifying to those that have built their businesses on outdated and unacceptable methods and practices, to a new cohort of entrepreneurs and an increasingly socially aware clientele, the outlook is exciting, positive and driven by a willingness to build genuinely innovative and responsible enterprises.
By prioritizing the environment, employee wellness and ethical working practices, the potential to shake up a tired industry is greater now than at any point in the last century. Not since Escoffier created the brigade system and introduced a level of discipline and pride into the culinary space have we seen such a potentially radical realignment, with all the potential that brings.
Genuine change can take time to filter through a system, particularly one that has as much history and blatantly entrenched concepts as the hospitality sector. Much of the success of the industry has been built on successive generations of cooks and chefs perpetuating the systems and practices that they themselves were drilled in.
Rising tide of progress
The pervasiveness of institutions such as the Michelin Guide only helped perpetuate these norms, where taking risks could easily result in failure both critically and commercially. Altering these practices has, for the longest time, been a risk not worth taking. But, like any revolution, there comes a point when the voices of dissent are impossible to ignore and the old ways are exposed for what they are: outdated, outmoded and outclassed by a rising tide of progress. While this might be a scary notion for some, particularly those who’ve played – and thrived – according to old rules, for others, this is a truly exciting prospect.
I look at this sea-change from the perspective not just of a chef but also a diner, and (I hope) a thoughtful human whose moral compass points in the direction of kindness.
As a chef I’m excited to see how kitchens change as they become increasingly open and the new talent they might encourage. Individuals who, in the past, may have been discouraged from a career at the stove.
As a person who cares about others there can be no downsides to kitchens embracing a more encouraging environment, one that gets the best out of people through support not fear. And as a diner, rather selfishly, I can’t wait to see what happens when these new talents bring new ideas to the table, thriving in ways previously not possible and creating dishes, menus and restaurants we haven’t even begun to dream of yet.
The Secret Chef
