Chefs denounce rising costs and oppose ‘entitled’ diners
Pandemic, inflation, salary demands: Over the past decade, running a restaurant has become one of the toughest jobs in the country.
And it shows, too: dining out in many places in the United States, including New York, has gone from a common practice to an expensive privilege.
Which give? What does the future hold? The New York Times interviewed 30 chefs from across the country, specially selected for their ability to navigate today’s often downright hostile climate, managing to consistently deliver exciting cuisine and exacting standards of service to diners.
From frustration with the cost of food and tipping practices to why they choose to pass the cost of health insurance onto diners — not to mention why some of them don’t like so many guests at the start – here are their often surprising answers.
No need to complain about the price of an entry, we know that
“People don’t understand how much work it takes to create something from scratch. Like miso soup. They come in and say, “Miso soup is miso soup.” Why does it cost $5? Oh my God, people are bitches. But we keep all the bones from the fish cut for the sushi bar, all the pieces of vegetables that we would throw away, and we use them to make broth. It takes five hours for one dish, and then people complain about spending $5 when that’s how much they pay for a coffee? Come on. —Hajime Sato, Sozai, Clawson, Michigan.
“People who say that food is too expensive, I sometimes want to say to them: ‘You have Nikes on your feet and they charge you a 1,000% markup. » » Nobody says that a pair of Jordans or an Hermès bag is too expensive. when it costs them pennies on the dollar to produce. And it does nothing to keep you alive or to have a job in your community and a place to celebrate your birthday or anniversary. — Geoff Davis, Burdell, Oakland, California.
We have a whole sweet potato on the menu and people are complaining about the price. There are 13 people in this kitchen. Each of them cooked that sweet potato, or they cleaned the chard, or they diced the apples, or they washed the sink. I have to charge you for this. I’m sorry. — Mashama Bailey, The Gray, Savannah Ga:
“With all the price increases, we still can’t recover enough to afford me a pension. I can’t stay online 12 hours a day when I’m 65. I already have a back brace, an arm brace, and a foot brace. I feel like a broken Iron Man, just trying to hold it all together. At my age, I’m 42, you have to get into management. You must be offline. Stop cooking. If you haven’t made an escape plan, you’ll be stuck doing it forever. —David Utterback, Yoshitomo, Omaha
“You have to make a certain amount of money per seat. So if you have $40 or $50 entrees and a $19 burger, and a third of the people get the burger, you’re losing a ton of money. New people will come try you if they know there’s a burger. But if 50 people every night make that choice, you’re cannibalizing yourself. » —Geoff Davis
Nobody likes to tip and pay a service fee (but do it anyway)
“Once upon a time there was an essential worker, right? And everyone tipped so graciously and said the restaurant was the backbone of our economy. And now, three and a half or four years later, everyone is complaining again about tipping dollars on a touch screen. Nobody likes to tip. It’s rubbish. It’s a stupid practice. — Eric Huang, Pecking House, New York
“You want to control someone’s salary because you don’t feel like your water isn’t filling up fast enough or your food is taking a long time to come out? It should be like anything else: the price is the price. — Geoff Davis
“We can’t really change the tips. It is an established company. If we stopped and moved to pooling, we would open ourselves up to litigation. — Tandy Wilson, Townhouse, Nashville
“I don’t think health insurance should be something we have to do as an operator. This is such a larger issue that this country should be addressing. But what am I going to do, not offer it and not care about my employees? We therefore offer health insurance. We put a line on the check: 3% comes from the customer, so that counts as income and we have to pay taxes on that. And you know who this is a victory for? Health insurance companies. — Diana Dávila, Mi Tocaya, Chicago
Alright, maybe we don’t like you either
“The mentality was either you’re going to play ball or you’re going to get chewed out. I endured the abuse and after a few months, I began to dispense with it. I actually have a bit of a bad reputation because I’m sometimes a bit mean to customers. Someone compared the duck they thought was undercooked to a Jeffrey Dahmer experiment. And I taught this woman like I had never taught anyone before. I got a note from Resy, because I think she emailed me about it. But I honestly don’t care. — Ana Castro, native speaker, New Orleans
“I thought people would be a little more understanding, but it seems like we’re back to where we were before. They just want their food. They want their drinks. They want their vibes. I’ve gotten to the point where I really don’t care. It doesn’t really matter to me, because at the end of the day, I know everyone on my team did everything in their power, what they were supposed to do. — Shenarri Freeman, Ubuntu, Los Angeles
“I think guests have become a lot less kind and less understanding of inevitable mistakes. People are completely entitled and upset when things don’t go their way. I want to say: “Do you remember 2019? It’s normal. A small group of human beings trying to be of service to everyone, not just you. — Geoff Davis
