Food trucks. Photo: AP
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or in the gourmet fast food revolution, it’s a way to replicate cuisine and sell it to people less expensively. Quality restaurant food copied at a gourmet grocer, food trucks and/or quick service restaurants are becoming commonplace.
As one of my restaurants associates likes to say, our mission is to make magic on the plate by spinning straw into gold. Chefs have the ability to combine ingredients that work on the plate.
Like a magic trick over the years, the best chefs have developed their culinary wizardry to lure diners to their upscale restaurants. Savvy fast food gourmet operators recognized the obvious and generated their own version of the same meal, with tremendous impact.
For a long time now, many in our industry have not seen this trend. The ones that have seen the movement have capitalized on the it. My best example is Chef Bruce Hill and his Larkspur restaurant, Picco. Hill realized a long time ago that he could sell his nightly risotto served in the main dining room at Picco in his quick service pizzeria next door for people to take home. Picco, by the way, has great risotto.
Operators that are elitist have looked down at fast food gourmet trucks, fast food operators and larger group concepts as not having the background “or bones” to drive diners into their operations. In my mind, that is an enormous underestimation of the competition. Not acknowledging the competition is a recipe for failure. You may not like what some of the group restaurants are turning out, but some of the dining public isn’t as discriminating. A bad day for a Cheesecake Factory in the Bay Area is less than a thousand covers. Their average check is not much less than some fine dining eateries.
As we see the economic recovery continue, people look at ways to save money, but they still dine in the manner to which they have become accustomed. People look for quality food and wine at bargain pricing. Where better than your local gourmet grocer to find all the premade aspects of a great dinner along with wines not marked up as high as the restaurants do?
All the people that are mapping out concepts these days are looking at diversifying their restaurants to combine the elegant dining aspects along with gourmet grab-and-go options in order to utilize their space properly. There will always be room for terrific restaurants with excellent cuisine and service. Operators have to realize that the more attractive the price value comparison, the more successful a concept will become.
As I have said before, the threshold for deciding to go out for dinner for many people is the cost of creating the same meal at home. Diversification of your idea is the key to the future for operators. As restaurateurs, we have to be all things to all people.
