MEMES: These Restaurant Memes are Straight Fire. Change Our Minds.
This week's restaurant memes include closing early emotionally, why chefs have bad tempers, Chuck E Cheese returns, covering a shift, and more. Share ‘em with staff, share ‘em with your following.
DID YOU KNOWS…
The Best Food Docs on Netflix
Food documentaries are pretty hot right now and Netflix has plenty of them to satiate your hunger. Here are the best food documentaries to add to your queue – including, The Birth of Saké, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and Barbeque. How many have you seen?
Where Bread Costs a Fortune
In the Worldwide Cost of Living report, Singapore was ranked first, ahead of Paris and Zurich. Even though Seoul came sixth overall, it had the highest average price for a loaf of bread of any city by far. On average, South Koreans have to pay $15.59 for a 1kg loaf of bread in their capital. That's much higher than Geneva where it averages $6.45. Even though Singapore was ranked the most expensive city overall, bread is cheaper there with a loaf averaging $3.71.
America's Dublins
As America geared for St. Patrick's Day, a lot of pints were poured in Dublin – and not just in Dublin, Ireland. Even though several U.S. towns bear the name of the Irish capital, can they really claim to have a strong connection with the Emerald Isle? According to U.S. Census Bureau data, every one of those Dublins is a little bit Irish but some have more inhabitants with Irish ancestry than others. Dublin, OH has the most people reporting Irish ancestry with 6,187 while Dublin, Pennsylvania has the highest share at 22.22%.
SNAIL MAIL RESERVATIONS?
What it means to you: In a slightly kitschy move, a critically-acclaimed restaurant changes its reservation process to mail-only.
Picture this: You are going about your day, running errands and then it hits you that you forgot to make a reservation at that restaurant for your anniversary with your spouse. You rush to dial the number and they tell you that they have openings but cannot take your reservation unless it is by an actual handwritten and mailed-letter. Sounds like it could be infuriating right?
Well, The Lost Kitchen is doing it that. No more online reservations or phone calls whatsoever. We suspect that this decision came from being inundated by phones calls about reservations after the bookings became full for 2016 and 2017. And we’re sure they can expect a flood of letters to sift through and transcribe into their new reservation book when this new policy hits in April.
So, is this method viable for other restaurants? To put it bluntly, no. Short of receiving 10,000 phone calls in a 24-hour period, we would not recommend switching to a novelty-type idea such as this. It is simply not a viable option for a modern successful restaurant to use unless they are hoping to stave off any attempts at booking reservations. If the restaurant doesn’t want to deal with reservations, they should just end the policy and not make guests jump through hoops. It’s not like their new policy is going to stop the phones from ringing.
DO YOU SUPPORT OPENTABLE? #METOO
Why it matters to you: OpenTable launches a new campaign to try to help eliminate toxic restaurant culture.
OpenTable has been the leading online reservation platform for some time now, seating 25 million diners per month at over 45,000 restaurants. Not too shabby! So in a recent push to show solidarity and support with the #MeToo movement, they have launched a campaign:
“No matter who you are or your role in a restaurant, whether you work in the kitchen or front of house, everyone deserves a safe seat at the table,” OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles said in a release.
The company is encouraging any and all restaurateurs to enroll in a free webinar that will detail best practices to avoid harassment and help us move forward as an industry (in the same vein as our articles and webinar). “Everyone deserves a safe seat at the table” is an excellent example to set for restaurants. Adopt a zero-tolerance business model and nip these scenarios in the bud before they develop into something longstanding; no more sweeping under the rug. Good job OpenTable. It takes the larger players setting good examples to get the smaller ones to follow suit and we all appreciate it.
