Don’t be so Intolerant

25 years ago a vegetarian customer trying to eat in a non-vegetarian restaurant was at best treated like an inconvenience and even worse in some places. It was quite some while before interesting and tasty vegetarian dishes began to appear.

Today that unspoken pariah status has moved to customers who have food allergies or intolerance’s. It’s estimated that by 2015 up to 40% of the population will suffer from a food intolerance or food allergy. If that unfortunate prediction becomes a reality then restaurants will need to completely rethink how they operate and accommodate people who have to be so careful what they eat.

The forward thinkers out there will get a jump on their competition by approaching the problem as a business opportunity. That said as a chef I know that we in the kitchen will be given even more job responsibilities without any extra staff or pay (as usual).

There are lots of difficult scenario’s that could be detrimental to mainstream restaurants. If owner’s ban the use of certain ingredients (such as nuts) for fear of legal/financial comebacks. Or the focus on ingredient information (in the case of bought in foods) or the handling/storage and seperation of ingredients become so intense that it lessens the focus on the quality of the cooking. Perhaps if extra staff is needed it might push up the cost of eating out?

We need to look at the other end of the problem...and find out why the numbers of allergy sufferers continues to grow and ask the question.… Can we reverse the trend if the food is free of pesticides, E numbers, hormones and growth enhancers?

Last year I managed to get my hands on a copy of a book called the Allergy Catering Manual by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson. Both allergy sufferers and restaurateurs will find the book full of useful information. Though I thought some of the advice was impractical, other parts were imminently sensible and would help both the customer and the restaurant. You can find more info at www.allergycateringmanual.com

What’s in a name?

On a slightly less serious note, some years ago whilst living in the US I dated a very nice lady by the name of Susan. Originally, Susan worked in the retail business but decided to change profession (in retrospect perhaps to work similar hours to make it easier for us to see each other)….but I was too young and immersed in my own work at *The Hay Adams to really notice her sacrifice.

After taking several management courses Susan took the position of assistant manager at a pizza restaurant. At the time of her joining the restaurant it was one of five successful area restaurants owned by a group of partners. A few months into her new job the partnership decided to split up. Two partners kept 3 of the pizza restaurants; the other 2 restaurants (including the one Susan worked at) were retained by the other partner, Joe.

The original concept of all five restaurants was simple but had proved very successful. You collect your raw pizza base from a counter go to the topping bar

(just like a salad bar) where the customers could top their own pizza with anything they liked. You then handed you pizza back in at the counter and it was cooked and brought to your table.

Joe had kept the 2 prime locations in return he had to change his recipes and come up with a new name. Joe spared no expense and hired a top Washington PR Company to come up with a new name and logo. Wanting the re-launch to be a media event Joe really pushed the boat out by hiring a big name daytime soap star to headline a day of activities, which included autograph signing, get photographed next to your local sports star and freebie bags & balloons for kids.

It was all so carefully planned and the local TV news & radio teams turned up to give the re-launched restaurants maximum publicity. On top of all the expense of the re-launch day Joe paid $100,000 dollars for the new name the PR Company came up with.

When Susan told me the planned new name, I could not believe my ears or that such an astute businessman had paid $100,000 for that! As the soap star attempted to unveil the new name the material got snagged on the neon letters. As this minor problem was sorted out and the name revealed, a child shouted …look Mom…Pizza Poison. The unfortunate misreading of the new name seemed to ring around the place, and was even captured by the news cameramen. Pizza PiesON was in fact the new name but it was soon called by all Pizza Poison.

The PR whiz explained that the PiesOn part referred to the fact you built your own pizza pie, I told him if you had to explain the name to people, perhaps it wasn’t the best choice.

18 months later the doors closed for good on Joe’s 2 restaurants, for some reason people didn’t want to buy their pizzas anymore……go figure?

P.s The TV star played the part of a doctor in the long running day time soap General Hospital another one of life’s little ironies.

*The Hay Adams in a top rated hotel just across the road from the White House.

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Don’t be so Intolerant