The State of the (Lost) Art - Independent Talent Trading in Derring-Do for Well-Funded Corporate Job Security

[DonRocks]

Jose Andres tweeted with a picture:

"I'm so happy to welcome @carlosGDelgado to my culinary team at @chinachilcano @peru rules! @thinkfoodgroup"

Am I the only person who read this and got chills up my spine?

About a week ago, I contacted another very well-known local chef who had his own restaurant for years that probably 90% of our regular readers would be familiar with. Know where he is now? Quietly working for Neighborhood Restaurant Group. And after the years of upheaval he went through, I don't blame him one bit.

Wasn't Koji Terano working at China Chilcano too?

Is Andy Myers still the wine director for the company?

This has become a game of big-box stores and nothing more.

Do you folks *finally* understand why I've made such a big deal out of separating chains from independent restaurants? The irony is that according to the rules I set, places like "China Chilcano" qualify as an independent restaurant. I need to rethink what I've done: It isn't just the carpetbaggers coming in from other cities such as New York; Washington, DC is exploding from within, and what used to be a stage is now a stage.

[Antonio Burrell]

The reason, I suspect that Chefs are driven to larger restaurant groups, specifically NRG and Thinkfoodgroup is because there is a certain level of autonomy and creativity while retaining the security of having large corporate group behind them. Opening and operating your own business, while the dream of most Chefs, rarely returns to you anything near what you put into it, either monetarily or emotionally. Rather it is almost always an emotional and finacial drain that ends when you have to close. Dream ended. Why not take the security blanket and the money that comes with it? I still dream of my own place. Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't. I wouldn't be suprised if I'm more in the minority now than ever.

[DonRocks]

The reason, I suspect that Chefs are driven to larger restaurant groups, specifically NRG and Thinkfoodgroup is because there is a certain level of autonomy and creativity [/] while retaining the security of having large corporate group behind them. Opening and operating your own business, while the dream of most Chefs, rarely returns to you anything near what you put into it, either monetarily or emotionally. Rather it is almost always an emotional and finacial drain that ends when you have to close. Dream ended. Why not take the security blanket and the money that comes with it? I still dream of my own place. Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't. I wouldn't be suprised if I'm more in the minority now than ever.

The second part of your first sentence is correct. In fact, your entire post is correct, with the possible exception of the nine words preceding my [/]. This is what things have become; I would never have started donrockwell.com in 2005 had I known that all the beautiful, creative minds would be assimilated into The Collective.

And I look around at all sides, and I can't blame anybody for anything: The independent talents are desperate for security, and the local restaurant groups are desperate for name-brand talent. The problem is that it just isn't fun to dine out anymore because it's like shopping at Target. Nothing is real, everything is Disneyland, José Saramago's "The Cave" is throbbing in the forefront of my mind, and I can't make it go away.

It's P.T. Barnum, all over again: Phineas Taylor "P. T." Barnum (July 5, 1810 "“ April 7, 1891) was an American showman and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus.^[1] Although Barnum was also an author, publisher, philanthropist, and for some time a politician, he said of himself, "I am a showman by profession...and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me",^[2] and his personal aim was "to put money in his own coffers."

Here's some food for thought: What has changed to have made this the status quo?

[Antonio Burrell]

I would never have started donrockwell.com in 2005 had I known that all the beautiful creative minds would be assimilated into The Collective.

And I look around at all sides, and I can't blame anybody for anything.... The problem is that it just isn't fun to dine out anymore because it's like shopping at Target. Nothing is real, everything is Disneyland. José Saramago's "The Cave" is throbbing in the forefront of my mind, and I can't make it go away.

The thing that we still have to look forward to is the fact that there are a few local, small and independent restaurants that are determined to stay so. Take Crane and Turtle, Toki Underground/Maketto et al.as examples of restaurants that do what they do well. There are more examples than I can think of. What saddens me most is this endless need to capitalize and expand on a "moment". We see examples in our own city of a restaurant groups established as much if not more through the Chefs tv celebrity as their cooking. Today is all about establishing and expanding a brand as fast as possible. I remember that it took Jeff Buben almost 15 years to open Bis, many years after he won a James Beard Award. Now you don't need those kind of credibility.

[MarkS]

A friend of mine is in the finance department of one of these foods groups.  The amounts of resources and analysis that they can apply to studying food costs, trends and maximizing profit is far beyond what a chef/owner can do.

[DonRocks]

Somewhat tangential from your point, perhaps, but my impression of CC during my one brief visit there was that -- for all the glitter and delight -- it was utterly corporate. I don't know, too perfect?  The decor, the food, the drinks, the staff -- all very sort-of wonderful, but all seemingly very planned out.  The package as a whole lacked a certain, I don't know, soul, for lack of a better word.  I would certainly drop by there again, if I were in the neighborhood, but it struck me more as an expense account place than a fun place.  I guess I just like things a little rough around the edges.  

A double irony:

1) I have never been to China Chilcano, for precisely the reasons you describe (which is why I moved these posts out from that thread).

2) Your post, despite being about a restaurant in which I've never set foot, strikes directly at the heart and, dare I say, soul, of my issue.

[Tweaked]

This didn't get much attention, but following on your post Don, Drew Trautmann now the chef at Barcelona Cathedral Heights location, a tapas bar chain with 12 locations around the country.

I don't know Drew and more power to him if he is happy, but certainly a different direction from the Mid-Atlantic locavore-ism of Sonoma and the original concept for District Kitchen.

Of course this does make me want to wander over to Barcelona Cathedral Heights and check out his handiwork!

[thistle]

I can certainly understand why many chefs would prefer to focus on cooking, rather then having to be an administrator/manager-if you can cook what you like, w/ a great support system, & reach a broader audience, why not? I personally avoid chain restaurants, if I can, but I wouldn't classify Jose Andres' various restaurants as a chain, although there are quite a few of them. There's interesting differences in them & I don't see them as squeezing out small,independent restaurants.

[cheezepowder]

About Jonah Kim partnering with Mike Isabella in the Washington Post article about Yona's opening:

It didn't take long for chef Jonah Kim to grasp the benefits of hitching his rising star to Mike Isabella's expanding galaxy of restaurants. Kim instantly had access to graphic designers, contractors, PR agents, cooks, architects, a whole gamut of professionals already grounded in the business of dining.

Just as important, Kim had access to Isabella's sandwich shop, G, where the former Pabu chef could host pop-ups to prepare for Yona, his planned Japanese/Korean noodle bar and small-plates restaurant in Ballston.

...

"When you open up your first restaurant, you usually don't know all that [business] stuff because you're not dealing with that when you run a restaurant," Isabella says. "You can go out of business before you even open if you don't understand that side of the business."