Struggling to find your edge? Your point of difference?
The restaurant ecosystem is under pressure. More than usual. Even top performers are having to close some doors. We’re all sailing rough seas.
Too much competition? No staff? Or just a public struggling with the cost of living – not thanks to the banks still raking it in. But that’s another issue.
With hundreds of interviews of top chefs under my belt, and a 25 year run of ten successful restaurants when I always seemed to hit the zeitgeist, finding your compass point is now more needed than usual:
Here are three things that will help you find your way.
With a shortage of chefs and massive competition, every new head chef and entrepreneur must struggle with the curve balls that this era is throwing at them. Cooking is no longer seen as fire and tradition driven. No, no, science has poked its perky head in there thanks to Ferran Adrià and Heston Blumenthal.
A chef now is expected to produce an exciting blend of old-fashioned cooking and modern laboratory. To push the envelope, to amaze and excite, to invent. To be a wizard.
It’s terrifying, exhilarating and madness all at the same time. So if you’re starting out your journey and trying to feel your way so that you swim rather than drown, try to keep in mind just three things that will help you find your compass point for home.
- Look inside first. That’s your direction for finding what truly excites you about cooking and why you’re here in the first place. Yes, enjoy what others do, explore, educate yourself, expand your knowledge. But don’t lose touch with that inner knowing that sets you on your home course. You know what I’m talking about? When you cook something that feels perfect for you. A dish or dishes that are the sum total of your ability, sense and nous. Then build on that.
I reviewed a restaurant a while ago that’s Italian through to its bootstraps and has been firing for 26 years. In the same spot. A few menu tweaks here and there, some freshening of the décor over the years, but on the whole? It’s perfect in its own sense of self. Customers love it, and they turn tables two and three times a night every night while competitors look on and sigh. D’Angelo’s knows the game.
- 2. Look outside next. Look at industry trends, fashions, icons who like pied pipers call the hit tune of the moment that we all dance to. Observe, but never lose sight of that inner sense of what’s right for you. One of my friends recently worked for 3 days with Marco Pierre White, an experience he described as ‘“surreal, and Marco told me he’s now a fan of ‘bottle cooking’!”
I laughed, “What the hell is bottle cooking?” “It’s using pre-made sauces and mixes to add the flavours and depth, and it’s easy. At least I think that’s what he meant”, said Mark, then he added, “But who knows? He might have been just taking the mickey! It’s Marco,” he shrugged. What’s that lesson, you might ask? Don’t take any of it too seriously.
3. Look outside further now, at your market. Most marketing consultants will say ‘name your avatar, know their smallest wishes and movements.’
You know what I say? In restaurants, you can’t do that. You might want to, because you think it’s easy, or easier, but ultimately, restaurants survive because they have a broader appeal. Who will dine at yours then? Picture your restaurant full of happy diners, and go through them, table by table, put them in your internal video screen and watch them as they’re seated, they read the menu, order, chat, eat, and then send compliments to the chef, to you.
Bend down to them. What are they saying? Listen, listen, listen. Get to know them. Personally. Ask their names.
Train your front of house staff to KNOW their customers.
And recognise them each time they visit. THAT is what builds a restaurant.
Hopefully, for your sake, there’s a cross-section of the community there enjoying your food because it’s good, and true to you. The food carries the warmth of your personality and care in every bite.
Yes, you probably want some of the influencers there because you’re on the money and hot, and they’ll help get the message out, but if you’re picturing solely a trendy crowd of wanna-be’s then forget it, because like locusts they’ll strip your place bare and then move on to the next.
And you can never be all things to all people. Don’t even try. It’s all about balance.
Every top chef I’ve interviewed freely admits they’ve found their compass point. Home, deep inside them an intuition that clanged loud enough to point them in the right direction for them.
What does this all mean? Just be true to yourself. Don’t try too hard. Know what you’re doing and why. Authenticity, integrity and personality will take you a long way. Find your north on your internal compass and go for it, and good luck.
CMG
www.justthesizzle.com
