Dining options are infused with excitement and mystery
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- June 8, 2018
- 1766
In so many areas of our society, revolutions are happening so rapidly that keeping up can seem like shoveling fleas around the barnyard.
The entire retail picture has changed in the blink of an eye, forcing well-known brick and mortar stores out of business. We like to blame the 20- and 30-somethings who’ve come of age in the new century for the demise of old warhorses like Sears and JC Penney, but the fact is things just change, and the world is a very different place than it was even 10 years ago.
And change is nothing new. Ask anyone who used to depend on the railroad industry for their livelihood.
How we purchase just about everything has been reimagined. Soon we’ll be able to order local groceries online and pick them up at the store, bagged and paid for from home with no human interaction.
Education is in a major shift as well, and it’s hard to imagine what “school” will look like in 20 years. The combination of easy distance learning, instantly available information, lack of government interest in funding, a large support system for homeschooling and parental fear of school shootings starts to look like writing on the wall for traditional educational models.
The food service business is certainly changing, and that is very exciting. You see young adults are used to looking for ways to route around traditional models to get what they want, writing the script as they go.
With unfathomably high student loan debt, difficulty in finding good-paying and — often more importantly to them — meaningful work, and an understandable distrust for the institutions built by their parents and grandparents, they’ve become good at getting what they want on the cheap. They seek experiences rather than things, and they’re remaking the world as we know it.
Themed chain restaurants are out, marked as dull, overpriced and family-noisy.
Microbreweries and small, independent joints offering something interesting to eat at a justifiable price fare better.
Even usually packed Cracker Barrel is scrambling to stem the decline in diners, trying things like online pre-seating (millennials will stand in line for concerts but not chain eatery food) to stay alive.
It’s the food young people had no choice but to eat with their parents, and all that carefully placed old stuff on the wall is just dusty hoarder junk to them.
People with talent are getting into the food service business in new ways, looking for models that circumvent traditional, massive, up-front capital costs and partner debt. Food trucks are an example of this, and the concept has already gained a solid footing in cities large and small.
Brunch is a big deal now, and small restaurants striking for those middle-of-the-day hours are seeing success, offering lighter, interesting menus and an excuse to drink mimosas before the more respectable 5 p.m. hour.
Underground restaurants are perhaps the most fascinating new opportunity to eat interesting food in an event setting. With extremely limited seating (often in the chef’s home), an almost hand-picked guest list and rarefied gourmet menus, everyone benefits.
Cooks get a toe in the water to test concepts, recipes and their own stomach for the realities of the business, and diners get to eat something amazing. The whole experience is infused with excitement and mystery.
Even in our area I’ve found someone offering real-deal Asian cuisine as an underground concept. Two nights a week, menus are texted to those in the know. Return text your order; get the price, time and address; and pick up something delicious and completely different from standard Chinese restaurant fare.
I love living in the future.