Kerry Altiero is a consultant, a chef and the former owner of Cafe Miranda in Rockland. He lives in Owls Head. It was just as we got revved up and reopened our restaurant after the pandemic, full speed β and headed for the wall. Not all this Nostradamus-ishness was completely accurate, but here it is. Names have been omitted to protect the innocent. We blew it. We had the opportunity to change, no, to fix the way we treated ourselves, our staff and the way we did business.
Thank you, Food Network, for taking us kitchen folks from behind the swinging doors to rock-star status. Well, that and the glorifying of the seriously negative food-throwing, self-indulgent rages and general diva-ness. We could go on about art and misbehaving for days, but if you surgeon, car mechanic or insurance agent acted like that β¦?
And yes, there was this plague that shut us down, that made us pivot till we were dizzy, made us spend, made us get dollars from the government and, in many cases, made us disappear. Please note abbreviated hours, closed sections of tables and fewer days open. Less cash flow but all the same fixed expenses.
This is a recipe for trouble. Aside from seeing family and friends, the most missed and anticipated activity post-plague was eating out. Do you recall when beer was just beer? The handmade, the personal, the soulful and special. So, they charge the bucks. A Windsor chair made by a local craftsperson will also hold said glutes, but the experience is different. It comes down to value. The Windsor will last for generations. Well, you know.
What do our colleagues do differently? They do things we never really addressed. The days of the prima donna chef are, as I see it, toast. The suffering hero mindset should be taken out and keelhauled. The craft brewers and distillers merely offered what any business that requires people does. They offered flexible schedules, living wages, bennies, a life. As one of the great staffers at my recently closed Cafe Miranda pointed out years ago, there were very few young folks getting into the business.
