Will there still be famous chefs and restaurants post-Covid-19?
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Is this the end of the super exclusive restaurant and also the celebrity chef? PICTURE: Unsplash Is this the end of the super exclusive restaurant and also the celebrity chef? PICTURE: Unsplash
Fine dining is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life. It's where the most amazing experimentation with food happens, where flavours are celebrated, risks are made and rules are broken.
It's where the world of food and sophistication meet. Add the many flavours of the perfect beverage pairings, the first class service and mostly getting your money's worth, you are likely to change the way you dine forever.
I have had the good fortune at dining at some of these establishments over the years. From going as a lifestyle journalist, to going out for celebratory dinners with friends or even treating myself to a meal after saving for some months, fine dining truly is all that it is cracked out to be.
But I doubt that I will be frequenting a restaurant anytime soon, especially a fine dining establishment. Not because I don't want to - I do. But there are many personal factors that prevent me from doing so.
Covid-19 has been cruel. It has taken bread from many people's mouths and it's tragic just how almost everyday you hear people standing outside gates and asking for food or money to buy food.
Is this the end of the super exclusive restaurant and also the celebrity chef? PICTURE: Unsplash
It has been especially hard on the restaurant and hospitality sector. Hearing of restaurant and hotel closures, retrenchments and total loss of income for many people in the industry, has become as common as getting the daily stats for Covid-19 infections.
I guess it's also a moment of reckoning for many restaurateurs too. What does the future hold for them?
Some restaurants have been very quick to find a new business model. We have seen how they have created special packages of their gourmet food delivered to homes of their patrons. Some have turned their restaurants into delis, while others have become soup kitchens and giving back to their immediate community.
Even though sit-ins at restaurants are now allowed, not being able to serve alcohol has been a huge thorn for many restaurants as bulk of their profit comes from being able to serve meals with alcohol beverages. With government regulations only allowing for at-home consumption, that has made things rather difficult for the industry.
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This past weekend I saw many restaurateurs and waiters take part in an Instagram campaign, #JobsSavesLives. From the award winning restaurant's like Chantel Dartnell Mosaic Restaurant, to some of the smallest eateries, they all held up posters, akin to the Black Lives Matter protesters around the world.
I felt a twinge of pain, especially for the waiters. Many have become waiters simply because that's the only job that they could get at the time. People with degrees have had to scrape for job opportunities and try their hand at something they didn't plan on doing. It's disheartening to see and you can sometimes tell in the service they give that they don't want to be there.
I love talking to waiters. I always feel it's important to be kind and respectful to them and see them more than the person serving you food. I like to see them as important individuals, who use their skills to provide a service to you. Hence I find tipping well, important, too. There have been times where I have seen waiters being ill-treated my restaurant managers in front of patrons and always left me with a very sour feeling. I rarely return to that restaurant when that happens.
There are reports that there are plans for a nationwide protest this week to save the restaurant industry.
Restaurant Association of SA (Rasa) chief executive Wendy Alberts told The Mercury that the industry planned to get “a million seats on the streets” in a legal nationwide protest next week to save restaurant businesses that had been decimated during lockdown.
Even in the midst of all this bad news, I do believe there are some solutions. We have seen chefs in Asia do special packages, deliver them to their patrons and then join them virtually to introduce each course, you know, like how it would happen in a restaurant. While that may work very well, I also think we will see more chefs and restaurateurs go the private chef route.
I have already seen a number of chefs in KwaZulu-Natal prepare meals for their clients in their homes, creating a fine dining, restaurant-esque vibe. I would personally go for this, especially after making sure that the chef and assistants have done the proper tests and make sure that hygiene levels are even more stringent.
Other restaurants and chefs are doing cook-a-long webinars, which has aided in humanising the industry too. I don't think anyone minds paying for what is guaranteed to be a great opportunity to learn how to make a special dish from a brilliant chef.
But I can't help but think about the the future - is the time of superstar chefs and award winning restaurants over?
Is this the end of the super exclusive restaurant and also the celebrity chef? PICTURE: Unsplash
There has been a lot of backlash towards many celebrity chefs and the restaurant industry around the world. Waiters, cooks and back staff have been speaking out about the horrible treatment they get from chef-owners at their restaurants. From racism allegations, sexism to horrific working conditions.
That moment of reckoning hasn't happened in South Africa yet. I think with everybody focusing on the job losses, hardly any one has been calling out the ill-treatment of restaurant staff. I have tried to speak to waiters, but many have been afraid to speak because they fear losing their jobs. However change is necessary for the industry when they are fully operational.
We want the restaurant industry to survive. I want them to get back to the glory days. But I also hope that there is more compassion shown to workers in the industry. The chef and owner may be the face of the restaurant, but unless you are known, the service levels are not the same and yet every single patron is important and even if it takes for the chef or owner to come out and greet their patrons and show gratitude, that needs to happen.
There needs to be better treatment of staff. The over-reliance on tips from patrons needs to end. Pay your staff a living wage. Celebrate your cooks, especially when they come up with a great recipe that elevates your restaurant. Give them their dues.
They are the ones who make the magic happen, after all. It takes a team to make a restaurant amazing and I guess food writers have also been complicit in only paying attention to the chef owners and making them icons of the industry, without checking how they treat their staff.
Covid-19 has been a time that reminds us of the importance of compassion and kindness towards each other. It's not just this industry, but also humanity that needs to change and become better people.