Are big name chefs doing what they can for their staff?

[Kim Shook]

Interesting article. 

 

Eric Rivera says:  In a CNBC interview, Chang described this time first and foremost as “easily the hardest couple weeks of my life.” In a Yahoo Finance interview, Tom Colicchio said he thought that it was a bad idea for restaurants to be open for takeout, considering those restaurants would only be making $5,000 a night. He followed it up with, “But the restaurants are doing this because they’re struggling, I understand the intention, I had the same desire to make sure my staff is kept whole. But it’s just not a good thing to do right now.”  These statements reek of privilege.

[blue_dolphin]

A couple of other perspectives. 

Gabrielle Hamilton, writing about Prune in the NYT:  My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore? 

Related podcast episode of The Sunday Read: Closing the restaurant that was my life for 20 years

 

An interview with Chef Edward Lee who pivoted his Lee Initiative young chef mentoring program into an operation supporting out of work restaurant staff across the country: US restaurants band together to feed out-of-work staff

Edited April 28, 2020 by blue_dolphin
to add link (log)

[heidih]

Restaurant finances are complicated. Being a "big name" does not necessarily pencil out to big bucks - more often huge responsibility and worry.  We are in uncharted territory. 

They are trying. The articles are everywhere as the scramble progresses. Here are just 3

https://la.eater.com/2020/4/24/21235075/restaurants-deliver-home-meals-for-seniors-shelter-in-place

 

https://www.eater.com/2020/4/27/21238267/paycheck-protection-program-gets-additional-310-billion-in-funding

 

https://la.eater.com/2020/4/23/21231563/71-above-emil-eyvazoff-los-angeles-restaurant-ppp-federal-loan

[heidih]

And you have to acknowledge the extraordinary work of World Central Kitchen  (Jose Andres)  https://wck.org/chefsforamerica

[weinoo]

14 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Interesting article. 

 

Eric Rivera says:  In a CNBC interview, Chang described this time first and foremost as “easily the hardest couple weeks of my life.” In a Yahoo Finance interview, Tom Colicchio said he thought that it was a bad idea for restaurants to be open for takeout, considering those restaurants would only be making $5,000 a night. He followed it up with, “But the restaurants are doing this because they’re struggling, I understand the intention, I had the same desire to make sure my staff is kept whole. But it’s just not a good thing to do right now.”  These statements reek of privilege.

I don't think so, at least not in what Tom was saying a month ago.  He was, as he should be, worried about the health of the workers keeping those restaurants open, doing deliveries, etc. etc.  The only way to truly stop the spread is for everyone to stay the hell home; that's quite obvious.

[chromedome]

I read this a few weeks back, but it seems germane to this discussion. He's not a big-name chef, he's a billionaire who owns a major chain, but I think it's transferable. The TL;DR version? Lay everybody off and maybe survive the year, or keep everyone on payroll and be belly-up in a month or two.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/tilman-fertitta-coronavirus-interview/

[pastrygirl]

Meh.  It's easy to say what other people should or shouldn't have done. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by pastrygirl (log)