1765 - the restaurant is born.
Adopted from the French word “to restore”, it was a place a weary traveller or someone feeling under the weather could purchase healthy, restorative soup.
Previously, food was served in taverns tightly controlled by guilds. Cafes, a hundred years before, served only coffee, licquers and cheeses.
The “table d’hote” served by taverns was a shared meal format, were you paid for what you ate, but the times were set and unpredictable, different from one tavern to the next.
1782 saw the first menu and al la carte restaurant. It was a huge success.
The French Revolution (1789) saw an explosion in amazing chefs out of work, as the noble houses were toppled.
By 1802, over 500 restaurants were spread across Paris.
Kitchens were chaotic places, without set recipes and processes; unclean, rowdy and with alcohol flowing.
It wasn’t until Escoffier codified recipes and, drawing from his military experience, structured the kitchen brigade.
His Le guide culinaire was published in the 1903, drawing from his lifetime of experience. It is still used today.
This was one of the key, pivotal points in the hospitality industry’s history.
Fast forward to 2024, and our beloved industry is again at a historical pivot point.
This time, it is Business Models, and not recipes.
For 25 years, Hospitality has followed a random rule of thirds; 30% COGs, 30% Labour and 30% profit.
No venues follow a true rule of thirds. And trying to leads to failure.
And just like the basic ingredients for a loaf of bread; flour, salt, yeast, water and fat (butter or oil) are the same for almost every type of bread, different proportions and different techniques produce dramatically different results.
This is true for venues; they each need to discover their own unique proportions for each of these key elements for them to thrive.
This extends to labour and service models, and even to which technology to adopt.
For those venues that do codify, and define their internal models, they will thrive and lead the charge into a new and dynamic way of creating and managing our venues in our beloved hospitality industry.
And enjoy the most favourable trading conditions in a generation.
Peiso #timeisnow
Regional Sales Manager
3moThat’s been my path too, love seeing people switch careers and thrive