I follow a lot of chefs on Twitter. I’m not sure why, exactly. Like many Twitter users, what they have to say is sometimes wonderful and enlightening; other times it’s just the stupid banter they exchange with their peers. There is the odd recipe link or photo to some food porn picture they’ve taken but one thing that seems to be a constant is they tweet about going out to eat.
You might find it odd that people who run kitchens and make food for a living would choose to spend their down-time on the other side of the pass-through but I don’t. In fact, I think it’s a great business point.
Instead of calling it “going out to eat,” maybe the right term is “professional development.” It doesn’t much matter in what business you work – if you’re not spending time eating your own dog food, you’re not keeping up. I always wondered about the folks with whom I worked in sports TV who admitted they hadn’t seen any of the big events over a weekend. I realize that people have lives to live but they probably also have DVRs.
One of the big put-downs in digital has always (OK, so at least since 2001) been “that’s so 2000.” The heart of that insult is that you’re not keeping up (and in digital, things move in dog years). That may be because you’re not eating out enough – you’re not getting outside of your own place and seeing what’s going on in other successful businesses.
I’m always intrigued by the places that are always busy yet where the food is just OK. What’s the secret? I’ve also wondered that about competitors (and still do) that I know are (let’s say this politely) not serving the best quality product but are always busy and doing very well. What’s the secret? There’s really no way to find that out without sampling their wares and without talking to their customers.
So for this Foodie Friday, make some reservations – see what’s out there. You can thank me on Monday!
Consult Keith 