Today the Zagats have expanded to 40 dining markets, as well as hotels, retail food markets, resorts, spas, airlines, car rentals and, most recently at the suggestion of their son, city nightlife. Feature writers should take their readers deeper into the restaurant world, showing them what goes on behind the kitchen door. Almost two-thirds of restaurant complaints are about service quality, not food. Celebrity chefs, such as Emeril and Wolfgang Puck are no longer cooking but running institutional businesses, making television appearances and writing books. In the past two years, food prices and restaurant spending have spiked after surviving years of inflation unscathed.
Many people dream of starting their own restaurant.
Behind the kitchen door, from which fantastic dishes magically emerge, there are lots of obscure gadgets and machines. It's still a man's world, even at the dinner table, surveyors told Zagat. Eighty percent of those polled said men are treated better when dining out. There's blatant discrimination in restaurant hiring, especially in certain ethnic places and for specific positions. On-line restaurant reservations may revolutionize dining out.