The Buzz of Food Entrepreneurship
By: Kevin Rivadeneyra
Tags: Hospitality Industry, Food, Business, Entrepreneurship, Restaurant

Food festival in Lima, Perú. Photograph taken by Kevin Rivadeneyra

The speed at which information arrives at us is fascinating. More specifically, I can´t recall a single day in the last couple of years where I didn´t saw an ad or post on my feed about a new food joint in town. But if there are so many, why do they seem to lose their buzz after a year or so? Did these close down? And if thats the case what ensures success for the new food entrepreneur?

Early bird tickets

I wake up at 4:30 am every day at the sound of Lostprophets The Fake Sound Of Progress(my alarm´s ringtone these days, I change it every month), grab the phone, and open any app, knowing that whatever my fingertip touches in the utter darkness of the room will bring me to the same result; an add, a post or whatever something, advertising a new food business.

Back in my teens, the stream of information you´d get would come a bit more paused and it made the world, more digestible; or at least it allowed you the time to process stuff. Now in my early 30s, as expected I have little time to give into my hobbies and it doesn’t seem to be changing the older I become, add to that the ever-increasing speed at which information is readily available to us and I can nervously conclude that I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair back in seventy-seven and sixty-nine.

I came back to Perú in the early 00s. After a couple of years living abroad, being back felt strange, like traveling to the past and, cable along with dial-up internet was all that kept me linked to what I had come to know as normal. Every Monday, when the top 10 charts aired on MTV I´d be there. Never missing an airing as it meant to me what attending to church was to others in my community. Later that week, I´d go to a part of town where they´d sell pirated music CDs for a dollar and a half or so, scout for the names I saw on the charts, and bring them back to my room where I´d play them in solitude track by track, trying to put myself in the same situation as the lyrics that were sung.

And just like MTV, I used to watch another couple of music channels that were airing at the time and there were so many of them, practically a show for every type of big genre, what a time to still be a teen. Now, there´s so much new content coming out every single day, it´s almost impossible to process it all. My Spotify, Youtube, and Soundcloud feed more than something to be grateful for, have become a roux of anxiety and FOMO. When I was young, so much younger than today, we would mock and make fun of those whose musical taste would encircle only what was playing on the radio at the moment. I fear I’ve been reduced to the same.

Something similar is happening in the world of food entrepreneurship, actually with everything but let’s keep it to the food scene for simplicity´s sake. Since how long? No idea, but it came clear to me that it was the state of things since I joined a food business incubator almost three years ago.

Hit-singles and one-hit wonders

In a world of colorful buns, alt-starches amped up aioli, and pickled obscure veggies, the biggest amount of decency or decor you´ll get to see in a burger can probably come from a Big Mac. Food entrepreneurs are going wild with what they are putting out nowadays. Novelty is key, it always has been, but not so much at the forefront as today, where ´craft´ has become a synonym of trendy and artisan its paradigm.

If I had to write in-depth about the current food scene here in Perú(which I will in another article), what isn´t going on anyway? Dominated by a crop of talented young chefs with internet-amped ideas, abroad cooking experiences and refined technique doing novel takes on traditional Peruvian cuisine, add to that the gargantuan pantry of produce Perú has and it’s a ride you want to tag along, a story you want to read or a show you don´t want to miss an episode of.

Yet, as woke as it all sounds, it´s hard to find a place where these ideas from newcomers can be heard and taken seriously, so most recur to small pop-up restaurants or dark kitchen-based operations as it is relatively easy to set up but as easy as it comes into being, its buzz fades away rather quickly just like a hit-single or one-hit-wonder. So what factors come into play in the demise of a food business? Can novelty be enough to keep patrons ordering food in the long run?

Is novelty enough?

Consistency, a word everyone mentions when talking about good restaurants and food brands, is certainly what first comes to mind when trying to answer these questions. So is having it the answer?

Well no, several other details matter more but haven’t had the airtime they deserve. You see, having consistency in the food industry means the minimum expected; that you care and have enough moral decency to not let the consumer eat shrimp that has gone bad or serve a smaller portion of food than on previous occasions at the same price while denying said change. But the word has been too romanticized by tv shows, movies, and food pop culture in general.

To me, the most important factor that can make most[hold this word for a moment] of small food businesses pass the test of time in my 15+ year’s of experience in the industry is:

The kind of purchase your food is cataloged into.

Wants and needs

What you want you buy once or twice seldom, what you need you make room for in your monthly budget. That´s the reason why I advise strongly against going ape-wild with obscure ingredients and instead, focus on keeping the broadest niche of consumers. People are getting fancier and pickier I am aware, but fancy comes with a big price tag increase both on the produce and the prep process. To put it bluntly, it’s crazy difficult for a food business to live it out long term if what you are offering is a want and not a need.

Side detail here, I work at a food incubator and always give simple advice at first as to not overstress the starting entrepreneur and only get into the grit and dirt if they decide that what I say, makes enough sense and choose to follow along. What is this starting piece of advice you ask? –keep it as fancy as you can at the cost of a mid-priced KFC combo –something that offers a bit more value than the basic but that’s affordable enough to be bought two or more days a week for most people. A want purchase will keep your business open for a day, recurring ones will keep it open for a lifetime, maybe not that long.

Right. But how do you do that? There are a lot of aspects to make this happen, it is as complex as Coltrane’s giant steps, but I am going to talk about the big three in this article.

Lean should be the lenght of the menu

Just like the sleeve of a 33", the menu should be eye-catching and the information printed should add up, not take away from the effort. Short and simple enough to let the brand blend with its items, that´s a sound plan and it should serve your business well. Although, complicating things seem to be inherently human and as a result, many end up with either a menu that, in an effort to try to cater for all tastes, ends up as long as a Dream Theater song or a list that is so woke that gets as complicated as Ornette Coleman´s chord changes.

Peruvian creole food restaurant menu, photograph taken by Kevin Rivadeneyra

There are two aspects to talk about, the visuals and the content itself. Although I do have my share of pointers about the first, learned through sheer experience, I will keep myself to the other.

As a general rule and in most cases, the menu shouldn´t be larger than what can fit into 3/4 of an A4 paper, you gotta leave space for that logo, the name, and the doodles after all. And it should be middle-centered, as to let the guest’s eyes position easily on what´s important.

About the structure itself, just as your pop standards, you want to keep it within three parts. I mean three, three, three or three, five, three, lean and radio-friendly. Ok, what am I talking about you say? Entries, main dishes, and desserts, of course, I relate everything to music haven´t you noticed?

Now now, there is a reason behind giving few choices and a reason why it should be three. First of all, there´s an inner want in people to search for options, so giving just `one´ will drive them to look for alternatives somewhere else. Albeit, give too many and you´ll probably get them fleeing from choice overload.

Three is the magic number sang Sharon Hoon in one of his lasts recordings and there´s a couple of reasons for that; the number I mean, the rest is a tragedy that to this day saddens me deeply. You see, when people are presented with three choices they end up almost unknowingly choosing the middle one most of the time and that´s the first reason(by the way that´s your cue to where you should place your most profitable menu items). The second one, if you google about the right number of choices to give to consumers, you´ll probably find numbers ranging between 7 or 9, but as my subheader reads, we want to keep things lean. That translates into keeping costs down and overall, the whole supply chain pretty straightforward.

Purveyors and the art of never buying wrongly

“Take the best of the ingredients from every stage of their lifespan. That’s what real beauty is: to make something valuable out of something that might be seen as not having any value at all”. Massimo Bottura

You gotta be smart about the produce you buy and work with a no leftovers policy in mind. Basic pointers:

When you buy in bulk, purveyor prices go down. What you don´t need to use right away, freeze. Remember, frozen food is only bad when the storing and reheating processes are done incorrectly.

If it doesn´t fit into a sauce, smoke it, cut it fancy, maybe dehydrate it or deep fry it and use it as garnish. Not suitable as a garnish? Turn it into spice.

Invest in a vacuum sealer and a big freezer. Pricey yes, but will help you save money in the long run(details for another blog post). Do big batches, vacuum seal it, and freeze it. It´s the way to go on cutting production hours and makes your service, speedy. And perhaps, will save you a couple of heads on the payroll.

Buy stuff on the season and renew your menu´s items accordingly. What´s cheap and big on disposal goes, get rid of the rest. Consistency is about quality not about modifiability.

Keeping your band together

Keeping staff turnover low is a hefty ordeal to any food entrepreneur. It is no secret the industry holds the thoughtest and most underpaid gigs. Add to that, the long hours and as the busiest days of the week approach, you got yourself an increasing percentage of errors and accidents out of sheer exhaustion. There is a lot to talk about this subject, but here´s a magic trick:

Close two days, open five. By giving your staff proper time to have a life, maybe pursue their side gigs and rest, you´ll be rewarded with loyalty and a good attitude, that in return renders an excellent service and job ambient, but it doesn´t mean long hours for the next 5 days mind you. Try split shifts where half your staff starts earlier and the other, later on, the day. And if you can and you really should, find a place to set up comfy chairs where they can rest during the off hours. Free coffee is a plus. The extra off time will also benefit you. Resting, I´ve heard it does wonders on productivity and if you don´t feel like it, try searching for other streams of income, be wise.

Final thoughts

The perspective I give on this article is based on my experience in Perú´s food scene and although I’m referring to a certain type of food business, I believe the tips and pointers given in this article, can apply regardless of the location. Universally speaking, the type of food you finally decide to do, is what determines the business model you should strive to build upon. Bad food is made by chefs who are indifferent or who are trying to be everything to everybody, who are trying to please everyone, that´s Bourdain´s biggest reminder for us all.