🍴⚖ Is F&B Industry Fair? 🍴

Welcome back to yet another edition of "On The House" the newsletter that feeds your inbox like an outdoor grill party.

Let's jump right in and whip up some excitement in the world of hospitality, shall we?

On today's 3-minute menu:

You’ve Never Seen a Menu Broken Down Like This Before!

Have you ever stopped to think about how much work goes into creating a restaurant menu?

Each one has its own vibe and flavor, but it's crazy to think about how much goes into making it happen.

Here is the one average menu broken down in a different way:

An average restaurant menu comprises 75 menu items.
These 75 items consist of 135 unique recipes.

These 135 recipes are then divided into 4 different categories:
Food Cost, Menu Glossary / Bibble, Book of Recipes, POS recipes - resulting in 540 recipes.

For a moderately complex restaurant, these 135 different recipes consist of 420 ingredients.

These unique 420 ingredients usually fall into 3 different price ranges, leading us to work with 1260 ingredients while engineering a menu.

This amount of ingredients typically requires 15-20 different suppliers, though sometimes it can even go up to 50 suppliers.

In the end, you will use 8-12 suppliers for your ingredients.

Behind every ingredient and recipe lies a particular story. Sometimes it's very basic and short, but other times it's unique and long. So, in one menu, you have approximately 550 unique stories.

If converted to an A5 book with a font size of 8, that would be 43 pages with pictures and 11 pages without pictures.

Let's assume you are not the person who engineered this menu, so you need to learn all of this material.

Remembering 550 stories is no easy task.

By conservative estimates, you need 7-10 days to learn everything only by reading. If you include listening, it can be done in 5-7 days. If you include teaching or working, it can be done in 4-5 days even then you are not fully confident to know he whole stich.

It's important to remember that adapting to a new menu may take some time and effort. Don't be too hard on yourself if you don't remember everything perfectly right away.

Make sure you have that material by your hand and don’t be shy asking for help.

MrBeast Burger: A Whopping Lawsuit Spells Trouble for Cloud Kitchens

MrBeast Burger, the brainchild of the YouTube sensation Jimmy Donaldson, took the nation by storm, serving up one million burgers in just three months! Impressive, right? But, as the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Some customers weren't exactly lovin' it and decided to blast the meals as "revolting, disgusting, and inedible," leading to the Burger empire facing a whopping lawsuit.

Now, don't get us wrong, MrBeast's marketing prowess and philanthropic endeavors are commendable. From giving away stacks of cash to treating customers to free food and spreading smiles, he knows how to captivate an audience. But the latest legal hiccup has cloud kitchens everywhere sweating like a deep-fried nugget.

Cloud kitchens, with no physical presence but delivering meals through apps, have been all the rage lately, boasting over 1,500 ghost kitchens in the US alone. MrBeast's burger success in the virtual realm was a case study in marketing wizardry and food innovation. However, the recent lawsuit begs the question: Are cloud kitchens really the silver bullet for the restaurant industry?

The future of cloud kitchens is now under scrutiny. While they offer efficiency and convenience, this latest legal tussle proves that the virtual food world isn't invincible. As the restaurant industry navigates the post-pandemic landscape, it's clear that striking the right balance between innovation and customer satisfaction is key. Cloud kitchens, we're looking at you!

So, as we await the verdict of this burger bonanza, let's remember that no matter how virtual the kitchen, the taste buds of customers are as real as it gets. Whether you're flipping patties or savoring the flavors, let's hope this legal showdown serves as a wake-up call for the evolving world of food delivery.

Is F&B Industry Fair?

In the UAE restaurant industry, there is significant competition between established brands and personal network-based businesses.

It appears that the success of simple brands is largely due to the network of individuals rather than the restaurant's offerings.

However, this is still a great way to start and maintain a business, and some believe it is a bedrock for a thriving enterprise.

This leads to the question of whether brand goals and values truly matter or if ingredient sourcing is essential.

Interestingly, homegrown pizza and burger joints have higher business success rates than some of the homegrown brands that rank high on the most lucrative gastronomy lists.

While this may seem unfair, it is the nature of business, and it is okay.

Ultimately, the only important thing is to execute your business successfully. So, what is better: high quality or a thriving business? We believe it is a combination of both.

There is a sweet spot where good gastronomic products meet a great following, but these are rare exceptions.

They create the rule that we need both models to succeed- one thriving in the industry in an economic sense, and the other pushing its boundaries relentlessly.

We wouldn't have it any other way in the end.

Keep pushing boundaries, refining your craft, and spreading the hospitality love.

Stay sharp and keep making waves!

Weekly Angry Chef Meme