Please, No: Your Phone Should Not Eat First

There’s a bell curve for aesthetics - too little is bad but too much is even worse. 

This is true for hospitality, but true for most industries. Still, knowing that no one enjoys the cost of going out going up, let’s explore this with more fun examples.

Even with the best football boots and starring in ads for the most popular brands, he wouldn’t be this successful of a football player if he didn’t bring the value of his skills to the teams he’s played for. Beyonce’s new album wouldn’t be a success if she hadn’t been working hard on her voice, songs, concert performances and all the quality she brings to the music industry. Even the greatest outfits wouldn’t  be enough if she wasn’t the best artist of all time. (My more tuned-in team members tell me Cowboy Carter is out, so I thought I would ride on the hype).  

Aesthetics matter, making things look good matters, but only if it’s enhancing value (not covering up the lack of it). 

Nowhere is this more true than in hospitality. 

There is a rather large restaurant chain in the UK that has a ‘premium’ brand of pubs and restaurants. They have huge budgets that they use to create pretty buildings with nice landscaping (but with terrible cutlery and glassware! More on this shortly). 

Yes, it looks amazing, and people are tempted to visit these chains because they're considered high-quality, and they do look good. But these looks should complement great cooking, lovely service and well-sourced drinks, not make up for a lack of them. By investing so much in the visuals, they then need to (or want to) charge premium rates for average food and drinks made from budget ingredients. It’s just not value for money. But because they have a big brand (or great interior), people are willing to pay more. This is leading to the independent, local, ‘small’ restaurants struggling, because they don’t have the financial backing to match the ‘glamour’.

Let’s do a small experiment. Look at the shots from restaurants below. 

Imagine these are super fancy restaurants, the kind of where you pay at least $200 per person. They present themselves as the highest quality because designer X made a project of their interior, influencer Y organised their birthday there, and they have chairs made by Philippe Starck and a great selfie spot in the bathroom. Even the food looks quite amazing. 

So, guess what? On the first plate, you have frozen and deep-fried chicken nuggets; then there’s a banana dessert made from raw slices of fruit and some ready-made whipped cream. The last one is a fish with broccoli in this fancy, fine-dining style serving. However, the fish is 4 days old, the broccoli was frozen, and the drops of green olive oil… let’s not even think about it. Great for Instagram pics, not great for your stomach. Or your wallet.

We often fall into the trap of quantity over quality or appearances over the actual deliverable. A burger can cost even $100 dollars if it’s made from local produce, based on a unique recipe, with fresh ingredients from local providers, etc. 

It can even be served on a paper plate from a quite ugly-looking food truck (unless it’s all clean, of course). Reminder: there are two Michelin-star food trucks in Singapore.  

Business owners and companies are facing the pressure to spend excessive time on social media to promote their offerings and spend excessive amounts of money to make sure their interiors look amazing and fancy enough to catch the audience’s eye. This is not bad, up and until they compromise the quality of what's most important: their food and their service. 

Consumer education is a key part of ensuring our restaurants, pubs, bars and takeaways survive. It is no secret how badly the industry has been affected by COVID-19, Brexit and the huge price increases over the last few years. Restaurants cannot be cheap anymore if they are looking after their team, paying them well, and buying local, good quality ingredients (which supports the planet and other local businesses and the local community). If we’re making a decision on where to go based on how it looks, that should include how their products list looks (not just if they have an Instagram wall!)

In summary:

If you want steak - go to the restaurant with the tastiest steak. Fancy a glass of wine? Pop to that wine bar with the awesome list and great team who know all about it. And if you want to look at a stunning interior with fancy cushions, go to Restoration Hardware/Next at Home. I recommend you bring your own snack.