FSR May 2022

to food deserts and healthcare strain. These are all topics that have recently become more prominent in the public discourse, but Zimmern insists there’s a crucial one that’s still overlooked. “I’ve long said that the biggest issue unaddressed in the restaurant world … the one that’s never talked about, is why aren’t we able to charge on a plate in a restaurant what it costs to put the food onto the plate?” he says, adding that fine-dining, Michelin-starred restau rants are the exception. Guests expect to pay top-dollar for meals at such estab lishments. Concepts on the more casual side don’t have that luxury. “Look at restaurants in the middle. If you own a neighborhood café and you’ve charged $14.95 for the chicken plate for the last six years, your costs have gone up 300–400 percent over those six years,” he says. “But try rais ing that chicken dish to $21.95—which is probably more where it resides, if you want to pay your employees a living wage and offer them the perks and benefits that they would get at any other busi ness—and your customers will practi cally mutiny.”

MADELEINE HILL

LUCKY CRICKET SERVED LIGHTER FARE LIKE THE GREEN BUDDHA (LEFT) AND MORE INDULGENT DISHES LIKE CRISPY DUCK BAO (RIGHT).

MADELEINE HLL (2)

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

MAY 2022