FSR May 2022

ANDREW ZIMMERN

As so many operators intimately understand, two crucial forces are driv ing these reactions. First are the arti ficially low prices some restaurants— mostly fast-food chains—have peddled for decades. On this matter, Zimmern is especially blunt, calling into question processing methods, such as preserv ing meats through ammonia hydroxide. These practices scare consumers, he says, but only when they’re paying attention (case in point: the occasional outcry over the pink slime in beef, followed by sev eral years of general apathy). Instead, the more lasting impact is a skewed understanding of what food— real food—costs, he says. When consum ers can order a meal for $5, it can be hard to convince them to pay double or even triple the cost for better quality. The second and perhaps more insid ious dynamic is the growing number of people who are priced out of healthy food, whether at restaurants or in gro cery stores. “There’s a tremendous problem with who can afford to eat what. So if we’re telling people to eat healthy and to eat fruit and to eat fish, well, that’s more expensive. But can we afford not to, and I think the answer is we can’t afford not to; we have to change as a society,” Zim mern says. “If I’m eating healthier, I’m less of a drain on the healthcare system, on the criminal justice system, on the economic development system, on the insurance system, because I’m not using them as often.” Multiple studies support this assess ment. Most recently, a report funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute found poor eating habits result in $50 billion in healthcare costs associ ated with conditions like heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. And that number doesn’t take into account other costs, such as lost wages due to illness. REDEFINING THE RESTAURANT For the past two decades, Zimmern’s career has been anchored primarily in the entertainment and media spheres, not restaurants. Nevertheless, he’s acutely aware of the struggles restau

rant owners, chefs, and employees face, especially as of late. In a sense, he’s been right there beside them. Lucky Cricket, Zimmern’s casual Chi nese restaurant, was forced to shutter in the early days of COVID, and it’s a closure that has since become perma nent. Featuring regional cuisines from the likes of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Hong Kong, Lucky Cricket marked the chef’s first foray back into full-service din ing since the start of his TV career. He viewed the concept as a mainstream inroad to more authentic Chinese food, with the potential to expand to 200 loca tions across Middle America. Located in a Minneapolis subur ban mall, Lucky Cricket was beset by a number of difficulties since it opened in November 2018. Comments Zimmern made about Americanized Chinese food and P.F. Chang’s in particular drew ire from members of the Asian-American community and beyond. Less than a year into its run, Lucky Cricket closed unexpectedly for more than a month, and when it reopened, the menu had become focused on more general, Pan Asian cuisine. Eight months after that, COVID struck. When asked if the experience soured his appetite to open more restaurants, Zimmern is adamant. “Absolutely not. I just would pursue it a different way. I am pro-restaurant. I am pro-dining. I am happiest when I’m feeding people in the dining room and I see their faces and I see how they react to food that’s being served,” he says. That said, he’s also ready to embrace the new wave of dine-in experiences. To grow both his own restaurant portfolio and a consulting business, Zim mern launched Passport Hospitality in 2015, a few years after he’d debuted AZ Canteen. Inspired by his travels to food markets around the globe, the quick serve started as a food truck at the Min nesota State Fair before morphing into a concessions business at Target Field ball park and eventually the U.S. Bank Sta dium, both in the Twin Cities. “Concessions is a licensing business. And that’s fine for people who have sev

“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?”

MADELEINE HILL

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

MAY 2022