I was a corporate restaurant consultant
I see the results of these consultant-driven places everywhere and, everywhere it’s like they all used the same consultant in a dire bid for relevance. It’s poke-this, quinoa that, avocado toast with a side of “authentic” matcha.<p>The hell with it. Give me a “voice” — do something with your food. Don’t Kardashianize every damned item.<p>An example of someone I feel that is doing it right is a guy in Houston named Russell Ybarra. He just started his latest place called Burger Libre — and it wasn’t consultant driven, it was driven by his decades of success with his Gringo’s chain in Houston. The “consultants” are his friends and employees along with actually knowing how to make a restaurant succeed.<p>Tillman Fertitta is another guy who uses years of experience to create great chain experiences.<p>The restaurant business is filled with people that have more money than sense. It’s obviously about the food, but it’s about having something to say with the food and experience — and that voice rarely comes from consultants that travel to 20 restaurants in 2 days looking for insight.<p>The same could be said about startups. Want to make money? Don’t chase yoga pants. Yoga pants follow, they rarely lead. If you are duplicating what’s working with the yoga pants crowd, you are already 5 steps behind.<p>“Don’t skate to where the puck is, but where it’s going. — Wayne Gretzky” — Michael Scott.