I listened to a really interesting podcast about the Eleven Madison Park Restaurant in New York City
The gist of the story is that the restaurant is a fine dining establishment and around five years ago, it was awarded three Michelin stars. It was heralded as one of the best restaurants in the world.
The chef/owner realized he had nothing else to accomplish; he had reached the summit and had done as much as he could. And that's when he decided to challenge himself to achieve something new.
It was sort of an existential personal crisis, and his solution was to change the menu completely, to think about sustainability and long-term health of the planet. And so he closed, and re-opened a while later as a plant-based restaurant. In his own words, this was not based on anything related to animal rights or about applying labels like being vegan, or any of those words that are associated with it. This was simply about sustainability and challenging himself to do some good for the planet.
Of course there were the very, very many naysayers. People told him he wouldn't succeed. People told him he was excluding long-term patrons. People told him that he really needed to have meat on the menu because that's just the way things are. But he persisted because he felt it was the right thing to do.
He re-trained his staff, learned new techniques that were outside of his "comfort zone," and started a small farm in upstate New York. And he opened his new plant-based dining concept to some fanfare.
Naturally, other chefs were upset with him because he had changed the paradigm - because he wasn't cooking with any animal products and that upset them. That's how they're all trained and we are conditioned. Diners were upset because it really didn't work for them and they used words like "woke" to describe the transition. But, he persisted.
About a year after he reopened, he was informed he retained that three Michelin star rating! He had achieved a lot. He had an exquisite array of things that he put on the menu that really defined what plant-based cuisine could be, and yet it was still about fine dining. He had a surprising number of people come in and say how amazing it was, even though they were meat eaters. He gave an example of someone who ran a cattle ranch who came in and said it was one of the best meals he'd ever had.
And here's where things get interesting. His restaurant is small (maybe 40 seats). It has thin margins, and the price of food was quite high. Preparation takes longer. Sustainability, it seems, has a cost.
He also noted that the bar tabs - especially on wine - were much higher when he served animal products. People weren't buying alcohol; it could be a reflection of the time to some degree, but it was affecting his bottom line in any case. Restaurants remain profitable in part by selling alcohol.
And that gave him pause. He has over 200 employees between the farms, the restaurant, and his business. He wants to keep them employed.
And that's when he decided that his menu (by his own admission) is non-inclusive by some measure, and the answer was to make a change and add back some animal products.
He remains steadfast in his belief about sustainability, and 90% of his menu remains plant based. Full stop.
He's adding some very specific things to the menu. But it's deliberate, and only for ingredients that he really feels are special, and which fit in the realm of a "high-end." These are things that are really worthwhile putting on his menu, that may be appealing to a slightly different audience.
It's prepared in a way that's separate from all of his plant-based things, and he has no plans to change anything about the plant-based options. For example, if he were to find a cheese that inspired him, it wouldn't suddenly be mixed in with the potatoes.
To be clear, the reason he did this was primarily for the long-term health of his restaurant. He realized that from a sustainability perspective, his own restaurant may not survive if he didn't try to do something different.
He thinks he can have a lot more success this way, and he still views himself as thinking about sustainability. Even if he pissed off some of his staff and some diners that were plant-based people, he realizes it's a balance in some way.
I just found the whole thing really interesting because it's about trend-setting and doing something bigger than yourself for the reasons that make sense, but realizing there's a limit to how much you can do.
You can't change the world with one restaurant, but you can challenge people to think differently and be that sort of disruptive influence that may help other people to realize they don't have to cook with animal products exclusively.
While he doesn't want to be the leader, he realizes that maybe other restaurants will be inspired for similar reasons. They, too, can create these plant-based, luxurious, and wonderful dishes that could be enjoyed by their diners.
