Happy Easter, CulinaryWoman readers! A continued Ramadan Mubarak to our Muslim friends. Happy Sakura season to friends in Japan. And I hope everyone else is enjoying this Sunday. I am looking forward to our family Easter brunch.
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Following The Supply Chain at First Watch
When I began writing about the automobile business way back in the 20th century, I became fascinated by logistics. I loved knowing how 10,000 parts went into a car on the assembly line, and all the steps that had to come together before it reached a customer.
Now that I also write about food, I’m also interested in how the dishes we eat get onti menus. It’s relatively simple when you talk about independent restaurants or those in small groups. A chef devises a dish, figures out what will go it, sources the ingredients, teaches the kitchen and servers about it, and sets a price.
For chain restaurants, the stakes are higher. They have to create something that can be successfully replicated everywhere that they operate. It isn’t just a matter of sending an email with instructions; many factors are involved.
I recently talked to Shane Schaibly, First Watch’s senior vice president of culinary strategy, and Lilah Taha-Rippett, its senior vice president of supply chain management. First Watch has 520 restaurants in 29 states across the U.S., and it will add another 50 or more this year.
In my story for The Takeout, you can read how First Watch creates a new menu item. But I wanted to share some of the behind the scenes process with you that was not part of that article.
How First Watch operates
In case you’ve never dined in one, First Watch focuses on breakfast, lunch and brunch items. It has regular dishes on its menu throughout the year. Five times annually, it adds specials, which stay on the menu for 10 weeks at a time. It just launched its spring menu, which includes items like shrimp and grits and a cooler called a Pineapple Express.
Way before items are added to the menu, as much as two years back, First Watch begins developing a dish. Unlike other big chains, there is no separate research and development department. The creation is led by Shane, in direct consultation with Lilah and other department heads.
“We talk about the item; we talk about the supplier (who might provide ingredients),” Lilah says. The conversation is as specific as which variety of persimmon might go into a dish, and which vendor has previously produced ingredients for First Watch that are close to the flavor that Shane has in mind.
He will then call a supplier to get samples, keeping in mind that the vendor is going to have to deliver tens of thousands of pounds of meat, vegetables or fruit to restaurants in all parts of the country.
Getting to know producers
But those vendors are not anonymous companies. Shane and Lilah spend time visiting fields where avocados, blueberries and strawberries are grown. They go to dairy farms, ride on fishing trawlers, and see how chickens are raised.
“I take a lot of pride in it, having contacts in the industry, and getting out there.” Shane says. “I’m not a suit and tie guy who stays in the Ritz-Carlton. I will go sit on a boat for six hours. I can come back and share that story and tell that story to our team.”
That effort involves “talking to the growers and understanding the struggles they go through,” Shane says. “An avocado takes 14 months to grow out and come to harvest. Somebody had to love that tree to have those avocados on that plate.”
Says Lilah, “We have to be sure the restaurant managers and teams know the product doesn’t just come in a box. We’re touching it, watching the fertilizing of it, seeing how they’re growing it.”
That story telling is crucial because First Watch does not run commercials on television and radio. Its market approach is largely conducted through social media and direct connections with customers.
“We don’t have the opportunity to romance our food,” Lilah says.
Anyone who eats out regularly knows that grocery and restaurant prices have spiked since the pandemic began. (See my Food & Wine debut below.) First Watch food is not inexpensive, but it generally tries to stay below around a $20 price point per main dish.
Each menu item is priced individually. “You look at the total cost, everything we have in house, everything we have from suppliers, and our overall (profit) margin,” Shane explains. “We look at other concepts, other brands, what is the market price” for a similar item.
He went on, “We made a habit many years ago of not charging too much. If you charge $16 this year, next year, you’ve set the bar at $16.”
The role played by customers
When it comes to bringing back limited time only items, social and customer feedback is important. This spring, First Watch is repeating the Tropical Sunrise, a juice concoction first tested three years ago, and rolled out nationally last year.
The brightly colored beverage includes mango, pineapple, strawberry and lime. “It’s the second most-popular juice we’ve offered in the past 10 years,” Shane says. “People loved it, and it speaks perfectly to spring season.”
The executives acknowledge the challenges faced by everyone in the food business, such as higher costs for labor, ingredients and transportation. For instance, delivery delays can take place in late fall, for a unique reason. “Truckers would rather run Christmas trees than refrigerator cold lines,” Lilah says.
But with experience under its belt, “We know what’s coming at us and when. We not only plan with our manufacturer and our distributor, we plan with the restaurants to hold extra inventory.”
Shane says the relationships the company has built with growers, anglers, and ranchers pays off. “We do view these manufacturers as our partners. They know my kids, they know our history, and they know First Watch.”
Goodbye To A Phoenix Landmark
When I moved to Phoenix in 2014, the first place I wanted to eat was the Barrio Cafe. Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza won attention and awards for her upscale Mexican-American cuisine.
Her restaurant on 16th Street was a mecca for VIPs, foodies, locals and tourists alike, featuring tableside guacamole, roasted jalapenos, chiles prepared many ways, two types of mole, enchilades and tacos. I thought her food was some of the best of its kind that I had ever eaten, easily on a par with Rick Bayless’ restaurants in Chicago.
Sadly, Silvana announced earlier this month that she plans to close in May.
”It’s true. I’m retiring. I did get a little old, and I am very sick,” she said in an Instagram video. “Without me, there is no Barrio, so Barrio has to close.”
She made the announcement with time to spare because “I don’t want to be one of those people who lets people know after they close. “I want my staff to have time. I want to have a staff party, the people we fired, what have you.”
Silvana gave a clue to what she’ll be doing next. “I’m a writer now,” she said, aiming to write books about the history of Mexican food. “I don’t have to run a restaurant. I don’t want to run a restaurant. I don’t want to stress out about, did the air conditioner go out in July, and now I have to come up with money for that s—t. Those things are gone.”
She said Covid changed the restaurant business for good, but she did not want to close simply in response to the pandemic. Silvana wanted to go out on her own timeline. “The height of my career was feeding my fellow man,” she said.
Bringing Back Vintage Restaurants
In Los Angeles, a trend is emerging, according to Eater. Vintage restaurants are making a comeback. “Just three months into 2024, a trio of shuttered Los Angeles restaurants have reopened for business. Sweet Lady Jane, Café Tropical, and Souplantation — all closed abruptly — were miraculously revived thanks to new owners taking the operations’ reins,” the publication wrote.
Meanwhile, Eater said the classic diner 101 Coffee Shop in East Hollywood and the red sauce Italian palace La Dolce Vita in Beverly Hills were acquired by new owners when they closed and received a physical refresh, among other touch-ups, before reopening.
It said there could be a benefit to acquiring an existing business “if the restaurant holds a nostalgic place in the collective imagination.”
Are there any places in your hometown that you would like to see revived? For us Ann Arbor kids, the universal answer would probably be Drake’s Sandwich Shop. (At least the limeade lives on at Zingerman’s Roadhouse.)
Wisconsin Gets Some Love From Top Chef
I’ve always been a fan of Wisconsin, our neighbor across Lake Michigan. I have eaten wonderful food in Milwaukee, paid homage to Frank Lloyd Wright, and love the sprawling Dane County Farmers Market, which circles the state capital in Madison every Saturday beginning in April.
This season, Top Chef is taking place in Wisconsin and there are plenty of culinary dishes that can inspire the cheftestants. Think of supper clubs, fish fries, cheese, sausage, and those fantastic cream puffs served at the Wisconsin State Fair every summer.
If you haven’t watched Top Chef in recent times, you’ll notice some differences. First, there’s a new host, chef Kristin Kish, who won Top Chef in season 10, replacing Padma Lakshmi. Kristin has picked up ample TV experience since then, and seems right at home.
Each episode now runs 75 minutes, versus the 42 minutes plus commercials that previously aired.
In the past, chefs could win immunity if they triumphed in a quick fire challenge. No more: they have to survive the final elimination challenge to continue. There’s still a digital only show called Top Chef Last Chance Kitchen, which allows the winning chef to be promoted to the main show.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
My first story for Food & Wine looks at soaring food prices. Last week, Trader Joe raised the price of bananas for the first time in 20 years. I’m so grateful to ace economist and CulinaryWoman reader Don Grimes for his analysis.
Along with my piece about First Watch, mentioned above, The Takeout published my review of Aldi’s milk chocolate peanut butter bunnies.
By the way, The Takeout was sold last week. My beloved editor Marnie Shure was not invited to continue under the new ownership. She is one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I’ve ever worked with, and it has been a joy to grow as a food writer on her watch. Thank you, Marnie, and may you land on your feet!
Meanwhile, we talked about a wonderful 1946 British film, I Know Where I’m Going on the Lions, Towers and Shields podcast. This movie was directed by Michael Powell, just before he directed The Red Shoes. It airs fairly regularly on TCM, so check it out if you’d like an old-school adventure romance.
I’d be happy to hear from you and have you follow me on social media. Here’s where to find me.
Website: www.michelinemaynard.com
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Etsy shop: City Tips Vintage
Tomorrow, in Red Beans & Advice for our paid subscribers, I’ll talk about how Ramadan has turned into an unexpected dining bonanza for restaurants and cafes in Southeastern Michigan.
I hope you’ll have a wonderful Easter Sunday. Thanks for reading!