Over-Spend Your Effort
02.2024 Edition
Editor: Justin Khanna
Hey Reader,
I found a lesson-filled story about Jerry Seinfeld (the comedian) this week, and I wanted to share how it might apply to your work.
First, some stats about his absolutely prolific creative output:
- Seinfeld's finale, which aired on May 14, 1998, was watched by an estimated 76.3 million people, making it one of the most-watched television events of the decade
- The show ran for nine seasons from 1989 to 1998, totaling 180 episodes
- The show won 10 Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes
- Its syndication success is remarkable, with estimates suggesting it has generated several billion dollars in revenue, making it one of the most profitable shows in television history
If you're trying to accomplish something similar, whether it's an award of recognition, a revenue goal in your business or a size-of-audience target, you might empathize with the story that comes next 👇
In a more recent HBR interview, they asked Jerry about his process and how he was able to achieve excellence with his other creative collaborators.
This exchange had me laughing:
Now, am I suggesting you head into work tomorrow and increase your level of breathing-down-necks?
No.
But in my experience, he's right.
Going above and beyond, when mapped out on paper, ISN'T the most efficient way.
I remember spending the extra time to wrap the wet paper towel around the bundle of chives so that I could get uniformly round, thin and consistent chives for my station.
I used to stand over the rondeau of pork bones with tweezer-tongs, turning my aromatics at just the right time so that no burned flavors would make their way into my sauces.
I found myself picking through my crab meat one extra time just to make sure no shell fragments made their way into the final plate up.
It doesn't make sense to do these extra actions...
...until they're experienced by someone that appreciates them.
Greatness and excellence is on the other side of paying attention to the right details and being able to execute them consistently.
It's going to be hard, that's how you know you're doing it right.
And before this transforms into some "just push harder" motivational piece that burns people out, I'm here to remind you that there's a needle that can be threaded.
Practically speaking, this could actually be a more productive step to build into your process. And yes, I'm going to build on previous newsletters here:
- Work to eliminate or mitigate "Multiplying by Zero" moments in your execution
- Identify what actually makes sense to over-spend on to achieve the quality you're going for. In Seinfeld's case, it was being funny.
- Ruthlessly cut, streamline or develop a system around everything else.
Said another way: Seinfeld had his list of the ~5 things that mattered most (the lines, the flow, the re-takes, the edit, the casting), and they all needed to ooze excellence.
Did he spend time changing out the font used in the credits of the show?
The costumes and outfits that the actors wore?
The color of the paint of the walls on-set?
...maybe? I'm no Seinfeld expert.
But my gut tells me that his success can directly be linked to this type of process.
So this week, I want you to consider these questions for yourself:
What do I want to unapologetically spend time on? Can I do it guilt-free because I've made it the most important thing?
What have guests/customers really expressed an appreciation of in the past that I can put more emphasis on?
What's gotten "watered down" over the past few months that really shouldn't have?
What needs to "give" in order for us to make these changes?
I'd love to hear from you - if this resonates, respond to this email! I read every response.
I'm also thinking about doing a deep dive on "creating systems" for those things we still HAVE to do every week (the 3rd step in my list from above) for next week's newsletter - would that be of interest?
Worth Reading 💥
WTF is a Fish Somm?
The folks at Plate Magazine have been researching some off-the-beaten-path roles in the industry recently, and learning about a restaurant that staffs a role called a Fish Somm really caught my eye for multiple reasons.
The reporter asked, "what’s the benefit of having a fish sommelier on staff?" to Saui Matagiese and Ryan Houser of Michael Mina's spot in Oahu, Mina's Fish House.
Their answers:
"Matagiese: Many restaurants don’t stretch out far enough with the types of fish they’re using or make sure everything sells. A fish somm ensures the push of a product that must move quickly. But more importantly, we help guests have new experiences. Some guests aren’t willing to step outside their comfort zone, especially when it comes to fish. If someone is used to snapper, we’ll steer them towards that, or if they’re more adventurous, we'll dig deeper and see if we can create a better experience. The last thing we need is guests to come in, spend all this money and not have a great experience.
Houser: We’re called fish sommeliers, but we know about clams, oysters, shrimp, and lobster. So essentially a seafood sommelier for a seafood restaurant is a perfect opportunity, but it needs to be approached in the right way. It might not make sense in the Midwest, but it's perfect for us or somewhere on the coasts, because we have the ocean right outside of our restaurant. We also represent the local fishermen community, and try to do our due diligence and let the guests know how hard it is to get this fish to the table. We explain that you can be out there all day and not catch anything or you can be out there for 12 hours and catch one fish, and your livelihood depends on just that one hook."
Our Take: This is going way back in the archives, but when I started doing pop-up dinners, I ended up hiring someone who had a degree in Sustainable Food Systems in a "Market Emissary" role for me because I believe in this so much.
As a chef that was stretched thin, I so appreciated someone who understood my menu that could just tell me exactly what was available and what we should be using. She would also work the dinners with me, where she could share deeper stories with guests on why we were sourcing from specific farms, and I could focus on the cooking.
Is "fish somm" the best title? Seafood Somm is definitely a bit catchier (pardon the pun), but I'm curious to see if this expands beyond this restaurant.
Since this ends up being a win-win-win across chef-guest-fisherman, I'm stoked to see specialized positions like these not only offer killer opportunities to these professionals, but to also have them be financial no-brainers.
The $100M "Meal Machine"
What was once just a "jump on the trend" moment with food delivery has turned into a 9-figure behemoth. The company Wonder has both raised $100M from Nestle, as well as merged with Blue Apron. Hear me out, because regardless of if you're in this side of the industry or not, I think this is worth paying attention to.
The TL;DR is that Nestle's cash injection is going to allow for the partnership to apparently develop a new set of commercial-level kitchen equipment combined with pre-prepped ingredients and components to be able to offer more food in more places nation-wide.
I'm combining and paraphrasing from the article here, but think: instead of checking into your hotel after a late flight, it's 1am, and you don't want something that's "flavorless, soggy or cold", having this "fancy oven" inside your hotel would allow you to get a hot pizza or pasta entrée, made within minutes, even if the hotel was short staffed that late in the night.
Our Take: The reason I think this is worth digging into is because of the timing of this merger.
Allow me to digress for a second, because there's a famous story about Snapchat, and the numerous coinciding factors that allowed it to succeed at the exact moment in time that it did. Think about it: teenagers with smartphones, reasonably high-quality cameras, not-shit internet speeds on mobile devices, the desire to retreat from the news feed...all of these factors needed to be in place at JUST the right time, otherwise Snapchat would've flopped.
I think we're seeing the same thing with Wonder right now. The tailwinds it's experiencing are massive:
- We're as "peak food delivery" as we've ever been - both on the customer side as well as on the restaurant side
- Staffing shortages are still rampant for businesses on the level that Wonder is targeting (hotels, hospitals, stadiums, airports, etc.)
- Appliances and equipment tech is more precise than ever
- Globalization has expanded food preferences, meaning that customers both are more open-minded and want more variety than ever before
- People want LESS subscriptions and more "pay on demand" options. Bundling meal kits, meal delivery and meal curation all in one is going to mean that customers will continue to engage with this brand, regardless of what kind of night-of-the week it is
I'll absolutely be giving Wonder a try next time I'm in the NYC area - have you folks either ordered from here or have thoughts on working at Wonder? I didn't know they had over 1,100 employees already...
ICYMI 🙌
🎙️ I had the immense pleasure of joining Mike and David of The Focused Podcast for their 193rd episode talking "The Problem with Mise en Place" - this is an audience outside of my typical hospitality-professional circle, and I had a blast jamming on this one.
This Week, We Learned… 🧠
- Le Gavroche is doing it's final service tomorrow night after being open since 1967
- The Rabbit r1 is an AI-powered handheld that might be making restaurant reservations soon on behalf of guests
- The Bear won 4 Golden Globes
- The top 5 ingredients used on meez in 2023
- "Catering" is apparently getting a rebrand
To Peep 👀
- TILIT got a swanky new showroom if you're in NYC and shopping for aprons!
- This black-on-black Tabata Blue #2 Gyuto for just $175 ($45 off)
- New West Knifeworks is doing a limited edition drop on 1/16 (I don't even know what it is!)
- SOMNI is officially hiring again - does that mean the LA fine dining destination is going to be open soon?
- While I was getting that news ^^ I found a Corporate Chef role at Single Thread with a $160K-$180K salary 😱
Quote I'm Pondering 💭
Thanks for reading, as always,
👊Justin
