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The Big Box innovation around creative food development has just been Punked.
For about the last 20-30 years, innovation around food, flavor and development has largely been funneled through a system of large retailers, corporate food kitchens, old media and marketing research groups. Much of the food we ate growing up was developed by a savvy system of research and development teams with big pockets and unlimited opportunities to find the right taste profile and combinations that would resonate with the eating populous. From the casual dining explosion of the late 80's and early 90's that brought the super samplers, sizzling hot plates and eclectic combination options, to our fast food brethren that silently created "new" types of food in their labs promoting cheap food alternatives - most food observers have sat quietly as the big boys drove the landscape around menu engineering.
No longer. Not now.
Welcome to the 21st century of innovation around food. There's been a sleeping giant that's been awakened and has taken over the culinary landscape. And, the great thing about it is that it's deconstructed, informal and controlled by the folks that haven't been tainted by the system. Social media, farmer's markets, Coop's, food swaps, supper clubs and the push to localize our food eco-system has created a new world of flavors, methods and culinary treasures that are driving the innovative landscape. It's a model that doesn't have restrictions around margins or basic analytical principles. It's not food presented behind a two way mirror at a focus group. It's a grass root explosion of innovation that's driving a decentralized process around culinary development. In the past few years I've seen at home recipes and neighbors creating more original and innovative dishes than I've seen eating out at high end restaurants in Manhattan or Chicago. I've seen people take chances and renounce the scope of how we're supposed to be creative. We've seen a renaissance in home cooking, canning and craftsmanship that was abound before the industrialization of food.
Currently there are thousands of food blogs and social sites that share recipes, reviews, "how too's" and culinary attributes that were once only held for the formal arts of culinary school and test kitchens. This shedding of light has engaged many people to say to themselves,
"I can do that better at home".
This is not a piece about bashing the restaurant system, it's to let the folks know there's a catatonic change in the landscape around how we look at food. There's no hiding that your burger may have come from a gruesome factory farm in Arkansas. Or, that your Sysco dressings may be laden with artificial corn syrups, MSG and other unpronounceable laboratory jargon. I'm writing this because it's something I've personally experienced. The term "Restaurant quality" is being turned on it's ass right now. If I don't think the establishment isn't going to "one-up" me than I might just stay at home. There's no golden key to quality because I can buy the most premium and wholesomeness product just the way you can via your distributor. The person at home can generally buy just as fresh and with all the technology around home kitchen gadgets - prepare it just as well.
I will leave you with this. Big Box restaurant chains have been hit with a quality issue. They've become the joke of movies (ask: Applebees), pop culture and self esteem. How do you really feel carrying that McDonald's bag around with you? Society has elevated what value is and most of the restaurant world, has yet to understand and grasp this. The restaurant world is generally still dominated by a group of industry establishment, that isn't the most nimble and flexible to change and adaptation. They like seeing things through their lens and don't like big, sweeping idealists telling them how they should adapt. Mark my words, in the next couple of years we will see a swarm of companies losing their grip and going belly up. And, the food economy will be better off because of it.
