Cooking Out – Getting The Fun of Pleasure Cooking and Going Out At The Same Time
May 22, 2009 in Food & Hospitality
Isn’t the main reason why you go to the restaurant to break routine and to eat better food? On the other hand, it’s always fun to cook at home because it’s gratifying to eat and appreciate the food you make.
My idea it to create a concept which would conciliate both.
My thought is to have a restaurant where there would be a large kitchen, and clients would come to cook by themselves. They would be able to choose from a range of dishes (just as in a normal restaurant), and would be handed the recipe, ingredients and utensils accordingly. A Chef would be responsible of giving them tips and making the machines (such as ovens) work. They would then take off the kitchen uniforms they were previously wearing and enter the dining room where they would enjoy the food they have made.
The advantages from the client’s side are numerous: you don’t have to buy the ingredients or clean the kitchen, you are given proffessional instruments, you get exclusive help from a Chef, and you learn new recipes.
On the manager’s side, having the customers cook and serve by themselves means having a reduced number of employees in service and kitchen. This is an important aspect, as the payroll is often the most expensive aspect of a restaurant.
Nevertheless, a limitation would be that only a small number of guests can be hosted, making the kitchen otherwise too crowded and reducing the availability of the Chef to the clients.
Let me know where you think this concept would work, as well as the market it would attract. Also, do you think it should be an exclusive and expensive concept, or do you think it should be cheap because after all, you are still the one working!?
jonas said on May 22, 2009
This is a amazing Idea my friend. I have experienced something very similar that still exists in vevey at “l’Alimentarium” and its really fun.
There is two options to make it work:
1. Cater to luxury customers with a lot of staff helping out and great chef hosting (changing chef every couple of moths or something)
2. Don’t give the choice to the customer have maybe a different menu for each day of the week. Thus would minimize the need of staff and the food costs
jonas said on May 22, 2009
nothing to do with this idea but well done joan look the related post acctually works—> top right corner –> one man pizzeria
joan said on May 22, 2009
This idea is cool. More than a way of cutting costs I actually see it as a way of renewing the restaurant and make it more fun. For this very reason it should be fashionable and maybe even more expensive than traditional restaurants. You aim the middle-to-high class customers who want to get entertained while having dinner. The ones who always seek something new that their friends haven’t done yet. And even if you plan on hitting on a girl, I think this kind of night out has so much potential. It’s all about fun, baby.
henry said on July 29, 2009
I find that idea is really good. That would be very entertaining and educating in the mean time. However I find Joan’s idea of a fashionable and expensive restaurant not that obvious. I don’t think the kind of customers you are targeting with a such idea is “fashion” or rich people. According to my opinion, people who would be interested in your restaurant would actually be very random, starting with people who like cooking, it could be many families probably too.
Unfortunately, price is extremly important, most buyers think about the price before any other advantage. I am not a great cook but I love eating. If one day I decide I want to cook I don’t want it to be expensive. This also is one of the main reasons why people cook instead of going to the restaurant. If it’s expensive, I wouldn’t buy the idea, EXCEPT if the cook has a very good reputation and his tips are very worthy. So here comes my question: how do you really differentiate it from cooking lessons? Would you say you’re selling “help” or “tips” from the chef (apart from other advantages)? You really need to define your service and its added value.
All your business relies on the chef and his team, they have to be cool with customers all day long, as well as strict and professional. Then, if your chef is reputated, you can be expensive, if not, you have to be normal, and just index your prices on the ingredients’ prices.
Otherwise, you could also start real cooking lessons in the same restaurant, separately: it brings another revenue and helps and helps you building a reputation and faithful customers.
astrid said on July 31, 2009
Wow! Nice comment Henry!
Now here are the answers to your questions:
“how do you really differentiate it from cooking lessons?I”
think cooking lessons usually take place amidst a group of people, say 5-10 people). In my case, a chef would take care of maximum 4 people. Also, my idea not only involves cooking, but also eating — you would be given kitchen uniforms to cook, and once you are done, you would take them off and would be served your food to the table. This implies having a separate room in order to keep the noise and smell away and to simply enjoy your food. This would also facilitate the flow of the service, because the chef would be able to take care of another group while the previous one is eating their meal. All around, I think this is different from cooking lessons in the way the service is brought to the client — here, it is brought to another level which is to bring the client to both sides of the restaurant: cook & client!
Would you say you’re selling “help” or “tips” from the chef (apart from other advantages)?
Giving tips to clients is central to my concept. We would attract customers by giving them the opportunity to learn new recipes and to perfect the ones they’ve already tried and haven’t quite succeeded. The tips would concern both the technique and the physical aspect of the dishes (different ways of cutting fruits and vegetables, displaying the ingredients in a certain way…) All of the above would be in the objective of developping the creativity of the person and opening his mind.
I think that if I launched this project, it would indeed not be an expensive service. I would like to attract my clientele on the basis of the intrinsinc value before selling a “hype kitchen-restaurant”. I want my customers to be loyal, to give them added-value each time they come and for them to be familiar with the chefs. If this concepts works out and starts being well-known, maybe we could do an upgraded annexe which would focus more on “nouvelle cuisine” and would attract a clientele with more disposable money. It would be a bit like Joel Robuchon with his “Table” and his “Atelier” restaurants in Paris.
What kind of name could suit this concept?
Just “Cooking out”?
joan said on July 31, 2009
How can you provide a chef for only 4 people without an expensive bill??
astrid said on July 31, 2009
The chef indeed takes care of only 4 people at once, but he would deal with other clients when the previous one is eating their meal. Also, this would not be much more expensive than a usual restaurant in terms of human resources because instead of having service and kitchen staff there would only be kistchen staff
joan said on July 31, 2009
In my opinion, it would be like cooking lessons but people would just be a little bit more free. They would be able to choose what they want to cook and to speak loudly. There won’t be this “teacher superiority”. I don’t think you should take that much care of them and serve them, it’s too expensive. One advantage of your concept is the rentability since you make customers work. Another is the perceived waiting time, if you don’t do anything you end thinking the time goes slower.
astrid said on July 31, 2009
My thought was to provide all the ingredients in the recipes offered so the people cook with what’s given. Also, I have never mentioned the amount of decibels there would be in the kitchen/restaurant area. Concerning the “teacher superiority” issue, I think the customers would come with the rush to LEARN, not to show what you can already do. Keep that at home for your girlfriend.
astrid said on July 31, 2009
Maybe we don’t perceive this concept in the same way. It doesn’t bother me, you can try to be competition.
Joan said on February 18, 2010
I will be the competition with that: http://smartideabox.com/self-grill-fast-food/ I must admit that I totally stole your idea…
Henry said on February 19, 2010
Ok your idea has potential but it is not the idea of the century. The differenciation from cooking lessons is too small. It could be “fun” on a ponctual basis but I don’t think your customers would come regularly. The idea might be overrated.
Joan said on February 19, 2010
Did you read my variation? Mine is totally unlink cooking lessons.
Jonas Romain Wiesel said on March 4, 2010
Just talked about that with my godfather he told me he already did that. he was invited by a company and 19 other people to a restaurant they picked the menu and the were given chef’s uniforms and started cooking under the supervision of a chef. And finally ate what they cooked he said it was amazing. It’s something fun that companies would love to pay to their good employees as its an experience you remember and that’s what people want.