Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovic from Bloomberg Radio. At the food industry, restaurants,
Speaker 1: it's an industry that we know disproportionately has been impacted
Speaker 1: by the COVID nineteen pandemic and economic shutdown. We've talked
Speaker 1: with a lot of chefs here at Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: from Danielle Blue Eric repair Uh, you name it, daniel Hoome.
Speaker 1: So let's get into it with Don Davis. She is
Speaker 1: editor of the multimedia food journalism outlet. We're talking about
Speaker 1: bon Appetite, and she joins us on the phone in
Speaker 1: New York City. Don, nice to have you here. How
Speaker 1: are you, Carol High Nice to be here, Thanks for
Speaker 1: having me you bet uh and great to have you here. Um,
Speaker 1: Before we get to the big picture about what's going
Speaker 1: on in the food industry, I've got to ask you
Speaker 1: about coming into a company. Um that was like everyone
Speaker 1: dealing with the pandemic, dealing with the shutdown, and then
Speaker 1: your company had another layer of stress internally over racism
Speaker 1: on several levels that led to your predecessor resigning, black
Speaker 1: editorial staff members resigning. So tell me about kind of
Speaker 1: what your world has been like since you you took
Speaker 1: over the job. You were named in late summer, so
Speaker 1: tell me a little bit about what it's been like.
Speaker 1: Named in late summer. I came to Bone Appetite actually
Speaker 1: started in November, so I've been here a little bit
Speaker 1: more than three months, and honestly, there was nowhere to
Speaker 1: go but up because they had hit a low as
Speaker 1: they kind of reckon with their kind of racial cultural past.
Speaker 1: And we have a team that's committed to, you know,
Speaker 1: providing recipes and providing a service to the people who
Speaker 1: need us during the pandemic where we're all cooking more.
Speaker 1: I feel that the people who have stayed are really committed,
Speaker 1: and I hopefully be creating an environment where people feel
Speaker 1: free to, you know, talk openly about what's going on
Speaker 1: and just putting out a really good product. My first
Speaker 1: as who came out in March, I've got it in
Speaker 1: my hand. And about that, I feel like it reflects
Speaker 1: a diversity of perspective, diversity of tastes. There's something for
Speaker 1: everyone in terms of accessibility, in terms of if they
Speaker 1: aunts cook, beginning cook, and different tastes. So we are
Speaker 1: cohering as a team. Well, that is so interesting. I
Speaker 1: heard you say diversity several times in terms of how
Speaker 1: you are covering things in the magazine, like in terms
Speaker 1: of getting around racism within the corporate culture, whether it's
Speaker 1: yours anywhere, whether it's in society. We really need to
Speaker 1: approach everything with diversity. I think diversity from different perspectives.
Speaker 1: You know, even age diversity. We were better when we
Speaker 1: have different people from different generations and different perspectives giving feedback,
Speaker 1: and so I think the product is different. Also did
Speaker 1: a story about essential workers it's called the hands that
Speaker 1: feed us. And even having a trained chef but who
Speaker 1: chooses to work at a cafeteria and at a church.
Speaker 1: You know, she's never been in a magazine like Bonappetite,
Speaker 1: So that is a diversity of perspective. And obviously we
Speaker 1: have ethnic and cultural diversity in our pages. We have
Speaker 1: a Philippinos chef from Seattle um who runs a wonderful
Speaker 1: restaurant called The Sting. So we're trying to shake it
Speaker 1: up but always keep it fresh and always about the
Speaker 1: food at the same time. That's been the challenge. People
Speaker 1: want diversity, but they also want recipes that they can
Speaker 1: use to to see their family to comfort their family,
Speaker 1: um and what we're zooming and everything else that are
Speaker 1: kind of relatively accessible. Yeah, it's interesting. So I'm assuming
Speaker 1: your approach is going to continue this way of just
Speaker 1: thinking about you know, when you think about the food space,
Speaker 1: the restaurant space, all of it, it is a diverse world, right.
Speaker 1: It's people who come from other countries and open up
Speaker 1: a restaurant. They bring their culture with them, their food
Speaker 1: with them. I mean, that's that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1: That's what makes it so exciting. You know. I had
Speaker 1: the good fortune before I was a book editor for
Speaker 1: many years and thought briefly about with friends, maybe we
Speaker 1: should open up a restaurant. One day, it was just
Speaker 1: a fantasy, and someone said, you know, before you do that,
Speaker 1: you have to talk to this guy named Anthony Bourdain.
Speaker 1: And I had the good fortune of of befriending him.
Speaker 1: And one of the things he loved was just how
Speaker 1: diverse and interesting the kitchens were. And I got to
Speaker 1: work with him every Friday for a couple of months.
Speaker 1: And it's true, people from all walks of life, all
Speaker 1: different kinds of you know, backgrounds, some lots of culinary experience,
Speaker 1: some none at all. Different continents. It was, it was beautiful.
Speaker 1: I loved it. Well, is there something about food in particular?
Speaker 1: I always think about that. I'm from a large family.
Speaker 1: We dinner was a big deal for us. We sat
Speaker 1: around the table when we had company, we just pulled
Speaker 1: up another chair and it was just this wonderful experience.
Speaker 1: But I do think about how food can help us
Speaker 1: maybe cross some of those divides that are so systemic
Speaker 1: in our society. Absolutely, I think it's how we get
Speaker 1: to know each other. You know, it's how we extend friendship,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's how we flirt with each other,
Speaker 1: It's how we comfort each other. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: one of the hardest things about the whole pandemic is
Speaker 1: not you know, when something goes wrong, not being able
Speaker 1: to walk over, uh you know a dish that you're
Speaker 1: so proud of and that you know will kind of
Speaker 1: provide some comfort. So absolutely so it brings us together. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. So tell me about the restaurant industry.
Speaker 1: They have definitely come together, supported frontline workers, done so much.
Speaker 1: It's been an industry though, as I said at the top,
Speaker 1: disproportionately impacted because of the pandemic. And the shutdown. What's
Speaker 1: the way back? What are you hearing from folks in
Speaker 1: the food and restaurant space, Well, they've all had to
Speaker 1: be incredibly innovative. I'm sure you've reported one in more
Speaker 1: jobs lost in the pandemic belong in the In the
Speaker 1: food and beverage space, They've you know, created pantries where
Speaker 1: they sell olive oil or salt. They've extended their take
Speaker 1: out and made it much more robust. And I don't
Speaker 1: know that we're ever going to go, you know, we're
Speaker 1: gonna turn away from that. The outdoor dining, particularly in
Speaker 1: New York where I live, has just been really kind
Speaker 1: of electric, everything from TPS intense to uh structures with
Speaker 1: lots of heat. But it's been hard for them, um
Speaker 1: and I think that they're going to have to just
Speaker 1: remain creative. We're all hoping that the Restaurant Relief Bill
Speaker 1: will provide the relief that they need, and without that,
Speaker 1: it's going to be pretty bleak. I mean, it's been
Speaker 1: a little I mean, I think many people would argue that,
Speaker 1: I mean kind of shocking how much the restaurant industry
Speaker 1: was left behind. It's incredible. I mean, I know, it
Speaker 1: makes new York, New York restaurants, theater, museums, and the
Speaker 1: idea that they weren't, you know, given more relief is incredible.
Speaker 1: But hopefully this will give them some structure like the
Speaker 1: airline industry, so going forward in terms of emergencies, they
Speaker 1: have access to emergency funds. Hey, listen, I do one
Speaker 1: and just one last question. Will there be a more
Speaker 1: cautious approach? Do you think two kind of restaurants reopening
Speaker 1: or new places coming online because of what happened in
Speaker 1: the past year? What are you hearing? Just quickly? I
Speaker 1: think a lot of them are investing in their outdoor
Speaker 1: services so that they you know, we know what restaurants
Speaker 1: New York City applied for and got outdoor permits, so
Speaker 1: and I know vest through a great new restaurant that
Speaker 1: opened in the middle of the pandemic, they invested heavily
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of dollars in a heater system so
Speaker 1: that they could provide seating outdoors and that you could
Speaker 1: be comfortable. I think making sure that they have you know,
Speaker 1: their own delivery service so that they can not have
Speaker 1: to pay the middleman so much for the delivery um
Speaker 1: charges will be helpful for them. Uh and I think
Speaker 1: really peering down a takeout menu and a meal kit
Speaker 1: service that some of them have done so that you know,
Speaker 1: their customers can get their favorites uh and kind of
Speaker 1: going to that hybrid model where they're hopefully going to
Speaker 1: come back full roar with the whole uh in dining experience,
Speaker 1: but also have a robust takeout it. Yeah, they have
Speaker 1: just pivoted. It's just been amazing. Don Davis, thank you
Speaker 1: so much, editor a Bone Appetite magazine joining us