Is this the decade of collaboration?

For the past two decades, the celebrity chef has been at the center of food and restaurant communication (sometimes perhaps excessively so). It appears, though, that for the past couple of years, there has been a new trend emerging - which, by the way, is not limited to the restaurant business.

Nowadays, we speak about the collaborative economy, employment brand, empowerment and flattened hierarchy.

Today, more and more artists, architects or designers don’t see themselves as individuals but are joining efforts around one project or are combining different and complementary expertise.

Similarly, I see that the future of the restaurant business is not limited anymore to a chef’s personality or individuality (even though some have become fantastic brands, like Gordon Ramsay or Alain Ducasse) but rather lies in showcasing the individuals’ collective.

This last point is particularly new, as it is now starting to be visible to a wider audience, not just to “foodies” or specialized media anymore.

Here are some concrete examples:

• More and more requests for business tenders or pitches for a project including ad hoc associations among several chefs or restaurant brands.
• Street food festivals and events like “Taste of Paris” (which did not even exist three years ago) assembling several talents under the same roof.
• Collateral showcasing the entire “brigade,” from the chef to the commis.
• Menus showcasing the name and address of the suppliers.
• An objective interest (finally) to the service functions: restaurant manager, sommelier and mixologist – that last one who has become a star over the very last year.
• Consistently increasing interest for the pastry and bakery functions: That trend started almost a decade ago but it has now been confirmed (check my post from 2014 on these “unsung heroes”).
• More and more pictures and illustrations highlighting the “group” of individuals rather the only one chef.
• Regional solidarity among several restaurants which were seen as competitors in the past;
• Four-hand dinners
• Within hotels, the outlet chefs are put forward: See my post, “Are executive chefs going the way of the dinosaur?”(This incidentally triggered quite a few reactions, both positive and negative).
• More books co-signed by several chefs.
• Permanent pop-up restaurants that showcase, for a pre-determined period (around six months, in general), a former number two or second de cuisine.
• More exchanges between hotel restaurants, especially within a same group.

The public, from the media to the customer, is more and more interested in the talents surrounding the main chef, in the kitchen, the restaurant or its ecosystem.

To embrace the next decade and its challenges, our business has to become more collaborative, still keeping the uniqueness and strong individuality of the chef, but unlike an enlightened despot, he or she will be a guide, a talent finder and a talent incubator.

2020 will be more collaborative, or will not be!

Stéphane Bellon, founder, Studionomie, Geneva.

•  Share this page