Happy Thursday, everyone,

Yesterday marked six years since we lost Chef Floyd Cardoz to COVID. Three weeks before that, Chef Gray Kunz passed away from a stroke.

Two of the greatest chefs America has ever produced have gone within weeks of each other. I wrote some thoughts and memories about both of them this week.  It would mean a lot to me if you could take a few minutes to read the full article in memory of two incredible people.  

In other news:

On the podcast, Brianne Harvey breaks down why most restaurant software never gets fully adopted and what the best scaling groups do differently. Brianne spent decades in multi-unit operations before launching a consulting company and now a second business helping operators find the right technology. We also got into where AI is actually headed in food tech over the next 5-10 years.

This week's hot take is a spicy one that def has sparked some controversy. Mike Jacober dropped some unpopular opinions about Danny Meyer on a recent episode. Called USHG restaurants "safe" and "blah." Matt and I pushed back hard.

More below.

Two of the greatest chefs of our time passed away 6 years ago this month.

Six years ago this month, the industry lost two of the greatest chefs I ever had the honor of working for. Chef Gray Kunz passed on March 5th, 2020. Chef Floyd Cardoz passed on March 25th. Two weeks apart.

I still can't clean rice or toast spices without thinking of Chef Floyd. I still think about Kunz every time I pick up his eponymous spoon and, more importantly, when approaching anything shared with others, ensuring a level of excellence.I wrote about what they meant to me and the industry, what it was like to cook for them, and how a burned CD mailed to Montreal in 2005 ended up shaping a core piece of what meez is today.

Sadly, Chef David Bouley also passed away in February of two years ago.  It is an eerie feeling to know that these 3 chefs that I learned so much from have all passed in such a short time, and far too early for each of them.

👉 Read the whole article here

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The meez Podcast 🎙️

Is Your Restaurant Tech Stack Making You Worse? Plus AI Forecasting, Combi Oven Confessions, and the Nokia Phone Problem with Brianne Harvey

Brianne Harvey spent decades in some of the best multi-unit restaurants in the country before launching a consulting company and now a second company that helps operators find the right technology for their business.  She is one of the first people I go to whenever I'm ruminating on restaurant tech stack questions.  

We talked about why most software never gets fully adopted, what the best scaling groups do differently, and how she is leveraging Ai today.  We also got into where AI is headed in food tech, why hospitality will never be replaced, and why she still dunks her grilled cheese in tomato soup.

What we cover:

• Building Restaurant Resource, a free national directory for operators
• What restaurants get wrong about tech adoption
• Inventory, back office, and why data accuracy is still the hardest problem
• What the best scaling restaurant groups do differently
• Where AI is headed in restaurant tech over the next 5 to 10 years
• What AI can't replace: taste, hospitality, and relationships
• Brianne's grilled cheese and most memorable meals

👉 Listen now here

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Chef Notes 📔

Feedback from chefs like this is why we do what we do at meez.

I believe the true measure of a great tool is not the number of features or extra reports that come along with it, but rather how often it is used daily and how quickly the tool can be adopted to become a new normal in how you operate.  

Very grateful every time I hear chefs like Dan shouting this out for meez.

👉 Check out Dan's feedback here

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Hot Take🤔🌶️

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Is Danny Meyer the Jay Z of Restaurants?

Mike Jacober, on a recent episode of the podcast, surprised us by sharing that he was not a huge fan of Danny Meyer.   The tipping point for him was Danny's attempt at 'hospitality (tips) included.  Some of the words he used to describe Danny's restaurants were 'safe' and 'blah', and a parallel of VH1 to MTV.  

Matt and I (and most folks I've heard since) vehemently disagree.  Check out the full episode here.

I worked for Danny Meyer / USHG (though I consider myself more than I worked for chef Floyd) in 2002-2004.  I remember seminars where we all learned about our health benefits and being so surprised that we got them.  Not to mention free wine classes directly from Danny, among other perks like dining dollars at the other USHG restaurants.  

Danny's approach is to take care of employees first, then customers, then investors.  I think his formula clearly works.

My point was more specifically in response to Mike's note about some of the restaurants being safe.  I think they all are great for what they were intended to do, but more importantly, he continually creates more of a high quality.  That's a difficult thing to do.  

And it reminded me of Jay Z's line in The Takeover about 1 hot album every 10 years... (IYKYK).

👉 Chime in with your thoughts on LinkedIn or Instagram

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Recipe:

Tamarind Glaze

Thought this was a perfect recipe to share this week in memory of Chef Floyd and Kunz.  We made a very similar version of this at both Tabla and Cafe Gray.  It's hard not to think of both of these chefs whenever I work with Tamarind.  

Tamarind is such an underutilized ingredient, in my opinion.  It has a really nice acidity and a date-like quality that works well with so many things.  The fact that it's widely used in Indian, Southeast Asian, and Mexican cuisine tells you a lot about its versatility.  This glaze works great with everything from pork belly to mushrooms to halibut, among many other things.  It also holds well for a very long time.  That said, it does take some watching while you make it to make sure it doesn't burn.  

Recipe here

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💬 Want to Be a Guest on The meez Podcast?

If you’re building at scale, or wrestling with hard zero-to-one problems worth talking about, I’d love to hear from you.

Apply to be a guest or nominate someone we should talk to.

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