Happy Thursday,

I continue to be an AI optimist as it relates to the future of humanity.

There is no denying that there are some things that will inevitably be automated that humans are doing today.  But on the flip side, I don't think anyone can reliably predict what new opportunities, services, jobs, or products will arise.

We are already seeing this. There has been a 70% YoY increase in roles requiring AI literacy, and specifically in hospitality (per NRA) 69% of restaurant operators say that technology will augment rather than replace human labor.

Ironically, I am on both ends of the spectrum in terms of AI adoption. From a technical perspective, it's oozing out of every little part of how we operate day to day, and I would have never thought 20 years ago that today I would have 5 Github repos running simultaneously, let alone know what a repo actually is.

AI has allowed us all to become builders. Not just to optimize everything that we do, but to manifest the things that we want to exist.

On the other end of the spectrum, I, like many of you, am a creative at heart. Nothing brings me more joy than turning ideas into things that people can experience. And that process of creativity, whether it is cooking, ideating on software, or just simply writing, must happen from within.

The reason to cook or come up with a new dish, the reason to build or improve technology or to express yourself through writing, art, etc. has to be intrinsic. AI can help tremendously, but it starts and ends with an inate and very personal perspective.

AI can not write like you. It can produce copy that emulates expression based on what it knows about you, almost always coupled with things it knows or assumes from the outside world, no matter how well you prompt it.

AI can not create a dish that is the expression of your vision or perspective, and it certainly can not affect the effort you put into executing the dish consistently with your team.

This is the theme of this week. While AI has completely shifted what is possible for us collectively and individually, it has also highlighted what is maybe the most important part about what it means to be human.

We have an unwavering need to feel connected to each other. And it is that need for connection that makes hospitality and food something that must have a person (or people) behind it that guests can connect with.

Chefs may find this hard to admit, but at some point, AI will be able to determine precisely the right mix of ingredients, acid, fat, heat, herbs to use etc. to make an incredible dish.

But who you eat that dish with, where you eat it, what it feels like in the room you're eating it, and the appreciation you have for the people who toiled over it will always be more meaningful than the perfect bite absent from those things.

This is also why I believe the problem that Keith Benjamin of Uptown Hospitality relayed, that the industry is at a tipping point, does potentially have a solution. I don't quite know what that is, but I know that restaurant operators are capable of some pretty incredible things, given what they already do. More on that below.

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🎙️ The meez Podcast

Tony Aiazzi on bootstrapping, Over Easy Office, and bespoke chef knives. Plus AI as the last mile and singing Chef David Burke's praise.

Tony is the co-founder of ChouxBox and Over Easy Office, and has become a good friend over the years.  Both from working together with his team and ours, talking knives (he has a side business with knife maker Geoff Feder, making some incredible bespoke chef knives), and when we find time, the occasional hang, sometimes with some little kiddos running around as well.

He is also one of the sharpest and most thoughtful operators I know in food tech.

Mike Jacober co-hosted again this week, and the three of us dug into:

• Bootstrapping vs. VC, and why he walked away from 500 Startups
• Going "stealth mode" and powering competitors' invoice platforms instead of fighting them
• AI as the last mile (the 90-95% is easy, the last 5% is where the value lives)
• Building remote teams in the Philippines and Colombia that actually work
• Why David Burke is the only chef in America who holds a patent (Himalayan salt dry-aging)
• What it takes to make a chef knife you'd actually want to use for the next 20 years

👉 Listen to the full episode

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🤔🌶️ Hot Take

Is the industry at a tipping point?

On a recent podcast episode with Keith Benjamin, co-founder of Uptown Hospitality in Charsleton, Keith shared some things that I think a lot of us are thinking. His take: "Our whole industry is at a tipping point right now. It doesn't matter where you are doing business."

It's not about the cost of goods anymore. It's the macro picture.

Rent. Labor. Insurance. The price of doing business has run away from what guests are willing to pay. The new Cooper Hotel in Charleston, a five-star, on the water, has been ready for months. Can't open. Can't staff it. There are very few industries with margins this thin.

And I can't think of many industries that handle the manufacturing, the service, and sales under one roof with the type of complexity and variability that we have in restaurants. Do we think customers will continue to pay more as prices have to rise, or is there another solution to the problem?

👉 Chime in on LinkedIn or Instagram

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📔 Chef Notes

Cooking will always be human first

The beauty and importance of cooking in the age of AI is that by nature it involves physical presence, emotions, story telling, creativity, nostalgia, and a point of view.

Many things will be automated. Co-pilot is quickly turning to autopilot.

Mike J made the point on the show this week that rule based functions, data transfer, reporting, forecasting, these things will be very easily accomplished with Ai, and better, faster, and more frequently than we can do them.

Now, can you use AI to come up with a recipe? Probably. At least directionally.

But the best experiences, the places we go back to and look forward to, are because we feel a connection to the people who created those experiences and the journey they took to get there.

Not to mention, a recipe is only a framework until you customize it within the constraints of your operation. That is where the effort is, and what sets great, consistent food apart from everything else.

👉 Chime in on Linkedin

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Recipe:

Roasted Pepper Sofrito

Sofrito, for me, is part of what makes cooking such a beautiful craft. There are a million ways to make it. And once you've put in the time and care, it becomes a part of your larder of component recipes you can use in dozens of dishes to add depth without ever having to spend hours in the kitchen again.

I make it in big batches and freeze it in ice cube trays, then pack the cubes away. A great sofrito should be cooked slowly and low for a long time. It's worth the effort.

This one uses piquillo peppers and pimentón for a really nice smokiness, and serrano chilies for heat. In the summer, I'll use heirloom tomatoes and grate the flesh, discarding the skins. A nice San Marzano works too. I add this to rice, braises, meatballs, and vinaigrettes.

One of my favorite things to do is whip it into butter, plop that on shucked oysters, and throw them on the grill. Ridiculously delicious.

Could AI generate a sofrito recipe? Definitely. But the details really matter, from starting in a cold pan with garlic, to the temp for sweating the onions, to when to add each layer.

More importantly, this version is the product of hundreds of batches, travels through Spain and South America and Italy, and Puerto Rico, a love affair with Spanish products, and countless trips to Despaña Brand Foods to use every product on the shelf.

AI can help with a lot of things. Experiencing life and using those experiences to be creative is not one of them.

👉 Get the full recipe here

Oh, and here is that sofrito butter recipe too!

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

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