I think the most odd thing is the cheap hardware store greenhouses for outdoor dining that are shown. I guess those patio heaters don't really do the trick do they?
Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
11–20 of 108 posts
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Is outdoor dining and cold a new thing? Doesn't this happen every year at winter? It’s a new thing. You’d normally never eat outside in the winter in cities like Chicago, Boston, or New York, but because of Coronavirus people will.
Food trucks operate year round. Restaurants could take a page from their book.
Restaurants are already doing take-out. Most people don't eat the food truck, and certainly not when it's cold out, so I don't know what else restaurants would learn from them.
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#13I don't really understand the point of this. Is outdoor dining and cold a new thing? Doesn't this happen every year at winter? Like someone paid money for this? >A report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. indicated that 45F (7.2C) is the temperature below which demand for outdoor dining will collapse. (In a separate report, the company projected that outdoor dining demand would fall to 5% in December before rebounding in…
No restaurant that I can think of has outdoor dining in the winter. I live in Georgia, and our winters are fairly mild compared to northern states. Even so, outdoor dining in the wintertime is very uncomfortable. Winter is going to be very difficult for restaurants. If they don't adapt to serving meals outdoors, they may not survive. They're going to have to change a lot to create a comfortable environment for patron…
> No restaurant that I can think of has outdoor dining in the winter. I live in Georgia, and our winters are fairly mild compared to northern states.
I grew up in the South and live in the Pacific Northwest now. I think you see a lot less outdoor dining in the South not because of the winters but because of the summers. It's so hot that eating outside is miserable half the year, so restaurants aren't physically designed for outdoor dining during the couple of spring and fall months when it would be nice.
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Is outdoor dining and cold a new thing? Doesn't this happen every year at winter? It’s a new thing. You’d normally never eat outside in the winter in cities like Chicago, Boston, or New York, but because of Coronavirus people will.
Food trucks operate year round. Restaurants could take a page from their book.
You're talking about two fundamentally different operations.
With food trucks, first and foremost, people don't "hang out" for as long as they might at a restaurant. It's more akin to fast food - get your food, wolf it down, get out. The process is also different - people approach a window, order their food, and then eat it wherever they want. They have the option of eating it near the truck, but the convenience of taking your food to a different area of your choosing (say, your warm and cozy house) is also there. In addition, in places where food trucks are hugely popular like Portland and Austin, there are "food truck parks" where multiple trucks congregate around a shared communal eating area that is often covered and heated. That space is often operated by an entity other than the food truck so the truck operators don't have to worry about it.
Restaurants, on the other hand, are places where people like to hang out at for extended periods of time. Whereas at a food truck you might order all of your food at once, at a restaurant you're ordering your first drink, then an appetizer or two, then another round of drinks and your entree, then more drinks and your dessert. That process lasts a lot longer than your time at a food truck. There also isn't a convenient "communal area" like at a food truck park that is in the center of a block of restaurants that restaurants can send people to - restaurants must figure out how to build their own seating areas and provide ample warmth.
Food trucks don't care about people being comfortable because that's not in their business model - you order your food and where you eat it is your problem. In order for restaurants to maintain business, they need to cater to the comfort and warmth of their customers.
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#15I would go with a headline more along the lines of Chefs Forced to Change Menus due to Government Restrictions
How about "chefs adapting to reality of life during a pandemic?"
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#16I don't really understand the point of this. Is outdoor dining and cold a new thing? Doesn't this happen every year at winter? Like someone paid money for this? >A report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. indicated that 45F (7.2C) is the temperature below which demand for outdoor dining will collapse. (In a separate report, the company projected that outdoor dining demand would fall to 5% in December before rebounding in…
Here id DC, eating outside in the winter sucks. Wind makes the outdoors miserable, and we have a tendency to get just-above-freezing rain. Outdoor seating just packs up for 4 months.
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#17I don't really understand the point of this. Is outdoor dining and cold a new thing? Doesn't this happen every year at winter? Like someone paid money for this? >A report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. indicated that 45F (7.2C) is the temperature below which demand for outdoor dining will collapse. (In a separate report, the company projected that outdoor dining demand would fall to 5% in December before rebounding in…
Read the article (paywalled for me) and see who is mentioned. That is likely who paid for the PR. They're just making something normal into something topical.
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Food trucks operate year round. Restaurants could take a page from their book.
Restaurants are already doing take-out. Most people don't eat the food truck, and certainly not when it's cold out, so I don't know what else restaurants would learn from them.
I meant the kinds of food,and its packaging maybe, that is known to work well in the cold. Wrapping things, serving things excessively hot, etc.
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#19I don't really understand the point of this. Is outdoor dining and cold a new thing? Doesn't this happen every year at winter? Like someone paid money for this? >A report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. indicated that 45F (7.2C) is the temperature below which demand for outdoor dining will collapse. (In a separate report, the company projected that outdoor dining demand would fall to 5% in December before rebounding in…
No restaurant that I can think of has outdoor dining in the winter. I live in Georgia, and our winters are fairly mild compared to northern states. Even so, outdoor dining in the wintertime is very uncomfortable. Winter is going to be very difficult for restaurants. If they don't adapt to serving meals outdoors, they may not survive. They're going to have to change a lot to create a comfortable environment for patron…
We have outdoor dining in Australia. Restaurants box in outdoor areas with "cafe blinds" and use patio heaters. Wasteful in terms of energy use, but gives the restaurant access to cheaper council space so they can expand capacity.
Re: Chefs are adapting their menus for chilly outdoor dining
#20I think the most odd thing is the cheap hardware store greenhouses for outdoor dining that are shown. I guess those patio heaters don't really do the trick do they?
If you build a greenhouse around your outdoor dining area, is it an outdoor dining area any more?