David Chang: The Restaurant Business Is About to Implode | Hacker News Reader

David Chang: The Restaurant Business Is About to Implode

gq.com

13 pointsmrfusion6 comments

Not a single example given of how the whole business is going to implode. Restaurants always close and new ones always open. This is a poorly written "woe is me the restaurant owner" article that somehow conflates into this ridiculous headline.

agreed

Also he is talking about a particular type of restaurant -- the "trendy" type where people want to pay high prices in order to be viewed as successful and maybe to see a celebrity or two at a nearby table. No, a bowl of ramen shouldn't cost $28 (or even "just" $17). The ramen places I go to, run by (and largely for) immigrants, sell excellent bowls of ramen for well under $10. Such restaurants are in no danger of going away.

Oh wow, we have to get rid of tipping. What a revolutionary concept! Except that the rest of the world has never had it and their restaurants are fine.

There is still to this day a big line outside of Momofuku for his overrated ramen, everyday. So why is his ramen $19* and not $28? Because he knows he gets $9 of advertising from each customer because of the hype they create looking busy and popular, plus word of mouth and more yelp reviews. Traditional advertising is a huge no-no for a trendy restaurant, so they have to spend their marketing budget this way.

* he conveniently left off the tip even though he said the price includes everything

Yep, another example of people in the US saying “X would never work”, when X is already is already working perfectly well in other parts of the world.

Other examples of X: decriminalising prostitution, decriminalising drugs, converting to the metric system, banning assault rifles, getting rid of copper coins (pennies), universal health care

Parental leave, mandatory vacation days, unions, etc etc

I believe if you go back in my comment history I have said basically exactly what you stated. Agree fully.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com