Darwinian Theory in the Restaurant Community

     Greetings and Salutations,


     First, the shilling. My latest piece on recycling and waste disposal can be found at www.ecoRI.org. EcoRI will also be a co sponsor (with Farm Fresh Rhode Island) of movie screenings at Local 121, beginning on March 30th. The first film in the series is "FRESH; the movie." It is billed as "Food, Inc." 2.0, focusing more on the solutions, rather than the problems of the food system in America. More on that later.

     Everyone knows that the economy stinks right now, but this downturn in the nation's financial sector could turn into the best thing to ever happen to the dining out public. 

     According to Darwinian theory, the stronger, faster, healthier and smarter animals are more attractive to potential mates, and therefore are more likely to procreate and pass on their superior genes to their offspring. If we think of a restaurant as an animal, and its food quality, service, policies, and practices as it's genes, it's customers as mates, and it's employees as it's offspring, we can easily apply this theory to the hospitality trade.  I suppose we could try Creationist theory, but much like applying Creationism to history, it just doesn't work.

     Let's say there are two restaurants that occupy opposite corners of the same intersection. The eateries are much the same. They are open for lunch and dinner, six days a week, the same amount of staff, similar menus, and a similar price point. 

     Restaurant A has a well lit, tastefully decorated and clean dining room and kitchen, a friendly, personable, respected and well paid staff, recycles what it can, and prepares its food in a creative and conscientious manner.

     Restaurant B has a poorly lit dining room decorated with sofa size art prints from the Venus de Milo "One of a Kind" art fair, windows that look like they haven't been cleaned since the Nixon administration, a staff that looks as if there are a thousand places that they would rather be, throws all of it's waste in one receptacle, and serves meatloaf that is more loaf than meat.

     Restaurant A has all the things for which it's mates are looking. Restaurant B, like the weak and slow witted animals in nature, has to use deception and trickery to attract mates (customers). This usually involves bargains, like a "two fer" deal, and coupons and promotions for free stuff, or gigantic portion sizes. But, who cares if the food is cheap or served in massive quantities, if it's barely edible, or cooked and served under less than sanitary conditions?.
     Restaurant A attracts many mates/ customers. It then passes on it's good policies and practices to it's offspring/ employees. Those employees go on to become the restaurateurs of the future, with ingrained positive notions of how to sustainably operate a restaurant, and treat their offspring/ employees equitably and with respect. Restaurant B dies quickly and without progeny.
     What I'm getting to here is the fact that, in these hard economic times, bad, and even mediocre, restaurants will flounder and fail, while only the fittest will survive. Which will amount to more and better options for the dining out public. So, something good may come out of this economic shitstorm after all.


Love, Peace, and Bacon grease!