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Monday, August 18, 2008
Are Chefs Spreading Themselves Too Thin?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DO WE WANT ANOTHER EMERIL’S? OR ARE CHEFS SPREADING THEIR POPULARITY TOO THIN?
Photo: ©1999 Universal Studios Escape
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, is it okay to imitate yourself?
The announcement last Friday that Shaun Doty, exec chef and owner of Shaun’s in Inman Park, will be expanding to head up Fifth Group’s Original El Taco in Sala’s old space got me to thinking about something I spend a lot of time worrying about: Once a chef makes it with one restaurant, why do they always want more? I guess for the same reason we all want more, and who could fault them?
It’s just that bigger doesn’t always mean better — and expanding can often dilute a brand as easily as it makes for more of a profit center. Look at what happened to Emeril’s — the restaurant here never had the feel for Atlanta, and the super chef was never around to check on things.
Rathbun’s has grown from one to three — though Krog Bar and Rathbun Steak clearly have different concepts from the original. Riccardo Ullio expanded from Sotto Sotto and Fritti to Beleza and Cuerno with no problem. The Sedgwick’s have expanded into a mega OTP empire, with duplicates of Theo’s and Aspens, plus Vinny’s, Bistro VG and now their popular concept, Pure Taqueria, which will be franchised all over the SE. Why didn’t I think of that?
Bob Amick’s Concentrics keeps growing — and now the group is opening concepts in Chicago, too. Tom Catherall will open Aja in Emeril’s old space this fall — that makes three new openings for Here to Serve in the last year (roughly).
When reviewing Spice Market, I interviewed Jean-Georges Vongerichten. This super dude chef is EVERYWHERE. But the whole time I couldn’t help but wonder how he manages to, well, manage it all.
It’s the way of the modern chef, to be sure, to duplicate, expand and grow. But can we get too much of a good thing?
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