meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
21
I read, um skimmed, the interview. But I didn’t see an explanation of what “interactive sous vide” means.
It didn’t look like the various brands were up and running yet either.
Some times I think that the branding/marketing people start trying to generate excitement and get mention in the press before a concept is truly ready to go. Maybe it is a cost effective way of gauging interest before taking the complete plunge? (These musings are in general, not directed towards the biz being discussed in this thread.)
iThanks for posting that link - some of the stuff written is just sad about their thoughts what a good restaurant should look like and, without going completely off-topic (even though it is actually on-topic to a certain degree) I really hope that business models like that are not successful as they are, for us, the opposite what restaurants should be - places where as a family (and in the bigger picture as a community) you are enjoying a nice dinner together.
“But our kids don’t want to go to a restaurant and sit there for an hour and a half while we enjoy good food. That’s not fun for them. It’s not like we can sit and have a nice conversation while our three boys just sit there quietly, it just doesn’t happen. “ and “Why can’t you put an element in a restaurant where the kids can run around and have fun playing games, and the parents can enjoy good food? ” - Sounds like restaurant from hell
Their home page reads like a parody of a start up: “interactive sous vide food hall”, “out-of-the-box thinking”, “experience platform”, “Don’t just eat—savor. Don’t just drink—learn. Don’t just play—belong”
Insightful observation. I’m a marketer by trade, though not in the food business. Marketers have a way of injecting that sort of content onto a website and as this thread shows, it’s not useful to their intended customers. Simple and descriptive content always wins. Only then if you can add clever, funny, amusing, or hip content as would appeal to the people you need to connect with—great.
That “marketing fluff” approach is all too common everywhere, in large corporations and small businesses. What we’ve been discussing on this thread illustrates how the fluff stops potential customers from finding what they need to know.
2 Likes
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
25
I think many people who are looking for marketing help confuse marketing with social media savvy. Yes there can be, and often should be overlap. But I think a lot of the meaningless fluff full of the current hip phrases is due to hiring someone who is familiar with social media but lacks true education in marketing. The empty content makes me wonder if people no longer have the ability of critical thinking. I’m becoming so weary of glossy surfaces with nothing inside.
From my naive perspective, I’m always willing to give the benefit of the doubt to folks brave enough to open a restaurant in this day and age. In my unscientific view, so much of the dining public have short attention spans - how does a new restaurant capture as many of these as possible in order to be viable?
I got a response to my query from a partner in the venture, Nicholas Arone. He permitted me to post his response verbatim:
“Thanks for reaching out. When we say “interactive,” we’re referring to something we’ve done here that you won’t see anywhere else—we’ve put sous vide out in the front of the restaurant (as opposed to hiding it away in the back) so our guests can learn about the process and appreciate its possibilities. At our CityPoint location, one of our concepts, Sousviderie, utilizes sous vide to cook meat, vegetables, eggs, and more; our other concept, Project X, is a super unique pizza concept for which we sous vide some of the pizza toppings. “Sous vide food hall” simply comes from the fact that we are pushing the limits of possibility for this particular cooking method and using it everywhere we can.
The hall is family-friendly, open to the public, and in addition to our two restaurant concepts, is home to a pour-your-own beer and wine wall with 30 taps as well as games like ping pong, shuffleboard, Foosball, etc.
I hope that helps! Looking forward to seeing you here soon.”
The website definitely reads like a Mad Libs of unfortunate buzzwords. In all seriousness though the Waltham locations (I didn’t click around enough to understand which concept is where) will do well if the food is even passable. There is a definite lack of work day dining options for the surrounding office parks. I had a meeting in that area recently and was shocked at how much the office space had grown in the area while food options remained rather stagnant. I remember 15 years ago when my reverse commute from the Back Bay to Waltham wasn’t painful at all. That area is gridlocked hell at rush hour now. I miss Sadie’s…
i don’t see how 30 people who are commenting negatively about a place they have never been to and posting random pictures off the internet that may or may not have anything to do with how the business actually looks are adding anything worthwhile to the overall conversation about food…or are encouraging growth and business building in the industry. Can we wait until someone actually goes here before judging it any further, or are we just bitching it to death for the fun of it?
It should be all about how delicious the food is but they choose to put their ‘intentions’ and ‘personal fulfillment’ front and center, for which I choose to laugh at them.
I like to interact with food by putting it in my face and eating it.
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meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
33
I hope you will reread this thread when you have a little distance.
The thread began because this new company released descriptive information which generated more questions than it answered.
One poster contacted the company, gained permission and shared their explanation. Optimism about one of the potential locations was also expressed.
No one put the owners down nor did they put the idea down. The only thing that could be seen as less than neutral was the opinion that the couples pizza place was just ok. Not bad, not great.
People expressed opinions about unclear marketing, about the owners definition of “family friendly” not jiving with their version of pleasant, speculation as to how the use of sous vide will be dealt with, etc. No one forecast doom and gloom. No one wished ill on this endeavor.
The principals in this company released information. This thread could be useful to them - our discussion directly shows that the premise is not easily understandable. If a group who has a strong interest in food and more than a passing acquaintance with lesser known techniques is confused then it is not unreasonable to postulate that the general public will be equally perplexed. Once the doors open, a new restaurant hasn’t much time to make it work. If people don’t understand the premise they might easily choose to go to a venue that they do understand. Some times the feedback you don’t want to hear can be the most useful. Often our personal enthusiasm and blinders keep us from being aware of the flip side. Hopefully this venture will be successful. No one likes seeing it when a persons hard work, energy and dreams are dashed.
Edit: I want to be clear that this is my personal opinion here - not a post from a moderator or site representative pov in any way.
Actually, personally I’m neither positive nor negative, just curious. We are just raising questions like everyone including their targeted customers, that will do facing new concepts. I think we are actually helping them by making noises than being indifferent.
Glad that this thread generates interest. We always complain the lack of activity in regional boards in HO.
This makes it clear you know nothing about sous vide. No wonder you think it’s similar to microwaving. Anova has been selling their circulators at Target for three years now and they’re often on sale for under $100.
I have visited a professional kitchen in 2005 that was equipped with sous-vide after a fantastic restaurant meal. I have interest in the technology ever since, although personally I have not adopted in my own kitchen. Maybe I’m not as knowledge as you. But I would like to learn more if you care to share.
Sure, when a restaurant wants consistency, predictability and reliability, sous vide is a good solution. What do you think when Heston Blumenthal proposed an airline cooking using this method, will he be behind kitchen to cook all the sous vide food? Sous vide is a cooking method and at times even benefit medium quality protein to achieve very good result but you need skill. Given chefs did all the tests in the recipes in the test kitchen, I can be sure with the technical data instructions that staff with few training in kitchen will be able to product good results. Just like whatever equipment, an oven, you can use it creatively, or just reheating. I even encountered someone that could cook creatively with a microwave.
Are we talking about professional kitchen setup? Why are we talking about equipments for home cooks? Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro, costs $400 and allows the ability to precisely heat 100 liters of water.
More prices on the circulators.
I’m not in the profession, so it will be nice someone that is familiar to give more light.
1 Like
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
38
I took the comment about there being little difference between water bath vs microwave as a comment towards ease of serving and as a nod toward customer perception. Just look at the outrage Panera Bread has experienced about using sous vide - similar to customer disdain for use of microwaves in restaurants.
Yes, circulators for home use have been at fairly accessible prices for a while. Depending on the local regulatory board a home use product might not fly. I’ve seen restaurants be required to by pass many cooking/serving items which are very common in homes. If that is the case here the required SV units could be much more expensive.
If they are truly cooking many of their foods sous-vide, then this stuff will have to have been prepared way in advance, given that sousvide cooking isn’t about fast. I suppose that’s the same for many kitchens to prep as much as you can before hand and do a quick finish when you’re ready to serve. Can you imagine though? “I’ll take the brisket and come back 72 hours later for my seating…”
