First published in the FSM Magazine in May 2013.
Do you remember it? I thought you might. The Price Is Right was a television franchise around the world. In the show, contestants competed to win cash and prizes by guessing the pricing of various merchandise. The program has been critically successful and remains a stalwart in the television ratings, although there were some dubious costumes worn by the lovely ladies who paraded with the likes of Leslie Crowther, Bob Warman, Bruce Forsyth and Joe Pasquale. It was such fun on the TV in those days.
So why am I mentioning it here, in the middle of Foodservice Management Magazine, a respected and thoughtful publication in our industry? Has Doughty gone mad (again)? Is there some sort of sinister plot to take over the world, one cheesy 1980’s game show at a time? No. I just wanted to make a point and I now think I have with the title of this article, “The Price Is Right”.
Our newspapers and TV screens have been full of the talk around the horse meat “scandal” over the last 2 months and I am sure, really sure, there is much more to come. As I said in an article 2 months back in this same publication, called “breaking the chain”, we should expect problems if we are going to demand the cheapest food possible from our suppliers. I am not of the opinion that supermarket consumers demanded the cheapest food possible, but I do believe that their “weapon of choice” – PRICE, was wielded too often in the public domain as if that is all that the consumer and shopper cared about. I think we have all become far more careful about our money, especially as the cost of utilities and services continues to soar and there is no real prospect of anything getting less expensive in the short to medium term.
So, why exactly have I titled the article this month “The Price is Right”? Simple really. I do believe that for the first time in a good few years, the foodservice industry and especially the commercial High Street operators are putting their prices up, without fear of consumers leaving them in droves. Let’s face it, many are having to, due to the increases in raw materials prices, distribution costs and general cost increases, not just product related.
Life has just got more expensive and it is likely to continue in that vein for some time. In many ways I think that is a good thing. I do believe that nothing in life is free, that when you get a discount or you pay less than you reasonably should, there is a catch. The most recent “catch” is that you were eating horse not cow – nice.
I operate in a world where retailers deliver their excess stock to other retailers, or to their own factory outlets for disposal to thousands of people who go in search of a bargain on one of their shopping trips. Nothing wrong in that, in that you know you are buying the “real deal”, it’s just that it was last years, or last season’s stock. It is not the bang up to the minute, latest, greatest version. That’s a good way of using up stock.
In our foodservice world we do this anyway. If we find ourselves with too much of any one commodity it becomes “special” and we promote it as a thing to be adored. In the same way we buy from our suppliers and when they have a ”deal” we partake of it, passing on 
the excellent pricing to our customers (sometimes). We measure ourselves on our ability to buy commodities, convert them into dishes and sell them to our consumers, adding value all the way along the chain. I guess that is where the problem has been. If the customer, our guest, doesn’t see the value they are only prepared to pay a low price for the goods.
Finally we are seeing an increase in the cost of items in restaurants. Horizons latest Menurama survey, which very carefully tracks changes across the menus of over a 110 high street eating out establishments, has, in its most recent publication, revealed a rise in menu prices in the past six months of 6%, the biggest rise the survey has tracked since 2006.
Hallelujah!
Finally operators are beginning to get the confidence back to increase prices and stop taking costs “on the chin”. If we really have the interests of our customers at heart, then this will probably happen in Business and Industry too. Too many contracting partners use price increases to mask a whole series of operational deficiencies, but I am not arguing against price rises – completely the contrary. “Little and Often” works for me, rather than falling behind the inevitable costs pressures as they build, leaving you the only option to put prices up sharply.
Some of the other interesting features from the Menurama survey are the increasing premiumisation of dishes, adding twists to “old favourites”, an 18% rise in food provenance statements since the Summer 2010 and a continued growth in sharing and tasting dishes. 
So what does that say? I think it speaks very clearly to the point we all know anyway. Cheap and poor quality is not what the consumer wants. We have fallen back in love with food and the recession, for all its faults, has got us interested in ways in which we can eat better, and cheaper, by doing it ourselves, not having a factory do it for us. We are now interested in where our product comes from, and I don’t mean which Eastern European state it was shipped from in a container!
A sensible movement in prices by High Street operators signals for me an acceptance by the consumer that things have got to change. Food is not a dirt cheap commodity unless you want to eat dirt. Those operators whose livelihood relies on consumers walking into their units have bitten the bullet, put up their prices and hopefully are enjoying better margins which they can use to delight their consumers even more. In many ways I hope that our colleagues in Business and Industry follow this lead. It does not have to be across the board, does not have to happen if not needed and certainly should not happen if it is simply to correct poor performance and controls in the operation. But an increase in price, matched with a continued and improving quality of product, is not something we should be ashamed of.
I have been pushing, in many of the Contracts that we look after at Coverpoint, the offering of a “Premium Dish” each day. This is normally something a little bit better than the norm, certainly more expensive and often quite exclusive, because “when it’s gone, it’s gone!” Surprise, surprise this is working really well as the smaller proportion of the site population who “can”, do buy it
Finally, after 7 years of recession, I can say that “The Price Is Right”. Just don’t bring back Joe Pasquale – PLEASE!
Coya – Taste explosions and corn, lots of corn
Marathon over, literally, and I was booked to visit Coya on Piccadilly with Tom an old friend I have had the pleasure of knowing for more years than I can remember, but it is at least 20.
Tom and I arrived at the same time, having painfully climbed the steps to the entrance, suffering from “runners thigh”, a particular problem I have when I do stupid things, like try and run 26 miles. I then started the journey downstairs into the restaurant and chose a table. It wasn’t busy, but we found out later from Sanjay, Executive Chef, that the evenings are just mad – over 300 covers and pumping.
We sat and ordered the water and a gin and tonic, for me, of course. Tom wasn’t drinking so this was going to be about the food. He asked me to chose and then casually dropped into the conversation that he was born in Peru. No pressure then. It turns out he knew the South American style of cuisine really well and was happy to put his fate in my hands. Oh Lord.
So I got on with it, chose the Tuna Ceviche, Sweetcorn Salad, Pork and Chili Crumb Scallop and within a few minutes, the small plates arrived at the table with a flurry of activity. They all tasted superb and had undertones, variants on flavour and subtleties that were not expected.
I had also chosen to mix and match the main courses, which included a slow cooked Seabass, and a beef steak cooked medium. We had fresh asparagus, and some strange patatas bravas which ended up being fantastic.
To finish we went weird. No I mean seriously weird. I had a sweet potato ice cream with a crunch and Tom had corn ice cream, with buttered corn and corn popcorn. The flavours were amazing and I would urge you to go and try this. It is not what you expect, but it is better than you might think, a lot better.
Two espressos later, beautifully delivered and tasting better than many other coffee specialists, we were done. I had spotted a good friend come into the restaurant, who works for one of the big refrigeration manufacturers and he had sat down with Sanjay, the Executive Chef. Once they had spotted us, they came over and sat for a while. We talked about all sorts of the things, the opening of Oblix at the Shard, the state of the market and, not surprisingly, the amazing food.
It had been one of those lunches. Not heavily fuelled by alcohol, but a dance through flavours and textures that left me full, but not stuffed, satisfied but never bored by a large quantity of “sameness”.
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