Over the past two years, the number of new restaurants, cafes and bars has grown by 10% in Russia. The gastronomic business is actively developing, but what can be said about its quality? What role do critics play in this industry, what trends should restaurateurs adhere to today, and what aspects should they pay more attention to?
Critics, foodies and restaurant bloggers
The role of the critic in the restaurant business is very important, but in Russia, in Moscow and St. Petersburg there are quite a few of them. These are often famous people, but “old school” ones. At the moment, you can also consider as critics “foodies”, that is, any person who has any blog with a large audience, whose opinion is listened to, but very important: he must be independent. ChatGPT believes that a restaurant critic is a person who understands gastronomy, has great looking skills and at the same time has an audience and independent opinion, so the concept itself is rather vague today.
Previously, restaurant critics were very public, famous people. There were only a few of them, in restaurants they were known by sight. At the moment, the focus has moved from them to bloggers, owners of telegram channels and restaurant guides. Critics in the classical sense are gradually fading into the background.
However, unfortunately, most of the “foodies” who are on the market at the moment are engaged and go to various press events, are friends with the owners, PR services, so they receive money from them or just eat for free. Therefore, there are questions about the honesty of their assessment. In addition, it is important that each visitor is a critic in one sense or another and shares feedback, because through critical appraisal only we can eventually get a quality product.
How criticism affects restaurant development
Criticism is a way to get feedback from people who have high visibility. Of course, restaurateurs are engaged in innovations in the restaurant business, and they just show critics what changes they are going to implement, and make it possible to assess how pleasant they really were to them, to ordinary guests, to “foodies”, to everyone else. But it is the latter that ultimately forms the demand for the restaurant, the desire to return to it. Another issue is the objectivity of this opinion.
In the field of gastronomic criticism, the most acute issue is ethics. Of course, many modern critics have friendly relations with various restaurateurs, and some difficulties arise exactly at the moment when critics write badly about such restaurant, and its owners are offended. However, subsequently, many agree that it was honest feedback that gave them the opportunity to be better than competitors.
Also, ethical issues are acute for those who go to press tastings and receive free checks from the restaurant. It is difficult to write well or badly about the institution if you visited it at the expense of the owner. Therefore, often critics, when they try to treat them, prefer to pay the bill on their own. This avoids the feeling that the institution is rated only because service and dishes were provided there free of charge. It’s not fair to yourself in the first place.
Today, people often make choice of a restaurant by the fact that they subscribe to a certain “foodie” and just trust its choice. Therefore, now telegram channels are the main driver of traffic to establishments. Of course, any opinion about the restaurant is subjective and reflects personal preferences of the critic. Observation allows you to display some kind of average median, but there is no single correct opinion. As previously stated, people simply choose that “foodie”, critic or restaurant columnist, whose opinion often coincides with their own. After that, they follow what he writes, because only in this case, for them, expectations and reality are more likely to coincide.
How critics rate restaurants
The first and basic rule is never to warn about your visit. This is important in order to form the most objective opinion about the real service. Some critics often evaluate just the quality of the food, but the service is also worth paying attention to.
The very first stage of the assessment is the study of the concept. Next, the critic comes “incognito” to the restaurant and tries about four positions. Usually it is hot dish, two or three snacks and dessert. The number of dishes depends on whether a person came alone or with someone.
Сritics also track what other “foodies” and bloggers write, what they pay attention to, and therefore sometimes they can order the same dish to understand whether it is really so bad or just at that moment, for example, it was unsuccessfully prepared.
Trends in the restaurant industry
In addition to evaluating food and service, often the attention of critics is drawn to the interior, the concept of the restaurant. Today there are several key trends. First, the bright design of space is increasingly preferable, while the era of minimalism is leaving. It can be expected that more and more places will appear in the style of the 60s-70s with a significant amount of lacquered wood. This trend is already traced, another year or two, and it will begin to fully exist.
In addition, since restaurants are now about the era of entertainment, when people go there not just to eat, but to spend time and get certain emotions, more and more interesting collaborations will appear – with art galleries, and modern artists. Another trend is the monopolization of the market in the city center. Niche restaurants will not withstand the pace, quality requirements, rental prices in the center of Moscow. On the other hand, at the same time, good restaurants will gradually appear in large residential complexes, which will no longer be located in the center of the capital.
Tips for new restaurants
Finally, it is worth giving some advice to new restaurants that will face gastronomic critics, foodies and bloggers.
- Surprise guests. Often, many restaurateurs make just commercial projects that really work exclusively for money. Often their places do not receive the highest marks. Therefore, it is important to make some unique product.
- Maintain quality. Future and existing restaurant groups should nevertheless at some point understand that it is possible to maintain a quality standard only with a certain number of restaurants.
- Train your looking skills. Travel more, work with market professionals only, grow new personnel inside and give way to young chefs without concentrating only on the stars. This is how new famous names and good restaurants will be born.
By Alexey Polikarpov, entrepreneur, publisher of the Vkusonomika restaurant guide