From the Editors
Posted by estiator at 11 February, at 07 : 20 AM Print
Silver Linings and Shifting Sands
As we prepare to turn the corner on the pandemic and (hopefully) the political upheavals of the last election cycle, the talking heads and soothsayers are in high gear, trying to divine in which direction the savvy investor, business operator, and entrepreneur should focus their energies. In this issue of Estiator, we read the tea leaves with two features that take into account the impact of the times on the foodservice industry. “Over the River and Through the Woods” finds firsttime contributor Robert Balzi examining the migrations of city dwellers in the wake of COVID-19 and what those migrations (temporary or permanent) mean for three case-study restaurants in three different markets.
Then, in “When One Door Closes, Another Door Opens,” contributor Michael Kaminer looks at the anticipated boom that lies ahead of the bust, surveying the landscape of the commercial real estate market and how the barrier of entry for restaurateurs is more attractive than it has been in years.
In an effort to broaden the scope of our food knowledge, we are inaugurating a new column, “A Cut Above,” offering deep-dive information about various meat cuts in the manner that we’ve looked at seafood in our periodic “Catch of the Day” columns.
Finally, in this month’s “Managing for Success,” our resident restaurant consultant, Constantine Kolitsas, looks at the challenges of managing expectations when the five-star reviews and awards bring in a new crowd of increasingly demanding customers.
Every cloud, they say, has its silver lining, and the past 12 months have been nothing if not filled with clouds. But as the skies of pandemic begin to clear, the new day will certainly be filled with silver-lining possibilities. In the meantime, we’re all waiting to see whether the changes to the economy represent a slight shifting of sands or massive movements of the tectonic plates (to mix metaphors). Any way it shakes out, Estiator is committed to helping our readers navigate the new lay of the land.
Enjoy the issue!
The Editorial & Publishing Staff
