Last week, I participated in my first Substack Live with Austin Tedesco. In addition to working for Substack, he’s a user, getting high on his own supply with the highly-opinionated, bi-coastal dining diary, Bangers & Jams.
You can watch our chat above. I don’t have the stomach for it, concerned as I am with not sounding like a jackass, and afraid that I’ve done just that.
Most of our conversation concerned the giving and receiving of free stuff at a restaurant - extra dishes, a round of desserts, or a splash of bubbles.
Some of you may have very little experience with this. Others, whether you work in the industry, are a very good customer, or just someone who is generally plugged in wherever you go, will be quite familiar with this phenomenon, which seems to exist solely within the restaurant business, a businesss with such historically thin margins that we have zero business giving shit away for free.
And yet.
Nearly everywhere I’ve ever worked had some protocol for “hooking up” a VIP with extras, and in some rare cases, taking care of the entire bill. Now that I’m a restaurant owner, I don’t do a lot of gifting of dishes. And as a diner, I don’t like getting extra dishes. I think the best options for a “hook up” are either free Champagne, or removing/comping items I already ordered from the bill.
If that’s a topic that interests you, check out the video.
