If you're walking around your neighborhood I'm sure you can see a growing trend of budget sushi and coffee shops popping up around you. Pre-packaged "boutique" restaurants are practically on every corner and their social and ascetic aspects have been lost; most notably are sushi restaurant and coffee shops.I'm sure people have started to notice a horde of sushi restaurants encroaching everywhere. Not surprisingly, they basically have the same thing all menus: rolls, udon, bento box and sashimi. Substitute salmon for tuna here and eel for squid there and you have yourself a 'unique' roll that the guy around the corner does not. Most troubling is the people running these restaurants are not even Japanese any more! I feel quite betrayed when the person who is rolling my sushi is speaking to the server in Cantonese or Korean. Now, not all Italian restaurants are run by Italians. However, the people that own and operate them do not dress up like Italians and decorate the inside of the restaurant as if it actually was an authentically Italian. So if you're running a Japanese sushi restaurant and you're not Japanese, don't advertise that your restaurant is authentic.
The growing trend of mono-culturing sushi is part of the problem that is plaguing the food service industry. Its no longer about the product that is being sold, it is about how is it marketed. Advertising and packaging are paramount to how some perceives a restaurant. Honestly, how often have you walked past a restaurant only to dismiss it purely on the way the outside appealed to you without even looking at the menu? It could be one of the best meals of your life but that opportunity is gone because of purely superficial concerns.
Gone are the days were a coffee shop was a personal experience: fresh baked goods, personal service, relaxing atmosphere and actual coffee. With Starbucks and Second Cup appearing on every corner, sometimes even across from each other, - Robson and Thurlow! - where have all the real coffee shops gone? Delaney's is a ripe example of what a coffee shop used to be. Now, just like any other business, it is set its sights on expansion and in the process alienated its customers. From what I can gather about running a business, you never want to make your customers feel unappreciated or mundane. Remember, its all about the customer and stores like Starbucks know that. They make their employees act personable and cheery (company policy) so that when you order they act as if they are interested in you. Except they are not. It's all a shame; there is no love, no interest. It has come to the point where at my local Starbucks - which I try to avoid at all costs - they have stickies across all the equipment in the back reminding them that they need to smile, ask us how we are doing, and show a 'personal' interest in the customer.
How can the interest be personal if it is printed in the employee handbook?
We would all like to believe that we are somehow helping people and doing our part but when it comes to big name coffee shops, or big name anything, it is really not the case. They don't need us or our money because the person behind us will just take our place. It is when this happens that the coffee shop loses exactly what makes it a coffee shop. It is not about the coffee that makes a place special, it is about the community: the interaction you have with people, striking up a conversation with someone new about current events, or commenting on a book someone is reading. Doing all this while relaxing to a cup of coffee and a freshly baked scone; a slice of the nostalgic life in an otherwise hectic day. In and out caffeine IVs need to end their personal facade. Large comfy sofas, dim lights and menus in French/Italian don't make a place unique, they just make it unitary; all of it was thought up by a R&D guy to promote the aesthetic vale of the place with the idea that it will also give it character. Its like playing lounge music at a restaurant, its just filler to distract.
The last and only true coffee shop I have found is Honey's in Deep Cove, Vancouver, BC. Hands down the best place to get fresh baked goods, great coffee, and a warm atmosphere. Go in a try for yourself what all the locals know.
What is most important about the experience of food is it's substance: who is is made by, what are the ingredients, who are you experiencing it with, where are you, and how it makes you feel. It is everything from the decor to the staff to the chef to the location, and all of this is lost when restaurants start to become uniform and governed by a code on conduct guide. So stop supporting the places that pop up just to make money or are just clones of existing places. If you start going to independent coffee houses or eating authentic Japanese sushi, you still start to appreciate the extra effort and care that these places pride themselves on and it might make you want to experience that personal touch a bit more.
