"This was in a P1 piece struggling to explain how steakhouses are struggling to stay afloat with beef costs ballooning under the guy who won reelection promising to bring down egg prices."
"And these are restaurants charging $150 for a prime New York strip. Which costs $50 wholesale: "One error in the kitchen, and $50 ends up in the trash." Overdone is unfixable; underdone & re-seared is gonna piss off someone deep-pocketed."
"Cuz the most essential ingredient in steak dinners is ... a supremely skilled cook. The Latino ones are getting deported, and AI is not gonna replace 'em."
High-end steakhouses face intense margin pressure as wholesale beef prices surge while menu prices remain high. Many restaurants sell $150 prime steaks that cost about $50 wholesale, so a single ruined cut wipes out significant revenue. Cooking errors are costly because overcooked steaks cannot be salvaged and undercooked steaks re-seared risk alienating affluent customers. The quality of steak service depends on supremely skilled cooks. The deportation-driven loss of experienced Latino kitchen workers reduces the available skilled labor pool. Technological solutions like AI are not seen as adequate replacements for hands-on culinary expertise.
Read at Gastropoda
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