The Everything Restaurant (An Allegory)
Humans have been genetically selected to enjoy stories. In that spirit, I’d like to tell all of you a story that has, up until now, been only told orally as part of training sessions on writing software development requirements. I hope you enjoy it.
A tourist exploring Chicago comes upon a restaurant called the Everything Restaurant. Quickly looking up the place on the internet, she sees that the restaurant bills itself as the “epitome of experience, being able to offer the eager foodie anything they could ever dream of.” After being seated, the tourist is told by the waiter that the restaurant has no menu; she can order literally anything she wants and the restaurant will make it. Impressed at the premise, but feeling intimidated, the tourist decides to keep it simple. She asks for some mashed potatoes and a New York Strip Steak. When the waiter asks her how the food should be prepared, the tourist says she wants the steak cooked medium rare, and that the mashed potatoes should be cooked for 15 minutes.
The waiter presses for the tourist to elucidate what she means by medium rare. How long should it be cooked for on each side? Should any salt and spices be added? How much? Should it be cooked on a grill or in the oven? How long? For the mashed potatoes, what sort of potatoes should be used and how many? How fine should they be mashed? What should be added? Milk, butter, both?
The tourist is a bit unnerved by all the questions, but deciding it must be a part of the experience, confidently answers the waiter’s questions. “5 minutes on each side for the steak on a grill. Add salt and paper. For the mashed potatoes, use 1/4 lb of Russet potatoes, mash them as fine as possible. Add a stick of butter, a cup of milk and maybe a little salt.”
After 20 minutes, the food comes, and while it’s not the worst food ever, it’s definitely subpar quality, especially for a restaurant that that claims to provide the “epitome of experience”. The waiter, seeing the tourist’s displeasure empathetically says, “I’m sorry you’re unhappy, but you could have had literally anything you wanted, prepared however you wanted. If you wanted a different experience, you should have asked for it.”
After a stream of customers dissatisfied with both the food and attitude of the restaurant staff, the Everything Restaurant started doing poorly and was sold off to new owners. These owners love the premise of the restaurant, but they knpw they needed to make some changes to ensure that patrons have the best experience possible.
The owners rename the restaurant AYDE (Anything You Dream of Eatery) and have a grand re-opening. On the first day, a local foodie comes in for dinner. Familiar with the premise of the original restaurant, he starts specifying ingredients, cooking methodology, cooking times, etc. Before the foodie gets too far, the waiter motions for the foodie to stop. “Just tell me what you’re looking for in your meal”
Confused, the foodie replies, “That’s what I was doing.”
“No, you gave me a list of things you think you might like in your meal, but you didn’t really talk about what you’re going for. What’s the experience you want? Are you wanting to try something Mediterranean with a bit of spice, or maybe a fusion of your favorite cuisines. Or do you have 3 ingredients maybe that you really love and want our kitchen staff to make the best dish possible with it? Our kitchen team have over a century of combined experience they can make amazing food no matter what you’d like.”
The foodie, after thinking a bit, says, “well, this is the Everything Restaurant, so I’m definitely looking for something unique. I’m a big fan of Thai, Mexican, and Italian cuisines, so if your chefs can make something that combines themes from all three, that would be perfect. Also, I’m severely lactose intolerant, so no milk products, and no red meat if at all possible. I hate coconut too — I know that’s big in Thai cuisine. I’d also like to spend less than $60.00”
“I’ll take this to our chefs and see what they can do.”
After a couple minutes, the maître d’ comes back to the foodie, “The chief chef can definitely make something that’ll fit all your criteria, but to really make it amazing they’d need to use a bit of red meat — Water Buffalo, specifically. The meal will also cost you $65.00. Are you okay with that?”
The foodie thinks about it, “Well, if an expert feels it’s essential to the meal, I guess it’s not the end of the world to have it and 5 bucks is no big deal.”
“Great, and they’ll try to present in such a way that if you don’t like it, you’ll be able to eat around it, but I think it’ll be great.”
The waiter puts in the order, and when it comes, the foodie is floored. The expert chefs did indeed prepare a meal that combined elements of Italian, Thai, and Mexican cuisines while avoiding all dairy and coconut. The Water Buffalo complemented all the ingredients perfectly and wasn’t excessively present. The patron was floored.
That patron was the first of many satisfied customers, and the restaurant became hugely successful. because the Everything Restaurant because the owners recognized something very critical: what someone asks for isn’t necessarily what they want.
As the owners celebrated their success, they began thinking about next steps. After many meetings and a whole lot of analysis, they had a fantastic idea for what they were going to do next. But that’s a story for later.
