Restaurant (R)evolution: Chef Amanda Cohen Of Dirt Candy On Banishing Tips, Cutting Food Costs, And Loving Spreadsheets

Radio Cherry Bombe

The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network

Restaurants, 591312, Business, Arts, Food Radio, Interviews, Kerry Diamond, Female Chefs, Radio Cherry Bombe, Entrepreneurs, Society & Culture, Women, Careers, Women In Food, Food, Cherry Bombe Magazine, Talk Radio, Chefs, Restaurateurs

4.6 • 592 Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to Restaurant (R)evolution, our new miniseries dedicated to those doing things differently in the industry. Over the next few weeks, Radio Cherry Bombe host Kerry Diamond will be talking to folks changing and challenging the rules of the restaurant world to learn what they’re doing and why. Today’s guest is Amanda Cohen, chef and owner of Dirt Candy, the vegetable-forward restaurant in New York City. Amanda is known for her plant-forward cuisine, but she’s also made a name for herself as someone not afraid to take on the system, especially when it comes to gratuities. Because of tipping’s problematic realities, Amanda is resolutely anti-tipping. When she moved Dirt Candy to a bigger location in 2015, she set out to make things more equitable between her front and back of house, provide a true living wage, and show that there’s an alternative to the pervasive gratuity culture. Tune in to learn how she did it. Amanda also shares her advice on what to do if you’re thinking of opening a restaurant today and gives a peek at her upcoming fall menu. Want to read more about tipping culture? Here’s Vince Dixon’s Eater article. Thank you to OpenTable and FOH for supporting this episode. Stay tuned for details on the Cherry Bombe + OpenTable “Sit With Us” series. And visit frontofthehouse.com to learn more about their dinnerware and tableware collections for the food service and hospitality industries. Hosted by Kerry Diamond Produced by Catherine Baker and Jenna Sadhu Edited by Jenna Sadhu Editorial Assistant Londyn Crenshaw Music by Tralala, “All Fired Up” Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Subscribe to our newsletter and check out past episodes and transcripts here. More on Amanda: Dirt Candy, website

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Boys and Girls are all fired up.
0:07.0	Hi everyone, you are listening to Radio Cherry Bomb, and I'm your host, Carrie Diamond, coming to you from New York City.
0:23.5	Today we have part two of a mini-series we're doing called Restaurant Revolution. I'm talking to folks doing things differently in the restaurant space.
0:31.8	The restaurant industry, as you know, is going through a great deal of disruption. And one of the topics that comes up time and
0:38.3	time again is tipping. Perhaps you've never thought about what you tip and why you tip, but it is a
0:44.4	very complicated subject. To quote an Eater article by Vince Dixon, the data is overwhelming.
0:50.6	Tipping encourages racism, sexism, harassment, and exploitation. We will link to that story in our show notes. For those who want to read it, tipping also creates a big divide in a restaurant based on who gets tips, generally the front of house, meaning servers, and who doesn't, the back of house, cooks, chefs, pastry chefs, dishwashers, etc. Today, we're talking to
1:13.1	someone who thinks a lot about tipping and how to run a restaurant that's fair to all of her employees.
1:18.9	It's chef Amanda Cohen, the owner of Dirk Candy, the vegetable forward restaurant in New York City.
1:24.3	You cannot do a series called Restaurant Revolution without Amanda Cohen. So stay
1:29.2	tuned for our conversation. Our Restaurant Revolution miniseries is supported by Open Table.
1:34.8	Open Table is proud to sponsor Cherry Bomb's dinner series, Sit With Us, which highlights amazing
1:39.7	female chefs and restaurateurs in the Cherry Bomb Network. Our Sit With Us series this summer took us to
1:45.5	Ola Mae in Austin, AOC in Los Angeles, Zuzuz in New York, and foreign cinema in San Francisco.
1:53.2	If you live in or are visiting those cities, I highly recommend all of those places, and you can book
1:58.2	them on open table. Part two of our Sit With Us series will take place
2:02.5	this fall. We're headed to Brooklyn, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Houston. Stay tuned for details.
2:09.0	From helping diners find the perfect spot for any occasion to helping restaurants do what they do
2:14.0	better, Open Table is a champion for dining around the world and works to make
2:18.4	the experience better on both sides of the table. Visit OpenTable.com for more and be sure to download
2:24.5	the OpenTable app. Restaurant Revolution is also presented by F-O-H. If you are a chef, pastry chef,
2:31.7	or restaurateur passionate about what you do, you need to know about F-O-H.
	...

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