Harvard Business School Bulletin

Karen Page (MBA '89) is a consultant to Fortune 500 food companies in marketing strategy, culinary trends, and new product development. With her husband, Andrew Dornenburg, a professional chef, she has written the award-winning Becoming a Chef (1995) and Culinary Artistry (1996). She lives in New York City.

A In college, I ran a company that delivered birthday cakes ordered by students' parents. After HBS, as a consultant to the food and beverage industry, I became fascinated by the culinary profession. I saw that leading chefs are artists whose innovations and creativity greatly influence the direction of the industry.

Q How big is the foodservice industry?

A Sales for restaurants alone are projected to top $320 billion in 1997. Restaurants are a hot entrepreneurial growth area, and the chef's profession has been designated one of the top ten careers for the 1990s, with 50,000 to 85,000 new chefs needed annually.

Q What's behind this boom?

A A big factor has been women entering the work force; they don't have as much time for shopping and cooking. Today, that traditional nurturing role of women - preparing family meals - has increasingly been taken on by the restaurant industry. Americans now spend more meal occasions eating out (or eating take-out) than they do consuming home-prepared meals.

Q How else is food's role in our culture changing?

A Beyond sustenance, food is always central to culture because it's so wrapped up with memories, feelings, and self-image. Food is like clothing or shelter: you can get by with the basics, or you can aspire to some aesthetics. The new insistence on food quality may be an outgrowth of a larger need to put more meaning and satisfaction in our lives.

Q Is mainstream American cuisine improving?

A No and yes. With less time to eat, many Americans rely on fast food and have no real knowledge or expectation of quality. But many other Americans - consumers and chefs - have traveled in recent years to places where food is celebrated.

Diners now have heightened demands to which the industry has responded, as have entrepreneurs. Thus you see the emergence of craft-brewed beers, gourmet coffees, breads, and so forth, in addition to fine restaurants. Increasingly, chefs and restaurants are starting joint ventures with small, local outfits to ensure quality supplies.

Q If you were a CEO, would quality in the company cafeteria be a priority?

A I recently had lunch in a Fortune 500 firm's cafeteria. A pasta with balsamic vinegar sauce was recommended to me, and it was delicious! The place was filled with employees enjoying an inexpensive, well-prepared, and morale-boosting menu while networking among themselves. Productivity was enhanced because employees weren't making off-site luncheon excursions. What CEO wouldn't like all that?

Q How much do the giant food companies influence American tastes?

A In their marketing and production, companies have been lazy. They've continued to rely on fat and salt to impart flavor to food despite grassroots demand for reductions in additives, fat, and salt. In our book Culinary Artistry, we have an extensive list of healthy ingredients that, when combined, enhance taste through flavor compatibility without the need for salt or fat. It can be done! Incredibly, no such guide to flavor compatibility has ever been published before.

Q Do restaurant chef/owners have management lessons for the rest of business?

A Absolutely. One acclaimed owner assigns a mood rating on a scale of one to ten to every patron he seats. Every diner must be in a nine or ten mood when they leave; the restaurant will do whatever's necessary to ensure that. A qualitative experience measured quantitatively - it's a case study in successful customer service and service management.

Q What's the most memorable meal you've ever had?

A It was at the establishment I just mentioned - The Inn at Little Washington, in Virginia, which some rate among the best restaurants in America. The food, wine, ambiance, and service combined to form a sublime experience. It's the only restaurant where I've ever felt unconditionally loved - and that's not an overstatement. I can't wait to go back!