customer request...

iconoclast · #1 08-24-2009, 11:03 PM

odd question, but some of you seasoned pros may have experienced this... i have a potential customer, she would like to hire me for an event... HOWEVER, she would like to me to replicate meals from her favourite restaurant... to help me do that she wants me to go to do dinner with her and experience it for myself... anyone here experience this before?

natividad · #2 08-24-2009, 11:23 PM

sure, sounds like a perfectly resonable request. I've know restruanteurs send their future chefs to other cities or even other countries to experience and learn about a particular food or concept or culture, so having dinner isn't odd at all. the problem is it sounds like she wants a replication and not your version of the dishes. not sure what your skill set is, but i hope you can make reasonably close copies of their dishes. i assume she's picking up the tab ?????

iconoclast · #3 08-25-2009, 09:22 AM

yes, she will pick up the tab... however i am uncertain i will be able to replicate a meal exactly with out recipes or anything else... but i have made this clear and she is willing to give it a shot.

Fel3232 · #4 08-25-2009, 02:37 PM

my experience:
this never works out. No matter what your skills are, no matter how good you are, client is always going to compare you with the "original". Just my opinion/

natividad · #5 08-25-2009, 03:32 PM

most people know what they like, that doesn't mean they know what's good. my solution to your problem..... be better than the original !!!

ED BUCHANAN · #6 08-25-2009, 03:55 PM

Cooking for an event and cooking for 2 people is a bit different.

iconoclast · #7 08-25-2009, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fel3232

my experience:
this never works out. No matter what your skills are, no matter how good you are, client is always going to compare you with the "original". Just my opinion/

this is my major concern, and i have expressed that asking me to replicate a meal is like asking another musician to cover another musicians song... they both may be good/great in their own right but will always be slightly different.

ChefBillyB · #8 08-26-2009, 07:59 AM

You don't call up Ford to make a Chevy......I would tell her to hire the restaurant she likes to cater the event....... No matter how good the meal came out, in her mind it will never match what the restaurant can make right off the front line..........Bill

iconoclast · #9 08-26-2009, 09:51 AM

while i hate to turn away business, if she is expecting the exact same meal from that a different chef prepared i may have to tell her that.

natividad · #10 08-26-2009, 10:00 AM

get a free dinner and taste the food. only you know if you have the ability to copy the dishes. while having dinner you might also point out changes or thoughts on the dishes, maybe you can change her ideas of making strict copies. what kind of restuarant is it ? i say go, at least get a nice dinner from it.