Bennett Zerull RHET 1312 Dr.

Harris Essay 02 Change for the Masses: Why Large Chain Restaurants Should Begin Implementing Higher Training Standards for Bartenders in the Field of Molecular Mixology. Working as a bartender, I get asked the same question over and over again. What is my favorite drink? The truth is my favorite cocktail is a simple one, a classic Gin and Tonic. I love this cocktail because it is easy to make and great tasting. Gin, Tonic Water, lime wedge, and a Gin and Tonic is ready to be served. This drink is fast to make, so the beverage should come out of the bar fairly quickly. The cocktail is so simple to make, there is not a lot of variation in the recipe; therefore the drink will taste consistent no matter where a Gin and Tonic is ordered. Other cocktails, such as a Mai Tai, can prove to be challenging to a restaurant bar. There are many ways a Mai Tai can be made, consequently the beverage might taste entirely different depending on the establishment where the cocktail is ordered. Therefore, a guest ordering a Mai Tai could end up with a drink the customer does not want. Under these circumstances, the bartender is not necessarily at fault. While there is a possibility the bartender made a mistake while making the drink, there is a chance that the bartenders or the restaurant's recipe just is not the guests favorite. Whether or not the drink was finished or sent back to the bar, the disappointment to the guest is real, and in a time where people do not eat out like they used to, that guests disappointment is something any establishment cannot afford to have. There needs to be a standard to which establishments hold their bartending staff. Molecular Mixology presents an opportunity to provide these bartenders with those standards. Large chain restaurants should begin implementing higher training standards for bartenders in the field of Molecular Mixology. Thus providing interesting and new products to intrigue guests and increase their satisfaction, while advancing the future of the food and beverage industry as a whole all while maintaining high safety standards. An industry fact is that if a guest has a good experience while dining, it is likely they will tell two people about the wonderful time they had. On the flip side if a guest has a negative

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Bennett Zerull RHET 1312 Dr. Harris Essay 02 experience, it is likely they will tell ten people about the bad time they had, and with social media becoming more and more prominent those ten people are increasing to hundreds of people. Molecular Mixology can be the saving grace that keeps guests in the establishments favor. As for right now, most bars using Molecular Mixology techniques are hotel bars in larger cities. USA Today annually releases a report on hotel guest satisfaction. According to Nancy Trejos, the writer with USA Today, Overall satisfaction among guests who interact with four or more employees beyond the check-in process was 856, about 79 points higher than the average. Satisfaction dropped to 724 when guests had no interaction with staff beyond checkin. (Trejos, USA Today). A bartenders job is not just to make drinks. An expectation of the bartender is entertain, serve, make drinks, and be a friendly point of contact for the guest. Therefore, a bartender is the perfect person to help increase guest satisfaction. Training in Molecular Mixology will give the bartender a whole new subject area to help entertain and inform guests. The bartender can begin to discuss the methods they are using, making the guest feel welcomed and a part of the bar. This ideology can translate from the hotel to the restaurant and increase guest satisfaction in any establishment. If an industry is not moving forward, it has become stagnant. If an industry has become stagnant, it cannot expect to generate new interest. How can an industry as old as the food and beverage industry expect to grow, while maintaining what it truly is? Sophia Roost, an assistant professor with the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University, addresses this question in her article, Of Foams and Formalisms: Scientific Expertise and Craft Practice in Molecular Gastronomy published in American Anthropologist. She focuses on the food movement Molecular Gastronomy, of which Molecular Mixology is a subfield, as a whole. In one section of Roost article, she describes a Parisian Molecular Gastronomy competition she attended, where approximately one hundred high school and college students worked with research scientists to reinterpret classic French cuisine. Roost states, Teenagers beamed with

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Bennett Zerull RHET 1312 Dr. Harris Essay 02 pride at the front of the amphitheater as they demonstrated in formal slideshow presentations how they sculpted beef with transglutaminase, solidified red wine with agar, and vacuumdistilled demi-glace. (Roost, American Anthropologist). If high school students with the proper training and guidance can reinvent classic French cuisine over the course of several hours, then an adult bartender should be able to do the same with classic cocktails in no time. My classic Gin and Tonic through a process called spherification can be turned into a caviar-like substance to be enjoyed, a modernistic advancement on classic, advancing the beverage industry to the future. As one may suspect, Molecular Mixology does present certain problems for any establishment, namely the safety of a chemically made cocktail. The fear of what chemical did that bartender put into my cocktail would become a definite reality as most guests will not have the chemistry knowledge to understand the process behind making the drink. Safety is of the utmost concern when it comes to Molecular Mixology. An untrained individual mixing chemicals into a guest cocktail could have disastrous effects. It is critical that food safety measures are taken to prevent potentially dangerous mistakes from happening. This is why large chain restaurants are the best location to begin distributing Molecular Cocktails. This past March, Laura Green Brown with the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net), released a study on restaurant food safety in the Journal of Environmental Health. The results where that ownership is related to food safety practices, and that chain restaurants are more likely to use thermometers, use pasteurized shell eggs and wear gloves. (Brown, Journal of Environmental Health). The study goes on to speculate that chain restaurants may have tested and verified operating procedures, have better equipment, resources, and staff to support better food safety methods over independently owned restaurants. (Brown, Journal of Environmental Health). This speculation

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Bennett Zerull RHET 1312 Dr. Harris Essay 02 only supports that chain restaurants are better equipped and prepared to handle the risks associated with Molecular Mixology. Molecular Mixology and Molecular Gastronomy present us with the future of the Food and Beverage Industry. To live in a world where people only eat and drink what they have for hundreds of years, limits everyone from expanding their pallets and experiencing new creations. Molecular Mixology needs to be taken out of the laboratory and brought to the masses. The best way to do this is to introduce Molecular Mixology to large chain restaurants. These establishments have the numbers to allow larger masses of people to enjoy molecular cocktails and the staffing to ensure that these guests are satisfied with their visits. The methods behind Molecular Mixology are simple enough that with proper guidance a high school student could prepare the drinks. Chain restaurants also have the food safety precautions already in place to ensure that the products are made safely. John F. Kennedy once said, For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. Change is a good thing, and I am looking forward to the future of cocktails. Work Cited Green Brown, Laura. "EHS-Net Restaurant Food Safety Studies: What Have We Learned?." Journal Of Environmental Health 75.7 (2013): 44-45. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Nancy, Trejos, @nancytrejos, and TODAY USA. "More hotels meet their guests' expectations." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Roosth, Sophia. "Of Foams And Formalisms: Scientific Expertise And Craft Practice In Molecular Gastronomy." American Anthropologist 115.1 (2013): 4-16. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.

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