Entrepreneur Now Offering Deconstructed Menu, Deconstructed Tables, And Deconstructed Bill
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
Queens Restaurant Owner Discovers That Calling Dish Quote Deconstructed Increases Price By Forty Percent
FLUSHING, QUEENS — A Queens restaurant owner named Tony Papadimitriou-Barnes has, following what he describes as a “market research accident,” restructured his entire menu around the word “deconstructed,” after discovering that listing his moussaka as “Deconstructed Moussaka” and raising the price by twelve dollars produced not a decline in orders but a 23 percent increase, accompanied by several online reviews describing the unchanged dish as “innovative” and “a thoughtful reimagining of a classic.”
The discovery happened in March when Papadimitriou-Barnes, who has run Athena’s on Main Street in Flushing for eleven years, was updating his menu design and, on a whim, added “Deconstructed” in front of his moussaka listing and changed the price from 18 to 30 dollars. He had intended to revert the change before printing. He forgot. The menus were printed. The moussaka sold at 30 dollars. Reviews mentioned its “elevated presentation.”
“The moussaka is the same moussaka,” Papadimitriou-Barnes told reporters Wednesday. “My mother’s recipe. Unchanged for thirty years. It is in a baking dish, as it has always been. Nothing is deconstructed. The eggplant is in the same position it has always been in.”
He paused. “The customers are very happy with it.”
The Full Deconstruction
Following the moussaka success, Papadimitriou-Barnes spent three weeks applying “Deconstructed” to every item on his menu and adjusting prices upward by amounts ranging from eight to eighteen dollars. The current menu offers: Deconstructed Spanakopita (spinach and feta in phyllo, unchanged, now 22 dollars, previously 14); Deconstructed Souvlaki Plate (grilled meat on a skewer with rice and salad, unchanged, now 28 dollars, previously 18); Deconstructed Greek Salad (tomato, cucumber, olive, feta in a bowl, unchanged, now 19 dollars, previously 12); and Deconstructed Baklava (baklava, unchanged, now 14 dollars, previously 8).
Revenue in April, the first full month of the deconstructed menu, was 34 percent higher than April of the previous year. The number of covers was approximately the same. The food costs were identical. The labor costs were identical. The only change was the word “Deconstructed” and the prices.
“I have been in the restaurant business for twenty-two years,” Papadimitriou-Barnes said. “I have tried many things to increase revenue. Better ingredients, longer hours, catering, delivery. Nothing has worked like this word. It is one word. I am not sure I understand economics.”
This kind of pricing power derived entirely from framing rather than from product characteristics is consistent with a long tradition in the restaurant industry of discovering that the relationship between price and perceived quality operates substantially through language rather than through the food itself.
The Customer Perspective
Customers at Athena’s on Wednesday were, when informed of the unchanged nature of the dishes they were eating, divided in their reactions. Several said they had suspected the “deconstructed” designation was “more marketing than reality” but had found the dishes good and considered the pricing fair for the neighborhood and the quality. One customer said she had specifically ordered the Deconstructed Spanakopita because she thought it would be served differently from regular spanakopita, and that she was “mildly disappointed” to learn it was not, but added that the spanakopita itself was “excellent.”
One customer, a food industry professional from Manhattan who had driven to Flushing specifically after reading about the deconstructed menu in a food blog, expressed what he described as “conceptual confusion” upon learning the dishes were unchanged. He had ordered the Deconstructed Souvlaki Plate expecting a specific kind of modern Greek presentation. He received a skewer, rice, and salad.
“It is a very good skewer,” he said, after a pause. “The rice is excellent. I don’t know what I expected, exactly.”
The Next Phase
Papadimitriou-Barnes, emboldened by the menu success, has extended the deconstruction principle beyond food. His restaurant now offers “Deconstructed Seating,” which consists of the same chairs that have always been in the restaurant, now described in the host stand’s welcome card as “individually configured wooden seating units arranged to facilitate intimate dining experiences.” The chairs are 11 dollars to reserve on weekends, a reservation fee that did not previously exist.
He has also introduced a “Deconstructed Check,” in which the bill is presented on a small wooden board with the individual items listed in a different order from the order in which they were consumed, which he describes as “a narrative approach to the dining financial experience.” The wooden board costs one dollar extra. It has not generated complaints.
This is consistent with a wider pattern in the service industry of discovering that the framing of a service can be monetized independently of the service itself, provided the framing is sufficiently aligned with the cultural expectations of the customer base.
The Future Of Deconstruction
Papadimitriou-Barnes says he is “not done with deconstruction” and is working on what he calls Phase Three, which involves applying the principle to non-food elements of the restaurant experience. He is considering a Deconstructed Parking spot (a regular parking spot described with interpretive signage), a Deconstructed Wait (the standard wait time at a busy restaurant, presented as “a curated pause for anticipation”), and a Deconstructed Restroom (the existing restroom, with a small framed card explaining its “essential role in the complete dining narrative”).
He anticipates these will also work. His mother, who still comes in to oversee the moussaka, has not been fully briefed on the pricing situation. “She thinks it is thirty dollars because I improved the recipe,” he said. “I have not corrected her. The moussaka is very good.”
For more on New York restaurant economics, see NewsThump for related British dining culture coverage.
Athena’s is open seven days. The moussaka is the same moussaka. It is thirty dollars.
SOURCE: https://sites.google.com/view/world-satire/united-kingdom-and-satire