The Underground Culinary Tour: How the New Metrics of Today's Top Restaurants Are Transforming How America Eats

by Damian Mogavero, Joseph D'Agnese, Danny Meyer (Foreword)

Eating out has gone from a special occasion treat to a daily occurrence for many people. Cooking TV shows usher viewers into restaurant kitchens and freezers, while smart phones allow diners to analyze wine list prices before placing an order. The author, who developed and sells restaurant management software attributes restaurant success and longevity to managing four factors: ingredients, beverages, space, and an "X factor" unique to each entity. Two chapters detail the real-life "Underground Culinary Tour," an exclusive New York City tasting tour, overseen by Mogavero, for a select group of restaurant executives. Other chapters explore how detailed income and expense data can minimize waste, manage inventory, help with training personnel, and uncover theft.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Foodie, Cooking, Cookbooks, Business

336 pages, Hardcover

Published January 24, 2017

About the author

Damian Mogavero is the founder of Avero, the international restaurant analytics software company. Before becoming a restaurant-CFO-turned-entrepreneur, Mogavero worked on Wall Street as an investment banker.

Mogavero created Avero to empower food and beverage operators to make faster, smarter and profitable decisions, while providing outstanding service to their guests. Today Avero aggregates over $24 billion in food and beverage data and helps over 34,000+ restaurant operators in 68 countries through the use of intelligent data.

Mogavero been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Fast Company, Bloomberg Business, Fortune Small Business, WIRED, HuffPost. Mogavero regularly speaks at hospitality and technology conferences on what he calls the “New Guard Restaurateur”.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

What with the advent of Instagram, Yelp, food shows and blogs, we are all foodies now and so now every city, no matter how far from the great metropoli with their big-name restaurants needs to keep up with cutting-edge food trends and restaurant decor. How do they do this? Well, some of them are lucky enough to be invited on to the Underground Culinary Tour. This is, usually in NY, a couple of days gourmand and gourmet extravaganza of too much of the very best food as selected by the author. Those invited, chefs mostly, get ferried around in a coach and should their appetites flag, then there is always alcohol until they get them back.

Two of my great loves, the restaurant business and data analysis, statistics, combined in one book. I've been in the restaurant and bar business although I now rent out my bookshop cafe. The bookshop business itself is all on spreadsheets condensed to just two files in the cloud. I can run it from any laptop which is how I can travel so much.

An interesting fact about Hurricane Katrina is that Walmart knew about it before the US government agencies and had trucks with batteries, water, emergency supplies and easy to prepare longlife food in place long before any one else had made any preparations. Walmart has a meteorology department! I was in Miami just before Dorian and went to a Walmart Superstore - fans, generators, water, batteries, all piled up. They must have crack meterologists!

Not a bad book, but not enthralling and it mostly promotes the author's software for restaurants, so 4 star.

[Karen R · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Welcome to The Underground Culinary Tour, a world where revolutionary food trends are discovered, the kitchen never runs out, the bar and wine cellar are always stocked, and guests are assured of a special time they will want to relive, again and again.”

Damian Mongavero is one smart innovator. After earning an MBA from Harvard, he went on to found a company that develops cutting-edge technology in collecting restaurant data that can track EVERYTHING. I am not someone who is involved in the industry in any shape or form, I’m just a consumer foodie, but still I found Mongavero’s behind the scenes look to be fascinating and one that provided great insight into what makes one restaurant successful while another one flounders.

I was introduced to a number of chefs/owners in this book as they told their stories, sharing their challenges. One small example was when an owner surprisingly found in analyzing data, that one of his best servers and customer favorite sold lots of glasses of wine but wasn’t selling bottles of wine which is the real money maker. When approached, she was embarrassed to admit her phobia about opening wine bottles. What if she broke the cork or the bottle slipped from her hands? All it took was a little bit of training to put her at ease and increase wine bottle consumption (and profit).

The trackable data by pressing a button is vast in order to maximize customer satisfaction, grow revenues and even weed out dead weight. Many of the finest chefs, big and small restaurants, cruise ships, casinos, etc. apparently use this system to face day to day challenges. I would surmise the author just might get some new customers for his software after reading this book. When I enter a restaurant, I know I will look at things a bit differently now that I have some insider knowledge.

Thanks to Crown Books for providing an ARC.

[Steve Solnick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant dissection of the business - and the magic - of eating and drinking establishments. While the book is, at its core, an infomercial for the author's data analytics software, this commercial aim is well camouflaged by a thoroughly engaging look at how restaurants and bars tick, and what the future may hold. The two chapters devoted to the titular tour are mouthwatering, the New Orleans chapter genuinely moving, the chapters on celebrity chefs and waitstaff scams illuminating. And, overall, I felt the author captured the creative challenge at the intersection of art and commerce - like a great film director, a successful restaurateur must be a visionary and also a skilled manager. A must read for anyone in the restaurant business (I'm not) and for anyone who likes to eat and drink out (I do). Special kudos to the co-author, Joseph D'Agnese, whose fluid prose showed him to be the ideal sous-chef for this meal and whose final chapter on trends tied the whole thing together like the perfect brandy.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The content would have truly been enjoyable had Mogavero's ego and poor writing skills not gotten in the way. I'll always enjoy descriptions of beautiful restaurant settings and even more beautiful food, but that would not motivate me to read another word of his writing. Simple sentence structures and his annoyingly boastful writing style makes this a book that I will not recommend.

[Maria Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Restaurant Analytics versus Good Ole Gut Instinct

In this well written and well researched guide to what the author, a restaurant analytic software engineer and salesperson, refers to as the New Guard versus Old Guard way of running a restaurant from an owner’s perspective, the underground culinary tour emerged

The New Guard refers to those savvy restauranteurs who value analytics or data on every single metric that can be measured. They will avail themselves to the author’s innovational software and use it to their best advantage in the fickle, trend heavy world of the dining out industry.

The Old Guard refers to the old way of doing things which is basically summed up as relying on gut instinct rather than hard data to examine trends that can make or break a business’s bottom line.

These metrics examine all areas of a restaurant’s overall performance from server competency to ordering to avoid waste and maximize profits.

The underground culinary tour refers to the bacchanalian bus tour from restaurant to restaurant over the course of two days. The restaurants were chosen based on their standout qualities and the chef/owners chosen to be part of the tour were also chosen based on their rising star. The author acts as the tour’s co-host.

Put all these elements together and you have The Underground Culinary Tour, a disjointed and perhaps audience confusing book.

The author is perfectly poised as the happy recipient of selling his brand because as far as the book goes, he has no competition. He offers several case studies of restaurants and restaurant groups who have used his software to overwhelming success. In spite of this, gut instinct should not have been as downplayed as it was because running a successful business does take listening to your gut to some degree.

Some of the case studies were guilty of oversimplification such as the one depicting a server who was scared to open bottles of wine tableside and therefore never sold any and her complete 180 degree turnaround.

The sales pitch came through loud and clear. This is not an objective point of view, however warranted it may seem. Mogavero also is fond of industry name dropping which becomes obnoxious after a certain point.

Overall, it is always interesting to look into the inner workings of an industry you are not a part of, at least this was the case for me. I was also intrigued at the level of customer manipulation that occurs during the act of dining. Good to know what to look for from the customer’s perspective.

BRB Rating: Unless this topic interests you, Skip It.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing book for those who are in the restaurant business, or might be going into that business. Though I'm not a restaurant owner, I did enjoy reading through this book. Its a pretty fast pace read, but it had so many tips and tools, that it would be an excellent help. In my younger years I worked in several restaurants, and it was always interesting to see the overall run of the places. I can see where this would be an excellent tool for any restaurant owner. Or anyone in the food industry. Need a gift for that special person that you don't know what to give, this would be a good book to give. In addition to all of the super stuff in this book, the copy I reviewed is a nice hardcover with a very eyecatching dustjacket. High quality book.
This book was provided by Blogging for Books blog tours. I was  not ask to write a positive review. The opinions here are mine alone!

[Ashley Cameron · Rating 1 out of 5]

I originally got this book for my husband to read, as he is really into the culinary scene. About three weeks after I handed him the book, I asked him if he had finished the book, or read any of the book I got for him. My husband has Dyslexia but has learned how to cope and reads quite well. However, he relayed to me, that some of the vocabulary in this book was hard for him to understand. He was really struggling to make out the words, and so he gave up.

I picked up the book and tried to read some of it myself, but it just would not hold my attention. I'm not really interested in the culinary arts, so it just didn't do it for me. I intend on finding a friend, or a friend of a friend who is interested in culinary topics and pass it on to them.

So, I would recommend it to anyone who is a culinary whiz.

* I received this book from Blogging for Books, free, in exchange for my honest review and opinions.*

[Gooshe · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a restaurant owner or want to open a restaurant, The Underground Culinary Tour
takes you behind the scenes of culinary tour for top chefs showing you how today restaurants transform how we eat.
From the book; "If you're holding this book, chances are good that you love dining out and are passionate about food. What you may not know is that the restaurant industry has been under-going a revolutionary Shift in thinking that is largely imris-ible to guests. The Underground Culinary Tour reveals the big secret: more than ever, a new generation of restaurant operators are relying upon data and technology to deliver a superb guest experience."

[John Fredrickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a curious amalgam of culinary-oriented stories, ranging from the use of analytics to help manage employee training and the ordering of food, semi-historical reporting of a culinary tour (for chefs) to expand their own concepts of foods and wines, as well as employee scams that are detectable by careful attention to pattern anomalies, and more.

I engaged with this book expecting a merging of restaurant management themes with big data approaches, but that is not what this book addresses. Many of the themes in the book are interesting in their own right, but the stories do not necessarily feel related to each other in the way that I would expect.

[Yvonne · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you own a restaurant , or are interested in doing so, this book would be of great benefit to you.
To the lay foodie, this book may provide insights into the office workings of your local eatery.

Whilst there were some nice stories here, from strife to success, I expected more visual information pertaining to the case studies mogavero referenced.
Mogarevo has a long history of using data to enable businesses to increase their profit margins, not just in the food industry and really, If you need help hire him, don't read the book.

The culinary food tour was of the most interest to me and helped to break up the heavier, more sales oriented parts of this non fiction read.

[Rayfes Mondal · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some good insights on how data analytics can help your restaurant but too much of the book was about the people and restaurants themselves instead of focusing on the insights. There were solid insights presented such as various ways employees steal and about how fine dining has given way to casual dining. In the end the data analytics used in the restaurant industry even by the "New Guard" felt simplistic compared to what is being done in other industries.

[Derek Wolfgram · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lot of great insights about the restaurant industry, but also pretty heavy handed - if I didn't already think data analytics could make a big difference in the industry, I likely wouldn't be reading this book in the first place. you don't have to keep reminding me that data is a big deal!

[Carisa Smitham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent description and in depth perspective on how art and data mining can be combined for the democratization of higher and better experiences for all who enjoy eating out! Loved this read!

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Jellybooks.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

This particular book presented an experience that was both close to home and somewhat remote at the same time, an experience that was both alien and even a bit on the hostile side given its hipster approach to food [1] and one that was quite in line with my own experience and interests as a person with a passion for data and evidence [2].  On the one hand, there is a lot about this book's focus on numbers and data and sound evidence-based reasoning that is appealing.  On the other hand, I am not the sort of person that has the sort of income to drop on highbrow dining, the sort of person who is interested in following the fads and fashions of our corrupt contemporary society, nor am I the sort of disloyal customer that the author assumes many of my contemporaries to be.  This book left me with the feeling of being both attracted and strongly repelled by aspects of the author's approach, and left with mixed feelings about the author's perspective on an industry that matters a great deal to me as a fond customer of restaurants and other entertainment options like the movies and concerts.

In a book that is part a tour diary and part tour through the calculus of the hospitality business, this is a book that operates with a fairly rigid dialectic between old guard business that rely on intuition and a new guard approach that relies on rigorous data and analytics.  The book is more or less like Moneyball for the restaurant and entertainment industry, and should be viewed in that sense, with the same degree of built-in opposition to that which is old and established.  This ought to increase the book's appeal but simultaneously makes it less appealing to me personally, since many of the author's points do not require either a slavish devotion to unstable hipsterish novelty nor do they require a sense of hostility to that which has come before us, but can in fact spring from a great love of preservation and even a restoration of that which is lost, and a devotion to service to others, if the author was less interested being a crusader of novelty and deliberate instability.  Two chapters of this book deal with the underground culinary tour that the author runs in New York City, and other chapters deal with case studies of how sound analytics can reduce the threat of microfraud from restaurant employees, how data makes nightclubs and casino-associated restaurants profitable in Las Vegas, and how hipster cities around the United States from New Orleans to Los Angeles are benefitting from a variety of changes that focus on spectacle and that use analytical approaches and a devotion to trends to stay ahead of competition.  The end result is a book that feels of the moment but whose short-term focus denies it the sort of lasting impact it would likely want to possess.

Who is this book ultimately for?  There are at least a few people who would likely find much to understand about this book.  For those who are involved in the entertainment industry and who consider themselves on the cutting edge of the fads and trends this book endorses whole hog, this book is likely the occasion of masturbatory self-congratulation.  For those who are being labeled and derided as old guard, this book presents the opportunity for a selective use of data and analytics to better understand one's business and serve customers without the devotion to novelty that the author endorses, along with the understanding that different people may aim at different audiences, and not everyone can or should chase after the fickle hearts of hipsters like this author and his clients do.  For those who are fans of data and analytics, this book offers an example of how not to portray a focus on data-driven business practices by insulting either one's readers or potential customers or glorying in being an arrogant blowhard like the author does here.  Had the author approached his subject and the debate over data and analytics with more graciousness and humility, this would have been a far better book.  As it is, there are insights that are worth gaining, but a great deal of material that must be taken with a large grain of pink Himalayan salt.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[2] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this! however was little disappointed in the fact that i thought it was going to be filled with recipes! lol

[2LWithIt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In an age where computer analytics to assess market viability are everything, Damian Mogavero's "The Underground Culinary Tour" takes readers through this shift in the restaurant industry. Originally, all it took to make a good restaurant was a hard working chef and a solid menu with a few customer favorites. Now, more than ever, that will not keep any restaurant alive...instead POS (point of sale) data is crucial to a restauranteur's understanding of how a restaurant is doing.

This book isn't really a guide about how to run your own restaurant or adapt to a POS system; instead, it's a first-hand account by Mogavero and how he navigated shifts in the restaurant industry. His personal anecdotes and observations make you feel like you're there with him as he explains the difference between craft beer and sommeliers. Overall, I thought this was a quick read that was light and informative. Not too much data or convoluted explanations...I'd recommend it to friends and family interested or working in the restaurant industry. And even if you aren't directly affiliated, it's an interesting read about how this industry has evolved to rely on computers in order to enhance a customer's experience from the moment of entry until the last bite of dessert.

Score Card: Cover Art: 5/5 | Content: 4/5 | East of Read: 5/5

I was provided a complimentary copy of this title by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion after reading it.

[Bryan Palafox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

Interesting book about the new age restauranteur and how Data Analytics has changed the way a restaurant should be run. As society has embraced high paced change some industries have been left behind. This book does a good job highlight the specific examples of people or groups in the service industry who have embraced the shear speed of data creation and used it to their advantage to develop restaurant concepts and shape their food and beverage menus. All managers should read this to see if perhaps they're behind times or right on track.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He also knew that a lot of the millennials who came into their new restaurant would not hesitate to do what he did on a night out - use a smart-phone to research a wine right at the table. They'd know the retail price instantly. They'd also know if they were being gouged."

I received a copy of this book from bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who doesn't know a lot about the restaurant industry, I enjoyed this book. I thought the introduction was interesting along with the anecdotes throughout the book such as how restaurants know when waitstaff is stealing money or how to use data to decide what drinks you should serve or how many two-top tables you should have. The actual "culinary tour" where they visit various restaurants was the least appealing part of the book to me.

This book lays out really clearly how restaurants can, and should, be using data to ensure they turn a profit and provide the best quality to their patrons. It's an enjoyable look behind the scenes of restaurant life.

[Denise Morse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Data geeks of the world unite!

This non-fiction book is part software advertisement and case studies, and part crazy culinary tour. This can make the book seem a little disjointed at times and almost could be two separate books. The culinary tour was extremely interesting and decadent, would make a great series on Netflix or Food Network. Personally, I was most interested in the way the restaurants use data and the capabilities of the software. Although I am not in the restaurant business, the software and its metrics have wide ranging applicability.

And as a bonus, I now know how to potentially spot waiter theft.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this breezy, fascinating look in the both the big data side and entrepreneurial quest for new, in the restaurant business. The deep dive in to MTK's NAVY BEACH restaurant hooked me immediately since I've spent some time there. They are apparently taking advantage of data from the weather, liquor distributors seasonal delivery schedule, server scorecards for table turns, increased Rose wine consumption leading to better cocktail lead times, 1967 Boston Whaler dinghy that picks up boaters, and time-of-day foot traffic in order to grow the business. The authors tour to VIPs of the industry (from the title) was also intriguing: Maison Premiere Oysters, Hearth's Ricotta meatballs, Sabering champagne at Pearl & Ash, and intelligent beverage programs were all great take aways for someone with two kids, and not as much in-the-know as I'd like to be.

[victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Underground Culinary Tour
How the new Metrics of
Today's Top Restaurants
are Transforming
How American Eats
By DAMIAN MOGAVERO
Foreward By DANNY MEYER
This book is very inspire me with the knowledge of the technology surrounded us that can be more powerful and most useful software programs with unexpected of ability with all that it could be helping and proof to making a successful of the wine and a food hospitality industry. Wth his experiences from many years all the knowledge he had Damian Mogavero had put it all together to guide and give you insight in this book. I highly recommend to everyone must read this book.
" I received this book from the Blogging for Book programming exchange for this review "

[Nada · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of The Underground Culinary Tour by Damian Mogavero and Joseph D'Agnese is simple to understand. Appropriate use of appropriate data can help restaurateurs improve their performance and help demystify that "something" that keeps customers coming back. Implementing the idea may be something quite different. As a reader not in the food industry, this book, couched in a memoir-like narrative, is an entertaining and easy to read behind-the-scenes look at the hospitality industry.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017...

Reviewed based on a publisher’s galley received through NetGalley

[Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is for the particular group of people who are interested in the intersection of data and restaurants, but if you are in that particular group, I imagine you will find this absolutely fascinating. (As I did.)

I wish he could have given more details about when/where/who, but I understand there are privacy issues associated with that kind of data, so...Seriously fascinating, though.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC! Really great quick read.

[Sue Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Net Galley for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. I found this interesting, but I probably would've found it more interesting if I was in the industry. Normally I like books that let me learn about an industry, but this one had some information, but not all that I would've liked to see.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating inside look at the restaurant industry. Recommended for foodies, restaurant professionals and anyone interested in finding out how a multi-billion dollar industry often runs on nothing more a hunch.

[Via Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more a story telling kind of book of going through the process and how his (Damian's) program has helped others. It has some good insights. It is a good read for most anyone, not just those in the food industry.
Read the full review here: http://bit.ly/UCTbook

[Leah Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read on the dynamics between data and the restaurant industry. Thanks to Jellybooks for the Advance Reader copy.

[V Luttrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun book This book offers a , behind-the-scenes narrative about how the restaurant industry, historically run by gut and intuition, is being transformed by the use of data

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Good complement to Setting the Table by Danny Meyer (who was an early client of author's software company) but would absolutely read that first.

The 3 chapters of the Underground Tour were the weakest, in my view. The longer stories of people in the biz, how they've grown and adapted their businesses, and how they've used the data now available to them were great. Hakkasan nightclub group was the standout - day parties vs nightclub, how they staff, how they spot the best severs (most productive vs expectations), how they chose an extra night to spend more on a DJ, how they negotiated with DJs for lower off-season rates. There was a great article about Marquee in Vegas in GQ a few years ago called "The best night $500,000 can buy" which is the perfect thing to read along with this chapter.

Brennan's in New Orleans and the mistakes they made in their move to Disneyland California. Data showed them that the menus were all wrong because of course the customer base was totally different from New Orleans. The restaurant turned around and was able to carry them when Katrina hit.

Also really liked the chapter about Larry Johnson, an attorney who had studied Portuguese, and worked in Rio. He was approached by the owners of Fogo de Chao who wanted to bring the concept to the US. He helped them, then became CEO and took the company public. Their data collection helped plan for customer trends, making use of seasonality, weather, events, even day of the week. They broke it down to 15-minute increments and grilled meat in advance to enhance the guest experience.

The making of a celebrity chef restaurant was another standout chapter. It even referenced the Guy Fieri Times Square disaster of a review in The NY Times, and the next Guy Fieri restaurant that opened, at the LINQ casino, part of Caesar's. It was a hit, in part because of the team at Carsar's who developed it. Also discussed the opening of Giada's first restaurant in the Cromwell in Vegas.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-written and enjoyable read. Mogavero is clearly on a mission to change how restauranteurs and their clientele experience dining out. While the customer and employee in me questions the use of data to manipulate me into spending more money or having my professional skills always under a microscope, the idea that restaurants can and should be using data to decrease waste, be more efficient, and improving the dining experience for everyone was a slam dunk. At times Mogavero's obsession with "cuisine" and description of high end restaurants made me wonder how such metrics serve lower-end consumers. There is no doubt, however, that the United States has experienced a cultural shift in culinary expectations. A closer look at how data can be collected for restaurants who can't afford his custom softwarr would have rounded out his argument perfectly. It was fun to travel along with the tour, and it will definitely make an impression on any reader. You won't think about eating out the same way ever again. This book has, for better and worse, made me a more critical and resppnsible restaurant guest.