Insight
Andrés: Mixing family, friendship, and business creates powerful long-term partnerships
“It is good that you are able to very early on in your life, to surround yourself with people you want to be with for many years ahead. Not only for family, not only for friendship, but also for business. And if you can mix the three, it's even more wonderful.”
Assertion Partly supported
Andrés: World Central Kitchen reached Bahamas 10 days before other relief groups
“In Bahamas, we were the first ones on the ground and we fed 14 islands, 80,000 meals a day. We were the first ones 10 days before anybody else showed up.”
Disclosure
Andrés: World Central Kitchen acts as proof of concept for Congress
“Obviously we cannot be doing this with every single restaurant. I wish what we're doing is proving concept for Congress is no reason why in this moment food should be a problem.”
What-if
Andrés: WCK deploys to disasters before checking its bank balance
“If we ever look at the bank account of World Central Kitchen, before we went to Bahamas, or Puerto Rico, or North Carolina, or Florida, or Indonesia, and we base our response on the money we had in the bank, we wouldn't do one meal yet.”
Insight
Andrés: Charity should liberate the receiver rather than redeem the giver
“He told me that charity seems is always about the redemption of the giver, when charity should be about the liberation of the receiver,”
Insight
Andrés: Mastering Fire Control Is the Foundation of Great Cooking
“Cooking itself, it's easy. If somebody's controlling the fire, you want to be a great cook, be in charge of the fire, then you will be able to cook whatever you want in life.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
José Andrés: Jaleo Differentiated Itself via Long Menus and Shared Plates
“What Haleo did that was very different from the Spanish cooking that was happening before, especially restaurants in Florida and New York with big Spanish populations, what we did was that we had a very long menu and where we were really telling people that sh…”
Insight
José Andrés: Consumer food choices are an amazing form of democracy
“Because today, the way we eat is an amazing form of democracy. Because by what you eat, you are voting about the things you think should be, not only on your plate, but in the plates of many others. So we all need to start thinking that you can vote with your …”
Insight
José Andrés: Every creative professional ultimately works for themselves
“You can be anything you want, and you will always work for yourself. I don't care if you wanna be Painting in the middle of the streets of Washington DC. I don't care if you want to be singing with a rose in Fifth Avenue. I don't care what's the crazy business…”
Insight
José Andrés views opening restaurants as telling stories
“Quite frankly, I always say I don't open restaurants. I tell stories.”
Assertion Supported
Andrés: World Central Kitchen serves 200,000 meals daily during COVID-19
“I mean, quite frankly World Central Kitchen is doing close to over 200,000 meals a day. Today we reach three million meals by the end of today.”
Assertion Supported
Andrés: World Central Kitchen has mobilized over 500 US restaurants
“We have more than 500 restaurants that Across America, and we are adding new restaurants almost every day.”
Assertion Supported
Andrés: NGOs are the third largest employer in America
“We forget that NGOs are the third biggest employer in America.”
Assertion Contradicted
Andrés: Michelin-starred minibar serves just 16 people per day
“In my Michelin star restaurant mini bar, we feed 16 people every day only in a very expensive restaurant. Only a few hundred people every year can eat in that restaurant.”
Assertion Supported
José Andrés failed cooking, English, and accounting in culinary school
“I never graduated. They gave me the diploma last year, almost 30 years later, and I fell cooking, English, and accounting.”
Opinion
José Andrés: El Bulli set the bar for gastronomy over 30 years
“Almost over the last 30 years has set the bar of what cooking and what's the future of gastronomy.”
Disclosure
José Andrés arrived in New York with about 50 dollars
“I had, like, 50 bucks in, in my pocket. I was going to 50th street between Lexington and third, and the driver dropped me in 193 between eighth and ninth.”
Insight
José Andrés: The difference between tapas and individual dining is twenty inches
“Tapas versus no tapas is only 20 inches. If you want to do tapas, you put the plate in the middle of the table, and people know that that's the signal to share. If you don't want to do tapas, people, move your plate 20 inches towards you.”
Disclosure
Andrés: ThinkFoodGroup employs an 8-to-12 person dedicated R&D team
“In my thin food group, we have what we call the thin food tank. That's my creative arm, and for me, creating that arm of eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 individuals, That the only thing they do is thinking, creating, and maintaining quality is a very powerful research…”
Insight
Serving 3,000 small plates requires more kitchen labor than large plates
“I can tell you work harder when you have to put out 3000 small plates in one service than 1000 big plates. It's more work.”
