This 4-part series examines how 3D printing will affect the future of fine dining. The first part, 3D Food Printing: Is It Ready for Luxury Dining?, sets up the series by exploring the current state of 3D food printing and whether it’s ready for use in fine dining restaurants. The second part, How 3D Printing Will Change the Future of Fine Dining, explores the ways in which 3D printing affects the fine dining experience. The third part, Will 3D Printing Destroy the Concept of Fine Dining?, explores whether using the technology would make fine dining more or less exclusive. And this, the last part, takes a look at 3D printing’s influence on the business of fine dining.
The luxury dining business is notoriously difficult to crack. You can be a self-taught wonder like Charlie Trotter, or a cultured person exposed to the finest things in life. But unless there is a wealthy benefactor to support your aspirations, breaking into the fine-dining industry is notoriously gruelling. While many may be accustomed to the idea of working free-of-charge as apprentices in order to enter the industry, all this could radically change with the advancement of 3D printing.
According to Hod Lipson, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University and Co-author of “Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing,” although social media has launched many careers of fashion bloggers, photographers and health experts, it hasn’t made as big of a shift for chefs. Yet, along with 3D food printing—with which more people get the chance and resources to create new flavors, textures and dishes, there will be a greater and wider platform for more new talents to break out on their own.
Granted, entering the food industry is a lot more glamorous now with the popularity of food blogs and cooking shows than before. With the advancement of 3D food printing, people’s draw towards the food industry may get even stronger. For instance, noted Lipson, “Few other topics engage students quite as much as 3D printing chocolate, especially younger students.” Since 3D food printing encompasses knowledge in science, art, cooking and more, it is educational and hugely effective at inspiring a new generation of chefs or food designers (who convert the chef’s ideas into digital recipes).
Nevertheless, the expansion of job opportunities within the luxury dining market isn’t just confined to chefs or food designers. Given the technical aspect of 3D food printing, “this will open a new discipline in arts and in science, where there could be more collaboration among other scientists and artists not typically thought of being relevant to the culinary landscape; such as architects, engineers, draftsmen, designers, chemists, and scientists,” noted Aaron Allen, Global Restaurant Expert and Founder of Aaron Allen & Associates. And while the team still needs the expertise of a chef as anchor, the diverse talents’ usage of 3D food printing can push the idea of food and luxury dining model into a whole new level.
Beyond the anticipated developments on the job front, new business opportunities will also be on the horizon. 3D printing can potentially open a new product line where Michelin star chefs, or any chefs, could use the technology to create food cartridges and digital recipes for sale. And unlike canned goods or frozen meals, the products made with 3D printers will be a lot more sophisticated, according to Lipson.
With this idea in mind, the restaurant consultant took it even further. “Imagine a cartridge where you not only get to eat the food made by a master chef, but in just the right portion approved by a dietitian, and programmed to print on a specific schedule," he said. In the same way you subscribe to a book or wine club that sends you selections based on interests every month, chefs may offer subscription culinary cartridges. Suggestions may be offered in the same way Amazon Prime suggests products to reorder or items you may like based on past purchases and viewing histories. There could very well be a Birchbox of the culinary world that sends you meal samples and culinary cartridges from up-and-coming chefs; ‘curated culinary cartridges’, so to speak, according to Allen.
However, as new opportunities arise, new issues will also loom ahead. Like the world of fashion, where designers such as Vera Wang and Tommy Hilfiger are notorious for their broad product offerings, prepare to see this greater “lifestyle-approach” apply to big-name chefs as well. Take Wolfgang Puck as an example. "He doesn’t just want to sell you a meal at one of his restaurants, he wants you to buy his cookbook and prepare his dishes using his equipment, cookware, cutlery, and, well, ‘his dishes on his dishes,’" said Allen. This expansion of the culinary business and the digitization of the food industry will make the idea of curation become more important than ever. “Chefs will have to face the challenge of controlling their product expansion to avoid being perceived as sellouts,” he noted.
What’s more, the development of 3D printing and the democratization of information (especially in the form of cartridges) will further raise the question of copyright laws, and protection of intelligent property will become even more complex. For sure, how chefs could more effectively capitalize on while safeguarding their secret recipes will be an interesting question to explore.
(Photo credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)
