QUALITALY_135

July/August 2023 VIII MAGAZINE university students who love to eat well, seek out the most innovative restaurants, techniques and chefs of the moment. And maybe they go out once in a while. Perhaps they are less passionate than the Millennials, the ‘Master Chef’ generation that has made a cult of cooking and chefs of maître à penser, but they can still be involved and retained. Better though - and this is what the shrewdest restaurateurs are doing - with programmes and menus dedicated to them. HAUTE CUISINE AS A CHOICE The trend started from the top. For a while now, in fact, it has been happening in starred restaurants to meet, alongside established professionals, established couples and wealthy families, a table of young or very young people. “The customer is changing,’ confirms Niko Romito, ‘ I see that at the Reale (3 Michelin stars at Castel di Sangro, the tasting menu costs 190 euro excluding drinks) young people are also arriving: they go out less but they want to enjoy the experience, they know what I do and they want to try it. Even making sacrifices , but on the condition that they find something really new’. It is haute cuisine as a choice, the opposite of the status symbol that has ‘held the fort’ for years, and still makes up a large part of the clientele. But not all of it. YOUNG MENU, INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE The issue of price, however, is obviously crucial for this clientele, which can and must therefore be attracted with ‘simplified’ menus, less in service and substance, with fewer courses but the same hand in the kitchen, even taking advantage of less crowded evenings. “U25 for 35E” (a 35 euro menu reserved for the under- 25s) is the idea of Tommaso Arrigoni , the chef of Innocenti Evasioni which has recently moved from its historical location to a new location in Milan’s Bovisa district, where the large windows overlook a green area with a vegetable garden and beehives. “From September, I want to start the bar counter where we will seat 10 people and where, from Monday to Thursday, I will make a menu accessible to under 25s. It’s an idea that we came up with in 2018 for the 25th anniversary of Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe and the project has been a resounding success. Success given not so much by the number of bookings but by the return you get afterwards. Over the years, the young people have come back, becoming loyal customers, and that’s the thing that prompted me to propose the project again’. The formula will be Monday to Thursday, 10 young people a night on the counter with a surprise menu varying according to daily availability, paper-free, with ingredients also from the garden or with a reasonable food cost. Consisting of starter, main course and dessert with water and a glass of wine. “Everything will be more informal and designed to be economically sustainable even for us, because we are a business, we cannot give anything away”. There is another reason to involve the younger generation. “In my opinion we need to do some culture, to make young people, who don’t have a lot of money, understand that coming to our restaurant is an affordable experience but it is also a pleasure, to make them feel welcome. If they feel good, they come back. It’s like when you drink a good wine, you don’t go back to the discount store wine, rather you drink less but you drink better’. The ‘youth menu’ is a formula used even in the difficult times of the pandemic: it was in 2020 when Matteo Baronetto , chef of the Ristorante del Cambio (Turin), a Michelin star in one of the city’s most luxurious locations, proposed the under-30 menu on Tuesday evenings. Five ever-changing courses (‘in accordance with seasonal produce’), a dessert and a wine pairing at 85 euro per person. An approach that is periodically taken up by the restaurant and which, and this is an important sign, sells out. Daniel Canzian in the restaurant of the same name in Milan raises the bar even higher (aren’t we all eternal teenagers?) and offers a special menu for Under40s. Called ‘Giovani Forchette’ (Young Forks), it includes five courses, at the chef’s table, from Tuesday to Thursday for 50 euro. “For me it is not a question of immediate profit but an investment for the future, to ‘educate’ the customer of tomorrow. Young people think that top cuisine is prohibitive, so they often choose lower quality restaurants to spend less. I want to make them understand that it is important to eat good food made with healthy products and cooked with care,’ Canzian says. The two-star Magnolia in Longiano (FC) also offers the Under 35 an all-inclusive menu (wine and coffee included) for 100 euro: 5 courses with 3 wines. Sunday to Thursday for dinner and Saturday for lunch. Subject to availability: there are four tables for each service. BEWARE OF PRICES It is clear that behind these choices - undoubtedly far-sighted and aimed at engaging a new, passionate clientele not yet bored with the world - there is something more: inflation and the economic crisis. After reopening with a post-pandemic bang and the widespread desire to return to eating, meeting and socialising out, the war in Ukraine and skyrocketing energy costs have led many restaurants to raise prices. But customers’ salaries have remained the same, while purchasing power has decreased. Today, one does not go to the restaurant lightly. A little push, attention to a clientele that was for a long time snubbed and today is sought after and pampered, can prove useful tools. Because (also) the very young of today are entrusted with the hospitality of the future. Tommaso Arrigoni , lo chef del Ristorante Innocenti Evasioni Daniel Canzian , chef dell’omonimo ristorante di Milano Matteo Baronetto , lo chef del Ristorante del Cambio