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Chef and restaurateur John Fraser offers restaurant workers food at cost

The Industry Table is a two-top at each of his restaurants with heavily discounted meals

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

March 21, 2023

2 Min Read
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New York City-based chef John Fraser is giving back to the restaurant industry by serving one table of restaurant workers at each of his restaurants at cost.

Called the Industry Table, it will be reserved every night at Iris, La Marchande, North Fork Table & Inn in Southold, N.Y., and The Terrace and Outdoor Gardens at the Times Square Edition hotel.

Those who book the table will enjoy around a 70% discount to regular menu prices.

Alcohol is not included for legal reasons, and guests are expected to leave an appropriate tip.

In a note introducing the initiative, Fraser said he was doing it to foster community among restaurant workers as well as to allow them to try restaurants they might not be able to afford otherwise.

“If nothing, the pandemic reminded us of how much we missed our industry family and community,” he said. “With nothing more than the simple desire to reconnect and share the fruits of our labor with like-minded, passionate folks, The Industry Table was born. 

“Alongside my team, we developed an industry-exclusive experience that welcomes you to dine at any of our restaurants as a VIP, entirely at cost

“The true intention behind this offering is to help reignite the spirit that brought us into hospitality in the first place while also rebuilding a sense of community and camaraderie. 

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“Dining out in New York has become prohibitively expensive. We got into this business because we wanted to share. Exploring other chefs’ menus has, and continues to be, a key part of my culinary journey. I could not have become the chef I am today at current prices. The Industry Table is our team’s effort to help level the playing field so that all can access our restaurants and be inspired. 

“The only rules are: you cover booze, help spread the word about our program, and provide valuable feedback on your experience. That’s all we ask.

“I look forward to welcoming you.” 

The Industry Table seats two people, one of whom must be currently employed in the restaurant industry. Fraser asks that guests limit their Industry Table reservations to twice per year per restaurant so that many people have the opportunity to enjoy it. The table is not available on holidays, blackout dates, or days that the restaurant is closed.

Guests are asked to cancel their reservations 24 hours in advance or a $50 cancelation fee may be charged.

Reservations can be made here.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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