Eat. Drink. Cruise. | Molly Brandt, gategroup

Ken Taylor: 00:00:02

Have you ever wanted to know how has that done on board or who's really behind the various initiatives that take place within the bars and restaurants at sea? Or how to trends in hospitality really impact the f&b experiences that are fantastic, and that guests enjoy while cruising? Then eat drink Cruise is your podcast, sustainability, unique and distinct experiences, reshaping beverage consumption, culinary innovation, supply and demand and today's commercial world. And the people that make all of this happen is actually what our eat drink cruise podcast aims to cover. In 2024, the outlook for cruising expects to see over 35 million guests on board which is a 12% increase year on year according to cruise lines International Association and so this podcast really becomes a sneak peek behind the scenes of a dynamic industry. Whether you're a cruise expat or a successful supplier or newcomer supplier or just an F&B fanatic, bite size conversations are what this podcast are all about. My name is Ken Taylor and welcome to the show. We have a great lineup of different players throughout the business, including operators and consultants and influencers. It's a holistic perspective on the status of cruise f&b today welcome to the Eat Drink Cruise podcast brought to you by Seatrade and my name is Ken Taylor with MarkeTeam. I would be remiss if I didn't plug the F&B@Sea show this is APR 10 and 11. It just seems like it's coming up around the corner. It's at the Mana Wynwood convention center. So this is in Miami Beach now. So for those of you who may have attended Seatrade last year, you'll remember it was in Fort Lauderdale. So it's back to Miami Beach. And this F&B@Sea show which is really created some excitement last year. That was the first ever last year and so we're really excited about this year. And it's just a short jaunt over to the Wynwood convention center where I believe there will be shuttles and whatnot. But

Ken Taylor: 00:02:08

the f&b People should know where that's at. It was greatly attended last year. We're really excited about it this year. So that's April 10, and 11th. We're actually doing an awards program. This year. This will be our first ever awards program for the F&B@Sea show. And I am starting to see a lot of people submit their concepts from the various cruise lines. And this will be a lot of fun. We're really, really excited. Second Annual show. Excellent. Really, really looking forward to it. And our guest today. On today's podcast is Chef Molly Brandt. I'm just really, really, really excited to have just a few words in chat with Molly because I've known her for a long time. And Molly, have you been to the show?

Molly Brandt: 00:02:49

I haven't been to the show. Aren't you guys one of the sponsors this year.

Ken Taylor: 00:02:52

Thank you for mentioning that we are a founding sponsor. But yeah, I mean we we've you know been along for you know, for the ride for some time, but this is this is sort of the new next sort of stage of the program with a real big focus on FnB. But did you go to the F&B@Sea portion last year? Did you get a chance to see it?

Molly Brandt: 00:03:11

I was traveling last year, but I have been to the show before and hopefully this year I'll be able to go because the Miami Beach Convention Center is really only about four blocks from where I live.

Ken Taylor: 00:03:21

Right. You live right on right near Lincoln Road. So right there. You're right there. Okay, so Molly, Brandt, guys, if you're listening, this is an amazing culinary and who's danced around the industry? A lot of different areas. CIA grad, some really cool stuff. Cutthroat Kitchen, season two, Top Chef season nine. She even did this supermarket Stakeout, which is a Food Network show. You won the first season, right?

Molly Brandt: 00:03:50

premiere episode, actually!

Ken Taylor: 00:03:52

your first one Food Network had you guys harassing guests coming out of the store? Or I'm not sure exactly. But next thing you know you're in the parking lot watching these guys. Were you were in fact, creating, like, what was it? Three recipes? Or I'm not sure if I remember, right.

Molly Brandt: 00:04:07

Yeah, there were three rounds. And yeah, I think we were given $500 to start with and you could kind of like actively bid with people that were coming out of the grocery store, to somebody could kind of steal it away from you, but you couldn't look and see what they had. And so it was sort of a little bit of a crapshoot. And then we were given a challenge to make something I think, I think the first thing was like a breakfast sandwich. Right. Right. And there was and then subsequently, you know, each round one of the chefs was eliminated until there were two so...

Ken Taylor: 00:04:39

and so there was a lot of pressure. I think it was a time constraint scenario?

Molly Brandt: 00:04:43

right!

Ken Taylor: 00:04:43

Where people like wondering what was going on with this kitchen inside of a parking lot. I mean, I'm imagining from....

Molly Brandt: 00:04:49

We're in LA right so...

Ken Taylor: 00:04:52

they didn't pull back and like see what people were doing around you guys. I'm not I mean, as far as like The production goes I don't think they did. And when you're have a 20 minute time constraint, I think it was 20 minutes, maybe 30. I can't remember now. You're really focused on what you're doing. There's only so much bandwidth you have. Right.

Ken Taylor: 00:05:12

And then you judge the second season, right? Was chef Jeff? I think it was.

Molly Brandt: 00:05:16

And yes, I did. Yeah, it was wild.

Ken Taylor: 00:05:20

Would you do this again? I mean, you've done some food networks and TV stuff. A lot of chefs like yourself, get caught up and really enjoy doing it. I mean, I'm just curious if this is something you would keep doing or want to do, or did it serve its purpose?

Molly Brandt: 00:05:35

No, I think opportunity presents itself. And it's something that's interesting. I, I'm game, I think that's, I think it's fascinating. I think that anything that sort of furthers people's interest in cooking, and in eating good food is like more power to it.

Ken Taylor: 00:05:51

Awesome. Now, we always ask, or at least we've been doing this with a few podcasts we have planned and have done. The question is, what's your favorite cocktail? And I know this is a sidestep to the food conversation we're having. But every great chef has a cocktail.

Molly Brandt: 00:06:07

Right?

Ken Taylor: 00:06:07

I think I know the answer.

Molly Brandt: 00:06:09

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, technically, my job is research and development. It's innovation. And yet I like one of the most classic cocktails out there. I am a Manhattan fan and very specifically has to be on the rocks. And I like personally, I prefer Rye.

Ken Taylor: 00:06:26

Oh, very good. Rye's popular. I'm a write definitely a Rye fan with with field fashions. Just just has more flavor. I don't know. Yeah.

Molly Brandt: 00:06:36

Yeah. A little spicier, a little less sweet.

Ken Taylor: 00:06:39

So you have this cocktail, the Manhattan. I know you and I know you refer to yourself sometimes when the formalities of culinary come to the forefront. You're a t shirt and jeans girl from Minnesota. All right. And I'm curious, because if you get a chance, if anyone gets a chance to look at cookinthekitch, which is I think your IG handle,

Molly Brandt: 00:07:02

yeah, cookinthekitch

Ken Taylor: 00:07:04

...cookinthekitch. And you look at that, I mean, those photos, and of course you post them on Facebook, there are periods of time where I think you post more than the nod. But then next thing you know, I mean, these images are amazing. I mean, really, the food is phenomenal. And I think and, you know, although she likes Manhattan's she's really a pretty casual casual chick for the most part.

Molly Brandt: 00:07:27

Something that I always say is that I take what I do very seriously, but I don't take myself seriously at all. And I think that's super crucial, right? If you are in the business of being creative, then you need to be comfortable. You need to be comfortable in your own skin. And you need to be happy, right? Like happy Joy makes good food. And so that's how I look at that.

Ken Taylor: 00:07:49

The pictures are definitely happy. Wow, thanks. You know for sure in 2010. Let's go back to your Okay, so your career is it in or is it kind of gets into the cruise industry side of things, you helped launch Allure of the Seas, which really was at the time a year after the world's largest cruise ship. I'm sure many people in the industry remember when Oasis came out in nine. And and of course, the number of restaurants and food and everything going on a ship of that size was a big deal. It's of course gone to new heights today, which is just amazing and a little bit crazy when you think about it, but very exciting. But I think back then you were really one of the first North American female chef to come aboard a cruise ship, and essentially lead a chef driven concept. And it was 150 Central Park was the name of the concept that you sort of owned on the Allure. I mean, what was that? Like? I mean, that culture introduction for just a crew onboard was enough as it is, but even for yourself. I mean, do you remember all of the crazy things that happened back then? I mean, it was what honestly, yeah, 14 years ago, oh, man, I

Molly Brandt: 00:09:02

still to date one of my favorite jobs ever. And huge, huge difference from what I was doing. So prior to that I had worked in Manhattan and Michelin starred fine dining. As happens when you work in Manhattan and Michelin fine dining as a line cook, you are broke. And so I moved back to Minnesota. And I had my own little catering thing. And that's when this opportunity to basically compete for this job came up. And it was so different. So having the chance to essentially create my own menus, my own fine dining menus and change them at will on the ship was an incredible, incredible opportunity and also just a massive learning curve. Right? So there's just such a humongous difference between being able to place an order every day make changes to the menu at will if you run out of something like it's okay. You can always order something else for tomorrow. And it doesn't have up and like that on the ship, there's so much more planning that needs to go into it. And this also involves like the supply chain. And that was just a humongous learning curve, I think for both sides, right? When I would say I need one case of purple cauliflower, every week, they were kind of like, Wait, there's purple cauliflower, and and then you mean one pallet? And I'm like, no one case, you know, don't send me a pallet.

Ken Taylor: 00:10:29

Where you well received on board from the culinary staff? I mean, I think everybody knows the culinary industry on board cruise ships. I mean, it's been around obviously, very successful side of the business. But it has its processes and its ways and, and its culture. I mean, did you feel like you fit in pretty quickly? Or was it sort of a little struggle?

Molly Brandt: 00:10:49

You know, that was probably also part of the learning curve, right? There was just a big difference between having a chef that was onboard actually creating the menus, because, as most of us know, or maybe, maybe not, I'm not sure. These major vessels and cruise lines in general, it's run like a corporate chain. Right? So every single olive garden that you go to in the country, right, they have the same menu. And so the kitchen managers are just executing to that standard. And that's, of course, what's happening really, on the ships to have somebody come in as a chef, and actually say, No, we're going to create, and you have the opportunity to change things whenever was kind of insane, right? Not even really the executive chefs on board were doing that. And so, you know, I think that there was probably a little reticence from the onboard team at the beginning. But I think and I hope that I was able to overcome that by at least one, like I said, being serious about what I do, but also making it fun. Right. And, and educating everybody. And I think that's how it evolved in. And I was able to sort of bring people on board to this concept of having, you know, a chef, there was, there was, of course, a moment at the beginning where everyone was like, Oh, the celebrity chef, and I was like, stop calling me that.

Ken Taylor: 00:12:09

That means obviously, you know, this was a big deal. I think it was a big deal from from what I understand. And recall, it was a big deal to have a chef onboard the ship. And I think from a public relations standpoint, it was pretty introductory. And of course, today partner chefs are part of many cruise lines. And that whole kind of trend, if you will, whether it be in Vegas, or across the country is still a big deal. So on the cruise line, or on the ship itself, it's it's really was I think guests really had a lot of fun with it. You went on to consult with Viking Cruises. And you've been part of the original launch and development of Virgin Voyages. I mean, really soup to nuts back in the day, I think it was, but we'll talk about that in a second. But today, you're innovation chef, Executive Chef, for innovation for Gategroup. So now you've entered into the airline industry in a hugely competitive especially in first and business class. I mean, if you just follow it for a moment, the competitiveness on a global scale, for first and business in the airline industry is pretty serious. And you know, each airline seems to sort of try to figure out what were their angle is? You're in charge of inspiring them, I guess, is that what it is?

Molly Brandt: 00:13:29

Yeah. I Say... Exactly. Um, yeah, so innovation chat for North America for parent company, gate group. And I call myself the dreamer. So my role is strictly not operational. And the entire purpose of it is to dream, and to try and move the needle in airline catering, because I thought that the wheel was really big in cruise industry, but the wheel is so much bigger in this airline catering industry. And to sort of have an impact on that it takes time. It's a huge challenge.

Ken Taylor: 00:14:06

And so that role that you have, I mean, you're really kind of playing a little bit of a media role, too. Because, again, it's inspiring, you don't have to worry about the execution in a sense, right? You're not dealing with how do we make this work in a forward cabin, you know, or whatever you're really doing. Here's the idea. And look how exciting it is, whether it be originally or culinarily, or what,

Molly Brandt: 00:14:33

it's kind of strategic, right? So I help to work with our customer experience team and also understand the brand identity of the customers that we you know, that I might be focusing on at that four menu presentation. And I hope to sort of define what the strategy is right? And what I liken it to is if I were a fashion designer, all right. It's like creating a haute couture capsule collection. I think now with a few years into it, I obviously consider some of the operational realities a little more than at the beginning, which the whole goal was like, don't think about that. And now it's a little more difficult to sort of dissociate from that. However, the job is to really sort of like sell the dream, okay. And it can become really fascinating, because we work with most of the airlines in the world. And if they fly into and out of the United States, at some point, I will probably touch that. And some of these, like larger projects that are most interesting for me, and where the cruise line actually comes in, in hopes, okay, my cruise line experience comes in and helps is when it's a carrier from another country, and I don't know that much about it. Okay. And so then I have to do like a really deep dive to understand the history of that country to understand like, the, how the demographics played out the diasporas that play into it, and what their culture is, and what's growing there, et cetera, et cetera. And what is so great about having cruise line experience is that I can call my friends that when you work in cruise line, you get friends from all over the world, and ask them like, hey, what do you miss? Right? Like when you're gone? What do you miss eating? Do you miss something your mom made? What is it that you like to drink on the on the street, you know, that sort of thing. And I can basically turn that information into something that is meaningful for the customers when I present this capsule collection. And what I mean by that is I

Molly Brandt: 00:16:32

actually present food, like I would play it in a restaurant. And I don't play it on airline catering equipment, because I want them to suspend belief, right? I want them to walk in and look at it and be immediately like, you know, wow, recognize something, understand something about it be impressed. And then if these things are this bespoke sort of menu, if it really speaks to them, and we win business with them, or improve our business with them, then there's design shafts that are dedicated to this customer that work on the gate Group team. And I hand all of these recipes over to them, and they work to operationalize it. So they say, Okay, I can't do the garnish, or I can't do this, but maybe I can take 70% of it. And to me, that's a big win. Because right now, most airline catering dishes are kind of componentized. Right? So it's like, like meat and three.

Ken Taylor: 00:17:26

That's, that's wild, because when you think about it, just from that sort of innovative approach to airline, and you think about what happened, you know, over the last sort of 25 years, last, you know, Las Vegas was buffet then it became, you know, million dollar chefs and cruise industry, it was main dining room, and now it's 30 restaurants, right? And the responsibility today, it seems is to, obviously provide that variety, but also these trends that, you know, I just don't know, in my 35 years in the business, I don't know that trends were like they are today, I mean, ghost kitchens, cultured meat fermented food, this whole digestive health thing, right, even on the beverage side, you know, no, no alcohol, everybody's concerned about their bodies, you know, the transparency thing is huge. And does this just become like a huge liability for you or as far as paying homage to these different things? Or do you just kind of go with it and say, as long as we're kind of checking some boxes, or maybe one or two boxes? How do you look at it from a trend standpoint?

Molly Brandt: 00:18:37

Well, obviously, I think that trends are important. And I've long thought that trends are sort of dictated in two different ways. And one of them is obviously coming from like, independent restaurants, right? independent restaurants, they might start, you know, working with different ingredients, or whatever. And then all of a sudden, it sort of filters, right. And I think that this, this fixation on for example, fermentation, we can really track this back to like NOVA days, right? When really the, like early 2000s, and how it sort of like trickled down into what now we will consider mainstream. And so I think that there always has to be elements of that, right. And I always like to look at modern and fresh interpretations. And what is happening out there and I make it a big point of my job to stay on top of that, right. I even myself produce like trend reports internally for a company and as well specific for specific customers. What sometimes happens or most of the times happens, we get briefs from the customers, okay, from the airline's themselves that say, Hey, we want you to focus on like this regional part of the US where we are going to be flying in and out of okay, and then adapt that to like our brand pillars. And so a lot of times what that means is like understanding really the history and Reading like a fresh interpretation that also matches to that. So that's where like the innovation part comes in. Because I really pride myself on creating original content. While cooking is kind of always reinventing the wheel and in a certain capacity, I make sure that I'm creating original content.

Ken Taylor: 00:20:18

Yeah. And then following types of foods too, that seem to be hot, right? Like, there's this third culture cuisine, I guess. And it's, you know, I was looking it up on like, Third Culture, I guess it's taking, you know, what families, cultures of people, different people from different areas of the world and really elaborating on that cuisine, I mean, even types of food like Korean barbecue, right, like this is hot. I mean, it's really high right now. And I know Korean barbecue is something you spent some time on, wasn't it? The concept? I mean, there seems to be more stories about that concept on Virgins ship even still today that concepts have told me that story because I know it's a cool and it

Molly Brandt: 00:20:57

It is a cool one. And yeah, Gunbae, the Korean barbecue restaurant on Virgin voyages has a really soft spot in my heart. Because it turns out that nine years ago today, in fact, nine years old today was kind of like the origin story for that concept on their ships. The backstory here is that my husband works for Virgin voyages, and he was one of the first employees. And so he was sort of tasked with a lot of this, like the operation, right, the culinary operation, the hotel operation. And so when he worked for different cruise line, we went to LA for the Grammys, because this cruise line had a partnership with the Grammys. And I was working as like a hotel chef at the time. And so I was a little rough and tumble and we stayed at the new at the time hotel in Koreatown called the line. And so while I went to go get my nails done, probably like for the fifth time in my life, Frank, my husband, Frank, whoever he went out. And he found all of these Korean barbecue restaurants with just like huge lines, right? So he put his name in and all these places, and we ended up getting into one of them, I think park park barbecue. And it was just such an amazing experience, right. And it's obviously not new. But it is so exceptional, because it's interactive. It's delicious, the food is hot, like all of these things are firing that makes sense for a cruise ship. And we both looked at each other and said, you know, this has to happen. And so shortly thereafter, actually, he got the opportunity because he started with Virgin voyages. And you know, talking about like creating a product from scratch. And so, you know, he wanted to present this with proof of concept. And so even before I worked for them, I did this huge deep dive on Korean barbecue and Korean culinary culture and everything about it. And Frank look to find a Korean barbecue. But of course, it's really not that simple. Because most of them are, like with live fire or with gas. And he

Molly Brandt: 00:23:03

ended up finding this little in home electric Korean barbecue from Alibaba, he ordered it. And then I made this big spread. And somewhere in the course of that, I also learned about the drinking culture, and that they play a lot of drinking games. And so I learned a lot of these Korean drinking games, bought a bottle of soju, we had friends over, we did the Korean barbecue thing and play these drinking games, right. And that's where we really hatched the idea that for the ship, what we really wanted to was also bring that vibe, right? So when you go and you go to convey still today, right, you go in the first round of soju was on the house. And the server will basically lead you through a drinking game, and it really gets the vibes high. And that's exactly the point, right? You want it it's kind of is fun and communal atmosphere. That's kind of where it started. But it really led into the creation of a bespoke grill to which is huge. And we call it affectionately the Weber Grill. And it was interesting, because like I said, there was really nothing commercially available out there. So we worked with the galley installer to create it.

Molly Brandt: 00:24:16

I think that's what really makes a lot of sense. When you think about some of the cruise concepts, you almost have to take that sort of really innovative approach if you're going to bend the lines or do anything unique at all right? Because for those who know building a concept on a ship, there are so many constraints. And it's not even designing a ship or building a ship. From an interior design standpoint, let alone from a kitchen and from all those other aspects. It's tough and so like health, and public health is the biggest one, right? And it's like this is the constraint but finding your way through those constraints. You know, led by passion, I think is how I think cruise lines have gotten where they're at today. I really...

Molly Brandt: 00:25:01

I mean, this like, like you said, I mean, this concept gets tons of great reviews. And you know, Virgin voyages did the right thing. And they hired so he came to write the menu. So really Korean and it has this. It smacks of authenticity, right is both its own thing, but it's also authentic authentic to itself.

Ken Taylor: 00:25:24

That's awesome. So, you know, we probably have to go but I have to tell you, I'm always loving the selfie posts that you do, because I'm always trying to figure out where the heck you are. 2023 You did this like Facebook, selfie and a year thing? I don't know. It's a Yeah.

Molly Brandt: 00:25:41

Oh, yeah. The what happened in 2023?

Ken Taylor: 00:25:45

Like looking at these pictures. I'm like, There's no way that any one person has been to that many places. A huge travel year for you this last year. What's this year look like? So far?

Molly Brandt: 00:25:56

It's been hectic. Lots has already happened in the first couple of months. Some work, travel, some fun travel. I think Chicago, New York, Switzerland, Italy. Utah. Coming up, maybe yeah, coming up LA, Chicago again. And honestly, this changes for me all the time. So I might go into next week thinking I have nothing to do and all of a sudden I'll get a call that I have to go to, you know, Seattle or something like that. So I've got I've got several coming up.

Ken Taylor: 00:26:32

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Molly. Chef Molly Brandg joining us on our Eat. Drink. Cruise podcast. I hope to see you at the F&B@Sea show on April 10. Let's say hi to your friends. I know your husband will probably show up at some point maybe to say hello or be part of it. And really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

Molly Brandt: 00:26:55

Thank you Ken, really appreciate it.

Ken Taylor: 00:26:56

Yeah, this has been fun. Thank you!