The SocialAct

TEXT - PETER ERIKSSON PHOTO - KRISTOFFER GRANATH - OSCAR MEYER

How did you guys meet?We first met at hospitality school here in Copenhagen. Bo is born in a small place close to Copenhagen and I am originally from Fyn which made me a country boy when I first came to Copenhagen. We ended up in the same class and lets just say we weren’t best friends at first. As a matter a fact, we didn’t like each other at all during our school years but when it came to the kitchen we were both very focused and professional. We were both top of the class students, which in a way is the foundation of our current friendship.

What happened after hospitality school?We both became chefs and pursued our individual dreams. Lasse started working at a restaurant called Extra and I became head chef at Kokkeriet after a pre-vious experience at another restaurant. After a couple of years I left Kokkeriet and by coincidence Lasse started working there a few years later. But even Lasse ended up leaving Kokkeriet as they treated their employees poorly. Suddenly we had something in common. We both had a lot of anger towards the same person so we started to meet up to talk about how frustrating it was to work there. It was poorly managed even though it was one of the best restaurants in Copenhagen at the time.

Did your talks become a forum for developing new ideas?Not really. In the beginning it was more gossip oriented since we had both experienced working at a restaurant, in this case the same, that treated their employees poorly. When we talked about different cooking styles it was more from a technical perspec-tive. For example, have you ever cooked crackers that don’t go soft when they get hot? We never discussed overall dining concepts but would rather discuss very precise technical issues, which is something that we usually talk about with our chef friends.

So how did you end up working together?After a while we both quit our respective jobs and ended up opening our own businesses that gave us a new common ground. So we started to exchange views and thoughts about being entrepreneurs. Another thing that we have in common is that we both became head chefs at a young age. Ww haven’t been anything else but head chefs. That was some-thing that we talked about a lot when we got together since it was quite tough to be in charge of the kitchen, staff, the overall concept and so forth at such a young age. After a while I wanted to become an artist and Lasse opened up a consulting company within the food industry. It ended up with Lasse spending more and more time at my office so we started to exchange ideas, which eventually ended up in us working together.

So that’s when you started I’m a kombo?A week before we opened I’m a kombo we sold a big event that we used as a business plan and that we could develop and work from. Initially, we started very small and all we had was a small office with a regular kitchen. Even though it wasn’t a real restaurant kitchen we did all of our catering from that kitchen. In the beginning our goal was to create something sustainable and we wanted to build our concept step by step so we decided not to go to a bank to ask for economical help. Mainly because we didn’t want to loose our creativity, as the bank probably would have forced us to do things that we wouldn’t have wanted to do.

You have always been very selective with whom you collaborate and what type of projects you take on. Why?We knew that we wanted to do something completely new, even though we still use a few techniques that we have learnt throughout the years, so when we started I’m a kombo we were extremely cautious about what type of events and projects that we took on. Our ambition is not to make as many potatoes as possible so the volume in what we do is not the most important thing, but rather the quality of what we do. If you have that mentality and way of working the most important part is to be selective. It’s important that our guests appreciate the experience that we create around our functions which has a big impact on the content and price of our work. We need to spend a lot of time preparing and thinking about how we could create the best possible experience for our guests to be able to do the type of events that we aim to arrange. Spending a lot of time thinking and creating interesting and innovative concepts for our events is crucial, which is hard for the guests to see and understand sometimes.

A lot of focus during your events is on the social aspect. Do you feel that restaurants have forgotten the social aspect of dining?Definitely. When you visit a high - end restaurant, the atmosphere is often very uptight and the staff is ex-pected to communicate and serve the food in a specific way. As a guest there are a few rules that needs to be respected relating to how you dine and behave in such an environment. When we started The Social Act we wanted to break the expectations connected to a restaurant, which is a big problem for how a meal or dining experience is perceived by the guest. The restaurant busi-ness is very controlling and doesn’t leave any space for the customer to be an active part of a dining experience. They even tell you how the wine taste. Even if we serve all of our guests good food we believe that the last component is miss-ing when all the focus as a chef is on the food and cooking it to perfection. The difference between chefs that cook at the highest level is very small and because of that we wanted

to do something new, which we both agreed would happen if we added an X factor to make it a bit more interesting. We found that X factor in coincidence and participation. With time, participation has become more of a social act than an interactive ingredient and the story of a dining experience is more connected to the people participating – the ones sitting around the tables – rather than to something else.

Whar influences have you embraced throught your journey developing The Social Act?Since we don’t have a signature dish or a general concept that we base our work on, we can be very creative and do a lot of new things without hurting our brand. Our kitch-en and office in the Meatpacking District in Copenhagen is the place where we find most of our inspiration since it is our playground. It is in the kitchen and in the office where we come up with new ideas and experiment, which is some-thing that we wouldn’t have been able to do in a traditional restaurant kitchen. In terms of being inspired by someone else, Heston Blumenthal is a great source of inspiration relating to how he is using the booking process in a very interactive way. At least he used to do so. When you book a table at his website you are given a link that takes you to a virtual candy store where you end up choosing your own sweets. When you then leave the restaurant you are given the candy, which is something that we think is an interesting way to work in. Unfortunately a lot of restaurants forget the time before and after a meal and how that timespan can be used to their advantage. So what Heston Blumenthal did was

that he used the time before and after the meal to his advan-tage and made it a part of the whole dining experience. Of course, it was a fairly big production but the concept behind it is really inspiring. For one of our events we decided to send out a box with eatable packaged peanuts, a champagne glass and a map with directions that the guests needed to bring to the event. Since everyone had something in common, the box, we easily created an experience and controlled the conversation as everyone started to talk about the box instead of something boring like their job. It gave our guests a feeling of belonging which is important to get people involved and engaged in a conversation.

What was the turningpoint for The Social Act?We started doing a few pop up events around Copenhagen and initially we only had 8 covers for each event. However, we soon realized that we didn’t make enough money to cover our expenses even though we worked our asses off so we started inviting people to our place in the Meatpacking District instead. So far we have done around 10 Social Act functions and are aiming to make our productions a bit big-ger and have 22 people at each functions instead of 14 in the future. The maximum of people knowing each other is four people in order for us to get the interaction and participation going. In the beginning we didn’t have a maximum number of guests knowing each other, which meant that two people could end up sitting on the end of the table not interacting with anyone else.

A restaurant visit is often linked with some type of expectations. How do you cope with that challenge as a chef ?Client expectations is something that a restaurant can’t control since people often eat at a specific restaurant based on a recommendation from a friend or food critic. If a restaurant gets a very good review from a food critic expectations are often sky high, which can have a negative impact on the overall experience. However, if you visit a restaurant with no real expectations the overall experience is usually better. It is a challenge but something that we can’t control, unless you do something like The Social Act.

What would you say are the key elements that distinguish The Social Act from others?Our playfulness is something that is a lot different compared to other dining experiences. If we had a gourmet restaurant we wouldn’t have been able to be as open in our work process and approach as we are today since there are a few rules that needs to be respected in a more formal setting. We are not allowed to serve food in plastic containers for example, as a guest you are not allowed to eat with your fingers and you can’t serve Asian food at a Nordic restaurant even if you wanted to. Those are there rules of a restaurant. The only rule that we have with The Social Act is that we want to give our guests an extraordinary culinary experience, which was really hard to achieve at a restaurant and even though our experiences working at different prominent restaurants is something that always will be dear to us there was always a customer that complained over minor things.

That is the reason why the biggest challenge for every gourmet restaurant is to find a way to satisfy every guest. The guest often has one idea and the chef has his idea, which are not always compatible even though the product served is of great quality. When we started The Social Act we wanted to break free from that situation and focus on doing something that we believe is great food and to create an atmosphere where our guests are open to new things and don’t quite know what to expect. Unfortunately, a restaurant somehow creates a lot of expectations which is hard for a chef to work with, especially when you want to do something new and innovative.

Was this your way to keep developing as chefs?I think we both agreed that it was necessary to do something new because food can be so much more than what is served on the plate.

Are there a lot of people following your footsteps trying to build on the same ideas?More and more restaurants and private companies tend to think of the experience aspect of a meal to a larger extent now. Noma is a good example of a more exclusive restau-rant that has embraced this aspect by letting their guests participate in the cooking. Personally, I don’t think it works in a restaurant environment but it is a sign that restaurants try to incorporate some of the ideas that we are working with. The two latest food symposiums in Copenhagen have both had food design and social dining as main concepts, which is something that we have worked with from the start.

There are some restaurants that have introduced communal tables in the attempt to make the dining experience more social. Without being to self-confident, I believe we are quite unique and ahead in our process since we have worked with this very seriously for the past four-five years.

What is your best food experience?One of the best experiences we had together was when we went to Singapore. Food wise it was just great and we sat in some random street corner at 1am eating freshly made food. The taste was fantastic and eating in that specific set up really enhanced the entire experience. That exact feeling is what we are trying to create with The Social Act. The reason we find it so special is because you haven’t experienced it before. It is something new, which is the key behind what we do.

What is your take on the future of cooking?I don’t think it is likely that the frames and rules of a restau-rant will change in the nearest future, which is understand-able. In the end, a restaurant should be a restaurant. In the past there has been a small change in the industry, at least in Copenhagen, and a lot of bistros are opening up, which has been welcomed by the public. The great thing with bistros is that they have managed to introduce something new and a more welcoming atmosphere while still respecting the rules and frames that should be respected by a restaurant. We still have a few very good fine-dining restaurants and the street food scene is getting bigger and bigger each day, which is great since it democratizes the food industry. If we are lucky

the industry will become more diverse and broad while still respecting the craft and quality, both in terms of produce and personal skills, that is the very foundation of qualitative cuisine. A great advantage today is that it’s not only the fine dining restaurants that push innovation and Roy Choi is a great example of how street food can push innovation and become successful.

What is preventing the industry to develop at a faster pace?The problem in Copenhagen is that a lot of restaurants are very trend sensitive which has a big impact on how people relate to and consume food. When restaurants and people follow trends, more traditional and old school restaurants are often out powered as their customer group diminish and it would have been cool if people would follow their original idea. I believe the restaurant world would benefit if it was more diverse but somehow it is a natural process since everyone can’t be innovative and change an entire industry.

Has your creative work process in any way changed your view on food and how you consume it?Isn’t food still food? What we do with The Social Act is something separate from how we cook and consume food in our every day life. The Social Act has broaden our per-spective on what food can be used for and how it can be consumed but in the end, it is a job and our “product” is not a product that you can consume on a daily basis because the experience wouldn’t be the same.

Lasse Askov and Bo Lindegaard outside their office and playground in Kødbyen in Copenhagen.

A place where playfulness, innovation and experiments set the rules of the game.