Kevin Hung Blog

Food Culture

I was recently in a Benihana-type restaurant where the chefs prepare your food in front of you while performing a series of choreographed sophisticated moves involving cutlery, fire and ingredients. As I enjoyed my meal, it reminded me of a paper I wrote in business school that investigated the fast food industry’s entrance into the Asian market. One of the initial cultural stumbling blocks that the industry faced when first operating in Asian countries was the rejection of the “service with a smile” concept.  A friendly, happy and smiling wait staff is something that Americans have come to expect when we enter into any kind of restaurant. To the shock of the original fast food pioneers in Asia, customers in that part of the world did not want to see happy and smiling workers in a restaurant. Rather, they preferred to see serious and concentrated workers as they felt food preparation (and any other profession actually) was a serious role, not to be taken lightly. Customer expectations were to see workers diligently fulfilling their roles. Smiling would have implied people having too much fun at work and therefore, lower quality products and service.  Needless to say, this is no longer the case but I can only imagine how Asian customers would have reacted if they encountered a restaurant with chefs telling jokes and juggling utensils with food while preparing their dishes.

Public Seating

To what extent does the provider of public seating (in a park, on a train, on a bus etc.) need to "recommend" an appropriate amount of space for one to occupy? Some subway trains have seating which is essentially one long bench - allowing passengers to negotiate and compromise with each other to conclude what is deemed a socially acceptable seat size. Other subway trains have designated seats in that each seat is colored alternatively against the next, and shaped concavely so people "know" how much room to take up. However, the barriers which are implied and signaled in this seat configuration are easily overcome as there is nothing to stop a person from spilling over into more than one seat. In other instances, such as the wooden bench in front of an office building, seat size has been designated by high barriers which are more difficult to overcome. It does seem that the seat space on this bench is wider, compensating for the difficulty of overcoming the barrier by allowing for greater variation in body size. Are recommended seat sizes different from country to country, assuming that average adult sizes vary from culture to culture? Do seat sizes need to be adjusted over time to reflect the changing average sizes of its citizens?

Religion at Work

A devout Muslim praying in the afternoon in the middle of midtown Manhattan got me thinking about religion in the workplace. Is this man able to freely practice his religion due to the relative un-restrictive nature of his workplace (essentially, a public sidewalk)?  If he worked in an office, store, restaurant etc., would he still be able to take time out of his day, find a spot which pointed towards Mecca, lay down his kilim and pray in peace without drawing unwanted attention (or worse, criticism from his colleagues and manager)? Or would he have to conform to the accepted corporate culture of the establishment in which he works?

Sabbath Elevators

Sabbath elevators in a New York City hospital. (Religious Jews observing the Sabbath cannot use electricity between sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday evening. A Sabbath elevator is an elegant solution which enables observant Jews to use the elevator without violating their religious restrictions. These specially designated elevators run non-stop during the Sabbath, stopping automatically at each floor thereby providing service without requiring the user to press any buttons). When do businesses decide to create a specific accommodation for a particular population group? In addition to customers and clients, what other groups do businesses need to serve? Shareholders? Employees? In this instance, is the location in which the hospital operates dominated by observant Jews? Does an overwhelming percentage of its customer base fit this demographic? Or are the founders/ supporters/ shareholders/ workers at the hospital the ones who are religious? (In this case, I would say probably a little of all three).