In an industry where the failure rate for opening a restaurant is astronomical, Ashish Alfred had to make the difficult decision recently to close his three restaurants Duck Duck Goose, Anchor Tavern, and Osteria Pirata in Baltimore, Maryland. “I knew with the difficult and changing landscape of the industry, I wouldn’t be able to remain a true independent operator and working chef,” he explains. Only 20 percent of restaurants end up being successful, according to estimates from the National Restaurant Association. About 60 percent of restaurants fail in their first year of operation, and 80 percent close within five years of opening.
“As other opportunities both in television and consulting for other hospitality groups arose, I embraced the entrepreneurial spirit that got me started and decided to take all the lessons I’ve learned on the road and continue to grow my brand as a chef and restaurant expert,” Alfred says.
The chef has recently appeared as a guest host on multiple occasions for Jon Taffer’s Paramount Network show, “Bar Rescue.” In one episode, Alfred plays a pivotal role in revitalizing a struggling bar in St. Augustine, Florida, showcasing his firm yet compassionate approach to management. By emphasizing the importance of well-structured operations, he demonstrated that success hinges on effective organization and dedication.
“No matter how good your concept is, it’s going to come down to the people that are on your team,” Alfred tells FSR. “Hire people who have the ability but also the right attitude. If my career has taught me anything, it’s that no matter how much success you have, you must plan for everything and have a solution for the inconceivable.”
“Being profitable on paper and making money aren’t the same thing; build a business that supports the life you want to live, be realistic about how much money your business will make and whether there will be enough room to carry the bad days,” he adds.
Alfred got his start in the foodservice industry at 15 years old behind the host stand of a neighborhood Italian restaurant. He didn’t have aspirations of becoming a chef at that point—he was simply looking for an excuse to get out of school early, he admits. “Slowly but surely, I kind of fell in love with the business,” Alfred explains on an episode of FSR’s “Restaurant Innovator” podcast. He went on to bus tables, check IDs, and perform a myriad of other roles at various bars, pubs, and nightclubs around Washington, DC, before heading off to culinary school at The French Culinary Institute in New York City.
“I came home and opened my first restaurant sooner than I should have, closed it later than I should have, and moved on to my first successful restaurant, which was Duck Duck Goose,” Alfred recalls. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with some amazing people, cook some amazing food, and develop an amazing culture within my restaurants.”
The idea for the name came directly from the menu creation process; Alfred was writing the menu on his mother’s kitchen counter, and there were two dishes that involved duck, and a foie gras made with goose—thus, Duck Duck Goose was born. “I called a very near and dear friend of mine who graduated from Stanford business … I told her the name and told her the concept, and she was like, ‘Don’t ask anybody else. Call your lawyer, get a trademark.’”
Alfred describes his culinary style as being simple, relatable, and technique-forward. “I’ve always wanted my food to evoke the same emotion people feel when they see a classic car drive by or a musical anthem,” he explains, while also citing his second-generation Indian-American roots as a key influence. “Since getting started as a chef, my style has evolved and I’ve embraced my Indian heritage and worked to find ways to make the flavors of India more approachable and familiar to people.”
One of the biggest lessons Alfred has learned during his restaurateur journey was to under promise, but over deliver. As an independent restaurant owner with no outside investors, “bite off less than you can chew, and chew it well,” Alfred advises. “I think it’s better to do what you can do really well rather than to overextend yourself … Now more than ever, the standard for restaurants has been raised. People know what good food is. Now, more than ever before, I think that it’s imperative that you do things that are true to your brand, or true to the sign on [your] front door so you’re managing expectations, and it’s important to do them really, really well.”
He continues building his case for a hyper-focused menu: “I think people are more prone to go to places that feel more authentic or boutique when they see a lower number of offerings. If I go to a place and there’s only 12 things on the menu, my assumption is going to be all 12 of those things are pretty damn good.”
Alfred says the opportunity for co-hosting “Bar Rescue” just fell in his lap when he got a call from a casting agency. “I did a cartwheel and said yes, and it was a phenomenal opportunity to work with Jon [Taffer] and his team.”
To prepare for the role, Alfred did his due diligence and watched episode after episode of the TV show, learning the cadence and rhythm before getting on set. “But also, I think that it came somewhat naturally to me, as I’ve been doing it day in and day out as an independent restaurateur,” he notes. “I’ve had the staff that shows up drunk. I’ve had the staff that got paid late because we were trying to make payroll. I’ve been in every situation as I was watching episodes … None of these situations are foreign to me. So when I got to set and we started filming some of these episodes, a lot of the conversations came very naturally to me.”
Alfred asserts what made him successful in his early days was the culture of hospitality he created. As he expanded, it was easy enough to teach recipes or a style of service, but the true challenge was in growing the culture at the same pace as the restaurant grew. “Restaurants are closing at an alarming rate right now, but I think it will turn back around,” he says. “Running a restaurant is, in my opinion, the most valuable PhD on life. You learn how to do everything.”
“I think that everything is cyclical,” he continues. “What goes up, must come down; what goes down will come up, so I think that if people can be flexible today, if you can just somehow persevere, find a way to keep the lights on, keep the doors open right now, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. What that looks like today? I don’t have the answer for that, however, I think that it will get better. I think it will come back our way.”
Currently, Alfred is in discussions for some licensing and potential partnership deals, but his key focus is on consulting and working with new teams to tackle new challenges.
During the Restaurant Innovator podcast episode—before Alfred made the decision to close his restaurant group—he hinted that it’s not the end of the world if you have to make a tough choice to close down in order to pursue something else. “This isn’t the Titanic; you don’t have to go down with the ship. You probably learned how to do a whole lot of other things. There is another way. A lot of times people will try to hold on and hold on and hold on and hold on until they’ve got no life left. I get it, but sometimes, I don’t want to say give up, but you will find a way to be successful if you just try.”
“My bottom line advice is, be willing to innovate, be willing to change,” he adds. “Be willing to take a haircut where you need to, because I think right now, the name of the game is survival.”
