Norberto Piattoni, Co-Founder of The Modestos
Business Lunch
When lockdowns began across the country, many chefs turned to social platforms not only as a creative outlet, but also to generate new streams of revenue. A successful example of this is Norberto “Negro” Piattoni, who’s primal cooking methods, for which he has become known, have created a harmonious relationship with platforms like Instagram. As co-founder of outdoor dinner series The Modestos, he has dished (and sold out) its meals across the country, utilizing the application to reach audiences wherever they pop-up.
Piattoni perfected his skills over the fire during his time as Head Chef at Restaurante Garzón by Francis Mallmann. He has an undeniable passion for learning and sharing his talent with others, which was evident during stints at Bar Tartine in San Francisco, Brooklyn pop-up Fitzcarraldo, as well as Mettā, the former wood-fire restaurant where he was chef and partner.
Aside from The Modestos, Piattoni is a partner at San Pedro Inn, an unassuming Brooklyn cantina with a simple Mexican menu of tacos and tostadas with fermented notes, reminiscent of the chef’s hand. I caught up with Negro while he was on the road doing what he loves: cooking for others.
SS: Briefly, tell us how The Modestos came to be. Was it in the works pre-pandemic or was it your answer to an industry in decline?
The Modestos definitely started as a response to Covid measures shutting down the city and restaurant closures. We found ourselves upstate in March and watched as so many people felt the pain of an industry and a world in decline. People in industries across the board were out of work. We were also watching as the Black Lives Matter movement grew and evolved. We wanted to be cooking for our community and we also wanted to contribute to the many societal issues that were growing. The three of us, Norberto, Gavin and Danny, got together as a group and formed The Modesto’s. The name is a nod to Norberto’s late grandfather. Danny was able to get us some funding through a grant program at Etsy. We used the grant money to fund community dinners. We sold plates at sliding scale pricing and donated 100% of the proceeds to non-profit organizations.
SS: You highlight food sovereignty and sustainability in your work. What role do these initiatives play in your menus and what are some ways chefs can introduce sustainability into their businesses?
For us food sovereignty is really important to us, we talk a lot about food access and systems. We try really hard to be as ethical and thoughtful with our sourcing. We think not just about the ingredients but about the entire food system and how we can be good partners to farmers and local communities.
We only work with locally sourced ingredients, no matter where we are, we go to the local farmers first. We work with what they have seasonally so this is definitely reflective in our menus. We often change menus based on what’s available.
Sustainability is really just a buzzword. I prefer to think about sustainability in terms of thoughtfulness. Thinking through where an ingredient or meat comes from, how it gets to your table and honoring that journey by using every single part of the plant or animal. When you think about the time and energy it takes to plant a seed, tend to the plant, pick it, wash it and get it to the table, it’s many, many hours of work. That should be reflected in the care and attention given to the ingredient. It’s not always easy or more cost efficient to be thoughtful and sustainable but it’s the right thing to do. Most importantly, make friends with your farmers and see how you can work with them.
SS: From introducing online ordering at your Brooklyn restaurant to showcasing The Modestos menus on Instagram stories, how has technology played a role in your success and how can brands better leverage it?
We aren’t really tech focused to be honest. I think tech can be a great tool and we’ve certainly leveraged it during the pandemic. Our instagram is really just a place for people to find out what we are up to. Gavin takes a lot of pictures while we cook and we want to share that. It’s a great place to build community and that’s where I think it can be useful. In terms of our cooking, we really look backwards, not forwards. We are really inspired by old ways of cooking, taking time, being in nature, using fire. It’s kind of antithetical to the mad dash pace of tech.
There are also a lot of business tools like quickbooks, square, venmo that have been super useful, especially when you’re just starting up and getting going. It’s great to have access to those tools.
SS: You’ve been carving your own path across multiple revenue streams from consulting and events to private dinners and dishing out your own direct-to-consumer menus. What’s next?
We are pretty fluid. If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s flexibility. What’s most important to us is community building. A lot of people work with us because they are like-minded, particularly in terms of sustainability and ethical sourcing. We gravitate to like-minded people and are kind of just going where the wind blows right now. We love the flexibility of working across the east and west coasts. We would love to be doing more public facing events, though our summer schedule is pretty packed.
SS: Finally, what advice do you have to offer to other emerging food businesses as we enter this period of re-opening?
Be flexible, creative and dynamic in your approach. There’s no telling what challenges will come up as we continue to navigate the pandemic. We also see that traditional restaurant business models aren’t really working. Particularly not in expensive cities like New York. For this reason so many great chefs and creatives are going the direct-to-consumer route, either selling products on instagram or popping up in backyard kitchens. I feel like there is a new wave of creative business models that will pave the way. Restaurants will need to adapt to keep up. Our best advice is to build your community and be flexible in your approach, it might not look like what you thought it would… it might even be better.