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The Intelligence (Economist)

The Weekend Intelligence: Mise en masse

46 min episode · 2 min read
·
Gary Thomas

Episode

46 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Fundraising & VC, Leadership, Artificial Intelligence

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Brigade System Implementation: Chef Gary Thomas applies Auguste Escoffier's military-derived kitchen hierarchy where chefs specialize by component rather than whole dishes, enabling coordinated mass production of 15,000 pounds of protein daily across 26 dining venues.
  • AI-Powered Mise en Place: Royal Caribbean's proprietary Crunch Time system analyzes historical sailing data to predict exact ingredient needs down to 1,422 portions of calamari, eliminating guesswork and reducing waste in a $2.5 billion annual ingredient spend.
  • Inventory Management Scale: Managing 25,000 line items worth $1.5 million in provisions per seven-day sailing requires specialized storage including separate temperature-controlled rooms for each protein type to prevent cross-contamination and ensure regulatory compliance across international waters.
  • Labor Economics Reality: Entry-level pastry chefs from The Philippines earn $1,100 monthly working 10-11 hour days with no days off during seven-to-eight month contracts, receiving only two hours of free internet weekly to contact families back home.

What It Covers

Royal Caribbean's Star of the Seas produces 100,000 fresh meals daily using military-inspired kitchen systems, AI ordering, and specialized crew working seven-day weeks for eight-month contracts at sea.

Key Questions Answered

  • Brigade System Implementation: Chef Gary Thomas applies Auguste Escoffier's military-derived kitchen hierarchy where chefs specialize by component rather than whole dishes, enabling coordinated mass production of 15,000 pounds of protein daily across 26 dining venues.
  • AI-Powered Mise en Place: Royal Caribbean's proprietary Crunch Time system analyzes historical sailing data to predict exact ingredient needs down to 1,422 portions of calamari, eliminating guesswork and reducing waste in a $2.5 billion annual ingredient spend.
  • Inventory Management Scale: Managing 25,000 line items worth $1.5 million in provisions per seven-day sailing requires specialized storage including separate temperature-controlled rooms for each protein type to prevent cross-contamination and ensure regulatory compliance across international waters.
  • Labor Economics Reality: Entry-level pastry chefs from The Philippines earn $1,100 monthly working 10-11 hour days with no days off during seven-to-eight month contracts, receiving only two hours of free internet weekly to contact families back home.

Notable Moment

A crew member suicide on Harmony of the Seas triggered a mental health crisis requiring security surveillance of at-risk staff, revealing the psychological toll of isolated, repetitive work with no breaks for months.

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Episode Transcript

This episode is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi agentic AI. They already deployed one. It's called Chat Concierge, and it's simplifying car shopping Using self reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks, it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love. It helps schedule a test drive, get preapproved for financing, and estimate trade in value. Advanced, intuitive, and deployed. That's how they stack. That's technology at Capital One. If you're listening to this, you're ready. Ready to join the industrial intelligence generation. A generation defined not by age, but by a shared mindset to connect teams, accelerate efficiency, and drive innovation using the power of Aviva software to reshape industries, turning real time insights into real world growth. Discover our stories at industrialintelligence.com. Join intelligence.com. Join Generation I. The Economist. I went on a cruise once as a kid, a short one, a supposedly fun thing I'll never do again. I had no idea what I was in for. Going to restaurants was kind of a rare thing for us. Then, suddenly, two meal seatings a day, all cloth napkins and fawning service, plus buffets seemingly all day long. Oh, and at midnight, truly, it was the most I'd ever eaten, ever tried to eat. And I was amazed. How could there be this much food? Where did they even store it all? Weren't there insane amounts of leftovers? How did they have time to make the food and the Santa watermelon carvings and the elephant ice sculptures that would melt before lunch? And could I really, maybe, just keep eating bacon indefinitely? I'm Jason Palmer, and this is the Weekend Intelligence. These are the kinds of questions that occupied my colleague, Barclay Brown. Well, maybe not the infinite bacon one. The eating is a centerpiece of cruising. Sure, there's the bingo and the promenade deck and karaoke night at lounge singers and and who's up for shuffleboard tomorrow, but all day, every day, and a lot of the night for many people, me too, if God help me, I ever end up on one again, a cruise ship hosts just one long eating contest. So, how? Baked potato, filet mignon, lobster tail, and vegetables. It's great. Surf and turf? Yes. Surf and turf. Cheese omelet, little bit of bacon, sausage, a hash brown, and I was gonna go for some mushrooms. I need some bread with that dipping sauce. I got the tiger shrimp with a vegetable medley and some rice. Lamb chops, steak, lots of choices. You can't beat the buffet also. I'm gonna try Italian tonight. I'm standing in the middle of an improbably large buffet. All around me are stands of different foods stretching as far as I can see. I've already walked past a heaving bread section replete with freshly baked sourdough, a grill section with steak and lobster tails, a seafood section with more lobster tails, this time poached, and towers …

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  • by Royal Caribbean

    Royal Caribbean's proprietary Crunch Time system analyzes historical sailing data to predict exact ingredient needs down to 1,422 portions of calamari, eliminating guesswork and reducing waste

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