Hipster Hospitality: Blurred Boundaries in Restaurants

Abstract

The restaurant industry is currently experiencing a shift in taste judgements. Practices and discourses on taste are communicated and expressed in contexts where food enthusiasts meet, resulting in a complex debate about the production and consumption of “good and bad” taste. This study aims to explore the intricate dynamics that shape the performances of dining room professionals in contemporary restaurants. Based on autoethnographic fieldwork at two restaurants in Sweden, this study uses dramaturgical theory to understand the social processes in restaurant culture. The results demonstrate how dining room work is organized within an unstructured environment through organic service, aesthetical framing, and self-representation. Based on these findings, the article argues that the interplay between the restaurant’s ambiance and the self holds value in shaping specific hipster hospitality. For instance, this is achieved through the blurred line between frontstage and backstage. This study contributes to the understanding of the changing role of work in contemporary restaurant culture, in which a less pronounced distinction between private and public, and between formal and informal service are some of the elements.