Last week Alice Brock of Alice’s Restaurant made her exit from Earth. I wrote a post about her long ago, but thought I’d add a bit more about her life, including more of her colorful quotations. She didn’t find running restaurants easy and made that clear in interviews and in her 1975 book My Life As a Restaurant. [photos by Jane McWhorter, from Alice’s book]
In addition to opening and running three different restaurants in Western Massachusetts over a number of years, she worked with a franchise that was to create nationwide string of restaurants, not surprisingly named Alice’s Restaurant. In 1969 announcements were made that the first four would be located in Boston, New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles. The goal for the first three years was 500! Just how many of them materialized is difficult to determine, but it’s certain the total fell far short.
Alice derived some income from her association with the enterprise. She was paid to be a menu consultant, promoter, and for “just being Alice.” She fulfilled the third goal when she quit the job less than a year after the launch. Once she sampled the food at the New York pilot location she declared, “The food was no good. It wasn’t honest. It was like the movie – a lot of gravy but no meat.”
She spoke her mind, as her quotations make clear.
About her first restaurant in Stockbridge MA:
“. . . a year after I had opened the restaurant, I dragged my body in through the door and freaked out. I felt that instead of owning it, it owned me. . . . I had a terrible urge to smash everything. I telephoned Eastern Airlines and booked myself on the midnight flight to Puerto Rico. I emptied the cash box, gave away all the food.”
Working in a restaurant kitchen:
“. . . if you open the kitchen door, it’s like the door to Hell – everyone’s screaming and crying and cursing, and pots are being slammed around, sweat is pouring off everyone, and it’s a hundred and thirty degrees.”
Running a restaurant:
“Running a restaurant isn’t really satisfying. In fact, next to running a hospital emergency ward, I think this is the worst thing you can do.”
© Jan Whitaker, 2024
It's great to hear from readers and I take time to answer queries. I can't always find what you are looking for, but I do appreciate getting thank yous no matter what the outcome.
Restaurant-ing through history 
What an incredible tribute to Alice Brock! Her candid reflections on the tough reality of restaurant life and her legacy in the industry are truly inspiring. A unique, powerful figure in the culinary world.
Once again, you provided a fantastic little article and commentary on working in a commercial-restaurant kitchen. It wa a grind as an owner/operator/lead person. Well, I was never in that position, I did work in a couple of different kitchens, and the hotel was by far the worst. I was a baker in a setting with one table opposite two Blodgetts, and “my” ovens would be appropriated for a roast for long periods of time yet they needed something baked off, pronto. I can only imagine the bigger stresses with being in a higher position. I loved baking, but I was happy to get out and go to graduate school and launch a real career. But I certainly respected all the hard-working people I met along the way, especially those line cooks who would exchange a nice piece of baked fish for a couple of hot rolls!
Thank you for sharing an insider’s view!
Jan, I always like to read your posts about restaurants from the past. Keep on blogging!
Awesome, thank you. Alice’s Restaurant was my first “rock” album when I was a little girl in the 60’s. And I listen to it every Thanksgiving.
I’ll try to keep her comments in mind whenever I eat out. I try to thank the kitchen crew whenever I eat out (if they’re reachable) because I know they work hard. But I had no idea it was THAT hard.