Scott Cameron, a real estate developer with no restaurant experience, is conducting a business experiment: for two-week periods, he loans out a Rockridge commercial kitchen and dining area to different chefs. Cameron takes home profits from beer and wine sales, as well as a portion of each chef’s gross.
The opening weeks of his venture, titled Guest Chef, have seen a revolving parade of personalities in the kitchen: the Oakland Fire Department, an elderly Mexican grandmother who never cooked outside of her home, and an outspoken advocate of the Slow Food movement.
The novelty-hungry dining public loves places like this (at least in theory), and Guest Chef has garnered much food-blog support since opening in early November. But as the initial hype dies down, Cameron is discovering some issues with the model.
