The Prix-Fixe Playbook
How restaurants are engineering value without diluting their luxury brand
Back in March, the Carbonate team presented our eighteenth annual Hospitality Trends Report at the New York Restaurant Show, and had the chance to sit in on a number of fascinating talks and panels. One discussion about “Elevating the Dining Experience” brought together the likes of Marcus Samuelsson (Marcus Samuelsson Group), Ayesha Nurdjaja (Shuka and Shukette), Eugene Remm (Catch Hospitality Group), and Simon Kim (Gracious Hospitality Management) who spoke about strategies for engaging today’s diners. One comment in particular caught our attention…
It came from Simon Kim, the Founder & CEO of Gracious Hospitality Management, whose concepts include the buzzy Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse COTE, with locations in New York, Miami, Singapore, and Vegas; Coqodaq, a glitzy temple of Champagne and Korean fried chicken (including their infamous caviar-topped nuggets); and the splashly new Bar Chimera, a Midtown Manhattan brasserie with a dedicated martini bar, whiskey bar, and wine bar.
Upon first glance, “value” isn’t a word one would associate with any of his concepts. They’re high-design, the menus are laden with luxury ingredients, and they’re perpetual celebrity hot-spots. Yet during this panel discussion, Kim commented that almost everyone orders COTE’s $82/pp “Butcher’s Feast” or “The Bucket List” at Coqodaq for $52/pp. Both are a prix-fixe meal that include a variety of small dishes, banchan, sides, the main event (a selection of grilled meats at COTE or two types of Korean fried chicken at Coqodaq), plus a paper cup of their house soft serve served with a nostalgic wooden paddle spoon.
The Psychology of the Prix-Fixe
What makes these prix-fixe formats so smart is that they solve a tension many restaurants are currently facing: how do you offer value in a market obsessed with affordability without eroding the sense of aspiration that made people want to dine with you in the first place?
This is a key question we’ve been exploring for the past year. We first noted the rising importance of value perception last November in our 2026 Hospitality Trends Report, and recently dove into the topic of designing value in our article “The New Value Equation.” The most successful restaurants are using curation over discounting; The Butcher’s Feast and The Bucket List are perfect examples of this.
