Are Beards OK in the Office?

Unless you’ve been walking around staring at the floor you’ll have noticed that the beard has made a remarkable comeback as the ‘Hipster Beard’. I was at a funeral last week and of the four men under the age of 35* I was the only one not sporting such a beard. In conversation with one chap I found that his beard required regular pruning and even the application of something called ‘Beard Oil’ to give it extra shine.

It looks like I’ve missed the beard trend, not least because as a baldy with an ample post-Christmas belly, all I’d need is fingerless gloves and I’d look like a fisherman. Furthermore I’m not sure what a wiry ginger beard could do for my appearance.

Once upon a time though I remember working in an office in one of my first jobs. I’d only recently started and so didn’t know the office etiquette surrounding beards. After a couple of day’s growth, producing what is also known as Bumfluff, I was approached by my boss, “Daniel, your facial hair isn’t really appropriate in this office. Please make sure you shave tonight and in future do so daily.” After that I kept a razor and shaving foam in my desk draw just in case.

I then remarked about those chaps who do have beards. “Smart beards are fine, however the growth stage looks scruffy so if you want a beard I suggest you grow one when you next have a holiday of more than a week.” Well and truly told.

So what does a beard say about the wearer?

Well in the past people have associated beards as being scruffy, with some thinking the wearer as being lazy. Some people associate the wearer of a beard as being rough and ready. Beards have been associated with scholarly people such as professors and lecturers and also religious figures. And then there is the designer stubble, which for many is the height of trendiness. With so many people sporting the beard these days they can’t all be a result of laziness can they? As my friend with the beard oil has shown, the work which goes into such beards is highly demanding, not least because one must get through the itching stage.

So what are your thoughts? Is it ok to wear a beard to work in a 21st Century office? Or should beards be banned? And what does the beard say about the wearer?

Big Ideas 2015: The Year of the Regional Pizza

I love pizza. I love eating it. I love making it. I love talking about it. I love talking to people who make it. I love talking to people who eat it. I love looking at pictures of it on the internet. You get it.

I love pizza so much that I celebrated my 30th birthday with a trip to Phoenix, Arizona. Why Phoenix? Phoenix is home to Pizzeria Bianco, the pizzeria where Chris Bianco plies his trade as the godfather of the Neapolitan pizza movement in the United States.

The Wiseguy at Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix

Back when Pizzeria Bianco opened in 2002, many folks considered it to be the finest Neapolitan pizza in the United States. When I went recently, I was expecting to taste something I had never experienced before. Instead, I had a different realization: thanks to Chris's hard work and diplomacy, there is phenomenal neo-Neapolitan pizza nearly everywhere in the United States.

In Brooklyn, Franny's and Paulie Gee's. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Oak & Rye, Pizzaiolo, and Pizzeria Delfina. Even just up the road from Pizzeria Bianco in Flagstaff, there's Pizzicletta.

Now that fantastic Neapolitan pizza is so ubiquitous, my prediction for 2015 is that the next big wave in the pizza world will be regional styles.

Here in the Bay Area, there are already a few standouts: A New York, almost New Jersey style at Emilia's in Berkeley:

Sausage and onion pie at Emilia's

Over at Tony's Pizza Napoletana, the Detroit style is a standout:

Tony Gemignani with his Detroit-style pie (photo via Tony's Pizza Napoletana)

Back on the East Coast, Slice Blog founder Adam Kuban is serving bar style pies (inspired by the Colony Grill in Stamford, CT) to monthly sell-out crowds at his Margot's Pizza pop-ups:

photo via Adam Kuban (@margotspizza on Instagram)

Rubirosa in lower Manhattan is tipping its hat to the cracker-thin pies native to Staten Island:

Vodka pie at Rubirosa

If the last decade was about elevating pizza from a comfort food to the realm of gourmet, the next decade will be about a return to the roots: the pizza of your childhood, wherever you grew up. There are as many styles of pizza as there are places to call home.

For me, that place is New Haven, CT. Luckily for me, New Haven is home to a phenomenal regional style--like New York, but heavy on coal-oven char.

Garden special white pie (front) and mushroom and muzz pie at Sally's Apizza

This is the pie of my memories and my dreams. It transports me back to my childhood. I can't wait for it to be available in more places.

What regional style do you hope will go mainstream in 2015?

Forget an MBA, be a Cab Driver

I am almost forced to write this blog. Just had an interesting conversation with a cab driver outside my office building. School dropout, married.

Quote from the cabbie

"agar yeh aise hi chala toh ek saal mei Mercedes le lunga"

Translation: if this goes the way it is right now, I will buy a Merc in the next 1 year.

How much money does this guy make?

• Earning per day - per car: INR 3500/ $66 (after fuel cost of 10 rides)
• He owns a fleet of 3 cars (old Tata Indigo's). So the daily earning goes to INR 10,500 per day ($175)
• Multiply that by 30 days a month: INR 3,15,000 ($5250)

Now INR 3,15,000/ month is a salary which even a senior manager won't be close to making every month, in India (Im not generalizing).

Cost to the driver

10 trips from Delhi - Gurgaon - Delhi (average 200kms) daily, is INR 500 ($8) worth of Diesel (fuel).

So, forget the MBA, drive a cab!