--- description: "Lots of places are going to close," he said at the TIME 100 Gala title: David Chang: The Restaurant Industry Needs a 'Kick in the Ass' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d4824be5e239b70/698890d08e060146674659db/david-chang-time-100-gala-2016-red-carpet-361.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [TIME 100](/tag/time-100/) ## TIME 100 Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # David Chang: The Restaurant Industry Needs a 'Kick in the Ass'  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Updated: Dec 15, 2023 2:02 AM CUTPublished: Apr 27, 2016 2:41 AM CUT  David Chang and Grace Seo at the TIME 100 gala in New York on April 26, 2016. David Chang and Grace Seo at the TIME 100 gala in New York on April 26, 2016.Clint Spaulding—Patrick McMullan/Sipa  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Updated: Dec 15, 2023 2:02 AM CUTPublished: Apr 27, 2016 2:41 AM CUT **Correction appended, April 26** The restaurant industry is about to collapse, Momofuku restaurateur and food business titan [David Chang](http://business.time.com/2013/09/26/david-chang-broke-all-the-rules/ "undefined") argued during the [TIME 100 Gala](http://time.com/collection/2016-time-100/ "undefined") celebrating the 100 most influential people in the world on Tuesday. (Chang was [honored in 2010](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685%5F1984940%5F1984944,00.html "undefined").) In a recent [_GQ_ op-ed](http://www.gq.com/story/david-chang-resturant-business-challenges "undefined"), Chang wrote that restaurants work on razor-thin margins, and diners are going to need to learn to pay more money for their favorite foods so restaurants can survive. “We need a kick in the ass,” Chang told TIME on Tuesday night. “Restaurants aren’t going to go away, but it will be difficult for independent purveyors to operate the way things are,” he said, adding that he’s not certain what the solution is without raising prices. “Lots of places are going to close,” he said. “Only then will things start to change—both for restaurants and diners.” **Correction**: The original version of a photo caption with this story misidentified the person accompanying David Chang. She is Grace Seo. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4308901/david-chang-time-100-gala/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4308901/david-chang-time-100-gala/"},"headline":"David Chang: The Restaurant Industry Needs a 'Kick in the Ass'","datePublished":"2016-04-27T02:41:29.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T02:02:02.000Z","description":"\"Lots of places are going to close\"","url":"https://time.com/4308901/david-chang-time-100-gala/","keywords":["TIME 100","TIME 100","TIME 100 Gala"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d4824be5e239b70/698890d08e060146674659db/david-chang-time-100-gala-2016-red-carpet-361.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d4824be5e239b70/698890d08e060146674659db/david-chang-time-100-gala-2016-red-carpet-361.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NY: 2016 TIME 100 Gala- Inside","caption":"David Chang and Gloria Lee at the TIME 100 gala in New York on April 26, 2016.","creditText":"Clint Spaulding—Patrick McMullan/Sipa","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4308901/david-chang-time-100-gala/","name":"David Chang: The Restaurant Industry Needs a 'Kick in the Ass'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Time 100 Gala Highlights","description":"Watch highlights from the 2016 Time 100 Gala","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/orYjzea8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-27T05:38:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/orYjzea8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4308901/david-chang-time-100-gala/","duration":"PT2M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4308901/david-chang-time-100-gala/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```