ASPEN Colo. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Chef Mario Batali, co-owner of Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, Lupa, and Otto in New York, revealed his bold, self-financed strategy for growing his roster of restaurants. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
“We call all of our purveyors and tell them we’re going to stop paying them for three months,” he told attendees. “In that way, there’s a huge cash flow.” —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Batali also added that buying, not renting is his real estate model going forward. “We want to own the building. We want to own the real estate,” he said. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
The seminar series was sponsored by American Express, which this year marked the 20th anniversary of underwriting the classic’s trade seminars. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
The series was hosted by 12-time James Beard honoree and communications consultant Steve Dolinsky of ABC 7 in Chicago. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
The two-decade milestone was noted in a panel titled, “Meet the Legends: 20-Year Retrospective.” Danny Meyer, chief executive of the Union Square Hospitality Group in New York recalled being present in Aspen in 1989 when, with a recession looming, people spoke of the end of fine dining and downscaling. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
“Steak became hamburger, hamburger became meat loaf and meat loaf became meatballs,” Meyer noted. Fine dining, of course, rebounded after that recession, but eventually lost many of its more formal trappings. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
“I would argue that there’s probably better food today and more of it than there was back then,” he said. “It’s just that we don’t need the tuxedos and kowtowing servers.” —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Alan Stillman, founder of T.G.I. Friday’s, Smith & Wollensky steakhouse and most recently Fourth Wall Restaurants in New York, recounted the growing sophistication of the dining public’s palate over the past two decades, which he credited to affordable foreign travel. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Recalling the days when leeks, shallots and even mushrooms were impossible to find in U.S. supermarkets, Jacques Pépin noted food retailing’s dramatic improvement. The chef and cooking show host also cited the influence of culinary schools and the food media in helping to uplift mainstream tastes. Lastly, he saluted American culture for openly embracing foreign cuisines. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Meyer discussed the startling influence of the Internet and the new media, through which food trends and techniques are disseminated globally and rapidly. He cautioned, however, that coming together at the table should remain a “non-Twitterable experience.” —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Panelists also discussed opportunities to be found in the current economic downturn, including operating more effectively, deepening relationships with customers, strengthening the talent bench and finding newly attractive real estate deals. They agreed that cutting prices or compromising quality were grievous mistakes that would undercut a restaurant’s brand and its future. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Batali was joined on “The Money Equation: Evaluating Obstacles and Opportunities” panel by Washington, D.C.-based chef José Andrés of THINKfoodGROUP, who said his restaurants’ investors bring much more than capital to the equation by facilitating connections to banking and real estate resources. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Julia Stewart, chairman and chief executive of Glendale, Calif.-based DineEquity, which operates the Applebee’s and IHOP brands, discussed the improved real estate marketplace, saying: “There are more deals in this day and age. Landlords are picking up the phone.” —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
That point was echoed by Michael Kaufman, the National Restaurant Association’s current chairman and co-owner of Enovo Restaurant Ventures LLC in Chappaqua, N.Y. He said he gets calls all the time from landlords trying to bring in a reliable brand. Enovo operates and licenses Harry’s Tap Room, with four units in the Washington, D.C., area. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
“Landlords are desperate for some certainty and credibility” in their tenants, Kaufman said. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Panelists explored morale and interpersonal relationships during the seminar “Home-Grown Talent: Investing in the Future.” Paul Kahan of Chicago’s Blackbird, Avec and The Publican, together with Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto in New York agreed that public praise, not humiliation and belittling, were the currency of successful kitchens. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Barbara Lynch, chef-owner of Barbara Lynch Gruppo in Boston, told attendees that she sends team members temporarily to other restaurants to expand their knowledge base and experience. It also helps to cement their loyalty, she said. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Recounting his early traumas of working in French restaurants, Drew Nieporent, founder of Myriad Restaurant Group in New York, said, “They treated you horribly.” —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
“You have to treat people the way you’d like to be treated,” he added. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Waxman was unabashedly practical, saying: “I’m a little old-fashioned. I think money is an incentive. It still works.” —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
For all the talk of artistry and expression, restaurants, like any businesses, live or die by their bottom line, speakers said. The seminar, “Perfect Pairing: Balancing Creativity and Commerce,” explored the dialectical relationship between the two imperatives. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Joe Bastianich, chef Mario Batali’s longtime business partner, was unequivocal. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
“Commerce is the most fundamental aspect of what we do,” he said. “You have to show up every day and you have to make money. If you don’t make money, the restaurant and everything good about it and the art is going to go away.” —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
The key to partnership harmony, said Steve Ells, chairman and co-chief executive of Chipotle Mexican Grill based in Denver, is to “partner up with people who share the same vision.” Ells said he favors people who have “well-rounded perspectives, who know the business side and the creative side.” —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Bobby Flay of Mesa Grill and Bar Americain in New York credited his partner Laurence Kretchmer with being “so great at everything that I can’t do,” from evaluating real estate deals to serving as general contractor on projects. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.
Traci Des Jardin of San Francisco’s Jardinière described her partners as effective emissaries in the community who have a stake in making sure her restaurant succeeds. She also urged attendees to examine the potential downsides of partnering in advance of sealing any deal. —Culinary luminaries and restaurateurs wrestled with the recession, partnerships, opportunities, morale and creativity during a seminar series held at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen recently.