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March 2014 Newsletter

Mar 18, 2014

 

Greetings!

This month, we’ve got a couple of interesting trend pieces for you.

As we travel around the country doing Discovery for clients, we couldn’t help noticing that there are a growing number of mixed-used restaurant/retail marketplace concepts being developed in big cities. Many of them in neighborhoods that are on the cusp of being revitalized—including the far West Side of New York City, downtown Los Angeles, the old warehouse district of Seattle. Urban markets have always been a part of the core personality of cities, but we can’t remember a time when they’re been such an exciting opportunity for restaurateurs, sometimes by combining retail outlets for items like baked goods and house-butchered meats.

And speaking of butchery, in-house meat-cutting programs are also one of the trends shaping a new generation of steakhouses, one that’s more inclusive and approachable than the old sirloin-and-bourbon “guy food” palaces of the 1970s and ‘80s. We’re seeing lighter options, more serious culinary technique, specialty meats, and more creativity in this new breed of steakhouse.

Finally, we’ve got a piece that covers the growing trend for buying local, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables, and includes tips on how to integrate locally sourced produce into your operation.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas


Market Dynamics

By Joan Lang

Part-retail, part-restaurant… the new urban “food courts” are redefining what it means to be a food destination. They have also helped anchor some of the country’s best and brightest urban redevelopment plans.

Eataly, the over-the-top Italian megaplex opened by Mario Batali, et al, in New York—and now in Chicago and reportedly soon-to-be in Philly—may have been the first to draw attention to the modern food market phenomenon. And now that there are plans afoot to develop an Eataly theme park in Bologna, more food entrepreneurs will doubtless hear the ka-ching of cash in the register.

But the idea of public markets has been around since the days of the ancient Greeks. (Did you know that agoraphobia literally means “fear of the marketplace,” or agora?) Pike Place Market in Seattle, Arthur Avenue Market in the New York City borough of The Bronx, Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market : All of these are vibrant indoor spaces where citizens have come to congregate, shop and dine for decades. Wine, flowers, fresh seafood, local produce and a place to sit and have a meal amidst the bustle.

The new markets aren’t so much intended to be part of daily life, however, but part of the so-called gastro-tourism wave that is sweeping many American cities.

You could spend an entire day noshing in the new Gotham West Market in New York City—from Blue Bottle Coffee in the morning to Ivan Ramen for lunch and charcuterie and drinks at The Cannibal to cap the experience. Along with the nearby Chelsea Market and the High Line, Gotham West is helping to restore the once-dicey Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood to prominence, in part by being such a tourist destination.

Or take Society Fair, a new “bakery, butchery, market, wine bar and demo kitchen” in Alexandria, VA. In addition to offering a full-menu wine bar and retail ops aplenty, there’s an event schedule (Tuesday lobster night, Sunday suppers) designed to bring traffic to the location every day of the week.

Well-known Latin chef Richard Sandoval is planning a Latin American cultural center called Block 37 Chicago, with a retail market, full-service restaurant, 11 food stations (empanadas, ceviches, etc.) sharing food court-style seating, and a small “learning” center. This ambitious plan underscores one of the basic tenets of the new urban market model: the educational component.

Brooklyn Larder taps into that hipster borough’s obsession with the local, the artisanal and the sustainable with a huge selection of premium specialty foods, but also features catering and prepared foods for on-premise consumption. It’s owned by Francine Stephens and Andrew Feinberg, who developed a huge and passionate following with Franny’s —and early-to-the-table entrant in the sizzling Brooklyn food scene—who have parlayed their growing access to high-quality sources into the retail marketplace.

Fremont Collective, in Seattle, is an evolving former-warehouse complex that is emerging as a collective home for some of the city’s favorite restaurants, including Joule and The Whale Wins, plus the retail flagship evo and an indoor skatepark. Although the project may have gotten off to a shaky start, the presence of two high-profile restaurants has helped ensure its future.

Speaking of the future, the historic Grand Central Market —so recently just a dicey Mexican-shopping stop in a down-and-out part of Los Angeles—has been completely remodeled as a destination food hall that’s positioned as the gateway to the revitalized downtown. Nearly a century after first opening, today the market again houses all kinds of food-oriented options, from coffee roasters and cheese shops to such latter-day trendy restaurants as Horse Thief BBQ and Egg Slut.

Restaurateurs in search of affordable real estate have always been bellwether tenants in revitalized, up-and-coming neighborhoods. These market concepts represent a variety of opportunities, from square footage for new restaurants to all-in dream projects for ambitious operators.


 


The Steakhouse Rises Again

By Joan Lang

Trendy restaurant concepts may come and go; steakhouses reign eternal.

In fact, if anything, restaurants specializing in steak are on the upswing again, thanks to a number of different factors, including the improving economy, rising interest in protein-rich Paleo diets, increased availability of specialty meats such as grass-fed beef and heirloom pork, and the ambitions of a new generation of chefs.

From upgrades and tweaks on the classic Porterhouse-and-creamed-spinach model to modern interpretations that highlight farm-to-table or international sensibilities, steakhouses are making news again.

• City Hall, in New York City, is emblematic of the trend, introducing a wide-ranging menu that highlights top-of-the-line steaks and a la carte sides along with other premium proteins (lobster, veal) along with raw bar specialties, lots of appetizers, and more affordable options, in the form of upscale burgers

• At Alexander’s Steakhouse, a Japanese-inflected steakhouse with two units in the San Francisco area, the menu amounts to an education in premium beef. Selections range from grass-fed beef from local ranches to no fewer than 13 kinds of domestic, Japanese and Australian Wagyu, complete with production details and tasting notes

• Michael Jordan’s Steak House, with locations in New York, Chicago, and Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun casino, sets itself apart with a wide-ranging international wine list that would do any restaurant proud

• The Grill Room, in Washington, DC, touts elaborate, daily changing seasonal preps ranging from Grilled Scallops with trofie pasta, pulled pork, cabernet reduction and Parmesan to a $56 40-Day Dry-Aged Bone In Strip Loin accessorized by crispy sweetbreads, garlic snails, hickory smoked potato, wild mushrooms in porcini cream, braised oxtail and red wine jus, an over-the-top specialty that calls to mind the money-flaunting days of Diamond Jim Brady

• LongHorn Steakhouse, the budget steakhouse division of Darden, has partnered with HMS Host to open a scaled-down unit in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport. With airlines cutting back on in-flight food options, the move follows the larger trend for well-known brands to locate in airport terminals

• Seattle’s Miller’s Guild follows the revitalized trend toward wood-fired cooking with its selection of From the Inferno proteins, such as Beef Short Ribs with horseradish, yuzu and parsley, Berkshire Pork Chop with hearth-roasted apple and pickled onion salsa. The provenance for meats (Niman Ranch, Lan Roc Farms in Washington State) is proudly listed on the menu, fresh-sheet style
• Heritage Steak, which is star-chef Tom Colicchio’s entry into the steak segment, features multiple live-fire cooking platforms (charcoal grills, woodburning ovens) as well as antibiotic-free meats sourced directly from U.S. ranchers. It’s located in Las Vegas’s Mirage Hotel, which is also home to a Brazilian–style Samba Steakhouse and the meat-centric Japonais specializing in robata-style grilled foods cooked over binchotan Japanese charcoal

• At Boston Chops, chef Christopher Coombs preps his steaks sous vide style and finishes them in a black iron pan to combine a tender, consistently cooked inside and well-seared exterior. The menu also features a number of “fifth-quarter” products such as tripe, tongue, oxtail and marrow bone, and the signature Steak Frites is offered with a choice of six different cuts, from skirt steak to filet mignon

• Fancy a comparative tasting of different cuts? Burch Steak, in Minneapolis, features more than 20 different cuts and types of beef—from grass-fed to Wagyu—many in small enough sizes to be mixed and matched and shared by the table

• At American Cut, Marc Forgione evokes the manly tradition of the New York style “beefsteak” with commodious leather banquettes and a menu of baked oysters, big steaks, shareable sides and such a la carte toppings as foie gras and bone marrow. You may not be able to smoke, but there’s the $26 Plank Smoked Old Fashion made with Woodfood Reserve, caster sugar and Nick’s bitters in a maple wood smoked glass to take up the slack

• Women drink cocktails and eat steak, too, especially at the six-location STK, which courts the fairer sex with smaller cuts of steak as well as lighter choices like Crab Cake Salad and Shrimp Rice Krispies

• Underbelly, in Houston, is hardly recognizable as a steakhouse, yet its wide-ranging menu of Wagyu shortribs, spiced meatballs, family-style roasts, smoked pork loin, Vietnamese-themed flatiron steak, and charcuterie is the direct result of an ambitious in-house butchery program


Purchasing: What’s the Big Deal about “Local”?

By Jim Campbell, Restaurant Supply Chain Management

 

Local food is surrounded by value almost any way you view it. Buying local favorably impacts taste, nutrition, the environment, and the general community where your restaurant is located. In addition to these attributes, there is a growing body of research that shows that “local” resonates more with many consumers than “organic.”

Fruits and Vegetables, Up Close and Personal: Using and promoting local fruits and vegetables conveys the concept of “freshness” and should be on the radar of every restaurateur. Buying local reduces time and distance for product delivery, which are the enemies of freshness. There is no better preservative of flavor, taste, and nutrition than freshness when talking about fruits and vegetables.

The tomato is one of the best examples of why and how “local” works best. A local tomato that ripens on the vine has a short shelf life, and that’s just fine because that’s the way you want it, delicious and fleeting.

This local tomato is also a sustainability workhorse, as it reduces thousands of driving miles that would otherwise negatively impact your carbon footprint. Everyone knows firsthand that wonderful flavor is delivered by locally grown tomatoes but we don’t always think about the favorable environmental impact of that same tomato. Transportation is fairly obvious in the environmental equation, but less obvious offenders would include refrigeration, gassing, and redistribution, all of which have negative impacts on the environment.

Better nutrition is also a component of freshness. Nutritional values decrease with time once produce is harvested, so “local” is a real friend when it comes to nutrition. More and more restaurant guests are aware of the positive attributes of nutrition, and the restaurant industry should be supporting this awareness by sourcing more fresh fruits and vegetables from their own regions when possible.

How Do We Get These Amazing Local Fruits and Vegetables? Every restaurant has at least one produce supplier, whether it is an independent produce distributor or a master distributor. This is the first place to start. These suppliers should know what is trending in their industry and “local” should be at the top of that list. If your produce supplier is not sourcing local produce you need to have that conversation. They will listen and respond.
To supplement sourcing from your current distributor you can always seek out local farmers markets, which have a growing presence in many areas of the country and increase general awareness of “local” in your community.
You can meet farmers to make purchases directly, but you can also begin to develop a business relationship/partnership with your community farmers, who are a wealth of information when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables. While this is time-consuming, the payoff in freshness makes it worthwhile. You can always make the introduction between your new farmer friend and your distributor to make those local vegetables available when you cannot get to the local market yourself.

You are going to have to collaborate with your produce distributor and local farmers to understand what fruits and vegetables are best adapted to your part of the country, as well as their seasonality. You obviously are not going to find fresh “local” oranges in the Midwest any time of the year, but there are many fruits and vegetables that thrive there throughout the spring and summer growing seasons. The rise of indoor vertical farming models, sometimes called pinkhouses, is even beginning to challenge the notion that you can’t have fresh local produce in colder climates during the fall and winter. Vertical farming may be in its infancy but many observers believe it will soon become a widespread reality.

“Local” Economic and Community Values: In addition to the freshness, nutrition, and sustainability aspects, there are economic and community payoffs to using locally grown fruits and vegetable.
Buying local keeps dollars in the community and recycles them many times over, while buying fruits and vegetables from long distances simply exports dollars that could be supporting your restaurant guests and ultimately your own restaurant.

You can gain knowledge from local farmers that will help you better manage and operate your own business, which will benefit everyone, including your customers. There is also the more intangible human connection that exists beyond economics and is community driven. Once your restaurant guests understand that you support the community, they will feel even more comfortable supporting your business.

Need help integrating “local” into your own purchasing operation? Synergy Restaurant Consultants can help you with that.


Tip of the Month

When it comes to restaurants, there are a number of things that guests tend to find very inhospitable. This article  from Business Insider takes a look at 15 of them, from not picking up the phone to writing menus that are impossible to understand. Is you restaurant guilty of any of them?