13 minute read
Let’s hear it for the guys
from CCR Issue 7.22
Born for this
A special supplement to:
Born for this
Interview by Michael J. Pallerino
Growing up in a military family just outside of Fort Knox, Kentucky, Christina Oden’s love of the construction process started early. Her love affair with the process carried on throughout college, where she helped a friend build a restaurant.
From there, it was on. Oden ended up as a project manager while attending law school. Upon graduation, she joined a major developer in New York City as senior project manager and created her own company: Oden Mitilsky Development Corp. She eventually bought out her partner, and founded OMD Corp. where she serves as president. OMD I Corp. (OMD Corp.) has gone on to build 50-plus NYC high-end, well-known, and oftentimes celebrity chef-owned restaurants and food and beverage venues. Among her crowning achievements is her involvement in notable buildings like the Brooklyn Chophouse, The Playboy Club and 10ak. Today, she is among the
less than 3% of women founders within New York City’s thriving construction industry. We sat down with her to get her thoughts on the ever-changing, always exciting commercial kitchen landscape.
Give us a snapshot of your brand?
OMD I Corp is a 100% woman-owned and operated general construction and land development company, which is known for high-end restaurants, bars, boutique hotels and luxury residentials. We are fully regulated licensed in New York, New Jersey and soon to be Florida.
What was the inspiration behind that concept?
I had worked for many developers/GCs and I witnessed the not so nice side of construction. I thought there must be a better way—one where both the client and my team feel valued and satisfied. I could make a good living without harming or taking advantage of anyone. What type of consumer are you targeting?
We are most known for building out interiors for high end restaurants, for a lot of celebrity chefs, and larger food and beverage operators. While they are not my target, they are who have put OMD on the map. My personal target is the commercial or residential consumer who maybe has had a bad experience with a GC, and before simply giving up on the industry, they give us an opportunity to change their mind and build for them.
What are some of the adjustments you made with/to your business model surrounding the recent state of events?
We offered personal guarantees and payment arrangements to get work done in places that were shuttered in leu of payments upfront so that restaurants could be refreshed while we could get inside. It allowed me to keep my team working. I never had to lay anyone off. We have driven out of state to pick up our own materials that were backordered. We also switched gears and added residential development to our brand by acquiring land outside of the city and building homes out there that were severely in demand once people started exiting the city for more space for their families.
What kind of conversations are you having with your customers?
We have always been extremely transparent with all our clients. We have mandatory round tables, Mondays with the entire C level team, and we go over their project schedule quite granularly. We forecast for the week and do all that we can to remain on track or communicate with the client so that I can control their daily expectations. This pandemic has proven these policies to be even more vital to our success.
How does the design of the restaurant cater to what today’s consumers are looking for?
People are looking to not be so on top of one another. Thankfully, with the add-on of the sidewalk/parking seating areas, clients can afford to space seats/tables out more. Also, people want materials that can be wiped down on the regular for hygiene and germ prevention.
Is there a location that really shows how the brand interacts with the community and customers?
We had the honor to remodel Baby Brasa in the Village for celebrity Chef Franco Noriega during the pandemic. It came out quite beautifully, if I do say so myself. The use of color and space, plus the sidewalk seating incorporated into the décor, makes it one amazing space—instead of feeling like one space was an afterthought. Walk us through how and why it was designed the way it is?
The designer wanted the space to pull from Chef Franco’s Brazilian culture, so there are amazing bamboo leaves and beautiful colors and pink flamingo wallpaper adorning the bathrooms. The use of flowers and vines from the interior all the way to the front facade of the building and sidewalk cafe building is reminiscent of Cafes in Brazil and Portugal.
Take us through your construction and design strategy.
Most of our builds are “build-per-plan,” so we usually get the entire drawing set and material schedules from the interior designer and architect. On most occasions, there are a few attributes that either need reworking or finalizing. And because I have built so many NYC restaurants, my clients usually seek my input. I see a build out through the eyes of an operator and the customer experience; therefore, I can get in front of any layout issues before we start the build. When this happens, I generally go material shopping with the client to select the correct additions. When I do a design-build project, it is usually because the client already has specific preferences, and so then it is up to us to come together and bring those ideas to life. After the design phase is done, demo and build out begins.
Give us a rundown of the market’s layout.
We are seeing multiple stations more so than ever before. I believe with the added occupancy stemming from the sidewalk seating addition, our clients must build their kitchens larger with more output than before. So instead of one grill station I am now seeing two, etc.
What’s the biggest issue today related to the construction side of the business?
I am starting to see client’s concerned with spending their money with the super high level of uncertainty of this economy. I have had clients tell me to be conservative, but if things settle back down, they will add more to the build budget later. The “while you’re here” added projects are being put on hold until they see where the country is heading.
Talk about sustainability. What are you doing?
We are always looking for ways to use sustainable products and reuse items and the biggest part of us is being less destructive during the demo process of our projects. This allows us to salvage materials that in years before we would have demoed and thrown away only to later come back in and rebuild utilizing new materials all over again. If we are going to retile a wall, we do our best to try to salvage the sheetrock under the tile to be reused versus demoing the entire wall and starting over. If the client wants new sheetrock, we facilitate, but we find we can cut the clients costs, time and the waste consumption in our landfills this way. Every little bit helps.
Are you optimistic about how the marketplace has responded to everything happening today?
We are busier now than we have ever been. All movement is good movement for the building. I just hope that the economy plateaus off here soon so that the growth we achieve can be maintained. But thus far, the fear of recession hasn’t slowed us down, thankfully.
What is your growth plan? What areas are you targeting?
We are licensed in New York and New Jersey, in both full reg commercial and home improvement residential. We are almost completed with our commercial and residential Florida License. The growth southern Florida has seen over the past two years is exponential and there is no end in sight. Thankfully, a lot of my NY clients are opening businesses and or buying homes down there, and need me and my team to come down and build for them. That doesn’t mean we will be leaving our NY/NJ clients; I will be adding another team to facilitate our Florida projects.
What trends are you seeing?
In our residential kitchens, we are seeing super gourmet showstopper luxury equipment pieces that match vibrant colors of the kitchen such as Viking’s Tuscany and La Cornue’s Chateau Series. Not your standard stainless-steel pieces of the chefs’ kitchens of yesterday that is for sure. But in our commercial kitchens, we are seeing, like I said before, multiple set ups of fry, grillardin and even your garde-manager tables.
What is the secret to creating a “must visit” restaurant environment in today’s competitive landscape?
A lot of clients used to come to us with a build out design and equipment schedule for their kitchen and they had not yet writ-
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ten their menu. This always puzzled me. How can you design a commercial kitchen until you know the cuisine you will serve? The speed of your kitchen getting food out of the expo window, and the quality to which each piece of equipment prepared the food is directly related to the kitchen layout. Crisscrossing lines and flustered back of the house crew causes poor food quality and timing. So, a “must visit” restaurant for me is not only one that feels relaxing, looks aesthetically pleasing with courteous attentive staff, but also that the food quality and timing is all on point. The basic 12 steps of service were created to facilitate a comfortable, attentive and enjoyable dining experience. Many steps are missed out on when the kitchen design layout misses its mark.
What is today’s consumer looking for?
Today’s consumers are looking for honorable, attentive trades that will truly value their project. For far too long, contractors got away with doing the bare minimum, over budget and over deadlines was standard. Now the bar is rising, hopefully with companies like mine who are more than willing to be better and show our clients a better way of doing things. Clear transparent communication and holding up our end of the deal professionally.
One-on-One with... OMD I Corp.’s Christina Oden
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Getting to work alongside individuals who I genuinely respect and appreciate.
What was the best advice you ever received?
Trust, yet verify everything
What’s the best thing a client ever said to you?
“I feel my father (who had recently passed) in this room. You hit the nail on the head. He would be impressed how well you captured his company and what we stand for.” — Cooper Hefner, CEO, Playboy Corp.
Name the three strongest traits any leader should have and why.
Lead by doing; consistency, structured and organizational skills; and always make sure every day that your team knows how much you appreciate, need and respect them.
How do you like to spend your down time?
I enjoy boating, motorcycles, the beach or cooking for my friends, team and family.
What are you going to do once we get back to some sense of normalcy?
Hopefully never slow down. What’s the biggest item on your to-do list right now?
For me, the biggest fear is that I would ever have to lay off anyone on my team because I am not getting projects. I think about their families, and so I wake up thinking about projects in my pipeline, ensuring there is plenty of work for my team to do after current ones are completed. An equal fear of mine is that we couldn’t meet or exceed a client’s expectation. Checking in with them daily to make sure each of our clients are happy with how their project is going is a big “to-do” item on my list.
Describe a typical day.
Currently, I am out of bed by 5 a.m. and on my first site by 7 a.m. Depending on the day, I start out on one jobsite meeting with my in-house team, subcontractors and clients. Once that site is set for the day, I travel to the next and do the same thing all over again. For lunch, if I think about it, it is about mid-day. I usually do that standing up while walking a site. I solve any issues as they arise, and I usually end my day at a site desk on my laptop sending out emails or placing and or tracking material orders until I look up and all workers have left the site. I lock up and head home usually around 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. I do this Monday-Friday. If we are pushed on a schedule, I do the same on Saturdays. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I thoroughly enjoy what I do, and I genuinely appreciate and respect all the individuals on my team that I am blessed to be able to share my days with.
Tell us what makes your brand so unique?
For us, the bottom-line is an afterthought. We focus on my team and my clients. If both are happy with what we are doing, the bottom-line will come. I have said this a lot, but OMD is going to bring integrity back to the construction industry, even if I must do it kicking and screaming every day. We are committed to showing that you can make a living—honorably. CK
