April 2020 - Total Food Service by Total Food Service

NEWS

COMMUNITY SERVICE

METRO NEW YORK CHEFS LEAD CORONAVIRUS RELIEF

rom 9/11 to Sandy, big-hearted chefs in the hospitality industry have always stepped up to support victims and responders. But in the face of international curtailments or even forced shutdowns of entire communities’ dining industries, many are selflessly giving of themselves. Through their restaurants or by partnering with nonprofits, a number of prominent chefs and restaurateurs have raced to set up operations for preparing and delivering free food to those most vulnerable or overtaxed by the virus, from isolated seniors to out-of-school children of impoverished families to quarantined cruisers. Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen who recently made his New

“I was thinking about making dinner then I automatically thought I had to bring a dish to my grandmother. Then it hit me, why don’t I bring a dish to everyone’s grandma for free?” — Ryan Carroll York City debut at Hudson Yards as been on the scene of disasters for years, and its coronavirus response geared up in mid-February, providing meals for the quarantined passengers and crew of the cruise ships in Yokohama, Japan and then Oakland, Calif. In mid-March Andrés announced that the virus had come to the home of his restaurant empire in

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Washington, D.C., and he would close his restaurants nationwide, including Restaurant Award winners Jaleo and Zaytinya, plus his eateries in New York and Las Vegas. Some were converted into “community kitchens” and have dispensed free meals to those in need, following careful sanitization and social distancing procedures, starting March 17. “We cannot keep the restau-

rants open when we will only be part of the problem, when we need to be part of the solution,” Andrés said in a video message on Twitter. “Let’s be strong, let’s be smart, let’s love each other, but at this time, loving each other means staying away from each other.” Shortly thereafter Andrés’ team arrived in the Bronx, N.Y., with a plan to begin distributing 5,000 meals a day from six distribution centers across the borough; within 72 hours, there were 19 such locations, including in Queens, N.Y. “This is when it all comes full circle. We’re getting food out to folks, because everybody needs something right now,” said Bronx assembly member and organizational partner

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 3

NEWS

OBITUARY

FORMER NEW YORK HOTEL CHEF KUNZ DIES

ray Kunz, the Swiss chef who grew up in Singapore, cooked in Hong Kong and broadened New York’s vision of fine dining in the 1990s at the luxurious Manhattan restaurant Lespinasse, died last month in Poughkeepsie, NY The cause was a stroke, a representative for his family said. Kunz had homes in Brooklyn and Clinton Corners, in Dutchess County, N.Y. After a traditionally rigorous culinary apprenticeship in Switzerland that began at age 16, Mr. Kunz led kitchens in Hong Kong, New York and Shanghai. At his death, he was in charge of two restaurants, both called Café Gray Deluxe, in Shang-

“He went through every spoon in every kitchen, but none of them had just the right size, shape, and weight.” — Jimmy Yui hai and Hong Kong. Kunz was born on Feb. 24, 1955, in Singapore and spent his first decade there, where his Swiss father and Irish mother lived at the time. Malay was his first spoken language, and he learned about food in Singapore’s markets and food stalls, which he credited with developing his palate in ways that pushed him beyond the confines of his European training.

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Soon after he arrived in New York in 1992, Florence Fabricant of The New York Times mentioned Mr. Kunz in an article titled “Lemon Grass in the Ragout? Asian Spices Enter French Cooking.” In 1994, his cooking at Lespinasse received a four-star review from The New York Times restaurant critic Ruth Reichl, who cited its “Old World” comforts combined with “aggressive” and “exciting” flavors. But few Western

chefs had as much expertise in the cuisines of Asia as Mr. Kunz, who worked in Hong Kong’s Regent hotel for five years after leaving Switzerland and spoke Cantonese along with French, German and English. Among the awards that Kunz won in his lifetime included Best American Chef and Best Chef in New York City, both awarded by the James Beard Foundation. “No one else was doing curried ragout of squab with a mung-bean crepe” or using ingredients like tamarind and makrut lime leaves in fine dining, said the New York chef Andrew Carmellini, who worked at

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 5

NEWS

LEGISLATION

NEW YORK STATE’S RESTAURANT INDUSTRY CHEERS SALES TAX REPRIEVE

ew York state’s restaurant industry applauded Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision late last month to delay fines for late sales tax payments as their businesses remain open only for take-out orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We can’t thank Governor Cuomo and state officials enough for forgiving interest and penalties on late sales tax payments,” said Melissa Fleischut, the president and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association. Cuomo’s top budget aide, Robert Mujica, said the move delays both fines as well as interest payments — a move that could allow some businesses to stay afloat amid the crisis. “For some restaurants, this little bit of breathing room could mean the difference between paying employees and shutting their doors forever,”

Main Office 282 Railroad Ave. Greenwich, CT 06830 Publishers Leslie & Fred Klashman Advertising Director Michael Scinto Art Director Mark Sahm Director of Public Relations and Special Events Joyce Appelman

“For some restaurants, this little bit of breathing room could mean the difference between paying employees and shutting their doors forever,” — Melissa Fleischut Fleischut said. “That being said, this relief is temporary, and we’ll continue to advocate for additional ways to help restaurants survive during this crisis. “The state’s entire restaurant industry is in dire straits. From the North Fork of Long Island to North Tonawanda, restaurants are closed and, undoubtedly, many will never reopen. During this uncertain time, these businesses still have obligations that must be met – such as payments to suppliers, rent and taxes – with little to no revenue coming in.”

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“As the trade association for New York restaurants, we work to further the business interests of restaurant owners and to provide valuable support services to members,” Fleischut explained. “The Association provides a platform for statewide cooperation and leadership on advocacy issues, along with resources and support to help restaurateurs succeed. Together with our members, we are shaping the future of the restaurant industry. NYSRA members have access to powerful resources and support. From advocacy and compliance, events and education, to training and cost saving programs - our focus is on making your job easier and helping you grow your business.” NYSRA and other small businesses across New York are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to delay the sales tax payment deadline as businesses contend with mandatory closings and a sharp decline in customers because of the coronavirus pandemic.”Cashflow is the most pressing immediate challenge for small businesses that have been forced to close or are otherwise seeing their operations and sales dramatically impacted,” said Greg Biryla, state director

Contributing Writers Warren Bobrow Morgan Tucker Fred Sampson Joyce Appelman Phone: 203.661.9090 Fax: 203.661.9325 Email: tfs@totalfood.com Web: www.totalfood.com

continued on page 102is published Total Food Service ISSN No. 1060-8966 monthly by IDA Publishing, Inc., 282 Railroad Ave., Greenwich, CT 06830. Phone: 203.661.9090. This issue copyright 2020 by IDA Publishing Inc. Contents in full or part may not be reproduced without permission. Not responsible for advertisers claims or statements. Periodicals Postage paid at the post office, Greenwich, CT and additional mailing offices. Additional entry at the post office in Pittsburgh, PA. Subscription rate in USA is $36 per year; single copy; $3.00. Postmaster: Send address changes to Total Food Service, P.O. Box 2507, Greenwich, CT 06836

of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, in a prepared statement. Still, Cuomo acknowledged the pandemic has put New York into a deep budget hole. The nation’s governors are requesting a bailout of $150 billion from the federal government. Businesses must submit monthly or quarterly sales tax payments to the state based on their size.”

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 7

NEWS

ACQUISITIONS

US FOODS INKS PACT TO SEEK TO GROW CASH AND CARRY INITIATIVE WITH SMART FOODSERVICE DEAL

oodservice distributor US Foods Holding Corp. plans to buy Smart Foodservice Warehouse Stores, formerly the cash-and-carry format of Smart & Final Stores, in a $970 million cash deal. Portland, Ore.-based Smart Foodservice will be acquired from funds managed by affiliates of private-equity firm Apollo Global Management, which last April unveiled a $1.12 billion buyout deal to take Smart & Final private. At the time, published reports said Apollo planned to separate the Smart & Final retail grocery and Smart Foodservice cash-and-carry businesses. US Foods said the acquisition excludes Smart & Final, which was separated from Smart Foodservice before the agreement with Apollo. Plans call for Smart Foodservice to retain its leadership team and operate as a separate business unit within US Foods. “The management team at Smart Foodservice very much looks forward to working with the team at US Foods in accelerating our growth in the attractive cash and carry foodservice market,” Smart Foodservice President Derek Jones said “US Foods is an ideal partner for Smart Foodservice, and we are excited about the synergistic and strategic benefits of the combination.” Smart Foodservice has approximately 900 employees and operates 70 small-format stores in California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Montana, serving small and midsize restaurants and other food businesses. In 2019, the 45-yearold chain totaled sales of about $1.1 billion. The nation’s second-largest foodservice distributor, US Foods described the cash-and-carry channel

“Smart Foodservice will complement our CHEF’STORE cash-and-carry model and provide a platform to significantly accelerate our presence in this attractive, growing channel.” — Pietro Satriano, US Foods Chairman and CEO as a burgeoning market segment, with sales of $17 billion and 4% to 5% annual growth. The company noted that the addition of Smart Foodservice’s smaller cash-and-carry outlets — offering about 8,000 SKUs each — will enable it to better reach independent restaurant operators who prefer a self-serve model, as well as provide another growth channel for current customers. “As we continue to expand our multichannel strategy, we know customers — particularly independent restaurants — increasingly use cash and carry as a convenient, cost-effective purchasing option,” according to US Foods Chairman and CEO Pietro Satriano. “With an established footprint and a consistent record of profitable growth, Smart Foodservice will complement our CHEF’STORE cash-andcarry model and provide a platform to

8 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

significantly accelerate our presence in this attractive, growing channel.” Though a smaller part of Smart & Final’s business, the foodservice format was a growth driver. The Commerce, Calif.-based retailer became a private company last June, and in its last public, full-year earnings announcement reported Smart Foodservice’s net sales up 5.6% to $1.07 billion for fiscal 2018, with same-store sales rising 3.6%. Smart & Final stores had 2018 net sales of $3.67 billion, a 3.2% gain, while same-store sales inched up 0.5%. Smart Foodservice stores offer a “no-frills” warehouse format that mainly targets business customers, such as restaurants, caterers and other foodservice providers. Led by the Extra! format, Smart & Final stores blend a wholesale club-style store (but no membership fee) with a tra-

ditional supermarket in a one-stop shop. “We are pleased that Smart Foodservice will be able to thrive with a strong complementary partner in US Foods,” stated Andrew Jhawar, senior partner at Apollo and head of its Consumer & Retail industry group. “We would like to thank Derek Jones and all of the employees at Smart Foodservice for their dedication in building a highly differentiated business in the cash-and-carry industry, and we know the company will be in great hands with its new owners.” “While timing clearly isn’t ideal, given today’s COVID-19 environment and fears of it hurting restaurants, we view US Foods’ purchase of Smart & Final Stores’ cash-and-carry business as a sound long-term investment, offering outsized growth and margin accretion and greater ROIC [return on invested capital],” Jefferies industry analyst Christopher Mandeville added. New York-based Apollo had been an owner of Smart & Final before the 2019 buyout. Prior to that transaction, Smart & Final was majorityowned by private-equity firm Ares Management. Los Angeles-based Ares had acquired its majority stake in Smart & Final from Apollo in November 2012 for $975 million. About two years later, the retailer completed an initial public offering at $12 per share. Funds managed by affiliates of Apollo had owned Smart & Final from 2007 through the sale of the ownership stake to Ares. US Foods and Apollo didn’t provide a timetable for the completion of the Smart Foodservice transaction but said the deal would be finalized pending regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 9

ASK ANDREW

FROM THE NYC HOSPITALITY ALLIANCE

#RESTAURANTRESCUEPLAN & #SAVENIGHTLIFEPLAN

n response to COVID-19, New York State mandated that effective Monday, March 16th at 8:00PM restaurants and bars must close. Thousands of businesses have shuttered and laid off thousands of workers. Restaurants and bars are permitted to operate delivery and take-out food operations only, but most cannot sustain their operations for an extended period of time under these conditions. In response, the NYC Hospitality Alliance, a not-for-profit organization representing thousands of restaurants and nightlife establishments in the five boroughs, presents the Restaurant Rescue and Save Nightlife Plan to support the city’s vital hospitality industry. The plan continues to be updated in response to the fluid and ever-changing nature of this pandemic. We are committed to supporting our industry during the immediate crisis and throughout the complex and long-term recovery program that will be required. The points of the plan are listed in alphabetical order. Delivery and Food Supply: Under the emergency powers of the Governor and the Mayor, they must mandate that fees charged by thirdparty delivery platforms to our local restaurants be capped at a maximum 10% of the order. Currently, thirdparty delivery fees usually range from 15% - 30%+ of a total order and would therefore amount to a windfall during this emergency when restaurants can only offer takeout and delivery. Many restaurants lose money on their deliveries during normal market conditions. We must preserve some profit for restaurants so they can serve New

Yorkers who need food during this crisis and allow some employees to earn a paycheck. Restaurant takeout and delivery are a vital part of the city’s food supply chain. Fair Work Week Law: New York City’s Fair Work Week Law requires certain restaurant employers to provide employee schedules two-weeks in advance and levies significant penalties for shift cancellations and modifications of hours within that time frame. Now that restaurants are forced to close or limited to take-out and delivery only, requiring a significant reduction in the need for employees, these requirements must be suspended. Fine, Tax, Penalty, Utility and Insurance Premium Forgiveness: Suspend the payment of all insurance premiums (and, protect against a spike in premium related to COVID-19), utility payments, fines and provide cure periods to businesses for violations that do not pose an immediate hazard to the public and workers. All taxes, fees, premiums and fines must be suspended indefinitely until a thorough and thoughtful strategy can be implemented to address these payments. This includes but is not limited to Sidewalk Café consent and Liquor License renewal fees. Suspend the Commercial Rent Tax and property tax passthroughs on ground floor tenants like eating and drinking establishments. Insurance Coverage: COVID-19 should be ordered to be a covered peril in business interruption insurance policies and claims must be paid to business as fast as possible. Government must back the insur-

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ance companies so that they can afford this coverage. In the alternative, an insurance relief fund should be created to provide timely payments to restaurants and nightlife establishments for business interruption and related matters due to mandated government closures. License Renewals: All licenses and permits such as liquor licenses, sidewalk café licenses, Health Department permits, etc, must renew automatically without the payment of licensing fees until a strategy can be implemented to responsibly reopen such operations. They cannot afford thousands of dollars in licensing fees if they are closed. Liquor License Applications: Under the State of Emergency declared by the Governor, give the State Liquor Authority (SLA) the authority to permit businesses to open with a Temporary License in New York City while its application is going through the lengthy backlog at the SLA, like they do for applicants elsewhere in the state. This issue is acute now that State employees are being sent home. Once this crisis is over, we need new businesses to open fast. They cannot be then waiting for a license to be issued. RENT AND MORTGAGES: While landlord mortgage payments to the banks have been suspended for 90 days, now we must address the commercial tenants’ rent obligations. Any business in the State of New York that is required to close (or limit their operations) by government order, must have their rent and related legal obligations forgiven for the period of time the order is in effect. Landlords

Andrew Rigie is the Executive Director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, a trade association formed in 2012 to foster the growth and vitality of the industry that has made New York City the Hospitality Capital of the World.

and the banks that hold their mortgages must be supported during this period. Since rent is the largest fixed cost and must be paid even when a business is closed, this will alleviate a business’s immediate financial obligation while the public health crisis is trying to be contained. Once contained, this will allow businesses to reopen, which many will not be able to do if they owe months of rent. SALES TAX: Restaurants, nightlife establishments and retail stores need an injection of cash to help them survive during the COVID-19 emergency. New York State and New York City should immediately convert these businesses’ sales tax remittance into grants. Since these monies are on hand, it will help them immediately, instead on applying for grants that have not yet been established. Wage and Business Cash Infusions and Temporary Universal Basic Income: Restaurants and nightlife establishments operate on razor-thin margins and do not have cash reserves. Many establishments need immediate cash infusions if they hope to re-open, so the grant application and payment process must be expedited. They also employ many people from all walks of life, many of whom are hourly workers without savings. A temporary, emergency universal basic income system should be considered for W-2 and 1099 workers who have been unable to work and collect income due to COVID-19.

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 11

NEWS

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLY MANUFACTURING

ALONSO EARNS MR. MANUFACTURING MONIKER WITH INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO WALK-IN CONSTRUCTION

s many young children did, Gian Carlo Alonso dutifully shadowed his father to work. But while many kids shun the hard work that their parents put into their business and yearn for something of their own, this Florida base entrepreneur was smitten. The Alonso blood line runs deep in manufacturing with Gian Carlo’s grandfather running a successful business in Cuba. “It was inspiring, because as a kid, come to the office and you’d have a big warehouse and there would always be a new machine and it would be so cool to go there and watch all these people working there,” Alonso reflected. As he grew up and watched his father forge Amerikooler into one of the restaurant and foodservice industry most iconic brands, young Gian Carlo hungered to someday put his own imprint on the walk-in box manufacturing sector.

Amerikooler’s Gian Carlo Alonso stands in the custom assembly area in the company’s South Florida facility.

“Many industry people compliment me now on the branding but frankly, the operations blow away anything that we’ve done in terms of branding.” — Gian Carlo “Mr. Manufacturing” Alonso He has in fact accomplished that goal of reinventing the process of designing and building refrigerated walk-in boxes since taking over the helm of the family firm. While doing so, Gian Carlo has earned the accolades of Amerikooler’s customer base and with that the industry’s recognition as “Mr. Manufacturing.” “For over 30 years we’ve been leading our industry with the most reliable walk-ins for the everyday foodservice and retail business,” Alonso noted. “We’ve been able to consistently produce quality construction, the most efficient insulation, the highest quality energy efficient refrigeration system, expedited customer service and the longest running warranties in the industry.” Mr. Manufacturing’s recipe for success combines a management flair that motivates the Amerikooler team on the plant floor and supports that team with state of the art technology. This has enabled the Hialeah, FL based concern to offer over 400 cooler and freezer walk-in packages. Walk-in sizes range between 6’-12’ wide and 6’-20’ long (in 1’ increments). Foodservice dealers, consultants and the end-user operators they support are able to choose from either a walk-in only or a package with either an Indoor Top Mount Self-Contained Unit or a

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Remote Refrigeration System. Amerikooler has learned to carefully listen and respond to the needs of their customer base. By doing so, they offer a full line of many popular walk-in options like a 3rd hinge, in/out kick plates and strip curtains. “We also understand the need to be able to quickly respond to our customer’s needs,” Alonso added. “So, we offer over 70 Dynasty Quick Ship Brand Walk-Ins that ship within 24 to 48 hours.” Mr. Manufacturing has also learned to think out of the box which has resulted in a vision for expanded marketplaces. “My studies at Harvard Business School, enabled me to solidify many of the ideas I had. The theories were con-

firmed and taken to a whole different level,” Alonso reflected. “I learned about different businesses and how they financed them from acquisitions to improving cash flow and how to really scale a business.” Armed with that ability, Alonso has created walk-in products that are now creating solutions for convenience stores and even residential walk-in coolers. Mr. Manufacturing has also been able to blend both operations and branding as he has taken Amerikooler to new levels of success. “Many industry people compliment me now on the branding but frankly, the operations blow away anything that we’ve done in terms of branding,” Alonso said. “We run a very tight ship and with the support of our team, it continues to get more efficient and productive everyday as we improved every single process. We’ve brought that approach to every aspect of our business. The latest includes our going completely paperless and redefining our sales

continued on page 94

Alonso and one of the Amerikooler employees discuss job specifications for an upcoming walk-in freezer order.

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RESTAURANT FINANCE

WITH DAVID SEDERHOLT

CATASTROPHIC EVENTS AND ACCESS TO CAPITAL

his past year has been filled with unexpected challenges that had life changing consequences for me. A few months ago, I was enjoying life in retirement by splitting firewood, swimming and working hard on things I enjoyed. After years of worrying about my businesses, employees and clients, I was now focusing on myself and my wife and living the good life. Things couldn’t have been better. I was golden – or so I thought. One day, I was a bit nauseous for a couple of days, but nothing major and decided to go to my doctor anyway to check it out. Upon my arrival I was feeling fine but they did an EKG and pronounced that I was going to the Emergency Room immediately. This was serious because my resting heart heart rate was over 180 (yikes!) and I was in “aFib”(atrial fibrillation). Holy crap and the most remarkable thing was that I didn’t feel a thing! Not one other symptom to alert me that something was seriously wrong. After a week in the hospital and tons of tests they found that I had blown my mitral valve and was in some serious trouble. Nope, I didn’t have a heart attack with all the classic symptoms and frankly was in the best shape I’ve been in for years. Now here I was - everything changed in an instant and I was having my chest cracked open to repair my heart valve. One day things were great and the next day not - who could have seen this coming? The same thing just happened to the entire planet. One day we hear a little story about a new strain of virus emerging halfway around the world and within a few weeks it has everyone sheltering in fear and left with a crippled economy. This has changed almost everyone’s lives in ways most people have never expe-

rienced before. It is worse than 9/11, Pearl Harbor or even devastating natural disasters because it is invisible, and it is hitting everywhere. The COVID pandemic attacks people’s health, their livelihood and their futures as the uncertainty hangs in the air. In just a couple of weeks, everything changed. Having opened my first restaurant in 1973, I can safely say that I have seen quite a few ups and downs from Jimmy Carter to the Great Recession of 2009. I have lived through lines at the gas pumps, double digit inflation, blackouts, hurricanes and recessions. I know that major downturns are a fact of life and are inevitable and if we read the signs right, we could be prepared for it. People are often very short sighted, especially when they think they have a strong and stable economy. Psychologists call it “Cognitive Dissonance” which is a condition in one’s mind which hard evidence conflicts

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with that person’s opinion to such a degree that they generate a hallucination to rationalize their world view. Sorry but that’s just stupid and over the years I have lost patience with delusional idiots. Science and numbers don’t care what you “believe”!! Back in 2017 and 2018 I had written a few articles in this publication warning people in our industry about deep weaknesses in our economy and how claims to the contrary were total BS. Because of the inherent frailty described the foodservice industry was very vulnerable. My good friend, Fred Klashman, the Publisher of Total Foodservice called me “Dr. Doomsey” because I felt a house of cards was being built on false representations that the economy was strong and stable. There were too many signs were telling me that one hiccup would bring the whole house down – and it happened, just like when my health

David Sederholt is a multi-discipline entrepreneur who has launched and built numerous companies in specialty finance, foodservice and commercial real estate over 40 years. After owning, financing and operating over a dozen restaurants in his career he found a niche in serving small businesses seeking financing and strategic advice. For 10 years he served as Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Funding Source, Inc., (now called Kapitus). David has also been a Managing Partner at a boutique investment bank and a specialty commercial real estate firm. He is a regular guest lecturer and contributor to business and industry publications as well as serving as a Board member and advisor to numerous companies and non-profit organizations. He is currently owner of Ragnar Partners, LLC, a private investment and advisory firm. If you have any questions that I might help with, please email me at dsederholt@ ragnarpartners.com

suddenly turned bad. Hindsight is always 20/20 and unfortunately, we can’t turn the clock back to prepare for these things. If you were fortunate enough to have built up cash reserves, you can tap into them and try not to blow through everything before you can recover. If the business has no reserves, most owners rely on personal funds or the generosity of family and friends to get the cash needed to survive. For others the hope is that they can go to their bank or get some help from the government. Borrowing working capital in good

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 15

EYE

METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE EVENT COVERAGE

IRFSNY 2020 TAKES CENTERSTAGE AT JAVITS

he recent International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York, Healthy Food Expo New York and Coffee Fest attracted buying groups representing Aramark, Marriott, Sodexo, Tao Group, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Barnes & Noble, and many others to the Javits Center in New York City to see the latest products and services from 500+ exhibiting companies. The International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York has provided thousands of industry professionals with access to the hottest menu trends, state of the art design and decor, a renowned education program, special events, and hundreds of leading vendors and purveyors dedicated to serving the restaurant & foodservice community, since 1993. The show is produced in partnership with the New York State Restaurant Association. During the three-day event, held March 8-10, industry professionals had the opportunity to attend several culinary competitions and awards programs. The Torch Award, given to out-

standing chefs and/or restaurateurs, was presented to Jeffrey LaPadula, April Tam Smith and Timothy Carberry with P.S. Kitchen by Melissa Autilio Fleischut, President & CEO of NYSRA. These three individuals have created a very successful restaurant where they donate 100% of profits to sustainable charitable work locally and overseas. The Beacon Award was presented to Allison Kave, Baker, Bartender, Co-Founder and Keavy Landreth, Co-Owner, Butter & Scotch by Kathleen Wood, Founder, Kathleen Wood Partners during the Foodservice Council for Women Panel. The Beacon Award recognizes woman leaders who has truly served the industry through leadership, contributions, and inspiration. This show has always been looked at for its ability to showcase what’s new. From food and beverage to service and the latest in creative technology, the exhibit hall offered new products and innovation. 500 exhibiting companies covered 90,000 square feet of exhibit space on Man-

The Torch Award, given to outstanding chefs and/or restaurateurs, was presented to Jeffrey LaPadula, April Tam Smith and Timothy Carberry

LMT’s team led by Morgan Tucker brought a exciting display of table top innovation

continued on page 18

The show’s manager Tom Loughran presented Best in Show honors to RTE

16 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

Imperial Dade’s Bob Tillis (C) and Laura Craven (R) welcomed guests

(L to R) Pro-Tek’s Diane Rossi and Kim-Bunn Minsky

(L to R) Day & Nite’s Rick Sher, John Agliato and Nick Mercogliano of Pecinka Ferri and Brett Sher of Day & Nite

Roger and Sons’ Joe Cirone welcomed his daughter Marliaina

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 17

IRFSNY 2020 COVERAGE hattan’s Westside. Judges including TFS’ Michael Scinto toured the show in search of this year’s top innovations. Innovative Product Awards were presented including RTE Cuisine for their Super Grain Medley that garnered this year’s Best in Show Winner. Other winners included The 1st Place Runner Up: Allie’s GF Goodies for their Totally Free Granola. The 2nd Place Runner Up was Oumph! for their Plant Based Protein Chef Style. The annual Food Trends Experience award went to Homestead Farm Products for their local raw milk cheese and natural ice cream. The Coffee Fest People’s Choice Winner was Lotus POWER UP Plant Energy Concentrate. With an eye towards the Covid-19 challenge PathSpot Tech’s Hand Scanner which instantly detects invisible signs of bacteria and viruses that cause foodborne illness won the prestigious Pitch the Press/Best in Show award. Attendees have come to find this show incredibly valuable for its ability to maximize the amount of ground that busy restaurants and food service operators need to cover with their trip to Javits. With that in mind the co-location of Coffee Fest has proven to be a big hit. The 2020 edition of Coffee Fest featured a pair of two exciting competitions. This year’s Latte Art World Championship Open was won by Henry Berrios from Puerto Rico. He battled to victory against Daisuke Tanaka and Zhong Hu to prove himself as the king of pours in all of New York City. Kyle Mervau of Electric City Roasting Company won the annual The US Cold Brew Championships, sponsored by Alto Cold Brew: Mervau will move onto the U.S. Cold Brew Championship finals out in Anaheim, CA after edging Gregg Roberson of Saxbys and Black Acres Roastery’s Travis Bell. Coffee Fest is a trade-only event serving the specialty coffee and gourmet tea industries since 1992. Coffee Fest draws more than 10,000 attendees, exhibitors and competi-

from page 16 tors a year, connecting regional coffee communities through regional trade show events especially designed for specialty coffee and tea professionals. The show also brought some of the industry’s shining culinary stars to the Javits’ Center Stage. Sponsored by TFS-Total Food Service, the slate of culinary demonstrations featured the renowned Chef Chris Jaeckle, Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, Chef Max Cavaleri, and Baldor’s Thomas McQuillan, Chef Marc Forgione, Jackie Topol MS, RD, and Chef Jonathan Scinto. IRFSNY’s has always been about adding new “must-see” events every year. New for 2020 was the inaugural Cake Design and Gelato Competitions, sponsored by David Rosen Company, Modecor and MEC3. The 1st place winner in the Cake Design Competition was Maraiza Velazquez, who edged out Lisamarie Gonzalez and Ryan Del Franco. Top Gelato competition honors went to Monica Cione, with Robert Mahler and Lauren Tamm finishing winning silver and bronze. TFS-Total Food Service and Boldric sponsored the Rapid Fire Challenge: Dessert Edition. Restaurant Daniel chef Richard Leonardo won $1,000 for his Sakanti Bali Chocolate Sablee. Kristo Tomingas of Butterfly Cocktail Catering won the Hip Sip: Battle of the Modern Bartender Competition Cocktails & Coffee, sponsored by Professional Bartenders Association and Bar Business Magazine. Kristo beat out six other bartenders and won $1,000 for the most creative and inventive mix of cocktail and coffee called Ring of Life. The co-location of the Healthy Food Expo New York bring IRFSNY attendees access to the latest healthy products from organic, vegan, gluten-free and allergy-safe to hormone-free, non-GMO, plantbased, low-sodium, low-fat, and more. Attendees enjoyed samples, demos, education and special events — all designed to incorpo-

continued on page 92

18 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

Automatic Ice’s Jordan Singer (C) anchored Team Hoshizaki at the show

(L to R) Rebecca Wiedemer and Mindy Black of Murray River Salt

Ken Harris (C) of Scotsman and PBAC’s Damien Mecurio (R) were on hand to welcome guests

The BelGioioso team brought a number of creative menu ideas

The Crescent Duck booth was a bevy of activity

I Halper’s Matt Halper worked with many of NYC’s top chefs including Kerry Heffernan of Grand Banks

Equipex’s booth was anchored by Irina Mirsky-Zayas and Gary Lichte (2nd-L)

Steve Trabb (R) of Mini Tacos

The Lehr sisters Jodi and Toni toured the show

One Fat Frog’s Chef Santo Bruno (2ndR) is always a welcomed guest

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 19

NEWS

CUSTOM FABRICATION MANUFACTURING

NJ’S EMI SET TO WRITE NEXT CHAPTER WITH AUTOQUOTES AFFILIATION

magine being able to combine the highest quality manufacturing with the convenience of access to being able to actually see it being built. That is in fact the recipe that EMI Industries delivers everyday as it produces award winning custom fabrication for the Metro New York and the nation’s restaurant and food industry. The company has now brought a much-anticipated additional convenience to its foodservice dealer, consultant and end-user customer base with its newly announced affiliation with Auto Quotes. AutoQuotes is the world’s largest and most comprehensive product database and software dedicated to the food equipment and supply industry and is widely considered the industry standard in technology and innovation. EMI Industries is an award-win-

“We rarely say no to anything. It’s just not in our vocabulary. So, customers come to us and they need something done, we can make it happen.” — Frank Doyle, TD Marketing Co. ning metal and millwork manufacturer of standard and customized fixtures, displays and equipment for the restaurant, supermarket and convenience store industries. EMI’s Boonton, NJ location is one of five manufacturing locations across the country that feature 400,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing and warehouse space. EMI’s growth has been driven by providing both convenient regional sources in Boonton and across the country for millwork and metal products, with national and international capabilities.

20 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

To accomplish its goal of being the leader in the manufacturing of Store Fixtures and Food Service Equipment, EMI has partnered with some of the top manufacturer’s rep groups in the nation. In Metro New York, it has forged a unique partnership with TD Marketing. The Edison, NJ based firm brings with it very deep roots with EMI Industries and the Boonton Manufacturing facility. It is in fact in that very same building that TD’s founder Frank Doyle began his career in foodservice. The new access to EMI’s prod-

uct lines through AutoQuotes will enable dealers and consultants to easily access high quality built-toorder products that utilize an innovative design, quick turnaround manufacturing, and superior customer service. After graduating with a degree in Hospitality Management from Paul Smith’s College up in Lake Placid, New York, Doyle joined Marlo Manufacturing. That company was later acquired by EMI Industries. “It’s interesting how valuable the lessons learned from quoting without a computer and providing drawings done by hand have been as technology has been added to the mix,” noted Doyle. “Custom fabrication really spurred my love of the business. Everyday you were selling and designing something new.” With EMI’s entry into the New

continued on page 84

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cheflerfoods.com • 800-506-1925 • 400 Lyster Ave. Saddle Brook, NJ 07663 April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 21

FIORITO ON INSURANCE

CYBER CRIMINALS ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF COVID-19: BEWARE OF INCREASED SCAMS & SOCIAL ENGINEERING FRAUD

ith the COVID-19 crisis sweeping the globe, cyber criminals are aiming to exploit people’s fear and uncertainty, preying on the current weaknesses most businesses/individuals are facing, including temporary closings. Scammers and fraudsters are taking advantage of rapidly changing data and facts associated with COVID-19, both in the workplace and in our homes. Government agencies, corporations, and news outlets continue to warn individuals to be mindful of increased fraudulent activities during these uncertain times. These scams, which can be sent via email, text message, and social media claim to provide COVID-19 updates, sell products, ask for charitable donations, or reference government aid packages. These messages appear to be legitimate in nature but seek to

These scams, which can be sent via email, text message, and social media claim to provide COVID-19 updates, sell products, ask for charitable donations, or reference government aid packages. These messages appear to be legitimate in nature but seek to fraudulently obtain personal information, financial gain, and create panic. fraudulently obtain personal information, financial gain, and create panic. Use the following tips to identify and avoid scams: • Watch for emails claiming to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or experts claiming to have inside information on the virus. There are currently no vaccines, potions, lozenges, or other

22 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

prescriptions available online or instore to treat or cure COVID-19. • Do your homework prior to donating to charities or crowdfunding sites. Confirm the validity of the organization as fraudsters are now advertising fake charities. Do not let anyone rush you into a donation, particularly those who ask for cash, gift cards, or wiring of funds. • Do not click on links or open attachments from sources you do not know. Cybercriminals are using the COVID-19 headline as a tactic to spread viruses and steal information. Do not provide personal information, payment information or sensitive workplace information via suspicious email addresses. • Be suspicious of urgent demands and emergency requests. The health and safety of you and your family is the top priority. Do not fall for scammers threatening fees or fines, cancelled deliveries, and health concerns in exchange for financial gain. • If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is. Many individuals have begun to receive robocalls and social media requests for social security numbers,

Robert Fiorito serves as Vice President with HUB International Northeast, a leading global insurance brokerage, where he specializes in providing insurance services to the restaurant industry. As a 25+ year veteran and former restaurateur himself, Bob has worked with a wide array of restaurant and food service businesses, ranging from fast-food chains to upscale, “white tablecloth” dining establishments. Robert can be reached at 212-338-2324 or by email at robert.fiorito@ hubinternational.com.

banking information, and gift cards. Scammers promise high paying work from home opportunities, free sanitation and cleaning, as well as COVID-19 protection in exchange for payment and sensitive information. • Be mindful of scammers using government aid packages for criminal gain. Lawmakers have announced plans to send Americans checks to assist with the financial burden of the virus, with details still in discussion. The government will not request payment, nor will anyone reach out requesting personally sensitive health or financial information in exchange for

continued on page 24

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 23

FIORITO ON INSURANCE financial support. • Obtain your news from a trusted source. Be mindful of text message scams, social media polls and fraudulent email accounts sharing false information to create panic. Before acting on information, review its source and check a trusted news outlet to confirm its validity. When in doubt, ask a coworker, family member, or friend for their opinion. Two sets of eyes are better than one. If you believe you have fallen victim of a scam, call your local police at their non-emergency number and consider reporting to the FBI’s IC3 Internet Crime Database. Now more than ever, as operations are moving towards additional digital platforms, their exposures to enhanced cyber risk and vulnerability are increased as well. While dealing and recovering with the aftermath of the pandemic, more businesses are at a higher risk of becoming the victims of cyber-attacks. In one prevalent fraud tactic known as social engineering, criminals first gather information, then form relationships with key people, and finally execute their plan, often via email. Gone are the days where malicious actors send poorly worded emails, sophisticated methods are deployed and can fool even the most trained employee in to releasing sensitive data. There are several methods of social engineering that are seen frequently, including the following: • Business Email Compromise (BEC)/Email Phishing: The email accounts of high-level business executives (CEO, CFO, etc.) may be mimicked or hacked. A request for a wire transfer, W-2 forms or other sensitive information from the compromised email account is made to someone responsible for processing transfers. The demand is often made in an urgent or time sensitive manner. • Spear Phishing: Spear phishing is an email aimed at a particular individual or organization, desiring unauthorized

from page 22 access to crucial information. These hacks are not executed by random attackers but are most likely done by individuals out for trade secrets, financial gain, or military intelligence. Spear phishing emails appear to originate from an individual within the recipient’s own organization or someone the target knows personally. • Whale Phishing: A whale phishing attack is a type of phishing that centers on high profile, senior level employees such as the President/CEO. It is aimed at stealing vital information since those holding higher positions in a company have unlimited access to sensitive information. The term whaling signifies the size of the attack, and whales are targeted depending on their position within the organization. Since they are highly targeted, whaling attacks are more difficult to notice compared to the standard phishing attacks. • Interactive Voice Response/ Phone phishing (aka vishing): Using automation to replicate a legitimate sounding message that appears to come from a bank or other financial institution and directs the recipient to respond in order to “verify” confidential information. • Bogus Invoice: A business that has a long standing relationship with a supplier is asked to wire funds to pay an invoice to an alternate, fraudulent account via email. The email request appears very similar to a legitimate account and would take very close scrutiny to determine if it was fraudulent. According to the FBI’s 2019 Internet Crime Report, BEC scams were, by a considerable margin, the most damaging and effective type of cybercrime in 2019. Accounting for half of last year’s cyber-crime losses, BEC attacks amounted to $1.77 billion in losses for victims, which is on average $75,000 per complaint. Given the rising incidence of social engineering fraud, especially in these challenging

24 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

times, all companies should implement basic risk avoidance measures: • Educate and train your employees so they can be vigilant and recognize fraudulent behavior. • Establish a procedure requiring any verbal or emailed request for funds or information transfer to be confirmed in person, or via phone, by the individual making the request. • Consider two-factor authorization for high level IT and financial security functions and dual signatures on wire transfers greater than a certain threshold. • Avoid free web-based email and establish a private company domain and use it to create valid email accounts in lieu of free, web-based accounts. • Be careful of what is posted to social media and company websites, especially job duties/descriptions, hierarchal information, and out of office details. • Do not open spam or unsolicited email from unknown parties, and do not click on links in the email. These often contain malware that will give subjects access to your computer system. • Do not use the “Reply” option to respond to any financial emails. Instead, use the “Forward” option and use the correct email address or select it from the email address book to ensure the intended recipient’s correct email address is used. • Beware of sudden changes in business practices. For example, if a current business contact suddenly asks to be contacted via their personal email address when all previous official correspondence has been on a company email, the request could be fraudulent. Despite these efforts, organizations can still fall victim to a social engineering scheme. These incidents can be reported it to the joint FBI/National White Collar Crime Center - Internet Crime Complaint Center. The initial concern after such an event often focuses on the amount of stolen funds. However, there could be an even greater threat since these in-

cidents often involve the compromise of personally identifiable information, which can be later used for identity theft of multiple people. This will often trigger legal obligations to investigate the matter and to communicate to affected individuals and regulators. This often leads to litigation and significant financial and reputational harm to businesses. Costs to comply with privacy law can include fines, legal fees, IT forensics costs, credit monitoring services for affected individuals, mailing and call center fees and public relations costs. INSURANCE PROTECTION Fortunately, the insurance industry has developed policies that can transfer these risks. Crime insurance policies can cover fraudulent funds transfers while cyber insurance policies may cover costs related to unauthorized access of protected or sensitive information. However, the insurance buyer needs to be wary of various policy terms and coverage limitations. For example, some crime policies can contain exclusionary language for cases involving voluntary transfer of funds, even though they were unknowingly transferred to a criminal. Other insurers might add policy language to crime or cyber policies to cover this situation. Having a knowledgeable specialist walk you through the exposures and properly address them with the right insurance product will ensure your balance sheet is protected and assist in mitigating the event when it occurs. The most effective risk management plans aim to prevent social engineering fraud incidents from happening and mitigate the damages if they do. Working with a specialty insurance broker, who understands the coverage issues and negotiates coverage that is customized towards your business’ risks, is key in guaranteeing balance sheet protection and preventing additional disruption to your business. Most importantly, stay safe and vigilant and we will get through these times together.

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 25

RESTAURANT EXPERT

WITH DAVID SCOTT PETERS

TIPS TO SEE YOUR RESTAURANT THROUGH THIS CRISIS

his pandemic, COVID-19 virus, is crippling our industry. My heart goes out to you as you worry about your employees, your vendors, your family and your community. I know one of the biggest questions you have is will your restaurant survive this crisis. What I have to tell you here should help you make some clear decisions. Before you get too far into this, let me first be clear that the advice I’m offering here is for the week of March 16, with many cities and states shutting down eat-in options for restaurants and putting curfews in place. The advice you’re getting here right now could change drastically as new guidelines and/or city/state mandates are rolled out. First things first. If you’ve been resisting or avoiding delivery apps like Uber Eats, Grub Hub, Postmates, etc., you can’t fight them anymore. You need them because you’re not in a position to hire a delivery drivers. As you bite the bullet or look at how to expand your reach, be sure to sign up for all four of the top delivery

services in your marketplace. Looking at it nationwide, the top services are GrubHub, DoorDash, Uber Eats and Postmates. You need all four because every customer is not on all four. Preferences vary for your guests. If you use all four of them, you’ll reach more guests. The nice part is they are reacting to our industry. As of March 17, GrubHub, DoorDash and Uber Eats all waived

their fees. Next, you have to make it easy for your guests to order, to run in to pick up, and get out of there. Something that will help is to get your online ordering up and running if you haven’t already. Call your POS dealer and ask what application/service they recommend. You want something that integrates with your POS system and simply kicks out a ticket so you know it’s going to be pickup and it’s done. The other benefit is online ordering requires payment up front, so you’re not exchanging cash and guests aren’t touching keypads. This creates a little more safety for your guests and employees. Hot Tip: If you’re going to have guests pick things up, make sure you’ve got somebody visibly washing door handles on a routine basis and sanitizing hard surfaces. I don’t care if that person for eight hours in a day is standing there and all they do is continually wipe down surfaces. You want to keep your employees safe and you want to show your guests that you take this seriously. The next piece is marketing what you’re doing. In a good economy, in a good

I know it’s a scary time and the last thing you want to think about is creating a budget. But the truth of the matter is how do you know whether you can weather this storm, whether you should stay open or not, that this isn’t going to literally be the last day you operate if you don’t have a budget? 26 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

David Scott Peters is a restaurant coach and speaker who teaches restaurant operators how to use his trademark Restaurant Prosperity Formula to cut costs and increase profits. Known as THE expert in the restaurant industry, he uses a no-BS style to teach and motivate restaurant owners to take control of their businesses and finally realize their full potential. Thousands of restaurants have used his formula to transform their businesses. To learn more about David Scott Peters, his formula for restaurant success, or his online courses, visit davidscottpeters.com.

situation, telling your guests that you have curbside pickup or delivery, or anything, is hard enough. But today you must reach out, which means you have to bombard them on a daily basis ¬– preferably multiple times per day on all your social media platforms. Let them know, “Hey, we’re here. We’re open. We’ve got curbside. We’ve got pickup. We’ve got delivery through these apps.” Ask your employees to share the posts and ask guests to share the posts. For those of you who have been collecting emails over the years, that’s your best path for reaching your guests. Blast messages to your guests through an email or loyalty service. One of those messages should be what you’re doing to keep you and your employees safe: handwashing protocols, cleaning services, adding labor to just sanitize, whatever you’re doing. An email list is also a fast-track to finding your guests on Facebook and Instagram, and any other key platforms for your guests, with ads that say the same things. People are stressed. They don’t know they need

continued on page 94

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 27

RESTAURANT COMPLIANCE

WITH RADA TARNOVSKY

CORONAVIRUS PREVENTION RESOURCES FOR RESTAURANTS

o say the U.S. restaurant industry will be drastically affected by the outbreak of coronavirus is an understatement. In the wake of the local and state governments issuing either reduced occupancy directives or dining room closures, restaurants and bars are tasked with forming an effective coronavirus prevention plan while also making ends meet to stay in business. But the better that restaurants and foodservice operators all control the spread of coronavirus, the sooner we will see things get back to normal. Remember, you are better prepared for this than many other industries, since keeping guests safe and preventing foodborne illness has always been a priority. CORONAVIRUS RECAP Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in humans and many different species of animals. First detected in Wuhan, China, the virus that causes COVID-19, is a respiratory illness, initially spread from animals to humans, but is now is spreading through person-to-person contact.

Rada Tarnovsky is a practicing Attorney, who co-founded Letter Grade Consulting to help food service operators comply with regulations set forth by the NYC Department of Health. Servicing restaurants, hotels, theatres, corporate cafeterias and schools, Letter Grade Consulting provides operators with preemptive solutions, education and training to sustain the highest level of food safety, remain inspection ready and maintain the “A” in the window. Rada can be reached at rt@ lettergradeconsulting.com

eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. And of course, stay home if you are sick. CAN THE VIRUS BE SPREAD THROUGH FOOD? Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, cough, fever, and shortness of breath. While there is currently no vaccine or treatments available, research is underway. When an infected person coughs, sneezes or exhales, droplets of infected fluid are released. Those droplets contaminate surfaces and objects nearby. Touching those surfaces can cause a person to become infected, however, the virus will not stay on the surface for too long.

28 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

People in close contact (within 6 feet), can catch the virus by breathing in droplets of the infected fluid. Here are individual prevention recommendations. Foremost, wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcoholbased hand sanitizer that contains 60- 95% alcohol. Don’t believe the myth that hand dryers alone will kill the virus: Make sure to wash first, then dry thoroughly with paper or a hand dryer. DO NOT touch your

The World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have not seen definitive evidence that the coronavirus is being transmitted through food or food packaging. WHAT SHOULD FOODSERVICE OPERATORS DO TO PREVENT SPREADING CORONAVIRUS? Restaurant operators should do whatever they can to make guests

safer. Hygiene is always of paramount importance within the foodservice industry at the best of times, and even more so during an outbreak such as coronavirus. Our existing clients should continue everything they have been doing to comply with Department of Health requirements, avoid unnecessary violations, continue operating at the highest level of food safety, and maintain inspection readiness every day. In addition, we recommend staying informed and implementing proactive practices. Restaurant Sanitizing Steps for Coronavirus Prevention: • Sanitize seats, tables, condiments, doorknobs, containers, etc. when each guest leaves. Essentially, clean any objects and surfaces possibly touched by customers. • Sanitize menus with plastic sleeves after each individual

•

• • • •

•

use. Wash, rinse AND sanitize any food contact surface as often as possible (set timers) Staff should sanitize their hands every time after handling credit cards and pens. Increase the frequency of bathroom cleaning. Sanitize any and all iPads and touch screens on premises. Throw away paper menus after each use. If delivery is an option, make sure bags/containers are closed well (staple bags, stickers on containers). Take extra sanitization steps after each restaurant cleaning. Take extra sanitization steps after the end of the night cleaning.

For staff: • Encourage sick employees to stay home… no sick servers

•

• • • •

• • •

• •

allowed! If they come in send them home. Reinforce practicing good personal hygiene Keep employees informed and up to date on how the outbreak is progressing Continue to follow daily food safety protocols Stay compliant with the Food Code Hold weekly staff meetings and employee seminars Stay up to date with information from reliable sources (CDC, WHO) Make sure staff is properly trained in food safety Go over proper handwashing with employees. Provide staff with tissues (sneezes happen!), no-touch trash cans and hand sanitizer. Implement a paid sick leave, if possible Make sure work policies are flexible (do not require staff calling in ill to provide a

•

doctor’s note) Train staff to do different tasks if there is a shortage of employees due to illness

For guests: • Make sure hand sanitizer (alcohol based) is available for guests to use Given the unknown and changing nature of Coronavirus (COVID-19), we will continue to closely monitor any changes to existing preventative measures and strategies, in order to assist food service operators prevent and reduce the risk of spread and remain in compliance. ADDITIONAL CORONAVIRUS PREVENTION RESOURCES: • Stay up to date with CDC updates on Coronavirus • Advice for the general public from the World Health Organization

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 29

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

WITH FRED SAMPSON

A PEEK AT THE MARKET IN CHINA

ne of the byproducts of the foodservice industry’s growth is the media coverage it now receives on TV, in various industry periodicals such as Total Food Service News, and the leading business press such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Fortune magazine. I search these sources daily for comments on issues that I think are worthy of your time. The following is a good example. An article by Joanne Chiu, published in The Wall Street Journal, dealt with the impact that the coronavirus outbreak would have on Yum China Holdings Inc., China’s largest restaurant company. They are operators of KFCs and Pizza Huts and had to close more than three in 10 of their outlets. “The closures are further evidence of how the epidemic has hurt China’s hospitality industry, with some cities locked down and many residents staying home to minimize the risk of infection. Late last month, Starbucks Corp. said it had temporarily closed more than half its stores in China, while McDonald’s Corp. has closed several hundred locations in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak. “Yum China, which runs more than 9,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and other restaurants in China, said sales at outlets remaining open were off sharply due to shorter opening hours, reduced traffic and other factors.” I think it’s appropriate for me to relay facts that will help you realize just how large the foodservice market is in China. According to reports from the China Agricultural Trade

I think it’s appropriate for me to relay facts that will help you realize just how large the foodservice market is in China. According to reports from the China Agricultural Trade Offices, China’s hotel, restaurant, and institutional (HRI) income in 2016 was $539 billion US. That was up 10.8% from 2016. Restaurants had the largest share of the sector with $352 billion, or about 65% of the HRI sector. Offices, China’s hotel, restaurant, and institutional (HRI) income in 2016 was $539 billion US. That was up 10.8% from 2016. Restaurants had the largest share of the sector with $352 billion, or about 65% of the HRI sector. And in China, “On average, imported food products are considered safer, of higher quality, and more consistent than domestic food products. However, this is rapidly changing as China develops/ improves food safety standards and the service industry matures. Healthy eating has become a strong trend amongst the middle and upper-classes.” The following is a list of major international fast-food and café chains and the number of their outlets in northeast China: KFC / Yum! Brands Inc., 488; McDonald’s / Jin Gongmen Group, 363; Burger King, 310; Pizza Hut / Yum! Brands Inc., 229; Starbucks, 189; Subway / Doctor’s Associates, 113. Carrie Gracie of the BBC News wrote: “Just 50 years ago, if a Chinese had declared a preference for

30 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

American food, it might have cost them their liberty, if not their life …. But by the 1980s, foreigners were being welcomed back. Which is why, 20 years ago, I attended the opening of the first McDonald’s restaurant in Beijing. Now it feels as if there is American fast food or coffee on every corner.” (Source: Carrie Gracie BBC News, October 9, 2012) The Spread of Fast Food in China (1994–2000): At the start of their businesses in China, McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken represented the elites of Western culture to Chinese locals; McDonald’s and KFC set up their first restaurants in high-end shopping centers, office centers, office areas, and near universities. Second Phase (2001–2005): As McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken extended their reach to commercial centers and transportation hubs, appealing to more pop culture, they reached out to young white-collar and trendy demographics, and these businesses appeared less foreign to the Chinese. Another well-known American

Fred G. Sampson is the retired President Emeritus of the New York State Restaurant Association. He began working with NYSRA in 1961. Within the next four years the NYSRA more than tripled its membership and expanded from one regional chapter to eight. Sampson played roles in representing restaurants on issues including paid sick leave, minimum wage, liquor laws, a statewide alcohol training program and insurance plans. Comments may be sent to fredgsampson@juno.com

brand in China is feeling the brunt of the coronavirus epidemic—the world’s largest brewer, AnheuserBusch InBev SA. In a recent article by Jacky Wong, in The Wall Street Journal: “The company has already seen a $170 million decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the first two months in China. “Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC, the Asian unit spun off by AB InBev last year, said the first three weeks of 2020 were strong, but then sales got hit by the outbreak as many restaurants and bars remain closed. It said there was ‘almost no activity’ in its nightlife channel. Such onpremise sales account for nearly half of the industry’s volume in the country, according to Credit Suisse estimates.” Having spent quite some time researching the topic “foodservice in China,” I must confess I was able to cover only a very small piece of it. We are talking about a country with a population of 1.435 billion, whose GDP growth has gone from $150 billion in 1978 to $12.21 trillion in 2017. I can make this statement: American restaurant and hotel brands will continue to grow in China simply because they like our products and style.

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 31

Q&A

EXCLUSIVE FOODSERVICE INTERVIEW

HOWARD GREENSTONE

Partner, Pizza Loves Emily and Emmy Squared

oward Greenstone is veteran restaurateur who is no stranger to the Metro New York restaurant scene. He is a partner in Brooklyn based Pizza Loves Emily. The New Jersey native is also a partner with Chef Marcus Samuelson in his restaurant empire and is the founder of Red Pebbles Hospitality. Previously, Greenstone led the growth of the popular Mexican restaurant group Rosa Mexicano, and was Vice President of Dry Dock Restaurants in Weehawken, NJ. The seasoned operator had also been Director of Operations for Sfuzzi restaurants in ten states. His latest focus has been to create and execute a vision with Emily and Matt Hyland as they look to build an East Coast, and then national, footprint for their innovative pizza and burger concept Emmy Squared. Can you share with our readers what got you interested in this industry? I grew up in northern New Jersey and I was a baseball player in high school and college. I needed a summer job and began as a waiter and then cooking at a local country club. I worked lots of wedding and Bar Mitzvahs. I then took those skills to college and became the Sunday Brunch cook at Ohio Wesleyan. I was a history and political science double major and thought I would be an attorney. I worked at my Dad’s law office during the day and cooked at night and the rest is history.

Talk about your career path prior to joining Hyatt? After college I moved to Pittsburgh where my college roommate was from. I took a job in a very popular area called Station Square. It was an interesting job, because on the very first day the owner put his gun on the desk and began telling me how this was going to work. Being a Jewish kid from Teaneck, NJ, I was somewhat taken aback. As luck would have it my Dad had a friend at the Hyatt and I ended up moving back to New York as a food and beverage trainee at the Grand Hyatt New York. What did you take away for the opportunity at Hyatt? I really got my advanced degree in food and beverage at the Grand Hyatt. The hotel was owned by Donald J. Trump. In those days they would move you from department to department. I ran the dishwashing operation, the coffee shop, fine dining and every facet of the operation. How did the opportunity at Aquavit come about? I then got promoted to go to the new Greenwich, CY Hyatt and while I was there I met a Swedish chef named Christer Larsson. At the same time I became disillusioned with Hyatt because at the Grand Hyatt, you ran everything the way you wanted to. In Greenwich as with

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Howard Greenstone, Partner, Pizza Loves Emily and Emmy Squared

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 33

Q&A

HOWARD GREENSTONE, from page 32

any corporate property, they wanted things done their way. So when Chef Larson asked me to come open a restaurant with him in the City, I thought it was a great opportunity. We opened Aquavit and worked for Hakan Swahn. Later on, a young chef came along named Marcus Samuelsson who would later become one of my partners. What was your takeaway from the wonderful opportunity you had at Sfuzzi to understand the dynamics of many of the nations leading marketplaces? I then left to with a number of Hyatt folks to join a concept named Sfuzzi. I worked for Robert and Patrick Colombo and Brian Galligan who went on to own Il Mulino. I started with them in New York and then went to California to open all of their restaurants out west. That turned into a position in Dallas as Director of Operations for what had become a 20-unit chain. All of this before I had even turned 30 which to this day is testimony to the opportunity that this industry offers. What brought you back to New York after Sfuzzi? Being in Dallas didn’t make sense to me so my next move was back to Jersey. I went to work for

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Arthur Imperatore who owned the New Jersey Devils and two miles along the Hudson River facing Manhattan in Weehawken. That turned into Arthur’s Landing and the ferryboats and for seven years, I ran their restaurant operation. My last name wasn’t Imperatore and I wasn’t going to end up in an equity position. As I went searching for an opportunity with equity, I found Rosa Mexicano. You burst onto the scene in New York with Rosa Mexicano. How did that impact your career? Rosa Mexicano was founded by four partners who had been together for 18 years when I joined them in 2001. They had just opened Lincoln Center when I came aboard. I was able to form a great partnership with the two surviving partners Dan Hickey and Doug Griebel. For the next 12 years, we built a solid foundation from two units to 20 restaurants. I had the experience of opening 30 plus restaurants with Sfuzzi and Hyatt. That background really gave me the keys to opening a successful restaurant. It’s really a combination of proper site selection, putting the right lease together and understanding how much capital is needed. If you don’t put the right deal together

before you open the doors, and you over spend to build you simply never have a chance. So you end up with a $35 plus entree and a payroll that you simply can’t afford. Has the real estate market and the attitudes of landlords changed? Yes it has changed. I didn’t know if it is them or me but I have a very different take on that relationship today. In the old days, the landlord would give you a tenant improvement allowance and you would use that money to build out your restaurant. In reality, you were using their money to improve their space. Then they would take that allowance, amortize over the life of the lease and bill you back for it. The reality was they would double dip. You failed and they would end up with space that had already been amortized and capitalized. On top of that they charged you interest to do it. In today’s world I try to only do deals in which the landlord is going to pay to improve their own infrastructure. It’s more than a fair deal because we are paying for the electrical, mechanical and plumbing and they get to keep it, so their

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Q&A

HOWARD GREENSTONE, from page 34

THE FRESH ORIGINS

You need to embrace [the challenges facing today’s operator]. Sooner or later there will be inflation in the food price market. You need to do the best you can with what you got. There’s simply no way around that. I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal and with that comes the reality that our people need to make a fair wage. You simply can’t make a living on $10.00 an hour. The art of service is shifting. I believe that you pay what the market dictates. space is already enhanced. So no more tenant improvement dollars, I’m looking for landlord work to be done. You mentioned the hunt for secondgeneration locations? I think what I have figured out over time is that restaurateurs have their own method to make this work. Second generation space comes with the entire infrastructure from kitchen exhaust to plumbing and electric. That adds up to $500K to $750 even in a very small space. Most importantly, because of that infrastructure being in place, you get to sign a lease and open the restaurant very quickly. It enables you to be a settler versus a pioneer that I learned from one of the masters David Overton of Cheesecake Factory. I am in Washington, DC as we speak and we signed this lease 50 days ago and we will open tonight. We went in, didn’t move the bar, spent a little on the kitchen, painted, put in new light fixtures and here we are ready to go. In addition, none of those things required a permit. What led to you setting up shop in Nashville? I had been living in San Francisco to slow down. One thing led to another and a partner of mine

Ken Levitan and Jonathan Waxman built a restaurant in Nashville called Adele’s. One more thing led to another and with Ken’s connections, we opened a taqueria and before you knew it, we had a bunch of restaurants. Then I began working with Matt and Emily Hyland from Emily Pizza and most of their units were on the East Coast. So moving to Nashville made a lot of sense. I didn’t want to come back to New York and it really reminds me of Connecticut before State taxes. To me it’s “Nash-Vegas”, no gambling but everything else. What led to your involvement with Emmy Squared? I met Matt and Emily through my partner Ken. Talk about a small world, she actually knew my brother in Ridgewood, New Jersey and had babysat for my nephews. We formed a partnership with a very simple goal: a great burger and amazing square and round pizza and that’s it. These are full service restaurants, not pizza joints. Bottom line is that my partner Matt Hyland produces delicious food. He’s from Greenwich, CT and he has a real flair for craveable munchy food. Emily is simply dynamic.

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Q&A

HOWARD GREENSTONE, from page 36

What is making Emmy Squared a success as you roll out new units? We are building this out with 75 to 110 seat units. I learned at Rosa that there will be a day when 400 seats just doesn’t make economic sense. We are focused on building our lunch business with great salads as well. So the goal is for the customers to come in for pizza and have a burger and a salad that turns into additional weekly visits. We have also built our restaurants to take advantage of the tremendous growth

in delivery. Currently we outsource with Caviar, DoorDash, Seamless, Postmate and UberEats but I suspect that there will at some point be a single company that will emerge. Among the challenges facing today’s operator is coming to grips with compensating their staff. What are your thoughts? You need to embrace it. Sooner or later there will be inflation in the food price market. You need to do the best you can with what you got. There’s simply no way around that.

Howard Greenstone, Partner, Pizza Loves Emily and Emmy Squared

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I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal and with that comes the reality that our people need to make a fair wage. You simply can’t make a living on $10.00 an hour. The art of service is shifting. I believe that you pay what the market dictates. The other big change in your world has been the ad you may have run for Rosa Mexicano in 1999 has been replaced by a new set of social media tools. I was always about editorial more than advertising. I am working with my dear friend Phillip Baltz who has handled PR for us for years to move us in to digital marketing space. We need to leverage the 100K followers that Matt Hyland has on Instagram to build our business. It’s very important to understand the difference between social media and digital marketing with influencers.

The world has changed. Is your strategy for Emmy Squared’s growth based on franchising and/ or a public offering? I don’t see franchise units right away. As long as landlords are willing to work with us on deal structures, we don’t need to franchise. I see us in an 18 month growth cycle and then we will look for a strategic and/or liquidity partner. I don’t see an IPO. We have an elevated quality product that I would call casual not fast casual, which makes for a harder IPO. I certainly think we could grow to 500 to 1000 units. I just met with an investment banker and he was taken aback with how I answered his question about our goals. I told him every time, we open a restaurant I want it to be a good one. I truly believe that if we stick to that everything will take care of itself.

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NEWS

LOCAL RESTAURANTS

Article by Ryan Gallagher, 20 Lemons

STARTING UP AND STAYING RELEVANT IN A COMPETITIVE NJ RESTAURANT MARKET

here are more than 19,000 restaurants in the Garden State. In order to make it in the crowded, ultra-competitive New Jersey restaurant industry, you gotta have some balls. Meatballs, to be exact—as NJ’s Lotsa Balls proves spherical meat has no boundaries. In another case, meatballs are just one part of the “Italian sensibility” at Il Nido where the management carries the cojones to make a stand for organic ingredients. Il Nido of Marlboro and Lotsa Balls of Metuchen are two Jersey food joints that were recognized in January’s “Best New Restaurant,” according to NJ Monthly. Research and some in-depth conversation were required to find out what it takes to make it in such a high-competition market. For many reasons, including courage, culinary expertise, devoted management, and a bunch of love for their craft—Il Nido and Lotsa Balls stand out. Two Joe’s—Folgore and Voller—

head the Il Nido crew, respectively managing and preparing the all-organic ingredients that makeup the restaurant’s ever-changing menu. When Il Nido (“The Nest”) opened in February 2019, Folgore the owner had been contemplating a restaurant where he wouldn’t have to worry about the origin of the menu items. Il Nido’s menu shifts weekly, while the restaurant acquires ingredients as they are made available. “Wild-caught,” “farmraised,” and “grass-fed” are all adjectives used to describe the food found in Il Nido’s kitchen. “We do things very simply. It’s more like Italy in that nature—all of the hours go into shopping as much as they do the finished product,” said Head Chef, Joseph Voller. Voller’s background lies in Philadelphia where he’s worked years in notable kitchens like Le Virtù and Brigantessa, as well as at Eno Terra in Kingston, NJ and finally at Il Nido. “We’re detail-oriented with a fine dining background—but, we

don’t want to do that fine dining anymore. We believe what grows together, goes together. And what grows in season and what’s close to here is kinda what we serve.” On the other hand, Jason Penedos along with his partners James Katims and Juan Zaldivar have recently pushed the envelope on the classic Italian meatball. In certain circles, the crew’s Sicilian meatball at their longstanding restaurant project, Civile Cucina Italiana is second-to-none— with big name fans like that of George Bush Sr. In Summer 2019, the crew opened Lotsa Balls, a second restaurant solely dedicated to the highly regarded meatballs. While the name brings about a chuckle for the simple-minded, it was no secret that a restaurant completely dedicated to ball-shaped food could be a viable project. The aesthetic is 70’s retro with an emphasis on family fun. “We’re not like these ‘Johnny Goom-

Il Nido’s menu shifts weekly, while the restaurant acquires ingredients as they are made available. (Photos by Amy Roth)

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batz’ kinda guys. The thing is, my partners and I are big sports fans. So, it was sort of a combination of sports (balls) and meatballs,” said Owner, Jason Penedos. “The Sicilian meatballs on our menu are my grandmother’s recipe—we’ve had them at Civile for years. The meatballs are so popular, and you can do a million things with meatballs—so, why not try to base something around it? For about a year, we did weekly meatball specials at Civile to gather ideas of what people liked and didn’t like, and that built the menu here.” Both restaurants have found themselves a specific niche concept. Each eatery is an extension of Italian cooking, and both aim to be the best at what they do inside their segment of the NJ restaurant market. Il Nido’s approach is not conventional compared to most restaurants. The management demands high-end

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SCOOP

INSIDER NEWS FROM METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE SCENE

FOOD BANK FOR NYC ANNOUNCES NEW CEO SCOOP learned that Margarette Purvis, who served in the role for more than eight years is strategy will be incredibly valuable to our work,” stepping down and that Leslie Gordon will besaid Board Chairman Seraina Macia. “We’re proud come the organization’s new to have such a strong and talPresident and Chief Executive ented leader at the helm as we Officer. For more than a decade, deliver essential support to New Leslie has led efforts to feed our Yorkers in need.” neighbors in need in New York “I’m honored to join this vital City and surrounding commuorganization and partner with nities. Most recently she served the Food Bank team to improve as President and Chief Executive the lives of our New York City Officer of Feeding Westchester, neighbors,” said Leslie Gordon. Westchester County’s largest Over the past three years, anti-hunger organization. Leslie has taken Feeding West“We’re excited to welcome chester to new heights by chalLeslie to lead Food Bank into lenging the team to think boldly this new decade. Her track reas they chart a course for the cord of achieving success for future, and creating a special mission-driven organizations culture that is highly collaborathrough energizing leadership, tive and inclusive. Leslie led the Leslie Gordon, CEO, Food Bank for creative solutions and focused NYC (Photo by Chansoda Roeun) charge to rebrand the county’s

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As we continue to monitor developments regarding COVID-19 and the impact on our industry, we know it’s more important than ever to connect with people and businesses who are impacted with the live experiences and understand the challenges that come along during this crisis. In our SCOOP column, we are sharing recent news from our industry and continue to support each and everyone one of you as we will survive this crisis and somehow all come through it all. We invite you to share your insights, ideas, and strategies with us at tfs@totalfood.com; we want to get accurate information and understand the hurdles that our peers are facing during this time. Now is the time for us to come together to support each other and tackle the challenges our hospitality and food service industry family is facing. Please let us know what we can do for you during this time; we’re always here to lend an ear, a hand, and help however we can. SCOOP Editor Joyce Appelman

leading nonprofit hunger-relief organization to better communicate the breadth of its work. Under Leslie’s leadership, the organization increased the amount of fresh produce to more than 40 percent and upped the amount of food distributed by 20 percent – more than the average food bank in

continued on page 44

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METRO NY INSIDER NEWS, from page 42

the nation. Leslie also forged cutting-edge, strategic alliances with non-food partners – specifically with health institutions – large and small. Leslie previously served as the Senior Director of Program Strategy and Operations at City Harvest, where she helped pioneer a new strategy that positioned the organization to double the amount of food distributed annually, led the organization’s “Healthy Neighborhoods” program and oversaw the growth of its volunteer program from 6,000 to nearly 20,000 volunteers. Prior to that, she was Executive Director of Best Buddies Pennsylvania and the Founding Director of Made in the Hudson Valley. She also served under General Colin Powell as National Director of America’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth.

FOH NAMES MORALES AS MARKETING DIRECTOR Scoop learned that Front of the House has named Dominique Morales as the Marketing Director reporting to Simone Mayer, the company’s CEO, Chief Creative Officer, and co-founder. Dominique Morales brings over 10 years of innovative digital and experiential market-

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“We are extremely impressed with Dominique’s passion for creating and executing unique and memorable branding experiences,” says Simone Mayer, CEO of FOH®. “Her marketing expertise blended with her electrifying personality create the perfect combination that will both complement and strengthen our marketing team and overall brand vision. We are excited for what’s to come for us all.” Dominique will be based out of the FOH® headquarters, located in Miami, Florida.

Dominique Morales

ing experience with her. From working with such brands as Bacardi, Groupon, and the SBE Group to McDonald’s, Boxycharm, and Sam Adams, Dominique was influential in creating out of the box strategic approaches that grew both her clients’ brand awareness and revenue.

SEE WHICH NY THRUWAY REST STOP HAS THE TOP RESTAURANT SALES Scoop hears that The New York State Thruway’s Pattersonville travel plaza is on the westbound side of I-91 between. Exit 26 and Exit 27. The Thruway is planning an upgrade of all its travel plazas, starting in 2020. The New York State Thruway is on the cusp of awarding a three-decade-long contract to one vendor who will pay to rebuild and then run the

interstate’s 27 service areas. New York Thruway’s new plazas operator would pay for the overhauls, then take over a business that currently brings in $118 million in food and other sales in a year. (The Thruway kept nearly $12 million of that in 2018.) That money doesn’t include fuel sales; the gas pumps are not a part of this new contract. Which Thruway stop has the highest restaurant sales? The two top locations are also the two that are accessible to travelers on both sides of the Thruway: Angola, west of Buffalo, and New Baltimore, south of Albany. Here’s a look at the 2018 gross restaurant sales for the top 10 plazas, according to the Thruway: Ranking New York Thruway Rest Stop Restaurant Sales: 1 New Baltimore $9,356,511 2 Angola $8,800,718 3 Sloatsburg $8,573,624 4 Plattekill $7,076,143 5 Modena $5,717,376 6 Pattersonville $5,479,181 7 Malden $5,251,867 8 Clifton Springs $5,134,196 9 Ramapo $4,941,770 10 Ulster $4,896,819

SYSCO CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY; RINGS OPENING BELL AT NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE Scoop hears that Sysco Corporation, the leading global foodservice distribution company, recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of becoming a public company. Several of the company’s associates from across the globe joined the celebrations at the New York Stock Exchange opening bell ringing after winning an all-expense paid trip. From humble beginnings that brought together nine food distribution companies under the vision of founder John Baugh to today, Sysco is a Fortune 100 company with global reach that has paid stockholders a dividend every quarter since its founding. While its operations, services and products have expanded, the underlying principles on which the company was founded have remained constant – serving customers with integrity. “Sysco’s global leadership over the last 50 years

was fueled by our talented and dedicated associates who have operated with a singular focus to put our customers first,” said Kevin Hourican, Sysco’s president and chief executive officer. “As we look to the future, our relentless focus on the customer will remain as we continue to pursue operational excellence and identify new efficiencies to fund innovation in the business and accelerate our growth.” Over its history, Sysco has also accelerated its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives with its bold 2025 CSR goals aimed at Delivering a Better Tomorrow by caring for people, sourcing products responsibly and protecting the planet. These 2025 goals include donating 200 million meals to local communities, powering 20% of its truck fleet with alternative fuels, expanding its sustainable agriculture program and doubling the availability of Sysco Brand organic produce. Before the Covid-19, crisis there were announcements of restaurant and hotel openings, please be sure to support those that are providing delivery and take-out and to plan to visit them when business resumes.

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 45

SCOOP

METRO NY INSIDER NEWS, from page 45

FOXWOODS PASTRY CHEF FRANCK IGLESIAS TO APPEAR ON FOOD NETWORK ‘SPRING BAKING CHAMPIONSHIP’ Scoop sees that Franck Iglesias, the executive pastry chef at Foxwoods Resort Casino, is one of 11 bakers competing on the upcoming season of Food Network’s “Spring Baking Championship.” The season debuted March 9. Host Clinton Kelly introduces the bakers to demanding rounds of spring-themed challenges in each of the nine episodes, to be evaluated by judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale. The winner, who will receive a $25,000 prize, will be crowned during a double-episode finale on April 27. During the season premiere, the bakers “celebrate the natural beauty of spring by making perfectly patterned spring fruit geometric tarts,” according to an episode description. “Then they show off their skills by making trendy fault line cakes that feature spring transformations such as caterpillar to butterfly, rain showers into sunshine and bare trees bursting into bloom.” Iglesias can’t share too many specifics about his performance or outcome on the show, but he did say that in the first episode, “I had to do something I’ve never done before.” The experience was “very, very humbling,” he says. “It was a lot more challenging than I expected. I thought with my experience working in a busy casino, where we always get last-minute requests … I thought I had a little bit of experience with this kind of format, but nothing can really prepare you.”

Chef Franck Iglesias

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COMMUNITY-FOCUSED ETHIOPIAN VEGAN RESTAURANT OPENS IN BROOKLYN

FOODSERVICE DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRY PLEADS THEIR CASE TO THE ADMINISTRATION

Scoop hears that Chef Romeo and Milka Regalli, owners of Awash, another destination for Ethiopian cuisine, opened the new organic Ethiopian restaurant Ras Plant, based in the Crown Heights neighborhood. “Conveying a sense of community is important to us because that is what Ethiopian culture is about,” Chef Romeo said. “In Ethiopia, even if you have very little, you share.” The new restaurant concept was created as a welcoming space and features rope lamps, a green wooden bar, an Ethiopian hut, and brightly colored images of Ethiopian men and women drawn by artist Ras Terms, who was flown in from Miami to create the artwork. Ethiopian-born Romeo crafted the menu to reflect recipes inspired by the couple’s great grandmothers, alongside modern interpretations of traditional dishes. “Ras Plant Based signifies our transition (which is still happening) towards a plant-based lifestyle. “Seeing how much of our world is affected by the consumption of meat, we felt like now was the right time for us.” The restaurant offers traditional dishes with many inspired by family recipes. The crux of the menu revolves around the Ethiopian Platter prepared as a single portion or served as a shared platter which features traditional Ethiopian flatbread injera which comes topped with a variety of dishes such as Gomen (braised collard greens); Missir (fiery red lentil stew spiced with berbere); Minchet Abish Wat (traditional stew made with pea protein instead of beef ); and Yatakilt Alicha (a cabbage and carrot medley that is made with non-traditional bell peppers).

Scoop saw that on March 18, the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) sent a letter to President Donald Trump, regarding the dire scope of financial hardship prompted by COVID-19 which has negatively impacted restaurants, schools, hotels and the distributors who supply them. The following is a statement from IFDA CEO, Mark Allen.

The interior at the Ras Plant Restaurant

“COVID-19’s economic impact on the foodservice distribution industry is dire and requires immediate attention from the Trump Administration. Foodservice distributors deliver to professional kitchens across America by supplying food and related products to restaurants, colleges and universities, hospitals and care facilities, hotels and resorts, and other foodservice operations. With many institutions closed and restaurant sales limited to carry-out and drive throughs, distributor sales have declined rapidly and substantially. Yet distributors and their restaurant customers still incur significant day to day expenses such as rent payments and they must continue to make payments on any loans they may have incurred. The $280 billion foodservice distribution industry and the 350,000 Americans it employs desperately needs to be included in President Trump’s economic stimulus package. This industry is integral to feeding America—and now we are asking that the federal government help the industry remain

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METRO NY INSIDER NEWS, from page 46

solvent.” IFDA’s letter urges the President to work with Congress to develop policy to relieve the current capital crisis for all businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) is the premier trade organization representing the $280 billion foodservice distribution industry. This industry ensures a safe and efficient supply of food and products to more than one million restaurants and foodservice outlets in the U.S. every day. For more information, visit www.ifdaonline.org.

ROUXBE OFFERS FREE FOOD SAFETY COURSE FOR FOODSERVICE INDUSTRIES Online culinary training program provides updated course addressing specific information related to coronavirus and how it spreads Scoop learned that starting last month, Rouxbe, the leading online culinary training program, is offering a free course on food safety to any foodservice organization. Learning about food safety is an important step in preventing illness from unsafe foods or through the transmission of disease

from food handlers, including the coronavirus. The course is designed for professionals looking to learn more about food safety, as well as those in need of a refresher given the current outbreak. “The global restaurant and hospitality industry is being significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, as worries over the spread continue to increase,” said Ken Rubin, Chief Culinary Officer at Rouxbe. “It’s now more important than ever that those who handle food -- be it a highend full-service restaurant chef or a member of a retirement home kitchen staff-- be up to date and fully immersed in keeping food safe. By offering this course free of charge, we hope many will take advantage of these lessons that, while always important, are even more critical at this time.” In addition to providing a general introduction to food safety, this course will address specific instructions that food handlers and operators should be aware of in regards to the coronavirus, and how it spreads. Specific lessons outlined in the course include: • Introduction to Food Safety • Handwashing • Buying Food • Storing Food • Preparing Food • Cleaning Up Rouxbe is 100% online, and offers cooking

courses to individuals as well as industry professionals. Organizations including Whole Foods, Marriott Hotels and Wegmans have trained their cooking staff using Rouxbe tools, along with hundreds of thousands of restaurant chefs and home cooks across the country. Rouxbe is recognized by the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation as a quality program, and by WorldChefs as Approved Quality Culinary Training. “Foodborne illness is largely preventable, and it’s critical that anyone involved in handling, preparing or serving food has an important job to play in limiting the risk to others,’’ continued Rubin. Rouxbe, the world’s leading online culinary school, was founded in 2005 to train people of all abilities to become better, more confident – even healthier – cooks in kitchens around the world. With high definition videos, world-class instructors, peer support and interactive assignments, Rouxbe has set the bar as the new standard in culinary education, providing certificate-level instruction not only to quality restaurants and hospitality organizations, but also to serious home cooks and career changers. Rouxbe’s revolutionary online platform delivers cutting edge e-learning solutions that drive and measure learning outcomes and engagement while providing effective, lower-cost alternatives for training professional cooks. Over 110 hours of foundational training are available in English, Spanish, French, Mandarin and Arabic to hundreds of thousands of cooks in 180 countries. Rouxbe programs are also recognized by both the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation and by WorldChefs as approved training programs. For more information and latest news about Rouxbe, please visit www. rouxbe.com.

INNOVATIVE ASIAN RESTAURANT SET TO OPEN IN GREENWICH, CT Scoop hears that there is a young and dynamic team behind Moon, a spirited Asian inspired restaurant and gathering place that has an innovative menu in a new restaurant space for patrons to experience. The cuisine is a celebration of Japanese, Chinese, and Thai ingredients and flavors, prepared with an American slant. Moon offers Greenwich’s only full-service Omakase counter serving-up a culinary adventure from the hands

Online culinary training program Rouxbe is offering a free course on food safety to any foodservice organization.

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RESTAURANT MARKETING

ADJUSTING YOUR MARKETING PLAN DURING HARD TIMES

e are currently in what may be the most challenging time for restaurants since the 2008 financial crisis. Possibly worse. Regulations on public gatherings--and simply walking outside--are being placed on cities and states across the country. People are panicking. Rolls of toilet paper are few and far between. Amidst this chaos, what is your plan? Where do you stand? How can you continue to run your business safely and securely? In this article, we are going to talk about several ways you can shift your restaurant’s marketing to focus on the only ways some stores are allowed to sell food: take-out and delivery. Just to be clear, whatever form of delivery you use, whether it is in-house or 3rd party, will be completely compatible with the

In this article, we are going to talk about several ways you can shift your restaurant’s marketing to focus on the only ways some stores are allowed to sell food: take-out and delivery. methods we explain. Let’s start with some basic good news from 3rd party delivery services! Uber Eats is cutting delivery fees for independently owned restaurants! Use this to your advantage! Grub Hub is also offering a cost break for select restaurants. Although it may not be as helpful as providing their service at no cost or a discount, GrubHub is offering to postpone collecting certain fees. They have not yet reported how long the delay will be. Check if your

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restaurant qualifies and is in one of the cities where Uber Eats and GrubHub are granting this flexibility. Obviously, this is not the panacea solution that every restaurant owner needs, but it can help ease some of the pain. In addition, several services are promoting ways to increase customer--and driver--safety! Postmates, DoorDash, and GrubHub are all encouraging contactless delivery. Postmates is making it a direct, easy option where customers can choose contactless delivery with the tap of a button in their order. Other services are simply reminding customers that they can request contactless delivery in the “notes” or “special requests” section of their order. While recommendations may seem insignificant, they do help consumer confidence when ordering from any restaurant. Now the real question is: how are you going to make up for your lost dine-in revenue? The simple answer is: take-out (curbside, drive-through etc.) and delivery. Life throws us a curveball every once and awhile, and although it’s not always easy, we still need to find

Brett Linkletter is the CEO & CoFounder of Misfit Media. He has an aggressive willingness to take on new challenges and a strong understanding of scaling a business from scratch. His vision is to disrupt the restaurant marketing space by empowering business owners with predictable, scalable marketing strategies so they can grow their business based on insights and data, versus guesswork and course correction. Brett’s specialty lies in creative content creation, brand messaging, social media growth hacking, and business development. His biggest role model and lifetime hero is his great grandfather, Art Linkletter, who was a famous TV personality and businessman. Ariana Brajkovich is Misfit Media’s inhouse media buyer. She is a data-driven individual who loves to take the creative route to achieve results. Ariana studied business and marketing at the University of Southern California and has found her niche in the restaurant world. She thrives in competition and is inspired by Misfit’s drive to take restaurants across the world to the next level. Outside of the office, you can find her skiing, rock climbing, or baking. Contact the team at hello@ misfitmedia.com or 424-289-8648

a way to make solid contact and hit it out of the park. Shifting the focus and purpose of your marketing is exactly how you are going to do that. The first method we are going to cover is email. I’m sure you’ve received emails from other businesses updating you on how they are carrying out their standard practices and assuring you that they are taking the best precautions given the current health environment. If you haven’t already, we recommend that you reach out to your email list. If you aren’t quite sure what to write, take these things into consideration: - If your restaurant is taking extra precautions, let your customers know!

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LEGAL INSIDER

FROM ELLENOFF, GROSSMAN & SCHOLE LLP

COVID-19 LEGAL Q & A FOR RESTAURATEUR EMPLOYERS

uch about the COVID-19 situation is fluid and evolving quickly. Below, we have summarized the answers to the most common questions restauranteurs may have concerning compensation, working conditions, and accommodating employees who cannot work because of COVID-19-related reasons. 1. Non-essential businesses were ordered to close and in-service dining is prohibited in the city/state where my restaurant is located. Can my restaurant still operate? Many states and localities, such as New York, have mandated that non-essential businesses close and/ or have banned in-service dining at restaurants. Fortunately, restaurants offering delivery and take-out/ carry-out services are generally considered to be an “essential business” and therefore, restaurants may continue to offer such services. It is recommended that delivery persons engage in “no contact” delivery. Further, when offering carry-

out services, restauranteurs should ensure that patrons entering the restaurant to pick up food maintain adequate physical distance, from both each other and restaurant staff – the recommendation is currently 6 feet. Contactless payment methods are encouraged where possible. Tables and chairs should be removed from the premises or otherwise made unusable to deter lingering at the restaurant. Further, it is vital that employers ensure their staff abide by CDC recommendations to prevent further contamination. 2. Do I have to pay my employees if I temporarily closed my restaurant because of the COVID-19 pandemic? Whether an employer is required to pay an employee depends on whether the employee is classified as an exempt or non-exempt hourly employee. Employers do not have to pay non-exempt employees, such as most service employees and kitchen staff, who do not work. However, employers are required

“No contact” delivery is recommended for your employees

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to pay exempt employees, such as managers, head chefs and certain corporate office administrators, their full weekly salary if the exempt employee works any part of the workweek. If no work is performed during the entire week, employers are not obligated to pay the exempt employee their salary for that week. Employers should be mindful that sending emails or making phone calls remotely constitutes work which must be compensated, whether the employee is exempt or non-exempt. Depending upon the circumstances, employers in NY, IL and NJ may have to pay out statutorily mandated accrued, unused sick time. 3. Can my employee file for unemployment insurance if I temporarily closed my restaurant or laid them off? Yes. Employees who suffer a loss of employment because of a shut down or reduction in staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic are likely eligible for unemployment insurance. Each state has different eligibility requirements. New York employers should provide laid off and terminated employees with the NYDOL Record of Employment form at separation. That form is available at: https:// www.labor.ny.gov/formsdocs/ui/ employer-forms-publications.shtm. New Jersey employers should provide laid off and terminated employees with Instructions For Claiming Unemployment Benefits. That document is available at: https:// nj.gov/labor/handbook/formdocs/ FormIntroBC10.html.

Amanda M. Fugazy is a partner at Ellenoff, Grossman & Schole in New York City. Amanda is the head of the firm’s Labor and Employment group, and has a focus on the restaurant and hospitality industry. Amanda offers a variety of services to the industry, including working with her clients to ensure that they are in compliance with state and federal laws and regulations. Nicole M. Vescova is an Associate in the Labor and Employment Practice Group. Ms. Vescova represents and advises clients in a variety of labor and employment matters, including workplace issues such as proper pay practice, employee classification, discipline, termination, and leave. Ms. Vescova drafts various employment policies and agreements such as company handbooks, commission agreements, and non-competition and non-disclosure agreements. She also defends employers against wage & hour claims, and discrimination & harassment claims. Amanda M. Fugazy (afugazy@egsllp. com) and Nicole Vescova (nvescova@ egsllp.com) can be reached via phone at 212-370-1300.

4. Do I have to pay my employees if I send them home because business is slow? Yes. In New York, call-in pay is owed to non-exempt employees for reporting to work on a given day even if they are sent home early. The law makes no exceptions for situations like the current emergency. Hospitality employers in New York must pay non-exempt employees for a minimum of at least 3 hours for one shift, OR the number of hours in their regularly scheduled shift (whichever is less). Payment for actual attendance should be paid at the employee’s regular or overtime

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LEGAL INSIDER

from page 54

rate minus the tip credit, if applicable, and payment for the balance of the call-in pay can be at the minimum wage. Employers are reminded that they may not take the tip credit if the tipped employee did not earn enough tips to bring their collective wages up to the minimum wage. Outside of New York, call-in pay requirements vary by location. 5. If I was forced to close my restaurant or lay off a significant portion of my staff, do I have obligations under the WARN Act? You might, depending on whether you are a covered employer under the federal WARN Act or a state’s counterpart. The New York State WARN Act applies to employers with at least 50 employees and requires advance notice to affected employees if the restaurant is required to close down or suffers a mass layoff. Similarly, the federal WARN Act applies to employers with at least 100 employees and also requires advance notice to affected employees of a closure or mass layoff. Generally, New York restaurants subject to WARN are required to provide affected employees with 90 days’ advance notice of a closing or mass layoff. However, in this crisis, because the closure or layoff is the result of “unforeseeable business circumstances,” the timing of the notice can be reduced from 90 days to whatever is reasonable. Both the federal WARN Act and the New York Act provide that “an unanticipated and dramatic major economic downturn or a government-ordered closing of an employment site that occurs without prior notice” qualifies as “unforeseeable business circumstances.” The notice to the employee must explain why the restaurant is giving reduced notice. Many states, including, New Jersey, California and Illinois, also have mini-WARN Acts that require notice of closures and mass layoffs. 6. What should I do about my corporate staff? Can they work in

emergency has been announced.

Communication with your employees is vital during the COVID-19 pandemic

my restaurant while we are offering limited take-out and delivery services? New York, and a significant number of other jurisdictions, have mandated that only essential businesses remain open and that staff who can work remotely do so. Generally, corporate staff such as administrators helping with payroll, marketing and benefits, will not be considered necessary to be in the workplace, and restaurateurs should have those individuals work remotely. When employees are working remotely, it is important to set reasonable expectations regarding working schedules, response time and prompt communication. Further, employers must ensure appropriate protections are implemented regarding confidentiality and data security. For non-exempt employees working remotely, it is also imperative that these employees are accurately recording all time spent working, including attending to emails and phone calls. 7. Can I discipline employees for refusing to come to work because they fear infection with COVID-19? Generally, no. New York employers are prohibited from terminating or otherwise disciplining employees who fail to show up to work while the government is recommending or mandating that people stay inside to slow the spread of COVID-19.

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Other states may have similar laws placing restrictions on disciplining employees because they refuse to work out of fear of contracting COVID-19. Further, under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers may not retaliate against employees who refuse to work where the employee has a reasonable belief of imminent danger. Whether any working environment rises to the level of imminent danger will depend on factors including, but not limited to, whether there has been a confirmed diagnosis at the workplace, whether employees have recently traveled to an infected area, and whether employees are regularly exposed to individuals who are likely infected. Additionally, under the National Labor Relations Act, employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees engaged in protected activity, such as participating in a concerted refusal to work in unsafe conditions. 8. Can fast food employers cancel shifts without paying shift premiums as required under the New York City Fair Workweek Act? Yes. Fast food employers are not required to pay premiums for schedule changes as required under New York City law, if the fast food employer is unable to operate due to threats to employee safety, or when a federal, state or local state of

9. My employee said he can’t come to work because of COVID-19 related reasons. What are my obligations under the new federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act? Under the new federal law, effective April 2, 2020, employers with less than 500 employees must provide paid leave to employees who miss work because of COVID-19 related reasons. Specifically, employees who are subject to a quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19, have been advised to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19, or are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 are entitled to emergency paid sick leave. Employees who are caring for a family member subject to a quarantine or diagnosed with COVID-19 or caring for a child whose school or child care provider is closed because of COVID-19 are entitled to emergency paid sick leave. Further, if an employee is unable to work because their child’s school or place of care is unavailable due to COVID-19, they may be eligible to take emergency paid family medical leave. If your restaurant is operating in New York, employees who call out from work because they are subject to a quarantine/isolation order may also be eligible for job-protected quarantine leave including paid sick time, as well as access to short-term disability benefits or New York paid family leave benefits. 10. Can I ask my employee to stay home or leave work if I expect they have been exposed to COVID-19? If an employee exhibits symptoms of COVID-19, an employer may ask the employee to leave the workplace. Employers should recommend that the employee seek medical attention and be tested. However, employers should not ask employees if they have a compro-

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MODERN TECHNIQUES

WITH RONALDO LINARES

A TALK ABOUT COVID-19 WITH JOHN BALDASSARRE, RESTAURANTEUR & OWNER OF THE STIRLING TAVERN, NJ

ohn Baldassarre is a thirdgeneration restaurateur and owner of The Stirling Tavern and partner at The Stirling Hotel. In 2019 John started a hospitality group called Spoon Fed hospitality with two partners doing consulting work with goals of helping distressed restaurants. John and his partners are currently in the process of purchasing locations. With 15 years of experience in the industry and much of that knowledge is accredited to his parents who created the culture which he instills in his companies to this day. John’s growth is focused on creating new innovative dining experiences for everyone in New Jersey do enjoy. We are living in unprecedented times that’s making everyone pivot that has never been seen in our great nation’s history. The reality is this: we are literally at a standstill, as I write this, my kids sit in the room with me doing homework and the youngest watching Boss Baby. Please don’t judge me, I need to write this article. John took time out of his new normal; social distancing with his employees, delivering food to customers, and trying to figure what the future looks like to give us a look behind the curtains. Restaurant owners are also being strongly affected in a way that is not being highlighted in media, this story is one of many. Let’s get to our interview. What does COVID-19 mean to you as a multiple location restaurant owner? By having to shutdown dining and only have takeout and delivery available, it means an

John took time out of his new normal; social distancing with his employees, delivering food to customers, and trying to figure what the future looks like to give us a look behind the curtains. Restaurant owners are also being strongly affected in a way that is not being highlighted in media, this story is one of many. ugly truth. That I will have to let go of employees, and that hurts. The second item on my mind was pivoting quickly to a takeout and delivery model and how that would look like with all the hysteria. I needed to get the message out to my clients that we are still operational and are taking every precaution to make sure your food is safe and handled with the most care.

How much does it feel being forced to shut down operations with no warning and without a solution? I was overwhelmed with stress and anxiety and was not sure what I was going to tell my staff. Seeing what was going on with New York and across the world, we were all ready putting things into play. That helped me get ahead on this and pivot to a takeout and delivery model etc. How many employees did you have to lay off? How did that feel? We laid off 100 employees, but that is only temporary and they know this. My team knows I would do anything for them and thanks to the culture my leadership team have built they understood that this needed to happen. It hurt for me as their leader to tell them they could no longer work but we will return stronger than ever.

John Baldassarre, restauranteur & owner of the Stirling Tavern, NJ

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When the call happens that we could allow patrons back into the dining rooms, what is your plan to make the people feel safe eating at your restaurants? As an industry we need to

Ronaldo Linares is CEO of Ronaldo Linares LLC, an Empowerment Coach for restaurant owners. Ronaldo empowers entrepreneurs by addressing their health through proper nutrition while growing their business in the food industry. Ronaldo has showcased his Cubaninspired, passion-infused culinary style on Food Network’s Chopped, BBC America’s cross-country chef competition “Chef Race,” appearances on Better TV, Fox News and Telemundo, along with being a featured chef and speaker at live events including the Food Network’s “Food & Wine Festival”, and industry conferences. Ronaldo can be reached at ronaldoscocina@gmail.com or by visiting ronaldolinares. com

start thinking about putting plans into place now that are COVID-19 specific and the National Restaurant Association and New Jersey Restaurant Association should start thinking about putting the guidelines into place now. As owners, we cannot do it all, we need help from our government. What do you do when the dust settles, what is the plan? Our goal will be to move quickly and be operational. You need to be ready for customers, people that

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QUEL’S CORNER

AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE TRENDS REDEFINING THE INDUSTRY

DESIGNING FOR WELLBEING

o here I am, writing this from home and hoping … really, really hoping … that by the time this issue of Total Foodservice is released there is some sense of normalcy in the world again. I really didn’t want to write about the Coronavirus, eating in crisis or anything else related to the subject matter. That said, health is on all our minds right now and conveniently, before I wound up working remotely, we were at the office discussing how designing for health and wellbeing is applicable to the world of foodservice and hospitality. Wellbeing is becoming one of the hottest buzzwords in design. With the release of numerous reports and tools from groups such as the WELL Building Institute, World Green Building Council and FitWel, it’s becoming a priority, especially when we’re collaborating with architects on corporate locations. For most of us, the technicalities are another language, but the thought process behind it is pretty incredible — interweaving physical, psychological,

Wellbeing is becoming one of the hottest buzzwords in design. With the release of numerous reports and tools from key industry groups, it’s becoming a priority, especially when we’re collaborating with architects on corporate locations. social and ecological research. The first item I want to talk about is the key to our world … food! These wellness programs require the availability of fruits, vegetables and nutritional transparency where the healthiest choice is the easiest choice. And while designers don’t provide the food, there are several actions we can take to assist in meeting this goal. For example, hydroponic gardens can be specified, cafés can be designed so the salad bar is the focal point, and a juice bar’s finishes can help the produce color pop. These ideas empower the individual to make healthy choices by bringing the food to the forefront of the space. Similarly, drinking water is a part

Natural light was a huge component to consider when designing Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield in Newark, NJ. The counters and equipment were specified and installed at a height that didn’t block the windows and the Hudson River views.

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of creating a healthy environment. How many years have we been told to drink 8 glasses a day? And, the reality is, people need to make a conscious effort to drink their water. There are even apps to remind us! While design firms can’t control the contaminant of your drinking water, there are other ways we can help achieve hydration goals. Often, we’re working with the architect, foodservice operator and client on making sure water is available throughout the building. We can specify equipment that provides filtered water, flavored water and even sparkling water on every floor, in conference rooms and all pantries. Mental health also plays a role in

Raquel Weiss Fusco is among a generation that’s redefining foodservice. Inspired by her Instagram account, Quel’s Corner will focus on the latest trends, designs and happenings in the industry. The third generation of her family to work in managed foodservice, Raquel is the Director of Client Relations at elite|studio e, a foodservice project solutions firm. She is also an established leader for the Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management. Follow Raquel on Instagram @quelscorner or www.quelscorner.com.

how we design a space. WELL Building Institute defines it as, “a state of wellbeing where individuals can live their fullest potential, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and contribute to their community.” When I read this, the bells and whistles went off because it sounds extremely similar to the workplace café and multipurpose seating environments. It’s the exact reason why when a dining room is

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The produce at this juice bar and hydration station add vibrant colors to a modern conceptual design.

Nobody knows design + build like us. For 20+ years, elite | studio e has been providing comprehensive design consulting services with an emphasis on planning within all segments of the foodservice industry. Our portfolio includes corporate foodservice, healthcare, aviation, government, higher education, K-12, charter schools, hospitality, and leisure. In every location we provide an array of services from the larger necessities ― kitchen equipment, café and dining area design ― to the details such as brand development and merchandising finishing touches that enhance your food and coordinate with your space design. CO•GA•NY•OK•PA | 631.420.9400 | elitestudioe.com

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 61

NEWS

FINANCING SOLUTIONS

LOCAL NONPROFIT RETHINK FOOD OFFERS EATERIES $40K GRANTS

ethink Food, a local nonprofit, will begin offering eateries $40,000 grants each to stay open and produce subsidized food which can be purchased by New Yorkers in need during the coronavirus pandemic. The New York City-based non-profit is working to recover nutritious excess food to provide low or no-cost meals to New York City families in need, has shifted gears to focus on the coronavirus crisis. Its’ newly launched Rethink Restaurant Response Program offers operators and restaurant workers two creative and financially supportive options for help. New York Restaurants and bars have been closed as part of a nationwide effort to halt the spread of the deadly virus. “It’s basically

our way of troubleshooting what is needed from a culinary standpoint right now,” Rethink executive director Meg Savage said. “It is at no cost to whoever is looking to dine. There is a suggested donation of $5, but if you can’t pay it, you’re still going to get a meal.” The restaurant response program has enough cash on hand to expand to up to 30 restaurants in the Big Apple — and is taking applications from interested eateries via an online application. It’s already fielded more than 60 inquiries. In addition to feeding the needy, Savage said she believed the program would likely save 150 restaurant jobs. Rethink is also hiring back of house employees—culinary team members, facilities team members and food distribution associates—

to join its Brooklyn Navy Yard-based culinary center and begin cooking and preparing meals for New Yorkers that will be distributed to its partners like God’s Love and City Harvest, and also at the Rethink Cafe in Fort Greene and at its partner restaurants across the city. Restaurants across the city impacted by the pandemic are encouraged to apply to become a Rethink partner. Each partner restaurant will receive a $40,000 grant to be used to stay afloat—to pay staff or rent, whatever is needed. If selected for the grant, the restaurant will then become a distribution center for food made by Rethink. Rethink’s meals are available for free to any New Yorker or for a suggested donation of $3 and will be served for delivery or grab and go. “Essentially

the restaurants will become distribution arms of Rethink,” explained Savage. At Little Tong Noodle Shop in the East Village, which teamed up with Rethink, interested passersbys could stop in for a bowl of spicy dan dan ground pork ragu with marinated cabbage over rice noodles — with a vegetarian option also available. A wall of tables had been erected to enforce social distancing. “I am really hoping I can keep 20 to 25% of employees,” Simone Tong, who founded the shop in 2017, told The Post. “I want to help my people as much as I can to continue employment. That is the number one goal. We need people to cook and to serve the community.”

“It’s basically our way of troubleshooting what is needed from a culinary standpoint right now.” — Meg Savage, Executive Director, Rethink

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 63

NEWS

MARKETING SOLUTIONS

NoMoreEmptyTables.com OFFERING FREE ACCESS TO TEXT MESSAGING PLATFORM TO SUPPORT TAKEOUT/DELIVERY MARKETING

n the most normal of circumstances one of the major challenges for restaurant professionals has been to fill seats on Monday through Wednesday evenings. With the challenge of the Covid-19 restaurant marketing initiatives are being redirected towards driving newly expanded Takeout and Delivery operations. To accomplish that goal, operators are turning to technology. The challenge for many is that social media and email have become overrun with the offerings of many of their competitors. Florida based NoMoreEmptyTables. com were determined to create a solution that would help operators overcome that challenge. NoMoreEmptyTables.com, as with so many successful concepts, was born from necessity. Chris Canzano listened to the challenges of a local restaurateur in his Ft. Myers, FL com-

munity to attract patrons and decided to do something about it. “Our approach is to start with the basics, so we begin by helping you build a list of customers who love your restaurant,” Canzano explained. “It’s easy to grow your database by making them a simple offer in exchange for their contact info. You offer something of value like a free dessert and in exchange and they voluntarily give you their name, phone number and birth date.” With No More Empty Tables, operators are able to quickly add customers to their subscriber list. “We enable you to capture everyone who goes to your Website, Facebook or Instagram page, visits your restaurant or has ordered take out or delivery,” Canzano continued. The NoMoreEmptyTables.com goal, is to keep customers coming back with timely and targeted Text Messages.

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“We understand how busy restaurants are in these challenging times and operating in many cases with skeleton staffs. So, with a push of a button, we can drive customers to order,” Canzano added. Text Messaging brings a unique set of advantages. It is built into every phone so there’s no need for the customer to have to download yet another app. It is the only marketing medium that allows you to communicate with your customer exactly when you want your message heard. “No more is the restaurant dependent on hoping they are logged into Facebook or have decided to check their email, turn on the radio or TV with hopes of hearing your message. Remember friends text friends!” Chris continued. National statistics support the impact of text messages. There are some 4.3 Billion active users with open rates at an astounding 98%. Research shows that 90% are read within three minutes and click through rates are 4x to 10x times those of email. “We understand how busy restaurants are with ramping up their delivery and takeout operations,” Canzano noted. “With a goal of click to validate and redeem and track, our team is ready to help our customers personalize offers, with unique to the individual and targeted offers that vary in length of use, quantity of use and a simple point and click validation process.” The most successful NoMoreEmptyTables.com clients are sending 2-4 messages per week. “Remember, it’s not what you or I think is the correct

“We understand how busy restaurants are in these challenging times, and operating in many cases with skeleton staffs. So with a push of a button, we can drive customers to order.” — Chris Canzano amount of messages. It is what your customers who spend money with you think. They vote with their wallets! With our detailed tracking you’ll figure out what’s best for you very quickly,” Canzano detailed. NoMoreEmptyTables.com has also enabled a number of restaurants to create a new “personality. “As the owner/ manager you decide what is best and today it could be not only free delivery, but a free roll of toilet paper,” Chris said. “But if you want to know what’s working for other restaurants in other areas you can read about it in our “What’s Working Now” members access area. With the State of New York passing emergency legislation for restaurants to sell alcohol, the NoMoreEmptyTables.com creates a simple platform to market this great opportunity.” “With our system, you are really sending a personalized and unique message to each person which in a time of social distancing has extra impact on your customer,” Canzano concluded. NoMoreEmptyTables.com, in response to these unprecedented conditions is inviting restaurants to try the program FREE for 30 Days. Restaurateurs can access information on this limited time by clicking here: NoMoreEmptyTables.com/totalfoods

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www.parker.com/kitchenventilation April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 65

NEWS

OBITUARY

NYC RESTAURANT COMMUNITY MOURNS LOSS OF CHEF FLOYD CARDOZ TO COVID-19

he COVID-19 virus that is End Grill, Paowalla and Bombay impacted the nation has Bread Bar in the city. Most recently, taken the life of one of the he opened The Bombay Canteen restaurant industry’s most and Bombay Sweet Shop in Mumbeloved chefs. Chef Floyd Cardoz bai, India. died late last month at the age of 59 Cardoz also burst onto the scene at Mountainside Medical Centre in when he competed on Bravo’s Top New Jersey as a result of complicaChef Masters season three in 2011, tions from coronavirus. taking home the top prize. “Bravo The Top Chef Masters winner and the Top Chef family are deeply was first admitted to the hospital saddened by the passing of Chef with a fever a week earlier after a Floyd Cardoz. Floyd was a talented trip to Mumbai and subsequently chef who competed and won Top tested positive for COVID-19. At the Chef Masters,” noted Francis Bertime, he posted an update on his wick, President of NBCUniversal, Instagram page, saying he sought the parent company of Bravo. “He medical help as a “precautionary was thoughtful, kind and his smile measure.” illuminated a room. He was an in“Sincere apologies everyone. I am spiration to chefs around the world sorry for causing undue panic around my earlier post. I was feeling feverish and hence as a precautionary measure, admitted myself into hospital in New York,” he wrote, adding he “was hugely anxious about my state of health.” Cardoz was born in Bombay, India, and moved to New York City to work in restaurant kitchens. In 1997, he partnered with famed restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group to open the contemporary Indian restaurant Tabla, which quickly became an iconic Manhattan establishment, earning three stars from the New York Times. He subsequently opened North Chef Floyd Cardoz

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“An exceptional talent, a chef equally at home with undiluted Indian flavors as he was with the delicious union of French, Indian and American food, a personal idiom that he invented.” — Pete Wells and we offer our deepest sympathy to his family and friends.” Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi wrote a touching tribute on Instagram. “Floyd made us all so proud. Nobody who lived in NY in the early aughts could forget how delicious and packed Tabla always was. He had an impish smile, an innate need to make those around him happy, and a delicious touch,” she said. “This is a huge loss, not only for the professional food world, but for the Indians everywhere.” Fellow contestant Hugh Acheson posted a tribute to his friend and former competitor on Twitter. “Floyd. You were a gem. You were an amazing human and chef,” he wrote. “You were a father and husband full of love and grace. I am so sorry. I love you. Rest in Peace my friend.” New York Times food critic Pete Wells wrote that Cardoz was “an exceptional talent, a chef equally at home with undiluted Indian flavors as he was with the delicious union of French, Indian and American food, a personal idiom that he invented.”

Among Cardoz’s most recent ventures was a Indian food catering business that he created with New York’s City’s award-winning Neuman’s Kitchen. The celebrity chef offered menus inspired by his native India as well as his experience as head chef at Tabla and North End Grill. The international menus created exclusively for Neuman’s Kitchen will featured such creative fusion plates including Black Pepper Shrimp with wild watercress and watermelon salad as well as Shishito Pepper Pakoras and included a full range of catered items from appetizers, to entrees and desserts as well as options for a live chef station with Cardoz himself. “I believe that good food and good cooking are not only about how good something looks or tastes, it’s also about how good you feel while cooking for someone you love, or eating something that has been lovingly prepared for you,” Cardoz told TFS when he launched the catering venture. “The entire process of cooking is about expressing your soul. If your food does not have soul, it will not give joy to those eating it. And without soul, we are nothing. Cardoz is survived by his mother Beryl, his wife and business partner, Barkha, whom he met at hospitality school in India, and their two sons, Peter, 27, and Justin, 22.

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METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE EVENT COVERAGE

PERFORMANCE FOODS LAUNCHES SPRING/ SUMMER SEASON WITH METLIFE SHOW

udos to Kay Lidell and her Performance Food Service team for hosting their annual Spring food show with an eye towards life after COVID-19. With over 200,000 products and more than 125,000 customers nationwide, PFG shops the nation in search of a large and local menu of tasty solutions. Performance’s Metro New York customers were presented with a wide diversity of delicious addition their menus. The PFG approach to the product mix marked just the right blend between national brands (Tyson, Heinz etc.) and the preponderance of private label brands that are often seen at distributor shows. 2019 was a big year for Performance Foodservice with the acquisition of Reinhart Foods. The closing of the $2 billion acquisition in December po-

Michael Page of Leidy’s (R)

Plymouth Beef Company’s Anthony D’Urso

sitions PFG as one of the largest distributors in the United States with approximately $30 billion in annual net revenue. Upon entry to the MetLife Stadium Club, PFG guests were greeted by a comprehensive display of Peak Fresh Produce. The colorful array included premium produce and quality fruits. PFG’s Peak line includes Bulk Produce, a complete line of fresh cut produce and EYE spotted ready to serve pre-washed salad mixes. The offering also included farm fresh herbs that are grown year-round. The Giants Stadium event also enable Performance to show off a number of its new items. These included many of the company’s Roma line of Italian products that have become a staple of Tri-State restaurant and foodservice tables. New offerings included Piancone Epicureo Balsamic Vinegar,

Monin’s Tony Munoz had a full array of summer drink ideas

(L to R) Larry Sashin of L. Sashin & Assoc, and Gigante and Rosenfeld’s Joe Gigante Jr.

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Barrel-Aged Balsamic Condiment, and Balsamic Glaze. PFG’s Ultimo® Pizza Crusts at the show included self-rising crusts, thin and raised edge par baked pizza crusts and even authentic woodfired pizza crusts. Roma Assoluti’s brand features large selection of OldWorld necessities for pizza and Italian restaurants. The show display included flours, tomatoes, cheese, oils, dry pasta, calamari and meatballs. Metro New York’s food brokerage community turned out en masse to support the show. EYE vistied with Affinity Sales’ Alex Palma, Anthony Ferri and Michael Barjudians, Cappetta Sales Stephanie McKeon, Favourite Brokers’ Mark Rahikka, Tricia WynneDiNatale of Fritzco Food Sales, KeyImpact Sales’ Elizabeth Kump, Ron Fast and John Williams of Advantage Foods, M&M Food Sales’ Peter Margo-

Advantage’s Ron Fast and Richie Fernandez of Joseph’s Pasta

Anthony Dalelio (R) of Lilly’s Gourmet Pasta brought his mother’s authentic Italian pasta to the show

lin, Roc-Steady and Associates’ Rocco Melillo, SMC Food Brokers’ Dina Castillo and John G. Garifo and WayPoint’s Roger Beckles, Chris Lafleeco, Steve Hermosura and Chris Larocco . With a move towards Summer by the ocean and poolside at local country clubs, the PFG event showcased a number of new seafood offerings. These included Empire’s Treasure Premium Crab and Shrimp Cakes and the introduction of farmed-raised Empire’s Treasure Frog Legs and Alligator Meat. EYE also tasted Steelhead Trout from Peru that is 100% natural and arrives in the US daily within 72 hours of harvest.

Mike’s Pies’ Sam Laird brought a number of tasty dessert solutions

Kitchmart Trading Corp Greg Ehrlich had many new packaging concepts for today’s new Takeout/Delivery focus

Alex Grover anchored the BSE Mobile kitchen

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METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE EVENT COVERAGE

C-CAP HONORS RICHARD GRAUSMAN AND SARABETH LEVINE AT GRAND TASTING BENEFIT AND RAISES RECORD-BREAKING $1.2 MILLION Article by Joyce Appelman

-CAP’s 30th anniversary benefit on February 25th at Pier Sixty was a very special evening with lots of love, admiration and respecting filling the room raising a recordbreaking 1.2 million for the organization that offers programs and services empowering underserved youth through the culinary arts. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event for guests to sample signature dishes by NYC’s hottest chefs and to meet the talented C-CAP students and alumni assisting them. The evening was emceed by Janice Huff, chief meteorologist for NBC New York. She shared the mic with Benefit Event Chair Tim Zagat, Marcus Samuelsson, and C-CAP Alum Carlton McCoy the President & CEO Heitz Cellar. In accepting his award, Grausman said, “I’m gratified to be recognized by my peers and honored for my work with C-CAP. I look forward to many more successful years and continuing to work with the chefs and students who are my extended family.” “It is such an honor to work with the C-CAP students and Richard throughout the years. It was a special night seeing all the guests, students, alums and celebrities who came out to join us in our celebration. I’m beyond grateful for this recognition and I look forward to many more years of supporting the C-CAP students and alum,” said

Sarabeth Levine, World-renowned Baker/Author/Chef. Guests mingled with long-time industry supporters and past Honorees including Michael Lomonaco, Tony May, Michael McCarty, Danny Meyer, Drew Nieporent, Alfred Portale, Tim and Nina Zagat plus sports figures and television personalities Justin Tuck, Howard Cross Charles

Smith, Judge Patricia DiMango, Ryan Field, and Dee-Morris. Guests moved along the tables sampling bites from Abigail Kirsch (Matthew Tiscornia), Almond ( Jason Weiner, Alex Nieto), Aretsky’s Patroon (Ken Aretsky, Aaron Fitterman), Bâtard Tribeca (Markus Glocker), Ben & Jack’s Steakhouse (Admir Alibasic), Bouley at Home

(David Bouley), Café Boulud ( Jerrod Zifchak), Casa Nomad (Yvan Lemoine), Cosme (Evelyn Velazquez, Isabel Coss), Cuisine Solutions (Bruno Bertin), Estiatorio Milos (Costas Spiliadis), Four Seasons Hotel ( John Johnson), Gramercy Tavern (Miroslav Uskokovic), Hudson Yards Grill

continued on page 90

(L to R) Rick Smilow, Marcus Samuelsson, Sarabeth Levine, and Danny Meyer

(L to R) Tim Zagat with Richard Grausman

C-CAP Volunteer students and alumni with Richard Grausman and Marcus Samuelsson

The evening’s prized dessert from Le Bernardin

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METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE EVENT COVERAGE

NYC HOSPITALITY ALLIANCE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY 2020

he New York City Hospitality Alliance moved its annual State of the Industry Conference to a new venue for its 2020 edition. Once again, the Alliance’s Andrew Rigie put together a star-studded cast of industry leaders to deal with life during COVID-19 and God willing post pandemic. The event kicked off with “How Technology is Helping & Hurting Restaurants”. The panel included Robert Guarino of 5 Napkin Burger and Bo Peabody of the Seated app. They both spoke on the need to make certain that the face to face relationship of waitstaff and customers continue to be a focal point and not be replaced by technology. Guarino has long argued that de-

livery companies have every intention of moving toward discarding restaurants and offering their own meals for delivery. The battle for customers took centerstage with “How To Deal With Competition”. Industry notables Elizabeth Chrystal of Momofuku, Ess-a-Bagel’s Melanie Frost, Dino Lavorini of Union Square Hospitality and Bobbie Lloyd of Magnolia Bakery anchored a fast pace discussion focused on staying ahead of the competition. Ronald McDonald House’s Ruth Browne shared the story of the life altering hospitality offered everyday at the burger giant’s New York facility. A session on “Restaurant Metrics & Industry Trends’ was the focus for an afternoon session.

Citrin Cooperman’s Stacy Gilbert and The Smith’s Michael Jacobs’ unwrapped the insights of a report on where the industry is headed. Citrin’s Gilbert discussed some of the survey’s key financial, operational, and system trends and results. This was followed by interactive discussions and conversations around some of the benchmarks, specific to NYC hospitality businesses, as well as some takeaways to help operators stay on track to reach their financial and operational objectives. Finally, a little levity was brought to the floor as The Alliance’s President and chef/owner of Melba’s Restaurant and Fred Klashman of TFS teamed for their annual Restaurant and Nightlife Edition of Trivia.

The Alliance’s Andrew Rigie welcomed guests

(L to R) Seated’s Bo Peabody and Robert Guarino of 5 Napkin

(L to R) Citrin Cooperman’s Stacy Gilbert and Vicki Dill

SA Hospitality’s Greg Giannone

Ruth Browne of NYC’s Ronald McDonald house detailed the intersection of Hospitality and healthcare

The Seated app duo of Adam Liebman and Steve Piscone

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Alliance guests won gift cards and complimentary tickets to upcoming events. The New York City Hospitality Alliance (The Alliance) is a not-forprofit association founded in 2012 to represent and serve restaurant and nightlife establishments throughout the five boroughs. Home to more than 24,000 eating and drinking establishments, employing more than a quarter of a million people, our industry is vital to the economic footprint and social fabric of New York City. The Alliance bridges the gap between the hospitality industry, government and the press. The Alliance advocates for a fair and equitable regulatory environment that removes barriers to entrepreneurship and job creation. The association seeks to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, streamline the permit and licensing process, cut the red tape, and represent the industry’s perspective on proposed laws, regulations, trends and other matters impacting restaurant and nightlife establishments.

(L to R) Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld’s Jonathan Grosser and Michael Goldberg

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NEWS

MARKETING STRATEGIES

MANHATTAN PUBLICISTS CREATE DINING BONDS TO BENEFIT RESTAURANT STAFFS

pair of noted New York city restaurant publicists have teamed to bring back a wartime idea to come to the aid of Tri-State and the nation’s restaurants. Overnight, coronavirus has forced restaurants and bars to shut down and revamp their business models. While some have shifted to takeout and delivery, not all establishments can do this. That’s where the Dining Bond Initiative comes in. Launched on March 12, it was inspired by war bonds, which the United States government sold during both World Wars. During WWII, you could buy war bonds at 75% of their face value and they would mature over ten years. Say you bought a war bond for $75, a decade later you could cash it in for $100. These bonds helped the U.S. government fund the conflict and offered citizens an investment with a relatively safe return. Dining bonds work in a similar way although perhaps with less security. You put money in the hands of local restaurants right now and receive a gift card that you can use for food and drink once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed. New York-based publicists Steven Hall and Helen Patrikis, who have many clients in the hospitality industry, including restaurants Carmine’s and Aquavit, founded the Dining Bond Initiative.

“In this unprecedented ‘medical wartime,’ the idea with dining bonds is similar to a wartime savings bond. If restaurants sell a bond at a discounted rate today, say $75, it would be redeemable for $100 in the future.” — Connie Wang “We were dealing with the early stages of this crisis and recognizing that many of our clients were going to be in dire circumstances,” Patrikis says. At the time, businesses hadn’t faced mass closures. As Hall and Patrikis brainstormed fundraising ideas, the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a pandemic and they were inspired by the way restaurant patrons responded. “We saw people asking if they could buy gift cards somewhere. There were a lot of questions about it, so we really got into the spirit of a war bond or savings bond where people could provide support now,” Patrikis says. The Dining Bond Initiative is more of a loose collective branding than a formal program, but the core idea is the same among participating restaurants. These establishments offer a value-added gift certificate, aka a dining bond, that can be redeemed at a later date.

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“In this unprecedented ‘medical wartime,’ the idea with dining bonds is similar to a wartime savings bond. If restaurants sell a bond at a discounted rate today, say $75, it would be redeemable for $100 in the future,” says Connie Wang, managing director of the Hotel Figueroa, where the restaurants Veranda and Breva are participating. In Southern California, at least two dozen bars and restaurants have joined the program. Dining bonds differ from restaurant to restaurant. Each has its own price, redeemable value and design. Dining bonds are meant to be purchased from individual restaurants and are not universal. Hall and Patrikis stress that they aren’t selling dining bonds or administering the program — it’s up to each participating restaurant to handle that on their own — they’re just trying to bring more attention to the campaign and, hopefully, help restaurants weather the coronavirus storm. “If more people know about it, more people will be able to go and buy,” Hall says. As for the restaurants themselves, participation is simple. All they need to do is fill out a form on the Dining Bond Initiative site and add a page or link on their own website where con-

sumers can buy dining bonds. Hall and Patrikis will send restaurants a branding package. Participation is already growing. What started among a small group of New York restaurants has grown to include 200 restaurants across the United States. “We even have a restaurant from Jackson Hole, Wyoming on there. That was one of the first restaurants to reach out when we launched the site,” Hall says. Restaurants in COVID-19 hotspots such as Italy and Spain have expressed interest. In Los Angeles, participants include Coni’ Seafood in Inglewood, E.P. & L.P. in West Hollywood and the 10 bars of the 1933 Group. “We’re all about historical Los Angeles and they’re like war time bonds,” says 1933 Group co-owner Dimitri Komarov. His company is known for detail-oriented revivals of historic venues including the Formosa Cafe and the Idle Hour in North Hollywood. Since most of their establishments are bars, the food component of the 1933 Group’s business is small, so takeout isn’t much of an option for them. This is a way for them to keep revenue trickling in. But Dining Bonds aren’t without risk. “Some of these restaurants may not come back, but I feel people are going into this with the knowledge that they are contributing toward what’s needed now,” Patrikis says. “The impetus of the idea was that even if it’s a small amount of money, that may help pay a staff member or a small bill,” Hall adds. Restaurants are often called to help with fundraisers and charity events, or to aid in relief efforts after tragedies. “Now, we’re asking people to return the favor,” Hall says.

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NEWS

LIQUOR AND SPIRITS

NATION’S LEADING DISTILLERS CREATE FUND TO AID METRO NEW YORK AND NATION’S BARKEEPS

ith Coronavirus forcing thousands of bartenders out of work, the distilled spirits industry has stepped up in a big way, donating millions to bartender relief funds. Connecticut, New York and New Jersey have ordered the shutdown of bars and restaurants. The rest of the country has followed, putting more hospitality workers out of jobs. Seeing these out-of-work bartender numbers grow, Brown-Forman announced late last month a donation of $1-million to charities supporting impacted bartenders. “In this unprecedented season of bar and restaurant closures around the world, those who have supported Brown-Forman behind the bar for many years have suddenly found themselves without income and without a clear path to when that income might return,” Lawson Whiting, Chief Executive Officer of Brown-Forman Corporation told me. “We want to show the hospitality community that we care about their well-being and understand how stressful this time is for them and their families. Brown-Forman, and the distilling community, is helping them weather the storm so that the hospitality industry we all love, led by these bartenders and restaurant workers, will come back stronger.” Right now, in the states with restaurants still open, their fates are in the hands of governors, many of whom are chastising their constituents for doing what they normally do—go

“We want to show the hospitality community that we care about their well-being and understand how stressful this time is for them and their families.” — Lawson Whiting out in public. When he announced the restaurant closure last month, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said the “prohibition” was to slow the spread of the virus. “We have never faced anything like this ever before,” said Governor Hogan in a statement. “This is going to be much harder, take much longer, and be much worse than almost anyone is currently understanding. And unfortunately, far too many people have chosen to continue crowding bars and restaurants, willingly putting the health and safety of others in grave danger. Decision makers

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at the federal, state, and local level are going to have to take drastic actions right now that may seem scary and may sound extreme. They will be terribly disruptive, but they are also absolutely necessary to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.” While this sentiment is shared by many, the unfortunate truth of this virus: It’s killing the livelihoods of hospitality workers, especially bartenders, who count on the tip structure of this profession to earn a living. That’s led to a rush of drinks companies donating to the likes of

the United States Bartenders’ Guild Relief fund. Heading that list is Diageo that donated $1.2 million to United Kingdom bartenders, while also offering free virtual training courses, Molson Coors that donated $1 million to the USBG Fund, Jameson donated $500,000 to the USBG fund. New Amsterdam vodka created a Tshirt with proceeds benefiting bartenders. Patron donated $1-million to help restaurant workers. Sazerac/ Fireball created a GoFundMe page and will match the donations of the “tip jar” up to $400,000. Tito’s is donating $2 million to various organizations helping hospitality workers. Spanish drinks company Zamora announced it’s giving $400,000 to Caritas, the Red Cross and the Food Bank Foundation. Brown-Forman is giving $1 million to various efforts to help hospitality workers. Beam, Suntory and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits will donate a total of $1 million to the USBG Emergency. Assistance Program and the Restaurant Workers Community Foundation Even smaller distillers are raising money for impacted bartenders. Kentucky Peerless Distillery is actively donating a portion of its popular single barrel offering to the USBG fund. “We don’t know what the future holds, but we know there are brighter days ahead,” says Corky Taylor, founder and CEO of Kentucky Peerless. “The emergency funds provide a lifeline in a time of uncertainty. It’s inspiring to see so many in our industry step up to assist. Our industry is a tight knit community that is truly compassionate.”

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 77

NEWS

MARKETING SOLUTIONS

NYC DUO TEAMS TO CREATE ONE STOP SHOPPING FOR GIFT CARDS TO BENEFIT EATERIES

pair of Manhattan based entrepreneurs have come together to enable restaurants to take advantage of the gratitude that many dining patrons are showing through the purchase of gift cards. Nabeel Alamgir and Nihal Mehta recognized that as NYC’s restaurants and bars are suffering from the ongoing shutdown on dining out. So the two technology executives have created a new website to direct more funds to restaurants in the form of gift cards. While many restaurants sell gift cards on their website, Help Main Street is a new site that aggregates them in one place. “While gift cards will by no means solve the ongoing crisis — there’s no guarantee of many restaurants opening again — they do act as a sort of short-term, no-interest loan that can help restaurants stay afloat during the shutdown,” Mehta noted. The website now features nearly 14,000 establishments across the country, though a majority of the ones listed on the site about 3,000 are in New York City. Alamgir runs the food startup Lunchbox, a delivery service for restaurants that counts about 400 establishments among its members. He mobi-

“While gift cards will by no means solve the ongoing crisis — there’s no guarantee of many restaurants opening again — they do act as a sort of short-term, no-interest loan that can help restaurants stay afloat during the shutdown,” — Nihal Mehta lized his 14-person team to get the gift card website up and running late last month after receiving a call from investor Nihal Mehta, who runs the company Eniac Ventures. Mehta and Alamgir discussed ways to support the restaurant industry right now, and the gift card website sprung up as a result of that

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with Eniac Ventures’s backing. Restaurants aren’t charged to be on it, nor are customers to use it. Businesses can be found by entering by typing in the city’s name in the search function or can even be narrowed down by zip code. For the most part, Alamgir’s team used its own internal search func-

tions to locate restaurants offering gift cards, but in some cases, it has also received information from local governments that shared lists that have now made it on to the website. There’s also a function on the website that lets restaurants add themselves or users add places on there. Restaurants on the website show up on a map, and each restaurant point takes users directly to the purchase page for the gift card. Alamgir has plans to expand the gift card site globally with restaurants in Canada, the U.K., and France being added next. Since the shutdown on dining in at the city’s restaurants went into effect restaurateurs and others in the industry have mobilized in a variety of ways with fundraisers for the thousands of workers that have lost their jobs, and some restaurants have transformed into community kitchens to serve meals to those in need.

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 79

NEWS

MENU INNOVATIONS

SOUTH JERSEY’S RASTELLI FOODS BUILDS SUCCESS ACROSS MULTIPLE FOODSERVICE CATEGORIES

astelli Foods Group is one of those stories that seems as if it came from the pages of a best selling novel or sounds like something you saw on the big screen at a local theatre. Their humble beginnings, great customer service, quality products and overall genuine way of doing business are all factors that play into their success throughout the years. Founded in 1976 by Ray Rastelli Jr., the company has grown from a small neighborhood butcher shop in New Jersey to become one of the biggest names in the US meat industry, while creating a portfolio of product lines to respond to their customers needs. Ray Jr. didn’t even have any food service or butcher background

when he first started out. A la Springsteen, Rastelli was making a living as a musician in South Jersey at the age of 19. On a whim while walking in his hometown, he wandered into what had formerly been a donut shop and had as they say an epiphany to open a butcher shop. With an investment that his father had given him on his wedding day, he was able to figure out the business and hasn’t stopped since. “My dad gave me the money to put down on a home or do whatever I wanted with it, but it was his words that really made me want to do something more,” Ray Jr. admits. “He told me that he wished he would have gone out and made money for himself instead of doing it for other people.

“Our model is much different than any other meat company. We got specialists all over the Atlantic region, selling our product directly to the end user and then it’s delivered through U.S. Foods. I believe there’s a place for brokers, but that’s more on the retail side than the foodservice side.” — Ray Rastelli Jr. That really pushed me to go out there and make this butcher shop succeed.” Struggling the first few years, he was able to learn the ropes and over the next 10 years, he grew one shop into multiple retail locations in South Jersey before changing up his selling strategy to include res-

(L to R) Ray Rastelli Jr. and Ray Rastelli III have created a unique vision for their South Jersey based firm.

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taurants. “I realized I didn’t have to wait for Mrs. Jones to walk through the front door to spend $25, when Mr. Restaurateur could come in the back door and spend $2,500. That was really intriguing and in a matter of time, we were then going after more and more restaurant businesses.” This change of business mentality is what really sparked the beginning of what Rastelli Foods has become today. As Ray Jr. saw the growth in foodservice sales, he quickly embraced the requirements of the USDA in the inspection and cutting of meat. After a few challenges with not knowing the USDA rules and regulations, Ray Jr. was able to become a compliance expert and the real expansion began. Rastelli’s passion for learning his business has also produced incredible opportunity. In the early 1990s, the company started working with exporters who were providing their meat to customers in Dubai. As fate would have it, the middlemen involved pulled out of the Middle East and Ray Jr. found himself on a plan to Dubai with a goal of replacing the

continued on page 82

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RASTELLI FOODS

from page 80

exporter himself. The importer Seven Seas was impressed with Ray Jr.’s initiative. Rastelli then found himself in the right place at a conflicted time as the first Gulf War broke out. Seven Seas became the main company to receive all imported American goods for U.S. troops, with Rastelli Foods now supplying their export business. “In a matter of eight weeks, we went from shipping one container per month to Dubai to 200 containers per week.” To keep up with the demand of business at home and overseas, Rastelli Foods built several expansions to their processing facility in New Jersey, with their latest renovations adding 60,000-square-feet to create what will put the overall space at about 900,000-square-feet. “Many people wonder how we did it all in a short time and I tell them it was simple because we’re hard workers, flexible and very nimble”

he noted. “We were taught a long time ago (from my dad) that if somebody gives you an opportunity, you make sure you make the most of it. We did and that’s why we’re here today.” Decades of Rastelli Food growth continues to come from listening and responding to customer needs and embracing a changing marketplace. Ray Jr. noted that food service customers are now looking for healthier products that include antibiotic-free, hormone-free and organic offerings. To accomplish that goal, Rastelli has created a vertically integrated company that now includes seafood, poultry and even plant based food. “A key to this is the ability to control the source of each of our product lines,” Ray Jr. noted. So Rastelli Foods Group owns everything from cattle ranches to aquaculture farms companies, which allows them to provide customers with they high

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quality products they need to complete their menus. “Our goal is to provide convenient, cost efficient and labor effective solutions for the foodservice customer.” Dating back to the earliest days of the business Ray Jr. is always seeking a better way to get his quality products to the Rastelli customer. To do so Rastelli actually represents and brokers their own line of product with a full team of sales professionals. “Our model is much different than any other meat company,” he confessed. “We got specialists all over the Atlantic region, selling our product directly to the end user and then it’s delivered through U.S. Foods. I believe there’s a place for brokers, but that’s more on the retail side than the foodservice side.” With more than 800 employees in the company, Rastelli Foods Group is still very much a family business and it’s operated like one. Ray Jr.’s son Ray III is his right-hand man,

while his younger brother Tony handles the export business. Ray Jr.’s daughter-in-law Brittany Rastelli has led the charge towards retail ecommerce. Brittany and Ray Jr. are both regulars on QVC to provide the line to consumers across the nation. There is also a new generation of Rastellis that have joined the business with several nephews and nieces in key positions. He also believes that the company’s success is due to its culture, which has treating people the way you want to be treated at its core. With all that Rastelli Foods Group has already accomplished, it seems the future is bright for this familyowned company, whose recipe for success will only continue to embrace its position as an integral resource to its foodservice customers with an eye on emerging technologies and marketplaces.

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 83

EMI INDUSTRIES

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York foodservice equipment and supply industry came an expansion of the company’s product line with the addition of everyday instock solutions. “We really became a resource for the Tri-State dealer community to easily find everyday commodity products including Hand sinks, and pot racks, and dish tables. The local marketplace now looks to us not only for solution to complex custom fabrication but for those crucial must haves: the mop sinks, the floor troughs, chemical cabinets and things that our customers are buying and the things that our consultants are specifying on projects every day. Access to those commodity solutions will be simplified with our inclusion into AutoQuotes. The program accelerates the quoting process. It now even can speed up the drawing process as well by adding CAD blocks right in Auto-Quotes.

So our customers will be able to go to the CAD block and have the EMI solution plotted right into their drawing. The new AutoQuotes partnership will facilitate exposure nationwide for EMI. Once we have product in their system and a customer does a search, our name EMI industries will pop up in that search and this will connect us with dealers in Florida, California, Seattle and all over the country. “What we love is the opportunity that this will give us to show the depth of EMI’s inventory. For instance, we actually offer a Pastrami Box that many people are surprised to hear can be found in every diner across America.” Doyle sees the convenience of EMI’s manufacturing facilities as crucial to the company’s on-going success. “For instance in Metro New York, I can’t begin to tell you how many times customers need things

84 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

right away. A dealer may have forgotten to order a floor trough and the contractors are pouring concrete and they need that floor trough the next day. We are there to make it happen.” That combination of local knowledge and award winning national manufacturing capabilities has made the EMI/TD team invaluable to its dealer and consultant customer base. “For instance in a market like Manhattan, where space is at a premium, we have been able to pioneer with narrow depth refrigeration for back bars. Instead of a traditional commodity 29 inch unit EMI can easily produce a cost efficient 18” inch back bar refrigerator.” With its state of the industry technology and automation, EMI continues to respond to the design needs of its customers. “Today’s operator is looking for a design

signature. From a solid surface to glass, stone, marble, you name it. If a customer has anything outrageous that they want to try, we are more than willing with our engineering department to make it happen.” The new AutoQuotes pact supports EMI mantra for success. “We rarely say no to anything. It’s just not in our vocabulary. So, customers come to us and they need something done, we can make it happen,” Doyle concluded. Being continually at the forefront of technology and product innovation, searching for ways to bring a competitive advantage to our customers is always a priority. With its multi-regional locations, millwork/ metal/refrigeration capabilities and true, lasting partnerships, EMI continues to set the standard as a market leader.

RONALDO LINARES

from page 58

love your restaurant will want to come and support it. People know how much you are struggling. For example, our customers have been buying gift cards left and right. Do you have an employee relief fund in place? How are you distributing the funds? Yes we do. We have a couple of thousand in our employee relief fund, they come from tips and I am also donating 25% of every gift card sale. The distribution is tough, my team understands that some are hurting more than others and those individuals will receive the funds first.

means more net cash for your business. Lastly figure out how to get cash, a loan or anything like it. Find where you could save money, speaking with purveyors, speaking with your employees. Ronaldo says: “It needs to be a community effort and now more than ever. The reality is that the hospitality industry provides over 895 billion dollars to the American economy and over 47% of employment, the government needs to rec-

ognize that and bail us out.” John’s fight is incredible, during the interview he said something that gave me goosebumps. “If I have to start from Scratch I will.” JB

for taking the time to speak with me and share his expertise and thoughts during this time in our nation’s history.

Last words of advice to the restaurants? Stay united, work together, and be ready for the people. We are resilient and when the dust settles, it will all go back to normal. I want to say thank you to John

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Ronaldo’s thoughts: “These actions are an amazing demonstration of true leadership. Putting your team first and making the unpopular decisions are when true leaders rise up. John has built a strong chain with no weak links within his team. Everyone is on the same page, the FOH and the BOH.” Will restaurants weather this storm? Unfortunately, there will be a lot of restaurants that cannot weather this storm and will not be able to reopen. It is an unfortunate thing to say and even think, but that’s reality. Most restaurants are operating on a week to week basis and with the shutdown and no money, coming back in the picture is not a pretty one. Quick interjection - That was a tough question to ask because I know a lot of these restaurants and it was not an easy one to answer. It is a sad reality. What advice do you give to restaurants to stay ahead of the game and be able to reopen post COVID-19? When you have the time set up shop in your office, figure out what your breakeven is, labor, etc., figure out the number to stay open. Figure out the plan to reopen as fast as possible. The quicker you open

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 85

SCOOP

METRO NY INSIDER NEWS, from page 48

of the highly experienced Sushi Chefs led by Sushi Chef Isamu Yamada. Chef Yamada, studied culinary arts in Nagoya, Japan, immigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii, then to New York’s prestigious Sushi of Gari Group where he honed his sushi skills working alongside renowned Chef Masatoshi “Gari” Sugio. Most recently he was the Sushi Chef for the contemporary Sushi Ryusei Japanese restaurant. Helming the kitchen is Chef Grosz and he’s worked for David Chang at Momofuku Noodle Bar and as the R&D Chef/Operating Partner for Gotham Grove, Asian Specialty Foods. New York-based Ambias Hospitality Group worked with the New York/Shanghai design team New Practice Studio designing the 3,100 square foot space featuring a 13-seat open Omakase bar, a 55-seat dining room with curvilinear banquette seating and a communal center table, an intimate cocktail bar, and open-air dining during the warmer months. Ambias Hospitality Group founder and CEO Kevin Yin has assembled a dynamic team to lead his newest venture at Moon, including Ambias Group Advisor Matthew Madera, a New York City fine-dining chef who most recently earned 2 Michelin stars at the world renowned L’ Atelier de Jöel Robuchon NYC; General Manager Moses Laboy, a member of The Court of Master Sommeliers, is B.A.R. certified and created beverage programs for Gotham Bar & Grill, Red Rooster and David Burke Kitchen.

BOUTIQUE HOTEL AND RESTAURANT COMING TO STONINGTON, CT Scoop learned that in a 3-2 split vote recently, the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans by Mystic Seaport Museum to demolish its Latitude 41 restaurant and construct a three-story building with a restaurant and boutique hotel closer to the Mystic River. The commission made the decision on the $12 million project after a three-hour public hearing during which Seaport representatives outlined their plan, the Eastern Connecticut, Greater Mystic and Ocean Community chambers of commerce spoke in favor of it and a few residents expressed concerns about traffic on Route 27 and the 41.5foot height of the hotel. Commissioners asked numerous questions about windows, parking, traffic impact, lighting, flood elevation and other issues. In the vote on the five separate approvals needed for the project, commission several members 86 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

A rendering of the upcoming Cotto restaurant interior

voted in opposition, saying they were concerned about the height of the hotel, its impact on views of the Mystic River and that it did not conform with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development. The project calls for a 26-room hotel and a 160seat restaurant with banquet space that would accommodate 250 seats, as well as a guest cottage. Plans also call for a pool and outdoor patio with seating overlooking the river and an existing dock. The hotel/restaurant would be built by the Greenwich Hospitality Group, whose principal, Charles Mallory, a former member of the Seaport’s board of trustees, developed the Stonington Commons project in Stonington Borough. It will be called the Delamar Hotel. Plans call for the demolition and construction to begin in 2021, with an opening in the spring of 2022. The first floor of the new hotel/restaurant will be 2 feet above flood elevation, compared to the current situation in which Latitude 41’s basement and restaurant both lie in the flood plain. The basement of the 55-year-old building floods frequently. The new building’s elevation also will meet the 2-foot-above flood elevation that is expected to be required by the state and would accommodate a 20-inch rise in sea level predicted for the area by 2050.

COTTO IS CENTERPIECE OF NEW MANHATTAN HOTEL

Scoop saw that Renaissance New York Chelsea Hotel officially opened and arrived as the brand’s premiere hotel in the neighborhood. At 430 feet tall, it is also one of the tallest structures ever constructed in Chelsea. The property is located at 112 West 25th Street and replaced the long-running Antiques Garage indoor flea market, considered one of the go-to destinations for antique shoppers. The hotel’s interiors, courtesy of architects Stonehill Taylor, pay homage to the iconic market and Chelsea’s eclectic history. The design team was specifically inspired by the neighborhood’s diverse mix of industrial architecture, floral markets, and buzzing art scene. Within, each of the hotel’s 341 guest rooms features earth tones, brass-colored finishes, and specially curated artwork by Indiewalls. The most noteworthy component of the hotel are its amenity spaces, which include one of the highest outdoor pools in Manhattan and a two-floor rooftop lounge spanning the 38th and 39th floors. The hotel also contains 7,326 square feet of flexible event space with a large ballroom designed to accommodate up to 200 guests. Award-winning Italian chef Fabrizio Facchini will serve as executive chef for Cotto, the hotel’s signature restaurant. The dining room is flanked by ten-foot-tall floor-to-ceiling windows with exposed wood beams, and decorated with sourced antiques from around the world. Renaissance New York Chelsea Hotel is owned by Lam Generation, which is also the developer for Renaissance New York Harlem, and managed by Real Hospitality Group.

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April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 87

RESTAURANT FINANCE

from page 14

times is hard enough, but add catastrophe to the mix and it can approach impossible. Now that the nuclear bomb hit – how does your business survive? Without cash flow you are screwed. Without cash reserves, you are really screwed. Now you go to your bank or apply to a government program and guess what?... they may be taking applications but the process can be very long especially when everyone else on the planet is applying as well. While this is happening the clock is ticking, your debt is growing and your options diminish. What a goddamned mess.

lapse. The Bill is over 1,000 pages and this is what I pulled out before press time:

Late last month, the Senate finally stopped their childish partisan bickering (from both sides!!) and passed the most massive financial appropriations Bill of all time. It should help put out many fires but it will still take years to fully recover as it did from the 2008-2009 col-

• Unemployment insurance extended by 13-weeks and include a four-month enhancement of benefits. While this helps many workers in foodservice, it could negate much of the SBA lending/grant parameters I speak about above. You have to keep people on your payroll

• $350B to establish lending programs for small businesses (assumed through the SBA), but only for those who keep their payrolls steady through the crisis. Small businesses that pledge to keep their workers would also receive cashflow assistance structured as federally guaranteed loans. If the employer continued to pay its workers for the duration of the crisis, those loans would be forgiven. THIS IS THE ONE WE NEED TO WATCH.

in order to participate. • $1,200 in direct payments will be rushed to individuals ($2,400 per couple) that would apply equally to workers with incomes up to $75,000 per year before phasing out and ending altogether for those earning more than $99,000. Families would receive $500 per child. This will most likely be spearheaded by the IRS because they have individual tax records and vital information like bank accounts etc. • $150B for local and state governments. This is important not only because these governments support public health on the ground plus vital services – they are suffering loss of millions of dollars in taxes and other revenues which keep society moving. • $130B for hospitals and health care workers. No need to explain

Here’s a summary of the Small Business Interruption Loans portion of the CARES Act Any business or non-profit that employees less than 500 people are eligible to receive an SBA 7(a) loan to cover the period of February 15, 2020 to June 30, 2020. It is presumed if you are applying for a 7(a) economic disaster loan you are a business that was impacted by Covid-19. •

•

• • • • • •

Eligible loan amount is the lesser of: • Average total monthly payments of payroll costs over the last year; multiplied by 2.5 • OR, $10,000,000 Use of loans: • Payroll, paid sick, medical or family leave, costs of group health care benefits during periods of leave, salaries, mortgage payments, rent/lease payments, utilities and other debt obligations. Loan eligibility: • Borrower was in operation on February 15, 2020 • Had paid employees and paid payroll taxes. • Good Faith certification of loan going to ongoing operations, used to retain workers, etc. SBA banks have the delegated authority to make and approve loans (you do not need to go through the SBA directly for approval). No fees are collected by the SBA. No collateral or personal guarantee required. Deferral: Complete payment deferral for covered loans are considered for a period not less than 6 months and not more than 1 year. The loan is guaranteed up to 100%. Loan forgiveness – you can apply for loan forgiveness if a set of criteria is met. Seek advice.

88 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

this one! It would be nice if they somehow included student debt forgiveness for all the brave nurses, doctors and healthcare workers that are doing the massive and painful job of trying to take care of us under extremely stressful circumstances. • $500B fund set up with $425 for the federal reserve to leverage loans in order to help broad groups of distressed companies and $75B for industry specific loans. Oversight of these funds in the form of an inspector general and a five-person panel appointed by Congress and not at the sole discretion of Steve Mnuchin and Trump which was the main objection Democrats had to the original Bill. In its present form the Bill requires that companies that accept money must also agree to halt any stock buybacks or golden parachutes for their executives for the length of the government assistance, plus an additional year. This type of corporate abuse happened after the bail outs of the Great Recession leaving executives and corporations in great shape and the American taxpayer footing the bill. Not good, but they prevented it in this bail out. • In another disappointment for Trump and his pals, there is a provision that blocks senior government officials and family members from receiving the money to pour into their businesses. Clearly the details need to be ironed out and I do not expect the money to be in the hands of businesses for several weeks. While you are waiting for the details to be ironed out (since no one ever planned for this type of situation before – even though they were warned many times) you may need cash to sustain yourself. Banks have always been a poor source of capital for most small businesses. As I have pointed out in many of my articles in TFS, they are naturally

continued on page 90

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RESTAURANT FINANCE risk averse and will only finance their best clients. The biggest help that many banks are offering is allowing their credit card customers to skip or defer payments, lowering rates and waiving fees and penalties. It is a way of taking some of the pressure off individuals and businesses by leaving more cash in their hands. It’s not a loan – but it helps. I’ve checked with a number of banks including Citibank, Bank of America, Chase, Capital One and Barclay’s and all of them are offering programs to help their customers. I recommend that you contact them immediately if you have one of their credit cards or a loan. Bridging the gap may come from the world of alternative finance and merchant cash advance, where most lenders have slammed on the breaks because they cannot assess the current underwriting risk of applicants. Many of their existing customers are now considered slow-paying or delinquent through no fault of their own, and this often triggers some fairly negative covenants slowing your lenders access to capital. Most of the major alternative finance companies have

C-CAP BENEFIT

from page 88

Bridging the gap may come from the world of alternative finance and merchant cash advance. Or get creative to stretch your capital. Indirect access to working capital can come in many forms. bank or institutional lines of credit that provide them with the capital that they lend to small businesses. These credit lines have very strong performance covenants which limit defaults and slow paying customers. If too many loans fall below the required performance metrics, the bank can stop providing credit and basically “call the note”. MAJOR SCREWED! This could put many of the lenders that serve our industry in grave danger. I would suggest you start looking for cash immediately before many of these lenders hit a speed bump with their line of credit even if you get government assistance. The world will not come back to normal for quite a while and businesses with cash reserves will be the ones to survive. Get creative to stretch your capi-

tal. Indirect access to working capital can come in many forms. I would recommend you contact your landlord and let them know upfront that the rent payment may be reduced or skipped until this is over. Either they will understand, or be totally pissed off, but too bad – we’re all in this together and you can point out that NY, NJ and CT have ordered that there can be no commercial or residential evictions for 90 days. I also suggest you contact your utility companies, food purveyors and even any auto finance companies you have and tell them you will do the best you can, but don’t expect full and timely payments. Looking ahead – what will everything be like in 3 – 6 months? The stock market lost over 33% of their value in a few days. We went from

a euphoric 4% unemployment rate to today’s prediction of over 20% by the Secretary of the Treasury. Those are Great Depression numbers! You need to also remember that before COVID our debt was at an all-time high for individuals, student loans, corporations and our governments and now is growing exponentially because of the pandemic. The government bailout looks like it will cost taxpayers over $2.5 Trillion on top of the $1.3 Trillion deficit we already had with reduced taxes flowing into the Treasury. This is serious crap. We have over-extended people in over extended states with a horribly over extended federal government. The harsh reality is that people need to start asking themselves some really serious questions about their businesses and if they can survive before they overextend themselves further. If they believe they can, then they need to start making plans for how they will manage the business in the brave new world, because it will take a very long time for us to recover from this disaster.

from page 70

(Michael Lomonaco, Wayne Harley Brachman, Daniel Rutledge), Indian Accent (Manish Mehrotra), JAMS ( Jonathan Waxman), Le Bernardin (Eric Ripert, Thomas Raquel), Locanda Verde (Deborah Racicot) (Loi Estiatorio (Maria Loi), The Loyal ( John Fraser), Michael’s (Michael McCarty, Kyung Up Lim), Nobu 57 (Matt Hoyle), Park Avenue Winter (Zene Flinn), Perrine at the Pierre (Ashfer Biju), Portale (Alfred Portale), Porter House New York (Michael Lomonaco, Wayne Harley Brachman, Daniel Rutledge), Quality Eats (Craig Koketsu), Decoy/ Red Farm (Eddie Schoenfeld, Joe Ng), Red Rooster (Marcus Samuelsson), Sarabeth’s (Sarabeth Levine), Shake Shack, Storico ( James Miller), Tabe-

Tomo (Tomotsugu Kubo), Untitled (Evan Tessler) and Vaucluse (Michael White, Jared Gadbaw). Lots of salmon and fish was served. A favorite was C-CAP Alum Yvan Lemoine of Casa Nomad’s Ver-

Sarabeth Levine

90 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

lasso Salmon and Café Boulud’s Ora King Salmon gravlax with pumpernickel tuile, pickled beets, horseradish crème fraiche, dill fennel and salmon roe. Nobu 57 presented tuna sashimi,

Joyce and Barry Appelman with Janice Huff (center)

shisho, cucumber salsa. Loi Estiatorio specialty was Salmon Tartare in Filo. Ben & Jack’s Steakhouse specialty was a portion of herb crusted lamb chops. Guests also enjoyed duck dishes from the Four Seasons Hotel, tea smoked Long Island Duck, with violet mustard and savory hazelnut praline and smoked duck tacos from Almond. The most talked about desserts were Sarabeth’s very rich triplechocolate chocolate pudding and the distinctly creative dish that had guests taking a second look from Le Bernardin, as what appeared to be mini apples was actually delicious apple brown butter mousse, with apple confit and Armagnac sabayon.

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 91

IRFSNY 2020 COVERAGE rate healthy foods into a business model to drive profits. The Healthy Food Expo offered education sessions focused on hot topics including Trending Healthy Ingredients, Plant-Based Proteins, Food Allergies, Gluten-Free Options, Sourcing Local Food, Healthy Beverage Category, and much more. The IRFSNY education program expanded to offer 120 sessions with over 200 subject matter experts who spoke on a variety of important topics for restaurant and foodservice professionals, coffee shop owners

The Singer “After Show” party at Hudson Yards was a big hit

from page 18 and those involved with healthy foods. Show management with Tom Loughran at the helm have taken the time to understand the sense of community that attendees and exhibitors share within their commitment to hospitality. With that at the close of the Show, City Harvest, the world’s first food rescue organization dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children were able to rescue 4,500 lbs. of food. The 2021 International Restaurant

Tri-State Marketing’s Ed Yuter (C) greeted customers

92 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

& Foodservice Show, Coffee Fest and Healthy Food Expo New York will be

held March 7-9, 2021 back at the Javits Center in New York City.

Top Cake Design competition honors went to Maraiza Velazquez

Mark Moeller, Linda Kavanaugh and Paul Fetscher shared the knowledge on opening successful restaurants with their Dirt to Digital session

(L to R) McKeown Assoc’s Rob McKeown, legendary Boston chef Lydia Shire and Fred Klashman of TFS

(L to R) Samantha Grimaldi of Clarion UX, keynote chef Alex Guaranaschelli and Patricia Copela

RESTAURANT MARKETING - Be sure to use a calm, neutral tone. Keep in mind that contributing to the panic mindset doesn’t make things better. - Reassure your customers that their--and your/your employees’-safety is the top priority. This is a great opportunity to stand with and support your community. - Make your customers aware of the services that you are offering ie. encourage delivery and takeout! Not all restaurants are serving in any capacity, so make sure they know that you are a resource that they can depend on!

from page 60 media ads directly with your POS. Eliminate the steps your customers have to take between seeing your brand name and ordering food. Make the buttons on your ads go directly to your ordering page. We’ve set up a number of our clients with a social media to online delivery system that also reduces their 3rd party delivery fees! Life has never been easy, but for most people it just got a bit (or a lot) more challenging. People are looking for comfort and some sort of re-

lief. It’s not a new thing for people to turn to food when seeking out those concepts. Don’t forget that your customers need you just as much as you need them. Food is at the center of most cultures and it brings people together. It still can, even when social distancing!

during-covid-19-pandemic/

Sources: https://techcrunch.com/2020/ 03/16/uber-eats-waives-deliveryfees-for-independent-restaurants-

https://techcrunch.com/2020/ 03/17/nielsen-explains-how-covid19-could-impact-media-usage-across-the-u-s/

https://chicago.eater.com/2020/ 3/13/21178161/coronavirus-grubhub-chicago-restaurants-fees-mayor https://sf.eater.com/2020/3/12/ 21175886/postmates-d oord ashgrubhub-no-contact-covid-19

Your list of email subscribers is a prime resource, especially at times like these. People are spending more time than normal on their devices, so any digital message that you send out is even more likely to be seen. Secondly, we have social media. When it comes to advertising online, now is NOT the time to pull back. In fact, now is the time to ramp it up! Aim your marketing specifically at what people are looking for--good food that makes them comfortable and feel good AND not having to leave their homes. Being stuck inside can take its toll on people, but nothing helps boost quarantine morale quite like a fresh meal from a favorite restaurant. And again, people are spending more and more time online. Social media usage has increased by up to 66% in some regions! Ultimately, look to make life easier for your customers. Many challenges have been thrown in everyone’s face in the last couple weeks. Schools are closed, so kids need to be watched and nurtured. People are working from home and are presented with new distractions every minute. Try a campaign that combines dinner with an activity. One of our clients is seeing success with a family-sized, build-your-own-pizza kit. The kit comes with everything you need (besides the oven) to make a pizza. Kid-friendly entertainment AND dinner? Check. Consider integrating your social April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 93

GIAN CARLO ALONSO process.” Many think that Alonso’s emergence as Mr. Manufacturing has come on the heels of a very different approach to defining ROI. “Technology can be great, but sometimes manufacturing management fall in love with what they see in the operation of the machine without a true test to measure the return. I can’t begin to tell you how easy it is

DAVID SCOTT PETERS to know you need to tell them. If you’re not sure how to do any of this and no one on your team can help you in a pinch, I regularly recommend the following companies, none of which I get any kind of commission or kickback. • Repeat Returns • Moving Targets • GoDaddy Social The next thing to look at is proper packaging. If you’re new to delivery and pickup, you have to have the right packaging. I can tell you when I was a franchisor for a 30-unit restaurant and sports bar, we had the most amazing hand-cut French fries and pastrami sandwiches. They were perfect for dining in. But because we used Styrofoam containers for takeout, if somebody took it home, it was like a rainforest inside by time they got home. The fries were soggy, the bread was soggy and it was disgusting. It wasn’t the same incredible product we put out in a basket. So, look at your packaging. It doesn’t matter how good it is in the restaurant if it sucks when it arrives at the guest’s door. That still represents you and your restaurant. Also, when it comes to packaging, think about your demographic. If you have an environmentally conscious customer base, order biodegradable containers and paper straws and such. The next important topic is your menu. If it were me, I’d be reducing my menu down to 10, 15, 20 items max. These items should be things

from page 12 to buy something that you think will increase productivity but it isn’t addressing where the true bottleneck is in your manufacturing process.” Alonso sees the key to successful manufacturing as being the ability to create balance in the process. “You need to create balance in the factory. Every department must have equal, or balanced capacity so that the overall output is increased,

not just the output of a single department.” As Amerikooler continues to grow, it stands out as a shining example of the potential for rebirth of manufacturing in the US. “We are convinced that the right operational balance in our factory with a smaller work force than our competitors in China or Mexico will enable us to produce a superior product at a competitive

price. We have proven that to be true by tripling in size in the last five years,” Alonso concluded. With that vision and the same sense of adventure he had as a young boy in the family factory, Mr. Manufacturing is even trying to get the Guinness Book of World Records to certify that Amerikooler can build a world class walk-in box faster than any firm in the world.

Next on the list is budgets, and probably most important. I know it’s a scary time and the last thing you want to think about is creating a budget. But the truth of the matter is how do you know whether you can weather this storm, whether you should stay open or not, that this isn’t going to literally be the last day you operate if you don’t have a budget? Right now you need a 12-week budget. Forget about the year. You must lay out the next 12 weeks. Set it up with your new reality including sales from this week, minimum staffing and anything that is a fixed expense. What your costs of goods sold was running last week is not what you’ll see this week or the weeks ahead. All of a sudden your sales have dramatically tanked. You have fewer categories to manage and still have a lot of labor. Even if you make huge cuts now, you’re going to have to make some adjustments and decisions. When is rent due? When are utilities due? How much do you owe the distributors? How much do you owe for payroll? Put it all in your budget and then create scenarios. If you remain open and your sales are X, what does it look like if you remain open and your sales are even lower? What does it look like if you close your doors? Even temporarily? When do you start deferring bills? Can your CPA help you decide if there are taxes you can defer? Employer portion of payroll taxes, sales tax? Is your state offering deferment

options? You may work something out with your landlord for rent, assuming you’re not behind already. Ask yourself if you can dig yourself out if you make adjustments or if you’re in a bigger hole than you can handle. I’m hoping for you that there’s a chance to restart and that this is an opportunity to put systems in place. I hope it’s an opportunity to cut the dead weight and look at everything you do in your business. I also hope the government comes through for you. When I wrote this article, I went online and saw that there are talks of a $1 trillion package for the hospitality industry. I’ve got to believe in my heart of hearts for the first time I’ve ever seen, that the government will help the hospitality industry, the number-one employer in the United States. We may actually get a bailout. But you can’t count on that. When it comes to borrowing money, whether it’s a no-interest loan through the Small Business Administration, or some other resource, ask yourself if that will really make it any better. The only way to know is to plug it into your budget based on your current reality.

from page 26 that you know your guests want, things you can make over and over again. It allows you to reduce the amount of inventory you have on your shelves because you’re shrinking what you need to have on hand to fulfill the limited menu. This reduced inventory also saves you money because you won’t have food spoiling on your shelves. If you can get your inventory down and order on a more routine basis, when the product goes out it’s fresh. You’re throwing away less product and whatever you put out is excellent. Another idea is meal replacement options. Create and sell complete meals for a family of four or so and make it available for pickup to cook or warm at home. It’s also known as catering to go. Could you offer something like a lasagna and a Caesar salad that feeds four and has all the things necessary to put the meal on the table? Or a brisket with rolls and cole slaw and beans for four? What are some shelf-stable things that don’t have to sell in one day. Another business stream is dropoff catering. There are businesses that are still operating that still have employees in their building. Can you provide them with some catering options, such as boxed lunches or a buffet with aluminum chafing dishes? Could you offer packages that allow them to quickly throw together a meal for a good number of people? If the minimum group remains numbered at 10, think about how you could break it up for 10 at a time.

94 • April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

I hope you are able to weather this. I hope you and your families are safe. I hope that you can keep as many employees employed as possible. I hope the economy jumps back in place. In the meantime, I’ll keep producing resources to help you.

April 2020 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 95

NJ RESTAURANTS

from page 40

ingredients that change with the seasons. What’s more, the eatery employs a smaller staff that are asked to take on more responsibility in exchange for a healthier wage. “If we want to be the best at what we do, we want to surround ourselves with people that are the best at what they do,” explained Chef Voller. “Four Story Hill Farm is mainly where I get my proteins. I call them on Sunday, Tuesdays they’re slaughtered, and Wednesday they come to the restaurant.” “[Four Story Hill Farm] raises about twelve hogs a year, just for me. They’re raised on organic vegetables—no corn, barley, or any of the things that these other pigs eat. And when you eat this pig, it’s the greatest pig you’re ever gonna eat,” claims Voller. “It’s different than having pork chops on your menu all the time. We have mangalitsa but you might come today and it’s scaloppini, the next day it’s tomahawk chop, and then it’s sausage—we just cycle through the whole animal and when that one’s gone, we do it again.” Lotsa Balls is situated in downtown Metuchen during a time where the small town has never been busier. What’s more, Penedos at the new location can “hit a nine iron” to the train station—a big deal for walkup customers and those traveling to Metuchen. Despite any noise surrounding the new restaurant, Penedos and company take the creation of their meatballs and each dish’s accompanying sauce quite seriously. “There was a little stir before we opened, the people said the name might be inappropriate, but it’s far from that,” said Penedos. “There’s no doubt, people are very particular about their meatballs. And the sauce is important. It’s not that run of the mill purée sauce—you can eat our sauce with a fork. Plus, we’re not character typed to just Italian. We have mac and cheese balls, buffalo chicken meatballs, Swedish meatballs, and we’re hoping to tap into vegan customers, gluten-free, and healthier fare.” Since opening, each restaurant has begun to establish a devoted customer base. They are both lucky enough to

As their name entails, Lotsa Balls has meatball platters that do not disappoint a healthy appetite (Photo byJacob Williamson - Simmer Group)

have industry connections from past restaurant endeavors that have been fruitful for the promotion of their current projects. However, Il Nido and Lotsa Balls have gained customers through very different marketing schemes. “There is a lot of pay-to-play PR— we do some of that occasionally. But really, we come here, buy the best ingredients, try to be one of the best restaurants, and then hope that people notice,” explained Voller when asked about how Il Nido has been promoted. “The beginning few months were a little rocky and you know [Joe Folgore’s] other business does incredibly well, and this is what he wanted. He was able to stay the course—if it’s not going to be organic and it’s not going to

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be great, then we just won’t do it.” This sort of marketing or what some would call “lack of” may have actually worked to Il Nido’s benefit. Sometimes restaurant marketing can attract the wrong customer—the ones that are skeptical about price or ask why Il Nido doesn’t have “chicken parm” on the menu. For what the Marlboro restaurant is going for—this seems to be the best route. Conversely, the fast-casual Lotsa Balls clocks in at a bit of a lower pricepoint and advertises sports and family fun in addition to great meatballs. Penedos’ project has a distinct theme that must make their traditional and digital marketing campaigns much easier. “We got games: Jenga and Pacman

machines. And we just did a ping pong tournament in the back room,” said Penedos. “Believe it or not, an 84-yearold woman won—she beat 15 legitimate athlete guys. Turns out, she was an Olympic ping pong player in the 80’s. Fun stuff [laughs]. She’s gonna come back and defend the title next time we do it. Otherwise, we have a TV commercial coming up, a radio spot on the Boomer and Gio show, and we’re doing ping pong tournaments, and Jenga tournaments.” More importantly than each restaurant’s marketing techniques is the fact that they both have thought-out plans and are sticking to them. As a result, the future seems bright for both businesses. “Good or bad for what we are, it’ll never be the cheapest restaurant, but when you have the best veal on the planet and it’s a 14oz chop—it just costs what it costs,” said Voller of Il Nido. “Luckily, we have a solid support of regulars, and I think more people are starting to notice.” A distinct business and marketing plan breeds a staff that buys into the business’s goals and a customer base that reflects these decisions. What’s more, both businesses have been collecting feedback and working to further their respective concepts to be the best they can. “We give feedback cards with the check and people are hilarious when they write us. But we gather feedback to build weekly specials: a soup special, a salad special, a meatball special, and usually a milkshake special. And right now, we’re on print one of the menu—we’re gonna come out with version two,” explained Penedos. “My partners and I come from an old school, mom-n-pop style restaurants—[Lotsa Balls] is more of a corporate-angled place. [In the future] we’re looking to franchise it and we’ve started the process.” It’s no secret that it takes guts to start a business—period. However, it takes even more pride to stick to a plan that has no guarantee of working out. Il Nido and Lotsa Balls have done just that, and it seems they’ve got what it takes.

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NYC CHEF RELIEF

from page 2

Michael Blake in a video on Twitter, noting that the service would focus on underserved neighborhoods, many home to high populations of undocumented immigrants. WCK then touched down in Los Angeles to begin its “grab and go” meal program there, aimed at providing lunches to students during school closures. Finally, WCK has set up a map online that provides times and locations of meal distribution networks across the country. Other restaurants are finding their own ways to be nimble, with many pivoting from packing dining rooms to packing vans with snacks for seniors, teaming with the charity Citymeals on Wheels. Chef Michael White’s Altamarea Group, the Rainbow Room and chef Thomas Keller all pitched in with the organization that feeds New York’s vulnerable during emergencies. All the restaurants are otherwise either closed or, in a few cases, operating limited delivery or takeout service. For the next six weeks, Altamarea Group will be donating 25 percent of gift-card sales to Citymeals; they can be used at group establishments like Grand Award winner Ai Fiori, and Best of Award of Excellence winners

KUNZ MEMORIAL

Marea and Vaucluse. “We have a longstanding and active relationship with Citymeals, and despite our time of extreme stress, we still wanted to share something with those most in need,” an Altamarea Group spokesperson noted. Keller’s Bouchon Bakery donated baked goods to the organization; Keller’s TAK Room and Grand Award winner Per Se also donated products to City Harvest. “The culinary community has always been so supportive of Citymeals and our mission,” said Citymeals executive director Beth Shapiro . “And now is no exception, during the coronavirus emergency, when our frail aged neighbors need us even more. We’d like to thank the local restaurants, purveyors and food groups that have donated so generously to nourish this vulnerable population.” Restaurants are tight-knit, and many are doing their best to take care of their own during massive layoffs, with potentially millions of employees no longer drawing incomes for rent and food. Chefs in Chicago have launched a lobbying effort called the Chef’s Call to Action, urging diners to call their legislators and ask for federal

small-business stimulus. Nationally and in New York, restaurateurs have started petitions for governments to provide legislative relief efforts like emergency unemployment benefits and rent abatement; the national initiative is called Save America’s Restaurants and the New York one, Relief Opportunity for All Restaurants (ROAR). These acts of kindness are not limited to the incredible compassion of “Celebrity chefs”. Ryan Carroll, a 2011 Sayville High School and Culinary Institute of America grad now living in New York City, was left without work after Mayor Bill de Blasio’s order to close all bars and restaurants. “I didn’t want to sit in my apartment so I packed up all my stuff and moved back home,” Carroll said of his decision to spend some time in his Sayville-family home. “I was thinking about making dinner then I automatically thought I had to bring a dish to my grandmother. Then it hit me, why don’t I bring a dish to every one’s grandma for free?” The model is $14 per meal, plus your grandma eats free. He is also donating 25 percent of his proceeds to Island Harvest, the rest goes towards making more meals.“I chose Island Harvest

because I know for a fact that they feed people, especially the poor and elderly, which just adds to my main goal,” he explained. Carroll is a trained chef working in NYC. He started his career working under Jean Georges at The Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton. He now works for John Frazier at the Times Square Edition in NYC at a 5-star hotel. He served chicken parm diners with Rigatoni Ala Vodka and a side of semolina bread. The next day he made short ribs with truffle mash. He has future plans for other highend dishes like seafood and steaks, cooking everything out of his Sayville kitchen. He promises to travel to drop off dishes anywhere from Sayville to Massapequa. “I’m just cooking simple delicious foods,” he said of his passion. “The first day I donated $382.50,” he added explaining that he also spent about $600 at Restaurant Depot and served about 50 people and three grandmas for free. Soon, he hinted at the possibility of linking up with other, out-of-work, chefs from NYC to help out. He plans to continue until the need is gone.

things that most would take for granted. From this passion for his craft the Gray Kunz spoons were born. Spoons are a tool in every chef’s arsenal. They allow cooks to perform a range of tasks from mixing, to plating, to portioning and of course, tasting. After leaving Lespinasse in 1998, Mr. Kunz waited more than five years to open his first eponymous restaurant, Café Gray, planned as one of the culinary anchors of the Time Warner Center while the building was still under construction at Columbus Circle. He had passed the time partly by writing his cookbook, “The Elements of Taste” (2001), with Peter Kaminsky. But Café Gray received mixed reviews on opening in 2004 and never drew a regular following.

It closed in 2008, along with Grayz, Mr. Kunz’s Midtown foray into upscale bar food. In 2009, the restaurant was reincarnated in Hong Kong’s Upper House hotel as Café Gray Deluxe, which at one time had a Michelin star. A Shanghai branch opened in 2018. Mr. Kunz is survived by his wife, Nicole; his children, Julie and Jimmy; and a brother, Kevin.

from page 4

Lespinasse from 1992 to 1996. “Every young chef wanted to learn from him.” Other alumni of Lespinasse, housed in the St. Regis hotel on East 55th Street off Fifth Avenue, include the chefs Corey Lee of Benu in San Francisco and Rocco DiSpirito and Floyd Cardoz in New York. Kunz was also a leader in vegetable-forward menus and local sourcing of ingredients, having trained with Frédy Girardet for five years in Crissier, Switzerland, one of the first fine-dining restaurants to boast its own on-premises garden. Kunz went on to hone his craft in Hong Kong where he cooked at The Regent Hotel. Kunz said of this time, “When I left there. I felt as comfortable with the Chinese palate as with the French.” Following those stints, Kunz went to set up shop in New

York City in 1989. Kunz’s first job in the city was at the Peninsula Hotel. People who worked with Mr. Kunz often cite his combination of exactitude and kindness. Jimi Yui, an architect and frequent collaborator, said it was chronic perfectionism that had forced Mr. Kunz to invent a cooking tool that has become standard equipment for young chefs: the wide-handled, shallow-bellied “Kunz spoon,” used specifically for making and plating sauces. “He went through every spoon in every kitchen, but none of them had just the right size, shape, and weight,” Mr. Yui said. Kunz was known for his exacting standards, attention to detail, and demanding excellence from his staff. The kitchens he commanded went beyond the norm and codify

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LEGAL INSIDER

from page 56

mised immune system or chronic health condition that makes them susceptible to COVID-19. Additionally, employers may inquire whether an employee has traveled to an affected area. If the CDC or other local public health officials have recommended that people who visited certain affected areas self-quarantine, an employer may require an employee who has traveled there to stay home. 11. Can I ask my employee for a doctor’s note before returning to work if the employee had exhibited COVID-19 symptoms? An employer may request a doctor’s note from employees returning to work after illness, but not without some risk. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), if an employer has a reasonable belief that an employee returning to work from a health-related absence presents a direct threat to the health of other individuals at work, the employer may request medical documentation showing that the employee does not present a direct threat. Employers bear the burden of showing a direct threat exists; however, it should not be difficult for employers to establish that COVID-19 constitutes such a direct threat. Nonetheless, generally, the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act prohibits employers from requiring documentation unless an employee has been absent for more than three consecutive days. Strictly applying the NYC rule that no documentation can be required unless the employee uses more than three consecutive sick days prohibits the employer from doing what is permissible under the federal ADA and, as a result, inhibits the operation of the ADA. Since federal law prevails over state and local laws where they conflict, it is likely that a court will not allow the NYC Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law to prohibit an employer from asking for doctors’ notes during this pandemic. 12. If one of my employees is diagnosed positive for COVID-19, what

do I do? Employers should inform all employees who worked closely with the infected employee and potentially customers who interacted with the employee of their exposure to COVID-19 and recommend self-isolation for 14 days to ensure the infection does not spread. However, employers should not identify the infected individual by name. A deep cleaning of the restaurant (or office, as applicable) should be undertaken. Employers are not obligated to report a case of the COVID-19 to the CDC. 13. Do I face legal liability from my employees for continuing to operate my restaurant on a delivery, take-out or carry-out-only basis if one of my employees contracts COVID-19? If an employee contracts COVID-19 in the workplace, either from a coworker or a customer, any claim would be subject to Workers’ Compensation which would shield the employer from liability for any personal injury-type claims. That said, theoretically, it could be an Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”) violation to fail to take precautions against COVID-19. Under OSHA, employers have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace, which means providing a workplace free from serious recognized hazards and complying with standards, rules and regulations issued under OSHA. Accordingly, employers should comply with the detailed guidance issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding the precautions that can and should be taken depending upon the level of exposure to the coronavirus an employee’s work entails. That guidance can be found at: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf. In light of this guidance, it seems highly unlikely that merely continuing to have employees continue to work during the pandemic is an OSHA violation, but there could be liability arising from a failure to maintain a safe workplace.

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QUEL’S CORNER

from page 60

conceptualized, we include counter seating, soft seating, media tables, traditional dining and other zones into the space. These seating varieties help ensure that a team can have a working lunch, a parent can return a teacher’s phone call, colleagues can socialize, and individuals can grab a cup of coffee and read for a few minutes. Lighting is also something that impacts our mental health. For years, studies have shown that it plays a role in our moods and can reduce symptoms of depression. When designing a foodservice environment, we’re always trying to take advantage of the natural light. One of my favorite examples of this is the design/ build renovation elite|studio e did at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield in Newark, NJ. Throughout the café, designers took advantage of the views of the Hudson River and Manhattan. On a bright day, the space is flooded with sunshine and I’d bet the operator and client staff have a pep in their

steps after lunch! Taking advantage of outdoor space is also extremely important in terms of natural light, fresh air, mindfulness and general health. I have a feeling its something that we’ll practice even more in light of our experiences with COVID-19. From a foodservice perspective, we’ve worked with companies on creating patios or seating areas with mobile carts, pass through windows to the building exterior, outdoor kitchens and more offerings. But speaking generally for a minute, even placing benches in a courtyard can help encourage people to be outside. These spaces also provide another experience throughout the day and can help foster a sense of community — maybe the same people dine outside regularly or before work a few people meet there for yoga. Creating a sense of community is a priority when designing for wellness. The concept of dining zones certainly helps with this, but it’s also about supporting diverse ability, mo-

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bility and encouraging people of all backgrounds to use a space. Designing for an inclusive community, isn’t only about meeting the ADA requirements to fit a wheelchair between a café pinch point or having braille wayfinding available. This concept takes the idea to the next step. Maybe your company recognizes that a particular ethnic background makes up a large part of your building population and incorporates a station serving food from that culture; or with food allergies on the rise, designating an enclosed area with safe menu options so these individuals can grab a bite and dine with colleagues. These ideas aren’t new but they’re certainly thoughts to consider achieving a community feeling in your café. Another way to express community identity is through public art. Integrating art increases accessibility and visibility of art for the public by removing it from the traditional museum or gallery setting. It helps connect artists with the community and

allows an office building to create a more personal, enriched space that feels authentic and unique to the neighborhood. Recently, members of the elite|studio e team were at a grand opening celebration in Tampa, Florida. The wall graphics were a painting created by a homeless individual in that community. The designs were enlarged to adorn the café walls and the artist was commissioned for the project. I think it was an incredible way to bring the community into this project. There are many ways to meet the criteria for Well Building and FitWel, and some of them don’t require a new site. I’ve simply provided a starting point for the conversation about how design can help people thrive and I encourage you to learn more about it. When you consider that 90% of our time is spent in buildings, how these environments can contribute to workplace productivity, health and wellness is the logical next step in green building.

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