February 2019 - Total Food Service

NEWS

CATERING

Neumark Led Great Performances Headed For New Bronx Home

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t looks increasingly as if the list of new residents in the Bronx in 2019 will not include any of Major League Baseball’s top free agents. What is for sure is that one of Metro New York’s and the nation’s leading caterers Great Performances will be moving to the South Bronx.

Under the guidance of the visionary Liz Neumark, the nutritionallyconscious caterer will be making the move from Manhattan to the Bronx.

This summer it will make the move from its long time home in Hudson Square to the Bruckner Building in the Bronx’s Mott Haven neighborhood. Work is already underway on

Liz Neumark, CEO and Entrepreneur, Great Performances, New York, NY

The company was founded in 1979 by Neumark as a staffing service for women in the arts. It is now an acknowledged leader in the highprofile arena of catered events. a former factory at 2417 Third Ave. in the fast-changing Mott Haven neighborhood.The new location has nearly 41,000 square feet compared with only 24,500 square feet at 304 Hudson St. and will house all cooking, catering and events operations.

The company was founded in 1979 by Neumark as a staffing service for women in the arts. It is now an acknowledged leader in the highprofile arena of catered events.

Great Performances has built its reputation by serving many of New York City’s most legendary venues.

These include the Plaza Hotel Grand Ballroom, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Rockefeller University and BAM. All of its restaurant-quality dishes will soon be prepared and delivered from the Bronx and trucked to a growing roster of clients.

Great Performances is the first catering company to own and operate its own organic farm, Katchkie Farm

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in Columbia County, New York. The Company pioneered the 100-Mile Menu, bringing sustainable food to the forefront of the special events industry.

The Company’s founder and CEO Neumark said, “I’m on the board of the Hudson Square Business Improvement District, so we knew this was coming” — referring to Disney’s purchase of four buildings last year to make room for a new headquarters tower. Neumark’s lease on Hudson Street, where it’s been for 26 years, had a demolition clause, but “fortunately it gave us a year to be out.”

The Great Perfromances move is the latest in the regentrification of the Bronx neighborhood. Today the resurgent area boasts new investments, new apartments and 24-7 street life, thanks to a slew of popular restaurants and taverns.

Neumark said, “I’m a Manhattan girl through and through. But we

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

Cover Photo courtesy of Melba’s Total Food Service ISSN No. 1060-8966 is published monthly by IDA Publishing, Inc., 282 Railroad Ave., Greenwich, CT 06830. Phone: 203.661.9090. This issue copyright 2019 by IDA Publishing Inc. Contents in full or part may not be reproduced without permission. Not responsible for advertisers claims or statements.

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looked in Queens, we did the Brooklyn thing and Upper Manhattan.

“We never looked in the Bronx,” she said. “I took that [Major Deegan] exit a million times and never noticed that building. “But a year ago, it just grabbed me,” she said. “It’s one of those wonderful industrial buildings that no one builds any-

continued on page 116

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NEWS

ACQUISITIONS

Singer Equipment Acquires EVI, Inc.

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inger Equipment President and Chief Executive Officer, Fred Singer, announced the acquisition of the business of EVI, located in Glenelg, MD. EVI is a leading foodservice equipment contract dealer serving multi-unit and independent restaurant operators. Tom and Dana Lawson will continue as the executives leading the new division which will operate as Singer EVI, LLC. Tom will report directly to Fred Singer.

“With the addition of the outstanding contract equipment team at EVI, the combined company will be able to expand our presence in the fastgrowing multi-unit operator segment of our market, as well as bring

increased services to the existing EVI customer base. Tom and Dana have built a great team that has delivered exceptional service to its customers. Singer Equipment strives to be the most responsive and knowledgeable foodservice equipment and supplies distributor in the country. EVI is known for a similar focus on delivering outstanding service to its customers. We welcome the EVI team to our family of companies and look forward to supporting and growing the business,” said Singer.

“Dana and I have always been passionate about restaurants. We have created meaningful partnerships with our clients over the last twenty plus

4 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

years,” said Tom Lawson, Founder and President of EVI. “We are thrilled to align ourselves with Fred Singer.

The resources of Singer will allow us to push the boundaries of our business and deliver increased value to our clients, while maintaining the high level of service and passion that has brought us so much professional success over the years. We are excited to grow with our clients as we continue to expand the services we can offer as their advocate.”

Singer Equipment Company, currently the sixth largest foodservice equipment dealer in the United States, is the leading foodservice equipment dealer in the mid-Atlantic market.

Singer also builds commercial kitchens nationwide for chain restaurants, higher education, healthcare and hospitality clients. “Singer will continue to look for other strategic acquisitions that enhance our ability to service key markets and customers,” says Singer.

Founded in 1918, Singer is known for its broad inventory, high level of service and excellence in completing new kitchen installation projects.

Singer maintains a multimillion-dollar inventory of equipment as well as tabletop, kitchen, disposable and janitorial supplies available for immediate delivery. Entrepreneur Partners served as the financial advisor to Singer Equipment.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 5

NEWS

LEGISLATION

Long Awaited NYC Foam Ban Takes Effect

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nce again, New York City’s packaged food items imported into landfills and pose other environmeninto a landfill, it takes eons to break restaurant community is the city from pro-styrofoam locales, tal problems. down, and when it breaks down it only faced with the implemenalong with polystyrene packaging for The Restaurant Action Alliance, a lets out toxins,” noted New York City tation of new legislation the transport of meats and fish, are food industry lobbying group that mayor Bill de Blasio . “Every single one that impacts their bottom lines. In accepted. formed to fight the ban, scored a vicof these is made out of petroleum and an eco-friendly start to the new year, There are some rather interesttory in 2015, the first time the city that’s the problem to begin with. To New York City began banning the ing exceptions to the new ban. Foam attempted a polystyrene ouster. A support its position, in 2014, the NYC possession,sale, or use of certain foam containers that are used for prepackSupreme Court judge thwarted SaniSanitation Department said it had colproducts . aged food that are sealed up before a tation Department Commissioner lected approximately 28,500 tons of As of January 1, 2019 certain foam restaurant or store receives them are Kathryn Garcia’s proposed total styroexpanded polystyrene, and most of products will be banned from possesacceptable. The foam containers that foam ban, on the grounds that Garcia that came in the form of single-use sion, sale, or use in NYC. This includes store raw meat, pork, fish, seafood, or had not sufficiently proved that styrofood-service products like cups. foam takeout containers, cups, packpoultry sold from a butcher case are foam recycling was economically imDozens of communities around ing peanuts, plates, bowls and trays. also considered an exception. practical and environmentally untenthe country have enacted some form According to the NYC Department The implementation of the ban was able. After Garcia undertook a more of plastic foam ban in recent years. of Sanitation, “dirty, post-consumer, six years in the making. City lawmakin-depth analysis, the judge reversed New York City joins, Washington, D.C., single-service foam food and beverers approved the ban in 2013, but a her decision, moving the foam ban Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Minage containers cannot be recycled in a lawsuit from the restaurant industry forward in June, 2018. neapolis, Oakland, and Albany in the manner that is economically feasible, held it off for years. A judge ruled this City officials say the containers clog banning of foam. environmentally effective, and safe for past June that it could go forward. City up landfills and pose other environThe city has said that nonprofemployees as part of the City’s curbofficials say the containers clog up mental problems. “When this goes its and small business that bring in side recycling program,” less than $500,000 in revtherefore, as of January 1, enue a year can apply for stores, restaurants, and exemptions if they can mobile food commissarprove that buying alternaies are banned from ustive polystyrene containing foam products such as ers and products would takeout clamshells, cups, significantly harm their and plates. finances.

The DSNY’s moratorium The city is slated to start on foam use targets “food issuing tickets July 1st. service establishments, Establishments found in stores, mobile food comviolation of the foam ban missaries and manufacturwill receive fines for each ers.” They may no longer Notice of Violation issued “possess, sell, or offer for within a 12-month periuse single-service Expandod. One violation will run ed Polystyrene (EPS) foam $250. A second offense food service articles or is $500, and for a third or The ban of foam containers does present the opportunity to upgrade to more efficient plastic containers, such as loose fill packaging.” Premore, the fine is $1,000.

Anchor Packaging’s Crisp Food Technology containers (above).

6 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

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February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 7

NEWS

NIGHTLIFE

Palitz Unveils New York City Nightlife Report Showing $697 Million in Tax Revenue

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ow we know the reason related jobs and wages growing at why the City of New York annual rates of 5% and 8%, respeccommitted to opening tively, compared to 3% and 4% in the a Department of Nightcity overall. life and finding the right person to The study showed a shifting landguide it. scape. Though Manhattan still is The first-ever economic impact home to the majority of nightlife study of the sector was released late establishments, with 13,000 as of last month by the Mayor’s Office of 2016, Brooklyn, with 5,500 venues, Media and Entertainment, looked experienced the largest growth, with at restaurants, bars, arts and culan annual rate of 5%. tural institutions, music venues and Media and entertainment officials sports and recreation facilities open attributed growth in the outer borbetween 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. It found oughs to ride services such as Lyft that there are more than 25,000 such and Uber. The report looked at taxi establishments in the five boroughs that contribute $697 million in local tax revenue.

“We have long known that nightlife is a fundamental part of New York City’s culture and identity,” said Ariel Palitz, senior executive director of the office of nightlife. “Now we can also quantify exactly how vital it is as an economic driver. We hope this report will change the conversation about how nightlife is supported and appreciated.”

The city’s nightlife industry supports nearly 300,000 jobs and has $35.1 billion in total economic output, according to the study. The report also found that the sector is growing faster than the rest of the Ariel Palitz, Senior Executive Director, New York City Office of Nightlife local economy, with nightlife-

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and for-hire-vehicle data during the midnight-to-4 a.m. time period and found that in northern Bushwick between 2013 and 2017, there was a 92% increase in trips, for example.

Also, a new music venue and nightclub in Bushwick was Lyft’s No. 1 pickup spot in Brooklyn during the last year, they said.

“We’re seeing a growth in liquor licenses in Williamsburg, Prospect Heights, Bushwick—a new nightlife mecca is happening,” said Shira Gans, senior executive director of policy and programs.

Palitz, who was hired by Mayor Bill de Blasio in March to head a new effort to support the nightlife sector, said plans are in the works to develop a portal to make permitting easier for the industry to navigate.

The study was conducted by the North Highland Co., ESI Consult Solutions and Urbane Development during the summer. As part of the study, 1,300 interviews were conducted with venue owners, consumers, employees and residents.

Nearly 90% of the owners and operators said their biggest challenge was rising commercial rents. Other challenges included regulatory red tape and people staying home more. Still, 60% of owners expected to still be in business in three years.

“We have long known that nightlife is a fundamental part of New York City’s culture and identity,” said Ariel Palitz, senior executive director of the office of nightlife. “Now we can also quantify exactly how vital it is as an economic driver. We hope this report will change the conversation about how nightlife is supported and appreciated.”

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 9

MIXOLOGY

WITH WARREN BOBROW

Valentine’s Day Cocktails For Your Sweet Tooth

Warren Bobrow is the creator of the popular blog The Cocktail Whisperer and the author of nearly half a dozen books, including Apothecary Cocktails, Whiskey Cocktails, Bitters and Shrub Syrup Cocktails, and his most recent book Cannabis Cocktails,

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ith Valentine’s Day fast approaching, the historically perpetual image of a sweet drink in every glass is as flawed as the original recipes that they emanate from. It’s not necessary to make every Valentine’s Day themed drink sweet!

This should be a head’s up to the theory that Valentine’s Day always a day to overwhelm your sweet tooth!

There are several ways to entice the drinker into wanting to take their palate to a higher place. First of all, the glassware should be exciting. A new coupe’ glass, or an elegant Champagne flute, or if your drink centers around the masculine in image, perhaps an extra heavy Old-Fashioned glass to cradle some extra old rum in relaxation? And there is nothing wrong with upping the game with exotic bitters as a flourish, just before serving.

I love the varieties of bitters on the market today. They make my job, very easy.

Keep in mind that Valentine’s Day, really is not a set-in stone holiday for sweet drinks, although a chocolate martini- style drink is never out of place in addition to a luscious dessert.

An after dinner cocktail should always offset the dessert.

This should force the bartender to work with their kitchen staff when building a cocktail menu. One would

Mocktails, & Tonics.

generally not pare a spicy dessert cocktail with more subtle flavors that arrive from the kitchen. Communicate and all will be well!

Here are some examples of Valentine’s Day Cocktails from my Cocktail Whisperer imagination- which has some new ideas for your beleaguered sensibilities. Try one or try them all, delicious and nutritious.

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She Perused A Variety Of Interests – a take on the French 75… so it’s easy!

Ingredients: • Absinthe in a spray bottle • 1 brown sugar cube • 1 oz. Jamaican Rum • .25 oz. Oloroso Sherry • 4 oz. Sparkling Wine • Cardamom Bitters

Preparation: 1. Chill a Collins Glass 2. Fill a Boston Shaker ¾ with ice 3. Add the Chocolate Milk 4. Add the Mezcal 5. Add the Simple 6. Cap and Shake hard 7. Strain over crushed ice in a Collins Glass 8. Dot with Chocolate Mole’ Bitters

Preparation: 1. Chill a Champagne Flute with ice and water, pour out when frosty 2. Spray the inside of the flute with the Absinthe in the spray bottle 3. Add the brown sugar cube 4. Add five drops of the Cardamom bitters on the cube 5. Add the Jamaican Rum 6. Add Oloroso Sherry 7. Top with Sparkling wine and serve with a smile

Sort of Like That Chocolate Thing They Add Vodka To Ingredients: • 2 oz. Vodka – something decent, please!

• 1 oz. Heavy Cream • 1 oz. Chocolate Syrup • .15 Vanilla Simple Syrup- I use fresh vanilla, always • Large cube ice • Black Walnut Bitters

Raise the Chocolaty! – ok, I know this sounds sweet, but really, it isn’t…

Ingredients: • 2 oz. Home-made Chocolate Milk, Chocolate syrup and milk.. easy..

• Chocolate Mole’ Bitters • 1 oz. Mezcal of your choice • .5 Dark Simple Syrup • Crushed ice

Preparation: 1. Fill a Boston Shaker ¾ with ice 2. Add the Vodka, the heavy cream and the chocolate syrup 3. Add the Vanilla simple 4. Cap and Shake hard 5. Strain over a large cube of ice in a double old-fashioned glass with a paper straw 6. Dot with Black Walnut Bitters

BOOTH #3240

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 11

NEWS

CATERING

Neuman’s Kitchen Inks Pact With Chef Floyd Cardoz Kitchen To Elevate Indian Catering

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ndian food catering now has a celebrity face as acclaimed Chef Floyd Cardoz and awardwinning Neuman’s Kitchen have entered into an exclusive catering partnership to offer a new take on Indian cuisine with the 37-yearold catering house. With critically acclaimed restaurants in India and the US, Cardoz is best recognized as the Season Three winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters.

The celebrity chef will offer menus inspired by his native India as well as his experience as head chef at restaurants like Danny Mayer’s Tabla and North End Grill. The international menus created exclusively for Neuman’s Kitchen will feature such fusion plates as Black Pepper Shrimp with wild watercress and watermelon salad as well as Shishito Pepper Pakoras and will include a full range of catered items from appetizers, to entrees and desserts as well as options for a live chef station with Cardoz himself.

What makes this collaboration even more special is the innovative presentation that Neuman’s Kitchen is known for. “Our goal with this collaboration,” says Paul Neuman, owner of Neuman’s Kitchen, “is to offer our clients Floyd’s highly personal approach and unique interpretations of Indian food for their catered events. It was love at first sight when we first met Floyd, and

we instinctively knew that his creativity and our direction were going to be something unique in the catering arena.”

Currently, Robb Garceau is the Executive Chef at Neuman’s Kitchen. Garceau, who has won the catering house multiple awards and whose resume includes stints at Jean-Georges and Great Performances, is known for his passion for sustainable cuisine and distinctive presentation, particularly for bridal events. Cardoz will add international flavor and celebrity appeal to the catering house’s repertoire.

“I believe that good food and good cooking are not only about how good something looks or tastes, it’s also Chef Floyd Cardoz about how good you feel while cooking for someone you love, or eating someties and reach I was looking for in thing that has been lovingly presuch a partnership, and I am excited pared for you,” Cardoz added. “The to start this new journey with them.” entire process of cooking is about The Cardoz menus will be availexpressing your soul. If your food able starting March 2019 and will does not have soul, it will not give begin with a focus on bridal and life joy to those eating it. And without cycle events as well as destination soul, we are nothing. Working with weddings. Neuman’s Kitchen, based Neuman’s Kitchen will allow me to in New York and Philadelphia, will offer my food to larger events, somecollaborate with caterers around thing I can’t do in my restaurants.

North America through their affiliaNeuman’s Kitchen has the capabilition with LCA – The Leading Caterers

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of America to enable Floyd to reach a national audience.

Neuman’s Kitchen has made a name for itself through its award-winning cuisine equally known for its hallmark for presentation and commitment to sustainability. Started by Paul Neuman in 1981, the company’s mission is to live at the intersection of food, art and commerce—to delight, inspire and be inspired. The catering house did over 1800 events in 2018, ranging from 15 to 2000 people, spanning corporate, bridal and private events.

Floyd Cardoz is a celebrity chef who first gained recognition as chef for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group’s Tabla and North End Grill. He later went on to win Season Three of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters. Cardoz has received the James Beard Award for “Humanitarian of the Year” and in 2011, GQ Magazine named him among the “Top 50 Most Influential Global Indians.” He currently is the chef-owner of NYC’s Bombay Bread Bar and is the Culinary Director of Mumbai’s Bombay Canteen, which has recently been named India’s top restaurant, 2019

by Condé Nast Traveler.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 13

THE FOODIE QUIPPER

WITH JOE FERRI

Food? Service?

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n industry long in search of a befitting moniker has done a terrible job of defining itself.

Arguments about whether Americans call it “foodservice” or “food service” miss the point, as food and service have now been effectively decoupled.

With the rise of virtual restaurants, ghost kitchens, take-out proliferation, delivery expansion (robotic and otherwise i.e. DoorDash, Uber Eats etc.), grocerants, and a host of others, clearly tech has disrupted the industry.

The very definition of food itself is being challenged with the introduction and immediate popularity of protein substitutes such as “bleeding” burgers, near-meat and 3-D printed items (which remind us more of Star Trek replicators than chef inspirations).

The path from farm to table is getting longer, not shorter!

Mealtimes are illdefined.

Workplace cafeterias are under legislative fire. A quarter century of vilifying ingredient categories has taken its toll: nuts, flour, fats, salt, animal protein, eggs, shellfish, ocean fish, alcohol.

The very staff-of-life which this far has survived millennia, credited with catalyzing and sustaining civilization

Joe Ferri (AKA the Foodiequipper)

itself now is characterized as persona-non-grata.

Large-scale farming which lifts whole populations from poverty and starvation has assumed the position of public enemy number one.

Similarly, big corporate food fulfillment has found themselves to be under fire as they expand to fill consumers’ needs.

Is that imported product truly “organic”? Fake news reports about seemingly innocuous or benign food classes abound. Will clean eating only be available to the coastal elites? How much bread will you be asked to fork over?

How does the industry respond to such wholesale destruction? As it always has and must, it will adapt

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through innovation and rebirth.

People who feed people are the pluckiest…

Obviously, new robust production and delivery standards and systems must be established. One key to safety and speed lies in the manipulation of temperatures.

Active heating and cooling will be performed at the production and destination ends, while passive warming and holding is important throughout the entire cycle. Multifunctional appliances - some enabled with artificial intelligence – will take the lead in these areas.

Blast chillers, shock freezers, combi oven steamers and steam equipment are all having a renaissance with their inclusion in the

was conceived in a Greenwich Village speakeasy’s walk-in box, the love child of the hat check girl and bartender. He is in his fifth decade of (somewhat) gainful employment in the foodservice industry. He is past chairman of MAFSI and currently COO of Pecinka Ferri Assoc., a NY area equipment, furnishings and supplies representative. Follow Joe @ joeferri on Twitter.

latest mega-kitchens. Speed ovens, conveyors, and ventless fryers, ovens, and grills now populate the plans for non-traditional venues.

Controls and monitoring devices keep watch on, and record any variances, allowing operators to mine the data.

Conveyances will be under scrutiny as to their suitability for safe transport whether between facilities or to an ultimate consumer.

Real estate too, will play a big role in this new reality. Less emphasis will be placed on kitchen location.

Receptor sites will not need ventilation to serve food.

“Front of the house” gains a new meaning as there may be no “back of the house” in the house.

A whole new approach to meal delivery is morphing right before our eyes with the separation of food preparation and its logistics: the divorce of food from service.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 15

CHEFCETERA Queens Chef Escapes Cooking Line To Become Nationally Recognized Competitive Toque

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hef Jonathan Scinto cooks with passion in every dish he creates! Growing up in an Italian and Jewish family, the Long Island native utilizes rustic Italian flavors and Asian influences to create what he calls: “Itasian”.

Chef Jonathan has helped raise over $250,000 for numerous local and national charities.

Can you share your background?

I grew up on Long Island and lived there for a good 30 plus years.

My parents lived in Little Neck and Douglaston for about 10 years and then we moved out to Long Island.

How did you get into the business?

As a little boy, most kids were watching Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street but I loved watching cooking shows like Julia Child. Later in life after school, I found myself working in cooking and

Chef Jonathan Scinto

catering. But it wasn’t something I pursued heavily. I went to work in showbiz for a post production company and when I got to college I did client services and catering for them. So we did a lot of stuff on movie sets with full-fledged catering for the clients that came in. Many of these folks were some of the top directors and producers. We were in the old Daily News building in midtown Manhattan.

There were guys like the famous New York ad legend Jerry Della Femina .

How did 9/11 change your career?

As with so many businesses, 9/11 impacted the production business in NYC. So when the company I was working for closed, My Dad and I decided to open a restaurant in Bayshore.

We were doing great and I learned a ton but my Dad got sick so we sold.

What were the lessons learned from that venture?

No question that you have to really understand the space that you are getting into. We were directly across from a health club that had all kinds of traffic so the key is to lock in the customer that is walking by the door every day with the right menu and then to work really hard to attract the rest of the community as a destination.

The other lesson is that if you are going to be dependent on serving traffic like that, you better go in with a complete understanding of what you are signing up for. We were working

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An example of Chef Jonathan Scinto’s cuisine: Sauteed Cod Fillets with Artichoke Puree, Pickled Vegetables, and Blood Orange Vodka Oil

16 hours a day seven days a week. We opened up about 5:00 in the morning for breakfast. We closed at 10:00 o’clock at night and it was backbreaking. I missed events including family get togethers.

You have a unique perspective of working in both the City and the Suburbs. What’s your read on the differences in being successful at both?

Funny with or without social media, there is way more pressure on Long Island. You make one mistake and it is spoken very quickly and everyone knows. This was before social media was really big and there was no Facebook. When I was working in the city in catering, I noticed New York City was more of a melting pot. With 7 to 10 million people a customer’s life tends to be more liberal and lenient.

So what led to this incredible career you have built on TV? I was working all kinds of hours as an Admissions Counselor for a culinary school. My wife saw me come home one day and said this has to change. ‘You have too much talent, I’ve been watching these cooking competitions on TV and you are better than any of those chefs.’ I told her that she was crazy but I would go to the audition anyway and the rest is history.

Sure enough I got past all the New York City auditions over three months.

Then they flew me out to Los Angeles for more auditions there. I’m convinced that the experience of the postproduction job I had in Manhattan made me comfortable working on the

continued on page 112

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 17

NEWS

EXPANSION

Opening of Restaurant Depot Brings New Jobs to Wilkes-Barre Community

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estaurant Depot, the nation’s premiere cash and carry food wholesaler opened its latest store in Wilkes-Barre, PA last month.

On the site of what was an empty lot, Restaurant Depot has built a brand-new state-of-the art facility.

Once again, Restaurant Depot brings its unique recipe of community involvement to the Pennsylvania city.

Across America Restaurant Depot has brought a solution for business owners that struggle with food and supply costs. In addition, Restaurant Depot

has been lauded for its ability to create jobs in the local community.

Local restaurant and bar owners have been looking forward to the arrival. Everything at Restaurant Depot can be inspected to insure quality, before it is purchased. There is no minimum purchase required, meaning customers can buy exactly the amount they need without worrying about waste.

“We are so excited to join the community here in Wilkes-Barre!” says branch manager Amy Vallely.

“Our new 58,000 square foot location has created 38 jobs and we are ready

to help local businesses see how much they can save when they shop with us,” Vallely added. In addition to food and beverages, the store also includes a comprehensive selection of restaurant equipment and supplies including a full line of packaging solutions.

The new Wilkes-Barre store features RD’s industry leading one-stop shopping which simplifies the process of buying food, equipment and supplies.

Whether you buy a few bakery supplies or enough food and tableware to cater a party for 5,000, shopping at Restaurant Depot can save you time

and money. And at Restaurant Depot, members have the option to purchase many items by the piece or by the case, saving on the unit costs accordingly.

Since Restaurant Depot is a “cash and carry”, there are no minimum order requirements, no delivery fees, and the price you see on the shelf tag is the price you pay. Plus, RD proudly offers an “Always Fresh”!” guarantee.

Restaurant Depot is open 7 days a week- Wholesale Only. Membership is free and open to all businesses and non profit organizations. For more information, visit restaurantdepot.com

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Improve restaurant operations by gaining visibility into your restaurant’s data through kitchen management technology and an easy-to-use point of sale system built in the cloud.

Toast’s restaurant management platform combines front of the house, back of the house and guest-facing technology that empowers restaurateurs.

Deliver amazing guest experiences toasttab.com/totalfoodservice-2019

18 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

by offering digital gift cards, text and email receipts, and personalized marketing campaigns.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 19

SEDERHOLT ON RESTAURANT FINANCE

Fixed Costs, Variable Costs and Annual Opportunities

David Sederholt is a multi-discipline entrepreneur who has launched and built numerous companies in

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s every new year begins, many small business owners are faced with a couple of very important decisions which will affect them financially throughout the entire year. We have talked before about the implications of negotiating a favorable lease as those fixed costs will be with you for the life of your business. We have also talked about the importance of controlling variable costs like food and labor as essential to achieving profitability.

But at this time of year, many of us are shopping for the renewal of our insurance coverage which will affect us for a full year and evaluating whether our accountants are working aggressively enough on our behalf and providing real value to the business.

Through experience as an entrepreneur I developed a habit to evaluate these two areas each year and review the performance of the providers. Annual renewals enable us to “shop our account” in the insurance markets to save money and improve the quality of coverage.

In the early days with my first restaurant, I listened to my Mother in Law and bought insurance coverage from “Aunt Mary’s kid” who was an agent who was getting started in the

specialty finance, foodservice and commercial real estate over 40 years.

After owning, financing and operat-

Annual renewals enable us to “shop our account” in the insurance markets to save money and improve the quality of coverage. biz. I figured, why not, what’s the difference? Insurance is insurance and the Agents all go to the same providers and get similar policies.

Right? Wrong.

Through a series of mishaps and incidents I found that we were exposed to losses that I believed were covered or at least sufficiently covered with reasonable deductibles and limits. Again, a big mistake. I also found out that having a policy with a large well named insurance company doesn’t mean you have adequate coverage. Insurance companies offer a million options designed to raise or lower exposure and/or cost. Sometimes the agent would play to keep you as a client by reducing your coverage to keep the cost under control. Wow, they saved me 20%!! It all sounds good until you have a claim and find out that you are left high and dry. In our business people slip and fall, claim

20 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

food poisoning, and make labor claims. After taking a few hits, I realized that I didn’t know enough and that Aunt Mary’s kid didn’t either.

Comprehensive coverage, general liability, liquor liability, workers comp all need specialized knowledge as well as someone who has specialized industry knowledge.

Getting the right plan design and carrier can make an enormous difference. The right Agent can save you money and grief. Look for a specialist in your industry.

When I had one restaurant my needs were much different than when I was President of a publically traded multi-unit chain. One of the big challenges was and is attracting and retaining quality staff and management which meant offering a competitive health benefits package. In today’s world if you want grab a top gun management team, you need to treat them and their

ing 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.

family well without breaking the bank.

The key again was to have a topnotch benefits agent to hunt and fight for you who knew the business well. I found that guy around 20 years ago. Tom Spreitzer, the owner of Diversified Brokerage in Goshen, New York (www.diversifiedbrokerage.com) consistently jumped through hoops of fire for me, my employees and my compa-

continued on page 118

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 21

TREND TALK

WITH JOYCE APPELMAN

On Our Radar: Predictions For Food & Beyond In 2019 Joyce Appelman, is the Director of

Insights From Industry Analyst Phil Kafarakis, President of the Specialty Food Association

for Total Food Service and previously the National Communications Director for C-CAP, Careers through Culinary Arts Program. An industry

W

e’re looking into the proverbial crystal ball and seeing what the experts are predicting with regard to trends worth watching for 2019.

Industry analyst Phil Kafarakis, president of the Specialty Food Association, has made his forecast. His insights and variety of perspectives include the CEO revolving door, brand loyalty, financial engineering, new food retail concepts, disruption, and the future of Big Food.

Here are the insights caught our attention:

Public Relations and Special Events

to the many ways of shuffling inventory and attempting to hit aggressive revenue targets. Consumers have been conditioned to buy on deal and the “cherry picking” is going to continue to erode margins for food brands.

- Commodity input costs are going up, labor and benefit costs are spiraling out of control due to health care coverage pressures, attracting talent is getting harder particularly within supply-chain jobs and keeping pace with technology needs for security systems and data protection costs an arm and a leg – that’s all before investing in any

type of innovation.

3. Traditional retailing totally accept technology and pop-ups gain momentum. In the wake of Sears, leveraging consumer data to personalize merchandising, negotiating rents and examining brick & mortar locations is in high gear for food merchants. Online ordering and in-store pickup will only get more intense (December 2018’s exceptional holiday sales proved that out).

- Modernizing supply-chains for “just-in-time” inventories will only get

leader supporting education and scholarships, she has been instrumental in opening career opportunities for many young people in the foodservice industry. Email her at joyceappelman@gmail.com

more attention and funding from the corporate office.

- Taking the “physical store” to the consumer via a pop-up strategy will be a new approach that the food retail community will be piloting extensively.

that 4. If you’re in the food business and do not understand the Farm Bill, you’re in trouble as big farming operations are going to only get stronger (pricing power) and commodity raw materials pricing is going to be a serious concern given the subsidies and guaranties they will receive from the government (Farm Bill). Managing your raw material supplier and leveraging tools that will enable more accurate forecasting of raw materials will be a real concern - Add on to that uncertainly in input costs the tremendous unpredictably with current global trade challenges and you’ve got a P&L that will implode within minutes depending on your product category.

-Investments in areas like sustain-

1. Financial reengineering will be even more important than driving brand loyalty. Venture capitalists and activist investors will drive even more complexity into core business processes looking for faster EPS (earnings per share) and quicker exits.

2. Leadership, talent and business as usual is not going to cut it!

The CEO Carousel will continue to go “round & round”. More big food brands will be retiring long-tenured leaders and looking for innovative new approaches to business transformation.

- Heavy promotional discounting and retailer incentives to move inventory is no longer acceptable in hitting quarterly EPS targets. Analysts are on

More innovative meatless options have been launched like Molly’s Kitchen® Meatless Crumble and Meatless Breaded Boneless Wings from US Foods

22 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

continued on page 24

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 23

2019 Food Predictions, from page 22 able farming, animal welfare, hemp as an agricultural commodity and nonGMO related foods provide opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage.

5.The legislative environment is only going to get more complicated as labeling will continue to be a factor as product definitions are being finalized.

- The recent ruling on non-GMO foods and the ongoing battle over the definition of “milk” can provide opportunities for food brands that are looking to expand market share and experience accelerated growth in new product segments (particularly within the plant-based food segment).

6.Consumer behavior will only continue to be more fickle as the real truth is in understanding consumer “values and ethos” by demographic segment.

- Local food, charities, causes will carry the day and social media marketing is the most effective method in driving loyalty.

- A more willing acceptance to experiment will drive consumption in the new food categories outlined below. Human curiosity will allow marketers to create awareness of products that can solve health related issues.

7. And Now for the Food – The biggest gains and most impact-

ful areas to watch for consumer acceptance across all food channels are focused on health and wellness – particularly as we better understand low fat, high protein diets, allergies and digestive health. Here are the big four food categories to watch: - “Lab-meat” will come to acceptance.

- “Plant-Based” everything will grow even more exponentially. Vegan will become a much more featured lifestyle across all food channels. Algae in multiple forms, more seeds, roots and herbs, and beans of every size, shape and flavor.

- “Alternative protein” products, particularly insects of multiple varieties, will begin to expand distribution within traditional U.S. grocery channels and away from supplements.

- “Fermented functional beverages” will continue to grow as digestive issues become an even better understood health disorder.

- Beverages will feature ingredients like: chaga mushroom, lion’s mane, cordyceps, drinking vinegars, and the traditional Slavic/Baltic drink kvas made from rye bread.

The Specialty Food Association annual predictions stretch far beyond consumer trends and affect the entire food service industry.

How will these trends affect your business?

24 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

“We expect the interest in clean ingredients to grow this year. Our category managers will continue to place an emphasis on procuring the highest quality ingredients from the best artisan producers from around the world.” - Christopher Pappas, Chief Executive Officer, The Chefs’ Warehouse.

“Perceived healthy eating habits continue to change and while the foodservice industry does an adequate job of addressing some of these menu requests, the best part of today’s food culture and consumer awareness is not in the replacement of certain foods. It is in the demand for higher quality foods. The best example of this is with our red meat consumption.

Red meat has made a tremendous resurgence on menus, but now as USDA Organic, 100% Grass Fed, Non-GMO, organic offerings.” - Linda Kavanagh, President MaxEx PR and New England Culinary Group Shawn McCall, US Foods President, Metro New York“Culinary trends are moving faster than ever and when restaurant operators aren’t moving forward with the right trends at the right time, it’s easy to fall behind. At US Foods, we make it easy for our operators to stay on trend and take the right steps forward with confidence by bringing restaurants across the country an as-

sortment of innovative, labor saving and versatile products. As part of our “Great Food. Made Easy.” strategy, we develop products that will ensure our restaurant operators stay on the leading edge of dining trends and diner interests. It’s not a surprise to us to see these interesting trends in health and wellness driving a lot of innovation and excitement in the industry. We conduct significant product innovation in this area and will continue to do so as these trends evolve.

For example, within the meatless protein arena, we recently launched several innovative meatless products to accompany our traditional black bean and veggie burger patty offerings.

• Molly’s Kitchen® Meatless Breaded Boneless Wings. The wings are vegetarian and made from a form of protein derived from fungus that ensures the same meaty texture as the real thing. With the versatility, crunchy bite and flavor of traditional boneless wings – this is a meat alternative our customers like because it tastes great for vegetarians and non-vegetarians and alike.

• Molly’s Kitchen Meatless Crumbles. A meatless crumble that mimics ground beef in every way. This non-meat option is perfect for vegetarian crowds, plant-based diets or diners looking to limit their intake of red meat. As a menu alternative, it offers less fat and can be used in pastas, burgers, tacos, chili and more.”

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February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 25

NEWS

INDUSTRY EVENTS

IRFSNY 2019 Showcases New Focus on Restaurant Success and Sustainability Annual Javits Center Show in NYC to feature a prestigious line up of chefs and presenters on what’s new in equipment, food and beverage, and much more

T

housands of foodservice professionals will gather at the Javits Center in New York for the 2019 International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York which will be colocated with the Healthy Food Expo and Coffee Fest. The 2019 events will run from March 3 - 5 and include three days of timely and informative presentations delivered by industry thought leaders. The Education Program will include six tracks and sessions will focus on Bar & Beverage, Hot Trends, Operational Excellence, Building a Winning Team, Marketing & Social Media, and Health & Diet plus two special tracks exclusive this year on Restaurant Success and Sustainable Education.

“We have a host of excellent speakers scheduled for our event in March who will focus on various pressing and hot topics. We are also pleased to announce that the education programming will begin at 9:00 a.m. each day giving attendees an extra hour to attend education sessions before the show floor, featuring hundreds of industry-leading exhibitors, opens,” said Tom Loughran, Vice President for the Clarion UX Food & Beverage

Portfolio. “The 65 sessions offered will provide restaurant and foodservice professionals with insight on everything from marketing trends for 2019 to food safety in the age of social media, how to boost revenue with off-premise catering, menu engineering for maximum profitability, increasing revenue with beer, and so much more.”

On Sunday, March 3rd the Sustainable Education sessions will kick off with a keynote presentation by Michael Oshman, Founder, Green Restaurant Association, who will discuss the importance of integrating sustainability into the fabric of a restaurant and how to successfully tackle consumers’ environmental sustainability needs.

Additional courses in this track will include Achieving Near-Zero Waste in 1 Year, Integrate Sustainable Food Into Your Menu, and Small Steps, Big Savings.

The Restaurant Success sessions will include Competition Sucks: 10X Your Restaurant and Dominate Your Market Now!, The Hire Attitude: How to Attract, Train and Retain Top Talent, Customer Service is the

continued on page 119

26 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

Highlights from the 2018 International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York included celebrity chefs, seminars, equipment trends, and much more

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 27

EYE

METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE EVENT COVERAGE

HUB, NYSRA, EG&S & TFS Host 2019 NYC Kickoff Breakfast

T

he 2019 restaurant and foodservice season got off to a great start with a very special event. With the postcard background of skaters enjoying Bryant Park, many of the industry’s best and brightest gathered for a special breakfast/seminar at HUB Insurance’s magnificent Mid-Town headquarters. With a theme of: 2019 Outlook: Navigating the Current Landscape of Complex Hospitality Exposures in Today’s Market, a panel of industry experts worked with an overflow crowd to discuss many of the challenges facing New York City’s restaurant community.

The expert panel was anchored by the HUB duo of Bob Fiorito and Guy Gioino, Ellenoff Grossman & Schole’s Amanda Fugazy, Kevin Dugan of NYSRA-New York State Restaurant Association and moderated by TFS co-publisher Fred Klashman.

The panel made a decision early

An overflow crowd jammed HUB’s Midtown headquarters in search of strategies to respond to a new agenda of industry challenges

on that extensive presentations would be replaced by an interactive discussion of topics. So from the #MeToo movement, to increased minimum wage to a deadly hammer attack the day before the event, the room was buzzing with discussion

(L to R) Eataly’s Norlenda Villegas and Kathryn Iannone flank HUB’s Bob Fiorito

28 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

and strategies that attendees could take from the room and implement immediately.

In light of the #MeToo movement, and increased awareness about sexual harassment in the restaurant industry, seminar attendees came looking for a strategy on how to address this issue and protect employees – and themselves. EG&S’ Fugazy walked the group through the importance of understanding the law and HUB’s Gioino and Fiorito outlined how to implement documented training.

It never ceases to amaze just how many legal and paperwork obligations that New York’s restaurants have. NYSRA’s Dugan brought to the

continued on page 30

(L to R) Ellenoff Grossman & Schole’s Amanda Fugazy and Bianca Perez of Chef Driven Restaurants

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 29

EYE, from page 28

THE FRESH ORIGINS

attention of the group the importance of providing the “191.5” form that confirms in writing for each employee their pay rate and pay date.

Among the seminar attendees Scott Langstein, Financial Controller at Borenstein Caterers instigated an important Mr. and Mrs. Paulie Gee of Paulie Gee Pizzerias discussion on tipping.

The group clearly felt that it’s important to distinguish between a Danny Meyer operated prix fixe vs. a waiter working in an a la carte environment.

EG&S’ Fugazy also tried to bring some perspective to what has be(L to R) Jean George’s RK Ambat come an out of control and Scott Langstein of Borenstein Caterers abuse of ADA laws. The last couple of years have been marked by superfluous lawsuits over the design and “readability” of a restaurant’s web site by the legally blind.

The group also took on the wide range of issues that impact the growth of delivery by New Yorks’ restaurants. These in(L to R) HUB’s Marilyn Espinoza with Altamareas’ Dolly Nacario and Cindy Chiu cluded a discussion of who owns the customer in the execution of the delivery order: “Yelp or Seamless etc.” or the restaurant filling the order.

The panel also warned of the perils of Governor Cuomo’s pending approval of electric bicycles that could be used for delivery and the liability (L to R) Craveable Hospitality’s Allison Ruderman and that comes with them.

Sara Abbas of Empowered Hospitality The real take-a-way is the importance of restauthat firms led by HUB and Ellenoff rants no matter how big or small Grossman & Schole’s and local trade availing themselves of the expertise associations offer.

30 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

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February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 31

NEWS

ICE MACHINE SOLUTIONS

The Dirty Secrets That Could Be Lurking in Your Ice Machine Article contributed by Easy Ice

T

he cold, icy interior of an ice machine doesn’t seem like the ideal place to make a home, but all kinds of bacteria, toxins, grime, and creepy crawlies are cleaned out of ice machines every day. Should any of these pests decide to make a home in your ice machine, it’s a health violation waiting to happen.

In this article, we’ll share five different creatures and toxins that could be

lurking in your ice machine, and how you can prevent them from causing problems.

Mold and Slime Mold and slime need two things to flourish: moisture and a food source.

Ice machines provide the moisture, but it’s your kitchen that delivers the food. Anytime your staff cooks or bakes, trace amounts of grease, sugars, and yeast enter the air. Eventually, these particles end up in your ice machine and become food for mold

and slime.

Mold is easy to identify. It comes in the form of black patches. Slime has a pinkish color typically, but if left untreated it can turn green, brown, or black.

It is possible for mold or slime to grow in your ice machine’s drop zone and fall into your ice supply. While mold and slime aren’t particularly harmful to people, it is gross if they end up in your drink. Significant mold and slime growth will cause a health inspector to write you a viola-

tion, which could cost you business if your scorecard is posted publicly (which most municipalities do).

The best way to prevent excessive mold and slime in your ice machine is to make sure to keep up on cleanings. Two cleanings a year should be the absolute minimum, but for environments where dust, yeast, flour or other airborne particulates are present, you should consider more frequent cleanings.

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limits the spread of mold and slime in ice machines. We’ve tested ozone generators in some of the most challenging kitchen environments where significant mold and slime growth occurred within three weeks. After installing an ozone generator, that same ice machine stayed clean for over 15 weeks!

Fecal Matter Staff can transfer fecal matter to an ice supply if they forget to wash their hands thoroughly after using the restroom or taking out the garbage. Fecal matter is not only gross, but it can also cause foodborne illness as well if it ends up in your ice supply.

The best way to prevent contamination of your ice supply (as well as your whole restaurant) is to maintain a strict policy that all employees wash their hands thoroughly after using restroom facilities, or anytime they touch a trash container. Employees

should always use soap and water and scrub their hands for a minimum of 20 seconds.

Proper ice handling is another way to guarantee your ice supply isn’t contaminated. Make sure to always handle ice with an ice scoop and never use your hands or used glassware to retrieve ice. Also, make sure to clean the ice scoop every night. Bleach or a quat-based cleaner work just fine, but you can place your ice scoop in the dishwasher as well.

Dust and Dirt Dust and dirt are not only gross, but they can end up affecting your ice machine’s performance as well.

Air-cooled ice machines (the most common type of ice machine) use a fan to draw in the surrounding air to assist in cooling the condenser down.

Any air that gets pulled into the machine brings dust and dirt along with it.

Air-cooled ice machines have an air filter to trap incoming particulates – but they’re not 100% effective. Air filters require regular weekly cleanings, or they can clog. Even if when you do keep a clean air filter, trace amounts of dust and dirt will inevitably find their way into your ice machine, so you still need a deep cleaning at least every six months.

If ice machines don’t get proper cleanings, dirt and dust accumulate in your ice machine and stick to the unit’s condenser, forming a cover.

That cover insulates and retains any heat that the ice machine produces.

When an ice machine can’t release heat effectively, it will cause your ice machine to produce less ice. On top of that, the other components in your ice machine must work harder to produce a batch of ice, increasing wear and tear over time. Neglect cleaning your ice machine for too long and components will eventually break

down, requiring costly repairs.

Salmonella, Norovirus, and E. coli Many people believe that the freezing cold temperatures in ice machines will kill off any bacteria or viruses that enter your ice bin. Unfortunately, unwanted microbes can be tough little buggers.

Much like mold and slime, when you neglect cleaning your ice machine, many potentially dangerous germs such as Salmonella, Norovirus, and E. coli can end up infecting your ice supply and possibly get a customer sick.

These types of microbes present more of a danger to customers than mold or slime. All three of these can cause serious digestive problems (Norovirus can even be fatal).

Cleaning your ice machine regular-

continued on page 114

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February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 33

NEWS

ASSOCIATIONS

NYSRA To Unveil New Look And Member Support Pillars At 2019 NY Restaurant Show

T

he 2019 International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York, also known as the NY Restaurant Show, will be at the Javits Center in New York, March 3-5. This is the must-attend event for anyone involved in the restaurant, foodservice or hospitality industry. It is the largest food and beverage experience in the northeast, with 550 leading vendors, live culinary demonstrations and competitions, and more than 40 educational sessions designed to have an immediate impact on your business.

The New York State Restaurant Association, official show sponsor and originator of the NY Restaurant Show, will once again have a prominent booth at the show and host a panel discussion. Show attendees will get a first look at the updated NYSRA logo and brand, as well as learn about the new member support model developed by NYSRA – the four pillars: GROW, SAVE, ADVOCATE and PROTECT. “The Association has made organizational changes over the last year in order to better serve members and to position us for significant membership growth,” said Melissa Fleischut, President and CEO. “The updated logo reflects who NYSRA is today, and our focus on providing members with the broadest support

continued on page 112 34 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

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VISIT US AT BOOTH #2072 February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 35

THOUGHTFULLY CURATED

WITH LMT PROVISIONS

24 Months

I

t takes about two years to become a star. Before we jump to this conclusion, let’s consider what it means to become an expert. Malcolm Gladwell says it takes ten thousand hours of experience to become an expert in any field.

Perhaps that’s why the most meaningful events in our industry happen every other year.

As this column prints, many of you are off to The NAFEM Show, a biennial tradeshow unique because of its specific targeted psyographic – the dealer. At Singer, we look forward to participating with gusto every… other year.

Before heading to Orlando, I returned from the Sirha Show in Lyon, France, where the Bocuse D’Or showcases the most magnificent display and competition of culinary artistry. Each country waits 24 months for one day amongst the stars. Each competitor, mentor, and supporter have ten thousand hours invested

in this epic culinary summit. (Our partners and friends at Crucial Detail, the designers and creators of Team USA’s presentation pieces, have invested significantly more. I look forward to featuring them in next month’s installment and showcasing their portfolio in our booth at the IRFSNY Show from March 3rd-5th.)

Gastronomy is built into the infrastructure of Lyon just as it is built into the infrastructure of New York. Every other year, we’re also back in town celebrating a new class of StarChefs Rising Stars.

As the exclusive dealer sponsor of all StarChefs events, we welcome this entire community to Capitale on February 19th. Each Rising Stars event is open to the public. As a true advocate for the exploration and reinterpretation of gastronomy in all ways, we hope you can join us.

At Singer, we’re privileged to work with talented tastemakers and change-

makers on the brink of stardom.

Each of the quotes below are directly from the awards selection committee at StarChefs praising some of our customers. Let’s kick off the list with the face of our 2019 marketing campaign.

36 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

of Business Development at Singer M. Tucker and founder of LMT. Ms. Tucker advises a wide diversity of acclaimed restaurateurs, celebrated chefs, and industry leaders across the U.S. LMT is a thoughtfully curated brand of hospitality provisions that

Chef Justin Skribner, Benno “Skribner is French technique and Italian spirit—with a little Jersey boy thrown in for good measure. There is a comfort that comes from eating in the Benno dining room—the kind of comfort that comes not from the immaculate food, but from the care of Skribner’s own two hands.”

Chef Angie Rito and Chef Scott Tacinelli, Don Angie “New York’s Italian food power couple with verve to match what’s on the plate, Don Angie is the kind of Italian that struts through Chinatown and orders halal combo platters—it’s red sauce that’s in constant, joyous flux.”

Artisan Max Blachman-Gentile, The Standard “He creates breads imbued with personal flourishes such as the schmaltz and onion porridge bread inspired by one of his mothers’ Ashkenazi cooking. This baker is poised to make an impact, giving New York more of the bread it deserves.”

From the 2017 New York StarChefs Rising Stars: (L-R) Chef Daniel Boulud, Morgan Tucker, Chef Aaron Bludorn, Ron Lustberg

Morgan Tucker is is the Director

Pastry Chef Manuela Sanin, Eleven Madison Park “Sanin knows she’s on a stage, creating uncluttered, high contrast, sleek and sculptural desserts with drama. Although she has already reached the upper echelon

can be sourced through the Singer family of companies. To consult with our team, please email lmt@singerequipment.com.

of pastry, Sanin keeps pushing, conjuring that intrigue that keeps guests flowing through the doors of one of the world’s most legendary restaurants.”

Bartender Aidan Bowie, The Office “Bowie crafts elegant, fragrant cocktails that playfully enamore the senses. He is also up to the challenge of running ambitious hotel bars, doubling down on leadership and staff education, and New York’s cocktail culture is all the better for it—now and for years to come.”

And finally, the award that we have the pleasure of personally presenting on stage.

Restaurateur Sean Feeney, Misi “Alongside Missy Robbins and her team, Feeney built a New York Times three-star, James Beard Award-winning restaurant on his first try. When he was just getting started, Feeney knew Robbins’ talent was at a level that he would have to match as a business partner. Now he’s a model for aspiring and veteran restaurateurs alike.”

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 37

FIORITO ON INSURANCE

Shield Your Restaurant Against Costly Wage and Hour Claims

I

n recent times, Employment Practices Liability (EPL) insurance is often associated with protection against the financial ramifications of the dramatic uptick in sexual harassment claims in the workplace. This vital coverage can be utilized for a multitude of risks and exposures, especially for the hospitality industry (and particularly restaurants), given the right endorsement.

This can include ever-increasing wage and hour related claims, which are something each and every restaurateur should be cognizant of and prepared for in today’s market.

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recovered over $304 million in back wages1, with food service dominating the number one position for the highest number of violations per industry2. Wage and hour claims can be triggered by any number of complaints, including pay discrepancies and employee misclassifications.

Workers can file a lawsuit when they are just a minute late for a meal or rest break, or if their overtime was miscalculated even slightly. And, more and more hospitality employers are being investigated for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) compliance.

Identifying the Risks There are certain factors that make employers in this industry uniquely at risk for wage and hour violations. For example: • Restaurant employees rarely work the standard 9-5 working hours, so the irregular scheduling structure

Workers can file a lawsuit when they are just a minute late for a meal or rest break, or if their overtime was miscalculated even slightly. can lead to unauthorized overtime violations.

• Having multiple restaurant locations can make it difficult for management to accurately track employee hours or ensure employees are taking their required breaks.

• In addition, many restaurant and foodservice employees are minimum to low wage workers, exposing employers to minimum wage compliance exposures at a greater rate than many other industries.

Minimum Wage & Tipped Employees The FSLA requires employers to pay non-exempt employees wages that are at least equal to the federal minimum wage rate. However, when the state, city or county minimum wage rate is higher than the federal rate, employers are required to pay workers the higher amount. So while the federal rate has been $7.25 per hour since 2009, New York City, for example, just raised its 2019 minimum to $15 per hour for businesses with 10 or more employees.

However, since restaurant employees mainly rely on tipping, this

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makes compliance matters even more complicated. The minimum wage for tipped workers is lower than the regular minimum wage, but if an employee’s hourly wage plus tips does not equal the regular minimum wage, then the employer must make up the difference, known as the “tip credit.”

Restaurant employers who pay their tipped employees the tipped minimum wage without ensuring that the standard minimum wage is met when adding in the tip credit, may find themselves subject to a claim and violation.

Protective Measures Document your company’s wage and hour policies/procedures, train your managers to thoroughly understand them and ensure that they are implementing them on the ground.

They should have a very thorough understanding of how the rules work and be able to explain it to workers to avoid any misunderstanding or potential violations. It’s advisable to always consult with outside counsel specializing in employment law in your state. Even a quick consultation to discuss the company’s policies and

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 212338-2324 or by email at robert.fiorito@ hubinternational.com.

practices could avoid a future claim.

Unfortunately, claims are often inevitable regardless of the precautions taken to prevent them. Speak to your insurance advisor to ensure that you have EPL insurance coverage with a wage and hour endorsement so that you have financial protection in place against costly defense costs associated with these claims.

1. https://www.dol.gov/whd/data/ 2. https://www.dol.gov/whd/data/ datatables.htm#panel3

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 39

NEWS

MINIMUM WAGE

NJ Panel Advances Bill With Five Year $15 Minimum Wage Window

A

fter roughly three hours of comment from both opponents and advocates New Jersey lawmakers have blazed the path for minimum wage in the Garden State.

Late last month, the Democrat-controlled Assembly Labor Committee approved the measure to advance a bill to hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024.

Under the agreement, and presuming enactment, effective July 1, 2019, the state’s minimum wage for most workers will increase from $8.85 to $10 an hour; thereafter, it will increase $1 an hour every January 1 until reaching $15 on January 1, 2024. The legislation would also grant tax credits to employers that hire employees with disabilities.

The measure looks destined to become law since Gov. Phil Murphy, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin all Democrats announced a deal on the wages earlier in the month.

Even so, several opponents voiced concern with the proposal. In addition to the state’s big business advocacy groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the New Jersey

Business and Industry Association, smaller businesses said they were anxious.

The New Jersey Restaurant and Hotel Association (NJRHA) has opposed legislation that would automatically increase the minimum wage to $15.00. “We support a slow increase over several years while including a minors’ wage, seasonal wage, and training wage,” noted NJRHA Executive Director Marilou Halverson. We also oppose any change in the tipped wage, since employees are guaranteed to make minimum wage.”

James Link and his wife Judy operate a roller skating rink in southern New Jersey. He said the measure would make it tough for them to compete and keep the business that’s been in Judy’s family for years afloat. “One of the things you have to understand is roller skating is a recreation,” James Link said. “Anyone who competes for recreation dollars has got to do what they’ve got to do as efficiently as they can.”

Supporters said the bill would buoy workers and communities, where the higher wages would likely be spent. “It will help one million

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workers, make New Jersey a real competitor for workers in our region again and inject nearly $4 billion into our economy,” said Brandon McKoy, the director of government and public affairs at the left-leaning think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective.

The Trenton hearing was the public’s first chance to comment on the bill containing the deal, and the hearing saw dozens of people pack the committee room.

“Today’s announcement is another hit to small businesses who are absorbing cumulative costs in the form of new mandates, more subsidies for energy delivery and increased taxes,” said Michele N. Siekerka, chief executive of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, a trade group. “Most small business owners pay what they can afford for their workers. Now that it’s a mandate, it is inevitable that some of those with the smallest of profit margins will struggle, stagnate or simply fail.”

New Jersey would join California, Massachusetts and New York phasing in a $15 hourly wage if it’s enacted.

We support a slow increase over several years while including a minors’ wage, seasonal wage, and training wage,” noted NJRHA Executive Director Marilou Halverson.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 41

NEWS

RESTAURANT WEBSITE SOLUTIONS

4 SEO Strategies Restaurant Owners Can Use to ‘Own Page 1’ and Drive More Sales Article contributed by Upserve

ence in your SEO rankings. Get started at https://business.google.com/.

Keep in mind that anyone can make an edit on your GMB page, so it’s important to check in regularly to ensure accuracy.

T

he Pew Research Center notes that over half of adults rely on the internet to make a decision about where to eat. So even if your restaurant has the best staff serving the best food in the best location, it might lose out if hungry customers can’t find you online.

How do you get discovered on the internet? SEO, or search engine optimization, is the strategy of helping your restaurant rank highly in search results, attracting clicks, reservations, and online orders. Just think: when was the last time you clicked to page two of Google results?

It’s not all a game of luck to land a spot on the coveted first page. There are a number of strategies that restaurants can pursue to improve their rankings.

Claim your Restaurant’s Facebook Page Here are three benefits of claiming and managing your restaurant’s Facebook page: 1. An unclaimed page can’t be controlled with the message you want to share. If you don’t have a page yet, start one. If there is an unofficial page or check-in location, take the necessary steps to assert your ownership.

2. Increase your restaurant’s web traffic by uploading photos of your most popular dishes, along with a link to your new seasonal menu. You can also drive visitors to your own online

ordering page, saving the 30 percent commission from third-party providers.

3. Finally, the more information that Google can read about your restaurant online, the more likely they are to improve your ranking. Many people believe that “the information in the About section of a business page is scraped and thus searchable

by Google,” Post Planner explains.

“When someone searches for ‘Post Planner’—our Facebook page shows up on page 1 of the Google search results. I believe the more ways people can find you the better!”

If managing your social media seems overwhelming, consider a restaurant POS system that integrates with your social media channels and tracks your reviews, promotions, loyal customers automatically, saving you hours every month.

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Manage your Restaurant’s Google My Business Page “An important first step in any local SEO strategy is to claim and verify your local business’ Google My Business (GMB) listing. Getting on Google My Business can increase your chances of showing up in Google’s Local Pack, Local Finder, Google Maps, and organic rankings in general,” Moz. com explains.

If you’re just starting out, check out this guide to restaurant names to choose one with SEO value. Once you’ve decided on a name, claiming the listing is free and only requires a bit of information about your restaurant, like its address, phone number, hours of operation, and the types of payments you accept. Providing this information takes no more than a few minutes, and can make a big differ-

Make Your Website Rank Ahead of Online Ordering Websites If your restaurant has its own online ordering platform, delivery or pick-up service, you’ll certainly want users to see it before they come across third-party platforms like UberEats or DoorDash since it can save you from paying a 30-percent commission.

However, if you don’t have a solid SEO strategy in place, your restaurant will fall to the bottom of the search results and other competing delivery services will get the business you want.

Ensure that Your Website is Mobile-Friendly Imagine you’ve done all the work necessary to achieve your restaurant’s SEO glory: You’ve claimed your restaurant’s Facebook and Google My Business pages, and installed your own online ordering platform. But if web visitors ditch your website the second they arrive to it because it’s not optimized for mobile browsing on a phone or tablet, you’re losing out on business. Your customers are always on the go, so if your website is difficult to navigate on a phone, it will hurt your rankings, and customers will drop off to find another website they can actually use.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 43

SCOOP

INSIDER NEWS

Forgione Debuts New Poppi Al’s Pizza Solution For 2019 Summer Season With the days quickly getting longer SCOOP notes that Spring/Summer ’19 are just around the corner. From a theme park on Long Island to a New Jersey country club, plans are well underway to create profitable and tasty menus for the upcoming onslaught of guest and members.

“At Forgione and Associates, we pride ourselves on the ability to listen to the needs of the Metro New York foodservice professional,” notes Tony Salzone. “Last year, we consistently heard that there was a need for a high quality pizza dough that simply didn’t require a pizza oven to create signature pies. We also knew that we needed to find a creative pizza solution that local distributors could easily stock.”

Once again, the Forgione team has struck gold with Poppi Al’s pizza. Poppi Also’ is produced ev-

FROM METRO NYC’S FOODSERVICE SCENE

Pizza made from Poppi Al’s handspun dough

eryday in Pennsylvania to assure its freshness.

Sandy Firestone and her team, simply won’t cut corners in producing their pies.

“We just relaunched our web site so that we could show the foodservice professional without

a pizza oven and the distributors that serve them, just how simple and fresh our recipe is,” explained Firestone.

Poppi Al’s handspun dough is produced with the freshest ingredients. With pure spring water from the Appalachian Mountains of Central Pennsylvania, golden wheat from America’s Heartland, just the right amount of salt, sugar, and yeast and touch of pure olive and soy oil, customers get a signature pizza everytime they visit without the expense of an oven.

Legends Hospitality Coming to NYC’S 28 Liberty Scoop hears a giant new food and entertainment venue is coming to 28 Liberty St., in Manhattan which is stepping out to swing after decades as one of the city’s least public friendly “iconic” skyscrapers. Legends Hospitality, which runs every-

continued on page 46

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Scoop, from page 44 thing from the Yankee Stadium food concession to the One World Trade Center Observatory, just signed a 35,000 square foot lease on 28 Liberty’s ground floor to launch a food and live music complex. The as yet unnamed venue, to be designed by famed architect Jeffrey Beers, will incorporate the property’s historic Noguchi sculpture garden.

The hipped up high-rise also has a huge Danny Meyer restaurant and event space, Manhatta, on its 60th floor.

Iconic Schrafft’s Eatery Eyes A Comeback Scoop says back long before a lady’s drawers peeked through her micro-mini there existed eateries called Schrafft’s. New York’s first Schrafft’s opened in 1898. Light lunches, big-time teas, white tablecloths, and genteel sandwiches. Little old ladies with purple hair in hats and suits unescorted, but feeling safe were often patrons.

We’re talking gentility. The place was so refined that customers sipped their gin from a teacup.

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Bronx Food Firm Cheers Delicious 40 Years

Schrafft’s original storefront

Its 1928 lunch revenue was $1 million a month.

By the ‘30s, NYC had close to 50 Schrafft’s – East 79th West 28th, 13th Street, Fifth Avenue, 36th and Broadway, everywhere, plus Yonkers, Boston, Syracuse and Philadelphia. Come the 1980’s, it all disappeared. Come 2019, it’s returning. The menu. Not the prices. Decorator Carleton Varney will reprise its familiar black and white floor tiles.

Scoop notes the sky’s the limit for the down to earth Bronx born Caribbean Food Delights frozen foods firm which is marking its 40th year in business, a recent $2.25 million state grant for expansion and its continual commitment to give back through numerous community initiatives. Founded on Dyre Ave. in the Bronx in 1978, the company is the frozen food affiliate of Royal Caribbean Bakery founded by Jamaican immigrants Vincent and Jeanette HoSang. Today, the corporate headquarters a 103,000 square food facility in Rockland County and has the capacity to manufacture in excess of 40,000 patties per hour. Some of the firm’s many community projects include providing support for the Team Jamaica Bickle initiative for Jamaican track and field athletes participating in the annual Penn Relays in Philadelphia and contributing to “People to People,” Rockland

continued on page 48

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 47

Scoop, from page 46 County’s largest food pantry.

Glory Days of Air Travel Set to Return at JFK Scoop remembers as recently as the early 1960s, air travel was still glamorous and exciting; you dressed up to get on a plane, and looked forward to the food aloft. That was when Trans World Airlines opened a futuristic new terminal, designed by the Finnish architect Eero Saarinen at what was then best known as Idlewild and is now Kennedy International Airport. The 200,000 square foot building, with its sinuous curves and swoops sheathed in white penny tiles, is a city, state and federal landmark, connected to Jet Blue’s Terminal 5. But it has not been used for 18 years. Now it is being brought back to life as the lobby of the TWA Hotel, to open this spring with a restaurant and a lounge run by the renowned chef JeanGeorges Vongerichten, working with Tastes on the Fly, a company that specializes in airport food.

“It’s an exciting project; food in airports has been

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improving a lot,” said Vongerichten, a prolific restaurateur who, unlike many of his empire-building peers, has not opened an airport restaurant.

The restaurant, with 200 seats, will have the same name as its predecessor in the original terminal: Paris Café. Next to it will be the Lisbon Lounge (another name from the original terminal), serving cocktails and food.

Corned Beef Sandwich with Mrs. Maisel Scoop says the iconic Carnegie Deli reopened downtown last month for a week, thanks to Amazon’s hit series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”.

The pop-up was in Nolita, rather than the original institution’s Midtown location on Seventh Ave. and 55th Street, which closed in 2016 after four decades mimicking the world of the hit period comedy, the downtown pop-up looked like a 1950s deli, and items were priced appropriately, with sandwiches, named after characters from the show, going for 99 cents. There were 6,000 people on the waitlist to get into the place. Joshua Greenberg, the producer of the pop-up said that the

Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten

hot spot could keep going. Waitresses wore kneelength dresses with buttons, capped sleeves and

continued on page 50

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 49

Scoop, from page 48 aprons, and they greeted customers with terms of endearment. The spot’s signature sandwich, the Maisel, is for “women who eat, not ladies who lunch.” Scoop loved this year’s episodes in the Catskills.

Time to Make the Donuts Again in Queens Scoop notes New Yorkers are used to waiting in lines for burgers, sneakers, and the latest tech gadgets. But on a recent Sunday morning, the line at the Japanese teahouse Nippon Cha in Bayside, Queens, was different. For one thing, people weren’t hunched over, staring at their phones; they were too busy chatting about the intrigue of the pop-up inside. One young woman asked how quickly the products sold out. (“I think within the first two hours” came the answer from somewhere farther up.) An older woman joining the line announced that she was here with specific orders from a friend in the hospital. Japanese families at wide wooden tables briefly looked up

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from bowls of ramen to survey the crowd gathering at the entrance. Two French bulldogs who had tagged along with their owners were squatted on a bench made for humans, but no one seemed to mind. Those in line were waiting to pick up the latest treats from Black Label Donuts, which has had a residency at Nippon Cha several Sundays a month for much of the last year. The pop-up has become so popular that the owner, Richard Eng, is looking for bigger space. It has been quite a year for Eng, whom many customers hadn’t expected to see back at work so soon, if at all. Last summer Eng was the victim of an armed robbery. Accosted at gunpoint and shot in the face while getting out of his car on the home from work. He remained conscious the whole time. As he was rushed to a hospital, his thoughts turned to his business. “For me it was about not wanting to lose traction,” he said, “not wanting to lose the community that had been so loyal.” After that June night, it was possible he could lose all that. He had months of recovery, which included facial reconstruction, as well as doubts that he could regain his skills as a pastry chef. Through it all, Eng concluded it best

not to dwell on the past. After all, it was just one more twist in a long and varied career of a legendary donut maker.

Richard Eng, owner of Black Label Donuts

BOOTH #2630

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 51

EYE METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE EVENT COVERAGE Restaurant Associates and M. Tucker Winter Dinner

T

he always gracious Dick Cattani, who oversees the Restaurant Associates empire with such seamless aplomb teamed with M. Tucker’s Marc Fuchs last month to bring winter cheer to the industry. They hosted what will hopefully become an annual event in a private dining room at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. “We have so many folks to say thank you to that we thought this would be a great way to enjoy good food, good wine and friends.” Under the expert guidance of RA’s culinary team the group was treated to three

spectacular courses. They included braised short ribs of beef, bacon wrapped pork tenderloin and a dark chocolate ganache for dessert.

The meal was accompanied by a guest visit from one of the nation’s true wine gems: Parallel Wines. The Napa Valley winery’s Adrienne Capps was on hand to introduce a pair of 2014 wines; a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Black Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon called “Paradise”. A breathtaking 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon accompanied dessert. Once again leave it to Cattani to find the perfect antidote to the winter blues.

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(L to R) Jane Capital’s Sally Minier, Amy Greenberg of Citi, and Restaurant Associates chief Dick Cattani

(L to R) Marc Fuchs of M. Tucker, JP Morgan’s Barbara Boden and Charlie Stock, and TFS’s Fred Klashman

(L to R) M. Tucker’s Eric Santagato, Tony Kaszuba of RA and Jacobs Doland Beer’s Bob Doland

(L to R) PBAC’s Larry Cantamessa and Bill Chodan of Flik

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February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 53

LEGAL INSIDER

WITH ILAN WEISER OF ELLENOFF GROSSMAN & SCHOLE LLP

Banquet Halls Beware: Mandatory Fees May Not Be Worth the Risk

M

any of New York’s leading hospitality establishments are being sued by their employees for illegally charging service or administrative fees to their customers.

The lawsuits allege that those mandatory fees – paid by the customer and retained by the business– are really gratuities intended for the service staff. Unfortunately, if the customer reasonably believes that the mandatory fee is a gratuity, then by law, it belongs to the service staff and not the business. Therefore, a business must be overly explicit in communicating to its customer the purpose of such fee and that it is not a gratuity.

The business must always keep in mind that the law looks to what the customer reasonably understands the mandatory fee to be. For example, a customer may be confused if an invoice or contract lists a mandatory fee as a “Service Charge.” That label may imply that it is meant for the service staff as a gratuity. Instead, businesses should consider labeling a mandatory fee as an “Administrative Charge.”

Also, a customer may not know that the business pays its waiters and bartenders well above the regular minimum wage (as opposed to a lower tipped-rate) and that the staff would not reasonably expect a gratuity in addition to their high wage. Again, the law is only concerned with what the customer believes the charge to be,

The business must always keep in mind that the law looks to what the customer reasonably understands the mandatory fee to be. so the business must be crystal clear in communicating to the customer, in writing, that the charge is not a gratuity.

That written communication must be accomplished in the specific method set forth in the New York Hospitality Wage Order. See 12 NYCRR § 1462.19. It states, in effect, that: • A charge for the administration of a banquet or special function shall be clearly identified as such and customers shall be notified that the charge is not a gratuity or tip.

• A reasonable customer must understand that the company’s notification is clear in that the charge is not intended to be a gratuity and will not be distributed to employees who provide service to guests.

• The notification stating that the mandatory charge is not a gratuity should be included on all documents concerning pricing.

• The notification shall be in ordinary language and appear in a font size similar to surrounding

54 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

text, but no smaller than 12-point font.

The laws governing the assessment of mandatory fees are extremely strict and not employer-friendly. Most businesses are getting caught up in these lawsuits solely based on technicalities.

For example, a business may include the proper notification that the charge is not a gratuity on the initial contract a customer signs. However, that language may arguably be insufficient if it does not also appear on all subsequent invoices sent to a customer and other correspondence that refers to pricing, such as email communications.

If the business does not follow all of the above necessary legal requirements, and a customer believes or is simply unsure if a mandatory fee is intended to be a gratuity, costly litigation may follow. These cases are usually filed as class actions and seek all mandatory fees collected by the business in the last six years. Certain weddings and other private functions can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because many businesses

Ilan Weiser is an Associate in the Labor & Employment practice group.

Mr. Weiser exclusively represents businesses of all sizes and sectors on how best to comply with the federal, state and local labor laws that govern their operations. Mr. Weiser’s principal area of expertise is employment law litigation and has vigorously defended hundreds of his clients in federal and state court and before various governmental agencies against claims of employment discrimination and unfair pay practices.

Mr. Weiser has particularly in-depth knowledge of wage and hour law and regularly defends and counsels his clients in class and collective lawsuits concerning claims for unpaid wages.

Mr. Weiser is also the Chair of the Labor & Employment Subcommittee of the New York City Bar Association Hospitality Committee. He can be reached by phone at 212-370-1300 or by email at iweiser@egsllp.com

continued on page 106

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 55

ASK ANDREW

FROM THE NYC HOSPITALITY ALLIANCE

PRESENTED BY

Understanding The Impact of NY’s GENDA

A

s you may have heard, The New York State Assembly and New York State Senate passed Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) last month. We welcome its passage as the The New York City Hospitality industry has always strived to be inclusive.

Specifically, GENDA will add Subdivision 35 to Section 292 of the NYSHRL, which defines “gender identity or expression” as “a person’s actual or perceived gender-related

identity, appearance, behavior, expression, or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being transgender.”

Additionally, GENDA will add “gender identity or expression” to the NYSHRL, the Civil Rights Law, and the Education Law as a protected characteristic and prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression in employment, housing, education, and

56 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

public accommodations. Although New York currently has regulations in place— promulgated by the New York State Division of Human Rights in 2016—prohibiting discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender identity, gender dysphoria, and transgender status, GENDA will codify those regulations into law.

Most importantly, the law will prohibit discrimination against transgender and non-gender con-

continued on page 58

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.

MAY 18-21, 2019 • CHICAGO, IL

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 57

NYC Council, from page 56 firming individuals. We’ll work hard to ensure that our members know the law, update their policies to ensure compliance and continue to welcome all employees and customers.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo after its approval by the State’s Senate and Assembly. GENDA passed in the Assembly by 100-40 and was approved by a vote of 42-19 in the Senate, both with bipartisan support. It will, among other things, amend the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) to prohibit discrimination against transgender and nongender conforming individuals.

Accordingly, even though New York already has regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity and transgender status, employers should contact counsel to review—and if necessary—revise their current employee

Employers should contact counsel to review—and if necessary—revise their current employee handbooks and policies to ensure compliance with GENDA. handbooks and policies to ensure compliance with GENDA. Among the highlights of bringing (GENDA) into law, is the end of “conversion therapy”. “As the most progressive state in the nation and as the home of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, New York has always been on the front lines fighting for full protections for every individual,” Cuomo said at the signing ceremony at the New York City LGBT Community Center. By signing into law GENDA and a ban on

58 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

the fraudulent practice of conversion therapy, we are taking another giant step forward in advancing equal justice for every New Yorker – regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. We are once again sending a clear and proud message that there is no place for hate in our state, and anyone who engages in bigotry and discrimination will be held accountable.”

GENDA provides unequivocal and comprehensive protections for transgender people from dis-

crimination in employment, housing, public spaces, and education.

Cuomo’s signature signals that New York now becomes the 21st state in the nation to add gender identity as a protected class to the state’s nondiscrimination laws. New York also now joins fourteen other states and the District of Columbia by making illegal the practice of “conversion therapy.”

NYC Hospitality Alliance members have access to a team of leading professionals that can answer additional questions.

The Fox Rothschild’s Labor & Employment Department,who we are proud to call members of the Alliance are available for consultation. Contact Carolyn D. Richmond at 212.878.7983 or crichmond@ foxrothschild.com, Glenn S. Grindlinger at 212.905.2305 or ggrindlinger@foxrothschild.com

BOOTH #1833

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 59

Q&A

EXCLUSIVE FOODSERVICE INTERVIEW

Melba Wilson Principal, Melba’s, New York, NY and President of NYC Hospitality Alliance

M

elba Wilson is the owner of a growing culinary empire based in New York’s famed Harlem neighborhood. Her renowned restaurant, Melba’s, is a hot spot for celebrities, locals and tourists from around the world who crave unbeatable American comfort food. She began her career at Sylvia’s Restaurant, where she launched the popular Sunday Gospel Brunch, and has received numerous accolades and awards for her entrepreneurship and her original and family recipes. She won on an episode of the Food Network’s Throwdown with Bobby Flay, was featured on The View, and appears regularly on television.

Melba’s has always been about giving back. Whether it’s her local community or the restaurant industry, she unselfishly gives of her time.

From the launch of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, she has been at the forefront of the association’s agenda to support the diverse needs of the industry. With her recent appointment as the Alliance’s new president, Wilson will work to promote the needs of her fellow restaurateurs.

The eponymous restaurant was the vision of founder, Melba Wilson. Being born, bred and buttered in Harlem, Melba knew she wanted to stay close to home so she could nurture and provide an exquisite yet comfortable dining experience to the commu-

nity that raised her.

As a young adult working at Sylvia’s, Rosa Mexicano and Windows on the World restaurants, Melba saw firsthand what it took to own and operate a successful business. She quickly became aware that diners have the opportunity to eat wherever they choose.

When great food is combined with remarkable service, the result is a dining destination that patrons come to regard as home. It is the commitment to exceptional customer service, coupled with great food that make the standard of excellence that exists today. On any given day, you can find Melba greeting guests with hugs, her trademark smile and inquiring of her customers as to whether there is anything she can do to enhance their dining experience.

After all, dining at Melba’s is like coming home for dinner, whenever you’re away from home.

TFS recently had the opportunity to visit with Melba. The goal of the interview was to get her thoughts on the next chapter of her entrepreneurial vision and the outline of her agenda as she takes the reins of the Alliance.

Let’s talk about your career for a second. How did you get into the industry?

I like to say I was born, bred and buttered in Harlem. My family is from the South, so growing up everything in

continued on page 62

60 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

Melba Wilson, Principal, Melba’s, New York, NY, and President of NYC Hospitality Alliance

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 61

Q&A Melba Wilson, from page 60 my family has revolved around food.

Food was the common denominator. It united us as family, friends, as a community. So food was always an extremely important part of my life.

Most of our time was not spent in the living room watching television. Most of our time was spent in the kitchen.

Having conversation while my grandmother cooked a meal. Or while my dad barbecued or my mother made a stew or delicious soups. I remember early Sunday mornings and how we would prep Sunday dinner early before church. So I’ve always had a love affair with food. And I wanted to emulate what my grandmother did, which was to bring our family and friends together through food.

My first paying job was in Harlem.

First paying job in the food service industry in Harlem. I started off as a cashier, believe it or not.

I then taught acquittal law for a com-

pany and found myself unhappy. My aunt said to me, “Why don’t you come in and help me at the restaurant?” So I jumped at the opportunity and that’s when the love affair started. I think no matter what I was doing in the restaurant, I started out as a cashier, worked my way up to hostess, manager, and assistant catering manager. But just found out that everything that had to do with soothing people, I loved.

I was also planning events and then on a flight one day, the attendant said, “In the case of an emergency put on your mask first.” That was an epiphany for me. I didn’t want to wake up one day and go, “What about me?” I was helping my husband, assisting him with his career and still working in the industry.

With my family being from the South, my mother was an avid saver.

My dad would give her the paycheck every Friday and my mom would

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pay the bills and put money in her “just in case fund” under the mattress. So I did the same and when I wasn’t able to get a loan for my restaurant, I went under my mattress and started counting all the money I had saved and it turned out to be $300,000! That’s what I opened up Melba’s with. We’ve been very fortunate since.

How have you given back over the years?

We give to a lot of organizations that deal with seniors and children.

Those are the things that keep me up at night. I think our seniors are extremely important to us. I donate food to organizations and give back to different churches of the community. I do a lot of work for the Girl Scouts of America and other organizations that aren’t in the spotlight.

How did you first get involved with The Alliance? Talk a little bit about what led you to that and what you’ve been able to get from that relationship?

Well I’ve been involved with The Alliance since 2012. As for me being a small business owner in Harlem, it was about access. And I always knew that the Alliance is a one stop shopping experience. So if I needed a payroll company, if I needed an accountant, if I needed a lawyer and so on, I was able to get all this information from them, as well as stay abreast on the new laws, the policies, etc. There was no other organization keyed to New York City and New York City restaurants that could provide that information to me and for me. And, I love the fact that the alliance is extremely inviting. And they care to the needs of not just big businesses, but small business as well.

Can you talk about what some of the key issues that you hope to focus on during your time as president of The Alliance?

The tip credit is still a thing that’s pending and is a topic everyone is front and center about. I mean for me, as a small business owner, when you look at the fact that it would cost me several thousand dollars per employee, to get the tip credit eliminated, which means that I would have to, first of all, fire some of my employees.

My employees are like family to me.

What’s the climate like right now for the industry in NYC? A lot of our Alliance members are leaving New York. I was driving down just yesterday and one of my favorite restaurants is gone. So we have to look and see what we can do to minimize that. But the city’s just becoming more and more unbearable, especially for restaurant operators like Melba.

What I’m hoping to accomplish is to engage more small businesses - more minority owned businesses... I think that’s important when you talk about New York being a melting pot. I just want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to experience all that.”

People still want to go to Melba; they still want to have that interaction and experience. With everything that’s going on in the world right now, people still want to go out and eat since it’s an opportunity to escape.

So when you first opened the restaurant, we’re assuming that the thought was, “if I could get a great review in The New York Times or if I get a great review in New York maga-

zine then all will be well.” Talk about what it was like when you opened and where we are today with things like social media?

Well, when I first signed the lease, which was back in 2004, my community of Harlem was totally different than it is today. So that’s No. 1. So as the community is changing I still had to be consistent with my brand for my audience. The definition of consistent for me is staying true to your

core of who you are. Also, servicing your customers and guests and their needs. So I do have a healthy comfort section on my menu, which I’ve had since inception. But I’m getting ready to put a gluten-free fried chicken on the menu as well. It’s a recipe I’ve worked on for quite awhile. But there’s also a market for that and I’m realizing it. So I’m catering to both customers.

Talk about what it’s like trying to build out a marketing plan.

Well for me, you know, I’m not a baby of the ‘70s or even the ‘80s. Social media is like speaking Mandarin with me. So what has been important is just recently I’ve latched on to the power of social media. But prior to that, it was that the old word of mouth was not broken. I know social media has power that reaches so many

continued on page 64

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 63

Q&A Melba Wilson, from page 63 more people a lot quicker. There’s a part of me that was hesitant to conform. But that’s the way of the world now and I had to jump on board and embrace it. I love surrounding myself with a bunch of millennials who get it.

I have a teenage son and realize that they don’t read directions, they just pick up the thing and go with it and figure things out. So I found that the most important partnership is partnering with people who can guide me through the process. I’m learning a lot and may not be as strong or as privy to things, but I’m getting there.

Do you see your son coming into this business? How do you see the industry attracting the next generation of young people to come in and manage, own and operate in our business?

My son just graduated high school and he’s in college now. He’s grown up in this industry. He’s got collard greens, fried chicken and catfish in his blood. He loves the industry and always gives me ideas on what we can do differently. The other day, he suggested we put blackened catfish on the menu or grilled catfish. He’s always looking at innovative ways that we can serve healthier options because he’s an athlete.

I’m excited about the amount of young people I see coming into the industry. Like when I see the “Top Chef” finalist Adrian Cheatham or look at Chef J.J. Johnson coming into the industry. They’re fresh and have a passion for it. So when I look at these kids, I know they’re going to be super chefs, super restaurateurs and continue to push the industry forward.

What about all those “non-sexy” opportunities like food distributors and the like? What do you see in terms of that?

Well, I see the food, beverage and nightlife industry will always live and have a home. People have to dine out. And we’re in a world right

now where they want everything instantaneously, and what we have to do is to figure out how to make those things work in our industry. And the great thing is with the service industry that’s our job. That’s what we’re most passionate about. We’re most passionate about serving people and we know how to do it, and we know how to do it instantaneously.

So when you look at the jobs that people are doing, it’s about a team. And in any team, of course, there are people that are in the forefront. There’s always the front of the house, but there’s also the back of the house.

And without the back, the front of the house won’t be able to work.

So it’s all about the team.

How do you go about building your team?

I love having a staff meeting and what I often do is everybody knows how I feel the most important person at Melba’s is our dishwasher. Because if the dishwasher doesn’t wash the pots, the cooks can’t cook. If the dishwasher doesn’t wash the plates, the guests can’t dine. The dishwasher is key to our success. So it starts here and then it grows from there. So it starts with clean and we build upon that. But the foundation has to be strong.

How do you look at the technology at the back of the house and how has it helped you be more impactful and efficient?

I think it depends on what you’re

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In 2016, Melba Wilson published her cookbook “Melba’s American Comfort: 100 Recipes from My Heart to Your Kitchen”

doing in the food and beverage industry as opposed to when you determine whether or not it works for you. I’m very old school. Personally I’m very old. And in some aspects, if it’s not broke don’t fix it. However when you look at the systems where if the oil has been recycled or it needs to be changed, I listen to my team a lot. I’m wise enough to know that I don’t know it all. And at the end of the day it’s something that’s going to work for them and make their jobs easier.

How to you go about buying products? Are you loyal to existing vendors?

So being a small business I think it’s important that we support small businesses. I still go to a local butcher block to get a lot of the meat [for Melba’s]. One of the things that I love most about them is they give meat on

the [classic] brown paper.

But that’s how I grew up going to the butcher for my mom.

What about catering and off-premise work?

When I first opened, my goal was to open a catering segment and it happened three years later. Catering gives us an opportunity to reach more people that will return us later. It gives us an opportunity to be a lot more creative and to meet, or exceed our customers needs.

What do you hope to accomplish as the president of The Alliance? How will you pick and choose what goes on the agenda?

It’s a very difficult time coming into this business or coming into this position here in New York City especially. You know, there’s a lot of turnover over the tip credit, paid vacation, extended paid vacation time laws.

While we already have one week’s paid vacation time, the commercial rate taxes are making it harder for restaurants. It’s definitely a difficult time. But being a woman owner who started off in an industry where people said that you know we’re the minority in this business and not the majority, I’m kind of used to the difficulties. But that is nothing that I’m not used to. What I’m hoping to accomplish is to engage more small businesses - more minority owned businesses, and to really reach out to businesses outside of Manhattan even though The Alliance does a pretty good job of that. I think that’s important when you talk about New York being a melting pot. I just want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to experience all that.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 65

NEWS

PEST CONTROL

Your Restaurant Is Amazing (To Pests)

A

Know what your (unwanted) guests want As a pest management professional, I’ve learned to think like a pest. When I inspect a restaurant I ask myself, “If I were a mouse or roach, where would I hide? If I were a fruit fly, what would I be drawn to?”

One of the best ways to think like a

BHB Pest Elimination and a long time consultant to NYC’s restaurant culture. His business card says, “I

s a fourth-generation Bronx resident and lifelong New Yorker, I have a long-standing appreciation for how important restaurants are to our city. Working with hundreds of restaurants in the Tri-State area, I’ve been privileged to have countless amazing experiences while dining out -- none more so than meeting the extraordinary woman who would become my wife in a restaurant across from my office!

Restaurants are special places where so much vital human activity happens. From chance meetings to business meetings, from quiet lunches to boisterous parties with hundreds of guests, restaurants are an essential part of what makes New York the city it is.

Everyone loves restaurants Unfortunately, the things you and I love about New York restaurants are the very ones that make them appealing to pests -- but we don’t have to be hospitable to them. There are basic measures every restaurant operator can take to make their space less desirable to the creepy crawlies we don’t want patronizing our establishment.

Dr. Joel R. Grassi is a partner at

Will Kill For You.” If you would like to schedule him to kill for you, please email him at joel@bhbpest.com.

Keep it high I bet you thought I was going to say, “keep it clean.” But I’ve never had a restaurant tell me anything other than, “We’re clean.” Everyone thinks their standards for cleaning are high, but they can always be higher.

How often do you schedule a deep cleaning? When was the last time you moved the boxes or equipment away from that wall to see what’s going on back there? Is there an infrequently used storage room? Sounds like a VIP section for pests! Keep your cleanliness standards high.

pest is to remember the pest pyramid: “Water, food, harborage.” Just like us, pests come to a restaurant looking for a place to get a drink, grab a bite to eat, and hang out for a while. And when pests have gotten successful at doing this in a restaurant (a situation we term an “infestation”), it’s because we’ve made it too easy for them.

Keep it dry Have you ever wondered why they’re called water bugs? Pests are looking for moisture, and not just in your drains or sinks. Is there standing

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water, or a missing tile on the floor?

When you mop, does moisture gather where the floor meets the wall? These are all invitations for pests to come in and have a good time.

Consider a floor fan for behind the bar after hours. Try having your team use a dry mop behind a wet mop to minimize standing water. And tie up those hoses behind the bar so wetness dissipates fast. If your restaurant is a place where pests can find moisture, you can be sure they’ll keep coming back for more.

Keep it tight For years I’ve used the term “true perimeter of the restaurant” to indicate the most thorough measure of your space that is vulnerable to infestation. Going through your restaurant from A to Z searching for and sealing up potential entry points is the key to making sure pests don’t get in and make themselves comfortable.

Sometimes these entry points can be as plain as the front door, while others might be out of sight but be brand new, such as recent plumbing or electrical work. Have your team go A to Z around your restaurant to keep your true perimeter tight. Pretend you’re an unwanted guest and see where you could find your next meal. By being less amazing for pests, you can focus on being amazing for your guests.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 67

NEWS

EVENTS

Party Rental and Aramark Dazzle At NYU Catering Showcase

Guests mixed, mingled, and sampled Aramark’s spectacular fare at the New York University Kimmel Center for Student Life at the NYU Catering Showcase.

O

n Thursday, January 24, 2019, Aramark catering and Party Rental Ltd. joined forces to present a Catering Showcase at the New York University Kimmel Center for University Life. Overlooking the iconic Washington Square Park and Empire State Building as the evening’s backdrop, guests enjoyed a diverse sampling of Aramark’s culinary creations through innovative stations, passed bites, and cutting-edge presentations.

Highlighting various dishes from around the world, Aramark served a range of bites from brunch to dessert representing NYU’s core values of healthy options and sustainability.

A seed-to-table spread showcased freshly-sourced seasonal produce and juices on a rustic-meets-indus-

trial Loft Table, styled with enticing baskets of fruits, roasted vegetables, and bread bowls filled with bold flavors as accents. Aramark’s expert culinary team served popular Bao buns and lettuce wraps from authentic Bamboo steamers at their Asian-inspired station and mouth-watering Branzini and dry-aged steak at their carving station. Savory Mediterranean fare -- including seared gnocchi and charcuterie -- were served with interactive motion on rotating displays. Eye-catching black rice sushi dishes captivated guests as they made their way to an illuminated dessert display, complete with deconstructed s’mores, perfectly presented in Mini Mason Jar Mugs. As a centerpiece, bartenders served up premium wine, artisan cocktails, and flights of Toast Ale in Mini Beer Mugs

68 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

Smokey elements grounded the lively Living Coral-inspired hue of this sample table setting. Gold accents and etched glass added texture with a touch of glamour.

at a modern, four-sided Mirrored Bar that reflected the excitement and ambiance of the evening.

With NYU’s signature purple hue at the core of the design, Aramark and Party Rental Ltd. combined bold textures, eye-catching patterns, and contrasting hues with intrigue, delighting guests. Inspired by Pantone’s color of the year -- Living Coral -- a mix of orange, smoke, and coral tones combined with NYU’s regal purple through both the lighting and Party Rental Ltd.’s linen offerings, mimicking the setting sun on New York City just outside. Tableaus of hightops and lowtops provided an unique combination of seating options encouraging guests to mix, mingle, and enjoy the evening’s fare. Each food station has a unique personality, giving guests an

immersive, dynamic experience, and knowledgeable staff helped bring the menu to life.

Party Rental Ltd. Business Development Manager Jim McManus says of the evening, “We were honored to team up with the talented team at Aramark on their NYU Catering Showcase. With a shared passion for service excellence and partnership, this collaboration was a true example of an event ‘home-run’! When you collaborate with the best, the results always exceed expectations. NYU sets the bar at the highest level, leading by example with clear vision through and with commitments to core values that we all strive to emulate.”

Photo credit for all photos: Party Rental Ltd.

More photos on page 102

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 69

NEWS

COOKING SOLUTIONS

Glueck’s Vision Leads RATIONAL To New Heights In North America

A

s a child growing up in Germany, Markus Glueck, like many other young soccer players, had his eye on a position on the soccer pitch with his beloved Bayern Munich squad. Although that vision didn’t materialize, his competitive spirit and dedication to excellence have served him well in his business career.

Last year with the dynamic Glueck at the helm, RATIONAL North America reached championship heights.

Its North American Distribution Center successfully shipped more than 10,000 combi ovens in 2018. It was a record-breaking year for RATIONAL. Before working in foodservice equipment, Glueck brought his passion for detail to a highly successful career in the automotive business. He then leveraged his auto industry experience at a pair of European coffee manufacturers looking to grow in the US with successful stints at Schaerer and WMF before taking the helm at RATIONAL. Once again in 2019, Glueck has his team ready for new heights of success and competitor brands are taking note.

In addition to its record-setting 2018, the RATIONAL North America installed base now exceeds 60,000 units, which makes it the largest in this part of the world. Under Glueck’s watch, RATIONAL’s combi oven mar-

Rational EVP of North America Markus Glueck shipping the 10,000th unit in 2018

ket share has increased to an estimated 45 percent in the United States and 65 percent in Canada, which makes it the most widely distributed combi oven brand in the market.

RATIONAL’s recipe for success includes uncompromising quality in the production of each unit. “Each oven goes through four different employee checks before shipment,” Glueck explained.

“Our success really begins with the commitment from our shareholders who understand that we need to reinvest into the internal structure of the organization,” Glueck noted.

“We doubled our sales force in the last five years and we are able to handle the increased sales volume

70 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

because of investments and upgrades to operating systems, and the addition of terrific people across all aspects of our operation.”

With combi ovens becoming increasingly popular in North America’s commercial kitchens, it has led to additional competition for RATIONAL. “This is a very complicated technology and the amount of time that we’ve spent in the marketplace has given us a unique advantage that we have never taken for granted,” Glueck continued. “That’s why when you attend a show like NAFEM or NRA, you see that nobody works harder to listen to the needs of our customers than we do.”

In 2018 alone, the company intro-

duced its award winning technology to some 30K plus chefs in North America. Many chefs are simply amazed at how a RATIONAL SelfCookingCenter® can enable them to do more with less space, waste, labor and stress.

And they are further amazed at RATIONAL’s customer commitment.

“We understand that our customers are paying $10K to $20K for our units, so we take a different approach to what happens after the sale,” said Glueck.

“We love our dealers, but we make sure that a RATIONAL person is there to perform a unit introduction and we offer a free four-hour chef-to-chef training session to help each customer understand the unit’s capabilities,” Glueck explained.

“RATIONAL has an in-house corporate chef team and an extensive network of RATIONAL certified chefs to support customers. A popular benefit is the RATIONAL ChefLine®, a 24/7 hotline for application inquiries that is always answered by one of our highly experienced corporate chefs.”

RATIONAL is revolutionizing the way America cooks one commercial kitchen at a time. Markus Glueck’s visionary leadership and his remarkable initiatives have played a great role in enabling the company to accomplish success after success and he is determined to drive double-digit growth for RATIONAL again in 2019.

The SelfCookingCenter®.

The perfect centerpiece for your kitchen.

The RATIONAL SelfCookingCenter® combi-steamer is revolutionizing the way commercial kitchens operate.

For more information go to: rationalusa.com

US_Ad_SCC101-XS_9,5x10inch.indd 1

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 71 29.01.2019 16:59:20

NEWS

PIZZA EDUCATION

New Pizza University & Culinary Arts Center Solving America’s Pizzaiolo Shortage

H

ave you ever had a mouth-watering brickfired pizza made by a genuine Pizzaiolo?

Pizza University & Culinary Arts Center (PUCAC) is a collaboration between an innovative brick oven manufacturer, a conglomerate of restaurateurs, award-winning chefs, and leading ingre­­ dient producers. Our aim is to support the wellness of the Hospitality and Food & Beverage industries, by filling the need for skilled pizza makers and professional chefs.

The PUCAC is also “proud to provide career guidance for veterans and young adults who wish to pursue a career in pizza making and other culinary arts,” according to founders Francesco and Enzo Marra, and in addition to granting professional certification, “we also connect well-trained chefs with thriving restaurants.”

In America, pizza is one of the highest-grossing segments within the fast-casual market. The demand for healthier, made-your-way-inless-than-a-minute-pizza is steadily increasing. In recent years, many college campuses, hospitals, stadiums, grocery chains, and even the new Apple Campus cafeteria, now offer artisan personal pizzas. In Italy, where pizza-making has earned UNESCO heritage status, there are literally hundreds of pizza schools.

However, despite America’s high demand for amazing pizza, there is a lack of instruction available for those who aspire to make it professionally.

Looking at the numbers, a career as a chef is a viable occupational option for the many passionate cooks. We’re here to help fill the shortage of skilled and committed pizza makers in the American pizza industry.

The Pizza University & Culinary Arts Center was started on the East Coast, but is quickly spreading to include facilities in LA, Mexico, and Dubai. Thus far, the school has welcomed special guest instructors such as the Pizza Champion of the World, Tony Gemignani - a man many call “the best pizza maker in the world”, Neapolitan Master Pizzaiolo Antonio Starita, and the President of VPN America, Peppe Miele. The school is quickly gaining notoriety in the pizza and culinary industries and also features recreational courses such as Sweet and Savory Baking with award-winning author/chef/ Pizza University Ambassador, Amy Riolo.

PUCAC is also proud to partner with industry leaders, such as Les Dames d’Escoffier who hosted a Global Gourmet Pizza Workshop event last December. In 2019, we will reveal additional courses. Go to pizzauniversity.org to explore our courses and learn more about our instructors.

72 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

The goal of the Pizza University & Culinary Art Center is to provide guidance and certification in search of the next generation of pizza professionals with the industry’s most comprehensive curriculum.

BOOTH #4530

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 73

REAL ESTATE PERSPECTIVE

WITH JEFF KRAVET

Does Amazon Really Deserve All the Credit for Long Island City’s Rebirth?

B

efore I begin, I want to first acknowledge how impossible it will be to fill the shoes of my predecessor to this column Faith Hope Consolo.

Faith was an icon in our industry. Although I was not privileged to work with her directly on a deal, her reputation as a deal maker in an industry dominated by men should serve as a model for women everywhere. Tenacity, focus, dedication and preparation and thorough knowledge of every aspect of the deal is how she rolled. That is the right formula for success in our industry. She will be missed by landlords and tenants everywhere. Faith brings to mind one of my favorite mantra’s. If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room. If you were in the room with Faith you never had to be concerned about that outcome.

My other mantra’s I like are if everyone threw their dirty laundry in the middle of the room, chances are you would take your own back. Although not mine, I also love; I have morals, they may be low, but they’re mine. (Bette Midler).

As I looked at potential topics, like many I am fascinated with the state of retail in Long Island City and what the impact Amazon might or might not have.

Walking the streets in Long Island City one is struck by its diversity of

The message I believe tenants heard was if you have something unique, untested or controversial, then Long Island City is the place for you. I think that is exactly the right formula.

Something for everyone.

Jeff Kravet is a Principal at Stamford, CT based Kravet Realty LLC. Kravet’s career has been highlighted by 20 years of creative selling and leasing

the retailers, ethnicities of the people and the wide range of food and retailing offerings. It’s remarkable how the mood and the ambience can change from block to block, storefront to storefront. There is something for everyone here. How did that happen? Was it good city planning, sheer coincidence or are we missing something bigger that other cities and municipalities can learn from?

Long Island City is as diverse with their tenant mix as it is with their retail asking rents. Availability at 10-07 50th Ave. is being offered at $96. psf for 1176 square feet, 10-09 50th Ave. next door which has between 1600 and 3600 of vacancy is being offered at $72. psf (source loopnet). Other retail availability in the area includes 20,000 s.f. of availability at 38-50 21st at $50. psf. 32-05 36th Ave. has 1600

74 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

vacant being offered at $63.75 and 10-63 Jackson Ave. has vacant space being offered at $52.50.

Obviously asking rent is only part of the analysis when determining where a retailer wants to locate. The NNN charges, taxes, term of lease, personal guarantee (if any) and landlord contribution to the fit out and free rent period has to be factored into the decision making.

I offer the following observation on Long Island City’s potential by looking at, my primary market Stamford CT. I often hear landlords saying why can’t we attract quality national retailers like Greenwich or Westport, which serve as the northern and southern borders of Stamford?

That is exactly the problem. Stamford like so many other cities is trying to replicate another streetscapes they think will drive up property

in commercial real estate throughout CT. Kravet currently exclusively represents tenants including Enterprise Car and Truck Rental, Verizon Wireless franchisees with 37 locations.

He closed well over $300,000,000 in investment sales; many of those transactions were “off market”. Jeff Kravet represents tenants everywhere throughout CT and NY. He can answer your real estate questions via phone at 203-430-7811 or via email at kravetjeff@gmail.com

values instead of trying to establish their own identity and uniqueness.

In my observation Long Island City did not model themselves after the success of Soho or midtown or anywhere for that matter.

continued on page 110

BOOTH #1654

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 75

NEWS

NEW OPENINGS

Kenney Unveils Plans to Debut Brooklyn Vegan Eatery

N

ew vegan restaurant Hungry Angelina will open on the ground floor of the Etsy headquarters in Brooklyn this summer. While menu details have yet to be released, the 4,500-square-foot eatery is a joint effort between vegan chef Matthew Kenney and a hospitality group based in Madrid.

The restaurant venue is part of “Dumbo Heights,” a lucrative real estate cluster of six buildings in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn.

“Dumbo Heights is an ideal setting for our first location of Hungry Angelina, a concept designed as an all-day social environment embracing its neighbors as well as those who visit seeking a unique plant-based experience,” Kenney said.

Etsy is an e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items and supplies, as well as unique factory-manufactured items. These items fall under a wide range of categories, including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, food, bath and beauty, quilts, knick-knacks, and toys. Many sellers also sell craft supplies such as beads, wire, and jewelry-making tools. All vintage items must be at least 20 years old. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, Having grown up on the coast of Maine and being an avid outdoorsman, Kenney’s success lies within his innate understanding of seasonal and local ingredients, his classical culinary training and extensive travel background. As a raw food chef, Ken-

ney’s application of contemporary methods and techniques, along with a firm commitment to innovative recipes and food aesthetics, has continued to bring plant-based cuisine to the mainstream.

Matthew Kenney graduated from the French Culinary Institute and, after working in upscale New York City kitchens, opened a number of his own highly regarded restaurants in New York and along the East Coast. He has earned several awards, including being named A vegan hamburger from Hungry Angelina one of America’s Best New Chefs by Food and Wine Magazine and was twice nominated as expand into new hospitality and cona Rising Star Chef in America by the sumer product markets.

James Beard Foundation. Kenney has Currently, Kenney has 16 restauappeared on numerous food and talk rants operating on five continents and shows, and regularly lectures on the throughout 9 international cities, as subject of food and health, including a well as another 16 additional restauhighly watched TEDx talk in 2011. rants under construction throughout In 2009, Kenney founded the world’s the U.S., Brazil and Costa Rica, set to first classically structured raw food open in the coming year. The most culinary academy. Matthew Kenney recent of Kenney’s openings include: Academy has graduated students Sacro, a gorgeous plant-based restaufrom over 30 countries, opening sevrant in Buenes Aires, Argentina; Plant eral global pop-up locations and an Food + Wine, the second location of online program. Matthew has also our flagship restaurant, in New York made numerous global travels this City; Alibi Bar, the world’s first plantpast year throughout Australia, Eubased hotel restaurant, in Sydney, rope and South America to promote Australia; and Make Out, the second his plant-based philosophy at culinary location of his LA-based fast-casual events, chef conferences and wellness concept, in Bogota, Colombia. He also retreats. His extensive travels have recently opened a plant-based conveenabled him to develop many stranience store in Venice Beach, Califortegic partnerships with like-minded nia, which offers sustainable, organic entrepreneurs around the world and groceries, household goods, prepared

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foods and an extensive coffee, wine and beer program.

Aside from Kenney’s growing repertoire of international restaurants, he has also recently become involved in the consumer product industry. Ntidote, a plant-based food product line focused on nutrient-dense and functional foods, was formed in partnership with celebrated Dr. Amir Marashi and will launch three vegan nutritional bars in 2019, preceding its plans to offer beverages and ready-to-eat foods. Kenney will also bring Double Zero’s notorious pizza, which received the praise of New York’s Michelin Guide multiple times, to the masses this year with Double Zero Now, a line of frozen plant-based pizzas. The product will be available at select stores nationwide and several small retail locations in late 2019.

Matthew Kenney Cuisine also offers a variety of other services, including catering and events, speaking engagements, wellness retreats, chef placement and licensing agreements.

Kenney also engages in extensive consulting services that lead to his most recent project, PLANTMINDED, an institutional meal program designed to provide healthy, plant-based meals to schools, universities and hospitals nationwide.

“Having personally lived in Dumbo many years ago, I could not be more excited to return to the place I experienced in the early stages of its development, which is now one of the most vibrant communities in all of New York

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 77

COFFEE STRATEGIES

WITH JONATHAN WHITE

So You Want To Open A Café…

Jonathan White is the Executive Vice President at White Coffee Corpora-

I

’ve just returned from visiting the coffee industry’s two major organizational conferences- coordinated through the National Coffee Association and the Specialty Coffee Association. Well attended and well executed, both conferences offered many networking opportunities and specific programs geared at both industry-specific issues and general operational challenges.

With coffee bars opening seemingly on every block, it could be very tempting to “jump into the water”. Before taking that leap, step back. Take a deep breath. Like so many things in the world, it’s not as easy as it may seem. For every successful venture, many more do not succeed. And multiple unit brands are increasing their market share every day- not only the well-known national chains, but strong local and regional brands.

As with any starting venture, certain basic business principles apply. A well-thought out business plan (operationally, financially and strategically) to clearly express where you are going.

Adequate cash to both fund the initial start-up costs and inevitable cash flow peaks and valleys (to fund needed inventory). A location that easily drives traffic to your doorstep- at the right time of day (the perfect concept in the wrong location will invariably fail). An attractive, well-lit, comfortable setting. Pricing that is competitive but neither too high or too low.

tion in Long Island City, NY. Learn more about how Jonathan and his team can help you at www.White Coffee.com.

you have to go to (this specific place)-

Assuming all the above is executed well, there are three fundamental questions to ask: 1. What makes my (potential) café truly unique? If it’s just another version of all your competitors, don’t bother with your time and money.

Are your products innovative, truly different from what’s available in the general marketplace? Are they actually of superior quality, with objective specific facts? Are they distinctively and cleanly marketed in the store?

Can customers who are not intimately familiar with the product quickly perceive what are the product’s main attributes and differences from similar products? Many times, retailers believe they can offer a “copycat” product that is just capitalizing on a trend.

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But just because a product is “hot” (for example, cold brew- pardon the pun) doesn’t mean that it will automatically achieve success unless all of the other “boxes” above have been checked off.

2. If the product is not dramatically different, will the experience in my place be uniquely memorable and different from any other competitive location? Is the service level beyond normal attentiveness and personalized? Does the visit make your customers feel special and that, for the time they are in your café, that they matter more than anything else?

Would your customers be so “wowed” by their visit that they would want to share with their friends on social media or by “word of mouth” that “if you want (this specific coffee product),

3. Once you’ve developed a unique place with a truly unique experience, how will the world find out about it? Traditional advertising has been turned on its head, and on-line advertising can be costly and not always properly targeted. What press can you get? What free events can you participate in (industry conferences, local fairs)? Can you become a “subject matter expert” through a blog? How do you partner with your community to become a part of the area? How do you promote your product, both inside and outside your location? There are many experts- both product suppliers and marketing firms- that can be of assistance.

Independent cafes have seen their numbers rise, both in New York and throughout the country. That trend is likely to continue, as folks want to support locally based businesses. But consumers will not “shop local” unless they know that the local alternative exists, and if the local product is special and different from the well known brand, both in product and environment. It takes a lot of extra effort, but it can be done.

STYLISH YET STRONG Come visit the newly updated Arc Cardinal Showroom at 41 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10010-2202 Contact cardinalsales@arc-intl.com to make an appointment.

cardinalfoodservice.com

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 79

NEWS

EXPANSION

NYC’s Mamoun’s Falafel Expanding to Southern CA

M

amoun’s Falafel, the fastest growing Middle Eastern fast-casual restaurant in North America and oldest falafel restaurant in New York City, has signed a multiunit deal to expand their franchise into Southern California.

Mamoun’s Falafel signed an eightunit franchise deal with Ali and Munira Yusufaly for exclusivity in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, adding to its current portfolio of 10 locations across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

The new franchise locations add to Ali and Munira Yusufaly’s business portfolio, which includes several successful flower shops and car washes.

“When our family lived in New York, we stumbled upon Mamoun’s Falafel and were immediately enticed by its mouthwatering, authentic cuisine,” said Ali and Munira Yusufaly.

“We are thrilled to continue the Mamoun’s Falafel legacy on the West Coast and introduce Southern California diners to the delicious Middle Eastern recipes that are now a staple in our lives. With new locations planned for 2019 and beyond, we look forward to bringing fresh, flavorful food to customers across the region.”

Since opening in the heart of Greenwich Village in 1971, Mamoun’s Falafel has been dishing out a menu of authentic

The iconic and popular MiddleEastern fast casual concept will grow its West Coast presence with eight new locations Middle Eastern cuisine, including shawarma, hummus, baba ganouj, and baklava along with their famous namesake falafel.

Mamoun’s uses a commissary and rigorous production system to ensure high quality and consistent product at every location, including baking the pita fresh in house every day. It has partnered with Cuisine Solutions, a worldwide leader in the

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sous-vide cooking method, to ensure the same delicious menu items can be duplicated all over the world.

Mamoun’s Falafel, which has established a reputation of being the most authentic and flavorful falafel in New York City, was founded by Mamoun Chater, who built the menu using authentic Middle Eastern recipes consisting of simple, natural ingredients and spices. The legacy and tradi-

tion of the brand has been carried on

by Mamoun’s sons who, like him, are passionate about serving delicious food that brings people together.

Mamoun’s Falafel was featured in the book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die,” awarded ‘Best Falafel’ by the New York Press, included in Eater NYC’s list of “NYC’s Most Iconic Sandwiches,” and featured on the Food Network, in addition to being praised by various musicians, actors, comedians, and other celebrities throughout the years.

The chain currently operates 10 restaurants – three in New York in the West Village, East Village, and Syosset; four in New Jersey in Hoboken, New Brunswick, Princeton, and Fort Lee; one in New Haven, Connecticut, and one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Forty-six locations are in development nationwide, including eight locations in Northern California and six locations in Atlanta, Georgia.

Mamoun’s Falafel has partnered with Fransmart, the industry-leading franchise development company behind the explosive growth of brands like Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and Qdoba Mexican Grill, as their exclusive franchise development partner to grow the brand. The concept is currently looking for experienced multi-unit foodservice operators to develop franchise territories in top 40 major media markets across the U.S.

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Pecinka Ferri Associates | 973-812-4277 | sales@pecinkaferri.com February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 81

CONNER’S CORNER

MONTHLY PERSPECTIVES ON FRANCHISING

Franchising and Social Media

A

s with so many industries, the impact of digital marketing has become a huge focus in the restaurant franchise field. What role does social media, the “Instagramming of everything on the menu” have on the role of a potential franchisee?

Social media is important to incorporate with any industry and especially in franchising where branding is such a big component of how relevant a franchise system is. Social Media is the voice of the brand and when looking specifically at franchising, it is important to showcase that voice to consumers and potential franchisees. People want to invest in companies that they know and understand, and share in values for the service or product and business model. It has a low learning curve and could even be completely free to use.

Instagram, for example, has become one of the biggest platforms today that nearly any type of professional uses to promote their business, ranging from medicine to photography. This platform would be particularly useful for a restaurant franchisee because almost all consumers enjoy eating, trying new foods, and sharing photos of it. Food bloggers, critics, and foodies are all on there looking for new places to eat.

Having an Instagram account where the content is focused on photography showcases the quality and creativity of the menu and allows consumers to have a chance to visit.

Should age scare someone from buying a franchise if social media appears

Christopher Conner is the co-founder of Franchise Marketing Systems. He

Social media is important in franchising where branding is such a big component of how relevant a franchise system is.

works with business owners to oversee and implement sales and marketing campaigns. This includes product, service, franchise and business opportunity sales. Conner has been in the franchise development arena

so daunting? Do the better franchise systems teach and train that expertise?

There is definitely no age group that social media would be considered inappropriate for using social media. It has quickly become a platform that all generations can use and feel comfortable interacting with. Regardless if it does become tedious for a potential franchisee, there are an abundance of resources and professionals who can help. For this reason, Alan George came to me about a year ago and said, Chris, we need someone in house who can do this type of work, it’s too important to everything we are doing for franchise marketing. And so it was done, we brought in some really talented people who know stuff about digital marketing and can help manage these campaigns, the results have been incredible in a very short time period which again validates the entire concept of how relevant social media marketing is for not only consumer marketing, but also in presenting franchises.

How are successful franchise systems using the Internet to acquire new customers? Create brand loyalty with existing customers?

There are several ways to use the Internet to help gain new customers.

There are five basic steps to doing so:

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The first thing would be to have your company listed on Google and have a professional, engaging website created. This is going to be the home for your business online and in many ways, the storefront for the entire brand. This is what lets consumers and potential franchisees learn more about your company, services, and what you stand for.

The second step is to sign up for all the appropriate social media platforms and get a presence there for your brand. For example, if you’re a restaurant, then you would need to be on Yelp, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, and YouTube. If you’re a consulting company, being on Pinterest wouldn’t be relevant to your business because that platform is meant for artists and bloggers. Picking the right platforms is key to successfully driving posts from them to your website.

The third step is to create original posts and research other relevant content. You have to be consistent and transparent with the posts that will be shared. The posts should be relevant, informative, fun, and honestly tells the story of the franchise so that anyone who visits will see the company’s values and what is put into the services and/or products.

The fourth step is to letting your cus-

for almost ten years and has worked within a variety of different business segments and types of franchise systems. His experience ranges from sales and marketing work to strategic planning and business development background. Conner currently focuses in the franchise/license sales segment of the industry.

tomers feel included. This means creating occasional promotions involving their interaction with your posts online, signing up for newsletters for a certain discount, contests, raffles, and other similar events. Having someone respond to your customers’ concerns and questions gives a human touch and makes the customers build brand loyalty and proud to be a supporter.

The final step is to keep track of all the analytics for all visits to the website, contacts, and post engagements and this has to be done diligently and consistently to pull out results on how to improve. There are tracking tools for website and social media.

You can use all of these online tools to assist you at the start of your franchise and you will be able to see the improvement. It is important to stay consistent but to continually grow with

continued on page 104

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CONTACT US FOR A COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 83

RESTAURANT COMPLIANCE

WITH RADA TARNOVSKY

Navigating NYC Department of Health Tribunals

A

ll food service establishments, including restaurants, bars, and mobile food vendors subject to the Letter Grade System, can receive two cycle inspections from the NYC Department of Health. Although the ultimate goal is to get 13 points or less on the initial inspection (and post that “A”), all is not over if that doesn’t happen. The inspector will be back for the graded (second) inspection.

In the meantime, violations are written, fines are assessed, a hearing date is scheduled and a settlement offer is mailed.

The settlement offer…

DO NOT automatically accept.

Although there are some violations that cannot be disputed, experience shows that defending the violations at a hearing will often result in a reduction of fines that is lower than the settlement offer. However, if you do accept the settlement (up until the hearing date) in person, you have to pay at the OATH offices.

The OATH hearing…

Also known as the F0 or initial inspection hearing, is based solely on fines. You are allowed to adjourn this hearing date 1 time. Be on time, if you are late, you can be prevented from seeing a Judge.

First things first, read the violation report carefully. If an inspector writes a violation and uses the

wrong section of the Code, that violation could be dismissed. Second, sometimes Inspectors make observations that are not accurate, so review the inspector’s comments about the violations. Third, pay attention to the violation and condition level. It’s possible to get some points knocked off simply by pointing out a typo. In other words you have a violation issued with more points assigned than allowed. Example 1 food item out of temperature is 7 points but the report says 9 points.

Be prepared. Bring all relevant evidence with you. If you think something will help your case, bring it! Be polite to the Judge and explain clearly.

continued on page 111

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

Although the ultimate goal is to get 13 points or less on the initial inspection (and post that “A”), all is not over if that doesn’t happen.

The inspector will be back for the graded (second) inspection.

84 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 85

NEWS

BRANDING

Gina Marie Refrigerator Doors Refreshes Branding and Website

G

ina Marie, a Refrigerator Door Specialist and Cold Storage service provider, headquartered out of Long Island, NY with offices in Elizabeth & Englishtown NJ, went live with their brand-new website this week. The 30-year-old Cold Storage business had digital goals in mind to get updated company information out to their clients across NY, NJ, CT, PA, DE, MD and all the way to Miami and Boston.

Gina Marie enlisted 20 Lemons, a fullservice marketing company to deliver on an impactful, new website.

“We all breathed a sigh of relief for not just the new year, but for the new website as well. We worked for months; planning, rebranding, editing, and researching constantly. Now after all of that we’re so glad to announce the new Gina Marie site went live yesterday,” said Dan Rizzo, CEO of Gina Marie.

Each and every sentence found on the old Gina Marie website was given a 2019 refresh. New products and services were added, and old descriptions and procedures were discarded. The website was given the high-resolution photography it deserved, and the upgraded, high-speed web server allowed new options for viewers to seamlessly scroll through the before/after galleries and product/service offerings.

The website update has given the Gina Marie team an entirely new medium in which to con-

We worked for months; planning, rebranding, editing, and researching constantly. Now after all of that we’re so glad to announce the new Gina Marie site went live yesterday,” said Dan Rizzo. duct business. Visitors to the website will now receive information quickly, as the site enables customers and company managers to connect faster than ever before.

Even more interesting, the new website was part of a brand refresh for Gina Marie. The 20 Lemons team took the old, low-resolution .jpg that was Gina Marie’s logo, and upgraded the label to a high-quality, vector graphic that can be reproduced in optimal resolutions, sizes, and color varieties for digital/print media, as well as

86 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

for Gina Marie’s apparel and branded company vehicles. The logo was successfully refreshed to set new trends in brand design while also paying homage to the trustworthy tradition that Gina Marie’s leaders have established with their longtime customers.

In the end, the logo fonts, colors, and depth influenced design for the business’ new website. The logo and digital platform came together to put the company’s marketing tools on par with the excellent work that Gina Marie employees guarantee to their customer base. Gina Marie officials now own a well-designed, informational, and efficient website. The team now sports a logo that customers new and old will trust as the leader in Refrigeration Installation and Repair. The next 30 years for this company have just begun!

About Gina Marie: In 1988, fate brought Alex Hunter and Pete Rizzo together when they met somewhere on Long Island, NY at a local deli where Alex had a refrigerator glass door laid out on a table, operating on it like

a surgeon. Rizzo and Hunter came to an agreement for some material and a small independent client base consisting of local delis, bakeries, butcher shops, as well as flower shops.

With the commitment of “Pop”— Pete Rizzo to provide for his family and the enrollment of his first son Dan, who went to the University of South Florida for Sales & Marketing, the business grew quickly. Rizzo family member after Rizzo family member joined the business, and customers began to know that doing business with Gina Marie was like, being part of the family. Installing the best product and providing the best repair service was what the Rizzo family business does to this day.

With Pete’s sons, Dan & Dave, and Pete’s Baby brother John as CFO, Gina Marie successfully manages installs and service for practically every large Supermarket Chain, a multitude of 7-Eleven stores, CVS, and many independent food service facilities across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware & Maryland.

Dan had requested 20 Lemons to brand the Future of Gina Marie into “Refrigerator Door Medics,” with the intention of providing their services in every major city in the United States of America. So, moving forward you will see this side by side branding to get folks familiarized with carrying out the tradition that the forefather of Alex Hunter had created back in 1958 and the vision of Pete & Dan Rizzo taking the business all the way through the 21st Century and beyond.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 87

LIZ ON TABLETOP

TABLETOP SOLUTIONS

2019 Club Season Just Around The Corner

A

s we get ready to bid adieu to January, the days are getting longer and that before too long winter is going to give way to some warm weather and with it the launch of a new club season. We are already working closely with our club customers to bring them our thoughts on trends that we think they will be seeing. We are very excited to shop the NAFEM show in Orlando this month. We then look forward to sharing many of those ideas with the club managers’ community at the Club Managers Show next month in Westchester.

Every year, we look forward to shopping the showrooms at 41 Madison in search of new tabletop

Every year, we look forward to shopping the showrooms at 41 Madison in search of new tabletop looks for our BHS/H. Weiss customer base. This year we saw lots of new things for buffet systems including Rosseto, FOH, and Eastern Tabletop.” looks for our BHS/H. Weiss customer base. This year we saw lots of new things for buffet systems including Rosseto and FOH - risers with shelving. We will be suggesting the Satin

88 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

chafers from Eastern Tabletop. What we are seeing so far is a swing back to white plates. We suggest a mix of white pieces into the hand made look. Keep an eye on lots of coupe (non rimmed) plates, many with textures. 2019 should also be marked by subtle patterns. Look for lots of wood, gold tones and black flatware.

Our club chefs are among the most creative culinarians in the foodservice industry. So it’s important that we look to our chefs to get a sense of where they are taking menus going into a new season. What we are seeing is clubs pushing to serve restaurant quality food in the style of restaurants.

Then we suggest a separate china set for banquet with rimmed plates for banquet

Liz Weiss is the President and coowner of Armonk, NY based H. Weiss Co., a division of BHS Foodservice Solutions. She is known nationally as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on tabletop design. The Michigan State graduate is also actively involved with WPO-Women’s Presidents Organization. Comments may be sent to eweiss@hweiss.net.

and coupe for “member dining”. We also are working with many of our club customers to help them with how to handle their burgers, which have grown from poolside and halfway house to a place on club dining room menus. We are suggesting some really creative boards to our club clients for their burgers.

What we are seeing in working with our club chefs is a move that keeps farm-to table as a foregone conclusion That has now expanded to clean flavors which include the mixing of textures with offering including whipped fava beans replac-

continued on page 108

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 89

NEWS

TRANSPORTATION STRATEGIES

Milea’s Expertise in Refrigerated Trucks and Maintenance Is Helping Tri-State Food & Beverage Businesses

F

inding the right truck solution for the food and beverage professional has always been a challenge for Metro New York’s industry professionals.

However, with forty years of experience in commercial truck sales and leasing, Milea Truck offers a complete portfolio of truck solutions.

In a recent interview, the company’s Director of Commercial Truck Sales, Michael Sanfilippo outlined Milea’s rise to the top in a highly competitive business. “We opened in 1980 and we immediately began to focus on the food & beverage industries because of our location next to the Hunts Point Food market,” noted Sanfilippo. “We started to specialize in refrigerated box truck sales and service in order to fit the needs of our customers”.

The Bronx based firm, has decades long relationships with Volvo, GMC, Hino, Isuzu, Mitsubishi Fuso, and Crane Carrier. This allows the company to sell its customers everything from a light-duty GMC cargo Van all the way up to a heavy-duty Volvo Tractor. Due to the volume of trucks Milea sells they are able to regularly offer some of the best deals in the market for its customers.

According to Sanfilippo, the sales and leasing process at Milea begins with a comprehensive assessment of the potential customer’s needs. “We work with customers to give them a truck that is perfectly suited for the cargo they carry and the area they op-

The Milea full maintenance lease brings unique peace of mind to the TriState Area foodservice professional. It covers all preventive maintenance, repairs, roadside assistance, and replacement trucks.” erate,” Sanfilippo said. Michael represents the third generation of ownership at Milea.

“We understand that first and foremost we are in a service business. We know that if your truck is down that your business stops.” Michael explained how Milea prioritizes service, and considers it’s their main business driver. “We know that if we service your truck properly, you will be a customer for life. That is why our customer base has been so loyal.”

Milea views its family ownership as a strength of the company. “Where we separate ourselves from our competition is we have established a reputation of direct customer service at the ownership level for any matters related to sales, service or parts,” Sanfilippo stated.

Milea’s understanding of the industry has moved them to prioritize full maintenance lease agreements. “Operating and maintaining trucks can be a full-time job. Many companies today

90 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

choose to do a full maintenance lease because it lowers the cost of ownership and takes the burden of proper maintenance off your shoulders. Our goal is to focus on keeping your truck running while you focus on your business.”

The Milea full maintenance lease brings unique peace of mind to the Tri-State Area foodservice professional. It covers all preventive maintenance, repairs, roadside assistance, and replacement trucks are included in a set price determined at the start of the lease.

Traditionally, the purchase of a truck brought with it the challenge of finding a mechanic that could keep a fleet running. “We have built a team of Certified technicians that are responsible for properly servicing your truck on a regular basis that have been trained by the manufacturers”, Sanfilippo noted.

Sanfilippo stated that a full maintenance lease results in less downtime due to preventative maintenance.

“They change the oil, filters and grease, and put your truck through a 50-point inspection to detect potential problems before they happen, which is the best way to ensure that your vehicle stays on the road.”

Milea Truck Sales has also found that this new approach to leasing has brought peace of mind. “Our customers know that there are no unexpected service costs and it eliminates a large down payment to purchase a truck.

It enables our customers to preserve capital for other parts of the business that generate a higher financial return.

Milea has also taken strides to establish itself as the preeminent leader in clean energy technology for trucking. Milea has focused on offering alternatives to diesel engine including natural gas, hybrid and electric. “We are particularly proud of assisting the Tri-State’s largest beer distributor Manhattan Beer, meet their green and sustainable agenda with a move into a natural gas driven fleet.”

Additionally, Milea is very mindful of the fact that the Bronx and the surrounding boroughs have some of the highest asthma rates in the country.

“We feel we have a social responsibility to do everything in our power to help fight this by putting more low emission vehicles on the road.”

Milea Truck’s approach has been to build a diverse and deep inventory, The Bronx based company stocks a wide variety of new and used light, medium and heavy-duty trucks.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 91

NEWS

VENTLESS SOLUTIONS

A Match Made In Ventless Heaven

F

ebruary, the month of love and here at Motion Technology Inc, we thought the perfect way to celebrate was by telling the world about the best love story ever written. A tale of two pieces of ventless kitchen equipment that proved to be a match made in heaven, the story of the AutoFry and MultiChef XL. When it comes to designing your kitchen with the best equipment possible, we know the perfect pair to help make things operate efficiently, and it’s with the AutoFry and the MultiChef XL. While these machines are quite impressive on their own, what they can accomplish together is nothing short of amazing. Imagine being able to supply your business with a full menu just by utilizing two pieces of ventless cooking technology!

This isn’t just a dream with Motion Technology Inc., it is a very possible reality.

The AutoFry is the automatic, fully contained, fryer that is a must have for any business within the foodservice industry. With a complete range of automated ventless frying systems, from single basket ventless deep fry-

ers to double basket fryers, and countertop to floor models, it is easy to see why! Capable of serving a wide range of deep-frying demands; from small independent taverns to large stadiums, to worldwide multi-unit chains, AutoFry can handle it all. Most importantly, we continue to offer an affordable, safe and simple alternative to traditional open commercial fryers.

When time matters, you need a high-speed oven that truly delivers.

Our MultiChef XL uses convection, rapid impinged air, bottom infrared, and precision microwave to reduce cook times, transforming your business into a food preparation powerhouse. Using MultiChef XL is easy, regardless of kitchen knowledge level. Simply add your food to the cook chamber, select one of 80 presets or enter in a manual timer, and press start! MultiChef XL will take care of the rest. When the timer is complete, our oven will allow you to check on your food and either take it out to serve or add another 10-30 seconds of cook time, should your food need a little extra time!

By marrying the use of both the

Imagine being able to supply your business with a full menu just by utilizing two pieces of ventless cooking technology!

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AutoFry and MultiChef XL, your business can make a menu that is a step above the rest in no time at all. Savory appetizers like loaded Totchos (Tater tot nachos), are easily assembled.

Fry up tater tots quickly in the AutoFry, top them with shredded cheese, roasted corn, and bacon bits, then melt it all up in the MultiChef XL in under 30 seconds! Or, try frying some tasty onion strings to put in a delicious barbeque chicken panini for that extra crunch, before toasting it

in our oven. The combinations are endless with our ventless kitchen equipment.

Quick serve restaurants, convenience stores, and even food trucks can serve their hungry patrons all kinds of delightful fare when they embrace the high-speed love between fryer and oven. So, don’t stand between true love any longer, look into the benefits of equipping your kitchen with Motion Technology Inc.’s ventless solutions today!

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The AutoFry MTI-10X is a compact design capable of producing up to 4 lbs of product per fry-cycle with the simple push of a button. Fully automated and enclosed, this machine is equipped with its own ANSUL® fire suppression system, making AutoFry the safest commercial fryer on the market.

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February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 93

RESTAURANT EXPERT

WITH DAVID SCOTT PETERS

The Secret To A Profitable Restaurant

E

very restaurant owner who opens a restaurant accepts the responsibility of running a profitable restaurant. This obligation to be profitable ensures customers, employees, investors, family – and the restaurant owner ¬– can count on the success of the restaurant to meet their needs. I don’t care if you’re a small restaurant with eight employees, of if you’re a large restaurant with 200. If you take care of

David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, online restaurant management software helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by

you first, you make sure you make money, your family’s taken care of, your investors are happy, there are jobs for your employees and there is a restaurant for your guests. You can decide what it means to take care of all of these groups of people, but only if you have a plan to be profitable.

Do you know how the chains make money? They use systems to plan for their profits. If you want to have any chance to make it in this

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business, you’ve got to do what the chains do. You have to put systems in place, impose your will, have targets and run your business based on systems, not just your gut. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that your gut, your experience, that’s important.

But you need realistic targets to shoot for. You need to have systems in place for your team to follow, even when you’re not there.

Start the plan Making a plan to be profitable starts with having a budget. Why are budgets so important and how do we create them? First of all, let’s back up a second. Let’s say I’ve got a profit and loss statement (P&L) in my hand.

Usually you get your P&L around 15 days into the next period. What do you do with it? You go to the last page, look at the bottom and go, “Crap!” Right? You didn’t make the money you were supposed to. Whether you lost money or made money, usually restaurant owners didn’t make the money they expected. Your P&L is your report card telling you how you did.

To start your budget, we

the big chain restaurants. Download a free report to discover the #1 secret to lowering food and labor costs and running the independent restaurant you’ve always dreamed of. Learn more about how David can help you at www.TheRestaurantExpert.com.

start with your P&L. We ask you for your trailing 12 months of P&L statements and figure out what your sales were for each month. We figure out your sales mix for each month (80 percent food sales, 10 percent bottled beer and so on). We can see your cost of goods sold (COGS) for the last year ran 38 percent, and we can tell pour cost ran for bottled beer at 28 percent, 22 percent for draft beer, 34 percent for wine and so on.

Next, we look at your labor. Fixed labor expenses include management salaries, which for the purposes of this example are $15,000 each month. Then your variable labor shows cooks run 13 percent each month, servers about 2.5 percent, bar 1.5 percent and so on. Then we go line by line by line down your whole P&L statement and we find that rent is $10,000 fixed, but our paper supplies are running about 2.25 percent variable. Using this

continued on page 100

Meadowlands Convention Center • Secaucus, NJ April 17-18, 2019 • www.njrhexpo.com

Why Exhibit? $41.2 billion in sales for the restaurant and hospitality industry 103,000 guest rooms and 1,130 hotel properties 17,957 eating and drinking establishments Over half a million people employed in the foodservice industry 21.6 million occupied room nights annually Above facts courtesy of the National Restaurant Association and the American Hotel & Lodging Association

Contact us to exhibit! peter@njrhexpo.com • (646) 942-2042

njrhexpo njrhexpo2019 February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 95

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

HostMilano, The Unmissable Event For The Foodservice Industry

F

rom the boom in starred hotel restaurants to confectioner’s shops and coffeehouses dynamically merging with mixology, the out-of-home segment is growing to meet the needs of an expanding market: in Italy, it is worth over 78 billion euros and is growing at an annual rate of 8% (source: Censis-Coldiretti). In fact, 35% of tourist spending (over 30 billion euros) goes into eating out and 4.1 million Italians are using food delivery services.

With all these non-stop changes, how can operators anticipate future trends and transform them into business opportunities? HostMilano provides the answer; the fair, which is directly organised by Fiera Milano, represents the leading event in the professional hospitality industry, with the 41st edition set to take place at fieramilano from 18 to 22 October 2019.

Leadership born of innovation The ability to anticipate future trends has seen HostMilano rise to become the sector’s leading event: with a year still to go until opening day, 1,251 companies have already confirmed their participation, with 44.7% of these hailing from 45 different countries, including new entries Albania, Latvia and Columbia. The top seven countries by number of exhibitors are set to be Germany, Spain, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Portugal, while Spain and the UK reveal the strongest growth rates.

Thanks to continuous scouting ac-

tivities in collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency, there will be over 1,500 hosted buyers from 80 different countries in attendance, with an 80% turnover and a focus on the USA, Canada, the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates, China and Russia. Media coverage is also significant, with at least 100 journalists invited and partnerships with over 75 international

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publishing companies, primarily in Europe, Asia, America and the Middle East. The event counts on institutional agreements with important international associations such as the FCSI – Foodservice Consultants Society International, Restaurants Canada, CEDA (UK) and AFEHC (Spain), in addition to a number of distinguished Italian associations.

A concept that promotes sector hybridisation The macro-area concept will no doubt represent one of the event’s biggest strengths, with the further intensification of industry complementarity in line with market dynamics.

The Catering – Bread-Pizza-Pasta macro-area accounts for 48% of the companies present, representative of the substantial growth in the BreadPizza-Pasta segment. A sector that now sees many different trends coexist, united however by one common characteristic: from the increasingly premium food trucks to single-product establishments, involving the customer in an immersive experience with a format ‘curated’ down to the smallest detail is now an essential.

The Bar-Coffee Machines-Vending Machines – Coffee-Tea – Ice CreamPastry macro-area, as always, represents another strength, accounting for 34% of companies in attendance.

‘Fusion’ is increasingly becoming the sector mantra. If the merging of ice cream-pastry – which is continuing to grow in terms of exhibition spaces – and coffee has today become a concrete reality, then the next step is surely their ‘blending’ with mixology, which is creating new consumption opportunities throughout the day, such as after-dinner.

And ice cream? No longer confined to bars and confectioner’s: the trend is being integrated into the offering

continued on page 100

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February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 97

NEWS

EDUCATION

Isreali Culinary Pioneer Speaks To CIA Grads

M

ichael Solomonov, executive chef and coowner of Philadelphia’s acclaimed Zahav, was the keynote speaker during graduation ceremonies at the New York campus of The Culinary Institute of America last month.

Chef Solomonov is known for his skill in transforming simple foods into culinary masterpieces. He won James Beard Foundation Awards for Outstanding Chef in 2017, Best Chef: Mid-

Atlantic in 2011, and Book of the Year in 2016 for Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking. Eater named him its National Chef of the Year in 2014. “The restaurant world is leading the charge in terms of change. You are part of that,” said Solomonov, who was born in Israel and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. “You are going to go out tomorrow and you are going to literally change the world, if you can show up on time and bring a good attitude every single day.”

Solomonov opened Zahav—He-

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brew for “gold”—with restaurateur Steven Cook in 2008. It quickly garnered rave reviews and honors, being named one of Esquire’s best new restaurants in America. Their company, CookNSolo Restaurant Partners, has a portfolio of concepts that includes Philadelphia restaurants Rooster Soup Company, Federal Donuts, Dizengoff, Abe Fisher, and Goldie. Dizengoff also has locations in New York City and Miami, and Federal Donuts has another location in Miami.

Chef Solomonov, who has spoken publicly about the support he received while battling drug addiction, is known for giving back to his community. Rooster Soup Company donates all profits to programs providing the city’s homeless with meals, medical care, and legal help.

Born near Tel Aviv and raised in Pittsburgh, Solomonov returned to Israel at 15 to attend boarding school—only

continued on page 117

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HostMilano, from page 96

Peters, from page 94 information, we build each month based off those fixed and variable expenses. We know the sales coming across, and we can build a template for your budget that says if you operate the business the same way you did the last 12 months, here’s what you’re going to make or lose in the next 12 months.

It’s important to point out here that I don’t care about fiscal year.

I care about the next 12 months.

That’s what you can control. So, you don’t say, “Oh my gosh, I have to wait until January to write a budget.” Nope, write it now.

Now here’s what’s wonderful about it. A P&L statement is the past. You can’t change the past. And if I try and run my business with a P&L statement, it’s like driving a sports car at 75 miles an hour with your front windshield blacked out and only using your rearview mirror. If you base your plans for moving forward in your P&L, you will crash. Instead, a budget rips off that film so that you can see out the front windshield. Yes, you need the rearview mirror to know where you’ve been, but you have to know where you’re going.

Moving forward When you work with us at TheRestaurantExpert.com, we create the budget template for you based on your numbers. To start, we might suggest two clipboard systems and a budgeting system that usually guarantee a two-to-three-point reduction in food cost overnight. This is without inventories, without recipe costing cards, without other big impact systems. For the sake of example, based on the numbers outlined above, you’re starting at a 38 percent food cost.

Month one you’re going to set up and train your management team on the two clipboard systems and the budgeting system, which are the key item report, waste sheet and the

purchase allotment system.

Month two you’re going to hold them accountable to those three systems, and lower your 38 percent food cost to 35 percent. Now, you still have to reduce your food cost way under 35 percent and to do that, you have to add in a new system and then another and another until you are able to hit your target food cost within one to two points every week.

The result This is how you create a proactive plan and put it in place with your management team to achieve profitability. Imagine when you get that P&L statement and you put it up against the budget and see where you hit or missed. If you missed a number, you can pinpoint what system is in place that the managers aren’t using. Or if they are using all the systems and you still didn’t hit your number, what new system can you put in place to reach the goals.

The other benefit of having a budget and systems in place? If you are missing your numbers, even with systems in place, you are leaving money on the table. That is pretty easy to ignore when it’s not laid out for you in your budget and P&L. But once you see that, you can’t un-see it. Instead of accepting it, you can look for small changes to make over the remaining months that won’t impact guest satisfaction, product quality, your guests, or force you to work outside of your core values. You can proactively set new targets.

Running a restaurant is not just about making pretty food taste good.

It’s really important, but so are keeping your doors open and taking care of your guest, taking care of your employees, you and your family. So, understand from this point forward you have a responsibility to run profitably. It’s not a hope, it’s not a prayer, it is reality. And the best way to do that is to use a budget.

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of hotels and restaurants. That said, the desire for alternative products, such as those free from milk and its derivatives, as well as gluten-free, lowcalorie and vegan options, is growing.

Trends that require a new, more integrated approach to the product, enhancing the fusions facilitated by the HostMilano concept.

But there’s room for more! The coffee culture continues to expand, thanks to consumers who are becoming increasingly mindful of the origins of the raw materials – now almost equivalent to terroir in wine production – and who seek mono-origin and organic coffee, whilst enjoying experimenting with new extraction methods in addition to the classic processes used for espressos and filter coffee, such as the dripper, aeropress and cold-brew techniques.

The Furnishings-Tableware-Technology macro-area accounts for the remaining 18% and has seen one of the most significant growth rates of all. If the out-of-home segment now validates this lifestyle choice, then the format and layout are to be considered essential to the success of all and any project. With this in mind, the contract and consultancy sectors, in addition to the high-tech segment, are becoming increasingly important in helping to integrate the experience of online sociality with ‘physical’ conviviality.

A focus on professional growth HostMilano 2019 is also characterised by the attention that it devotes to developing professional skills, thanks to an extensive schedule of at least 500 events, including workshops, data and research presentations, tastings, training opportunities and compelling competitions.

In collaboration with POLI.design, the Polytechnic University of Milan spin-off, the Smart Label Award is back; this year, the acknowledgement that recognises the most innovative of products and services, will be joined

by the complementary Design Talks workshops. Sponsored by the ADI (Italian Association for Industrial Design), SMART Label highlights the sector’s ability to think outside of the box in terms of revamping the offering: 497 candidacies over the past three editions, 156 companies awarded the SMART Label, and more than 20 special recognitions (the Innovation SMART Label), presented to products capable of determining significant evolutionary milestones.

The selection process has also begun for the finalists who will participate in the 2019 edition of the FIPGC Cake Designers World Championships and the FIPGC World Trophy of Pastry, Ice Cream and Chocolate organised by the International Federation of Pastry, Ice Cream and Chocolate.

These championships, held every two years, will for the third time be held during HostMilano, on October 19 and 20 2019 and October 21 and 22, 2019, respectively. This year’s captivating theme for both championships is The Art and Tradition of Your Nation: a celebration of different flavours and colours, enabling each national team to bring different aromas and ingredients to the competition, thereby re-interpreting their local traditions with a modern twist. Dozens of other events are being planned with details being announced in the months leading up to the event.

Great emphasis is also set to be placed on the European Pizza Championship, organised by Pizza e Pasta Italiana and the Italian School of Pizza-Makers, the show-cooking events in partnership with the APCI (Association of Professional Italian Chefs), and the 6th Italian Coffeehouse Grand Prix, organised by AICAP (Italian Academy of Coffee Masters) and ALTOGA (Association of Coffee Roasters, Importers and Food Wholesalers in Lombardy).

All updates are available at: www. host.fieramilano.it, @HostMilano, #Host2019.

February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 101

Party Rental, from page 68

Fresh, seasonal produce-based dishes at the Seed-to-Table station showcased bold flavors with a focus on health and sustainability. Rustic styling and a colorful presentation drew guests in for a bite.

S’mores, anyone? Guests enjoyed a deconstructed version of the campfire classic served in Mini Mason Jar Mugs.

Aramark’s expert serving staff served up delectable Bao buns and lettuce wraps with an authentic presentation at their Asian station.

Scan the QR code, Pre-registration 102 • February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

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Franchising 101, from page 82 new ideas and tools when all of these social platforms add new settings to their sites.

How about how you are seeing it used to reach out to FORMER customers?

The five steps outlined above would be just as helpful for reconnecting with former customers who lost touch because the internet wasn’t as big back then as it is now. Former customers are always nostalgic and when they find that you are online, they would become excited to learn more about how the company is currently doing and would want to stay updated with new products and services.

All we hear today is about BIG DATA this and BIG DATA that. What does it really mean?

Big data is a phrase used to explain the large data sets analyzed to track patterns between human interactions with the products and services of a company. The idea is to make great use of the data obtained instead of trying to gain a large amount of it. Tracking and analyzing it properly helps determining the causes of what works and what doesn’t, the habit of consumer shopping behavior. It’s different today than it was a couple of decades ago because now there is information coming in from various platforms online and in-person that can be tracked and used to help the company and it is cheaper nowadays with the immediate use of social media platforms and instant

website makers.

How are you seeing the better franchisors capture data and utilize it?

The ones who are able to utilize this tool to their advantage are able to tell that there is a now a bigger window of opportunity to understand consumer behavior and how to react to opportunities. There is data being tracked almost anywhere from both online sources to offline sources and then using it to help create new products and services and promoting it correctly by interacting with consumers. Franchise Marketing Systems has seen this in a big way when it comes to promoting both to consumers and franchise investors.

I was at a tech seminar in which there was a spat between a rep of Yelp and a franchisee over who owned the customers’ information when an order was placed. Yelp said they wouldn’t share it. How are franchise agreements dealing with this?

It’s funny; this world of Franchising has been forced to adopt rules, regulations and legal standards for how to manage social media and web-based marketing. FDD’s and Franchise Agreements along with Franchise Operations Manuals not only make mention of how to interact with customers on social media and online, but list specific rules and regulations that pertain to how they are allowed to use these tools.

Franchise Marketing Systems gener-

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ally recommends that the franchisor keep control of these tools and maintain brand consistency across all platforms, it can be easy to have this get out of hand with a hundred franchisees all opening their own Facebook pages and putting anything and everything up they feel like.

While we are at the corner of DATA and ORDERING, I even had a caterer tell me that its goal is to close his retail and rely 100% on tech driven business.

Could we see a franchise someday that has no front of the house?

Absolutely a possibility for a totally virtual franchise system – it’s happening. We get a lot of calls from businesses that are all web-based and in a lot of different industries. The reality is that this is where the consumer is choosing to buy goods and services, so it’s only a matter of time before we see more and more food service focus entirely on offpremise sales.

How can the technology piece of this streamline operations and a P&L? How are franchisors approaching implementing the right tech in the back end?

Franchise Marketing Systems has a couple of great operations for people who do a lot of work around this piece.

Tim Conner, Sean Callaway, Scott McCarthy and Alan George all have great experience doing this work. The right tech can literally revolutionize a business model and in our case, when we are trying to find ways to scale a model

and make the concept more appealing to investors, tech is many times the tip of the sword. People expect a brand to be operated with a strong core technology and operating system, they expect an App, they expect great social media and today’s younger consumers think guys like me are just OLD when I tell them I can’t understand Snap Chat. If you don’t have the right people in place to manage these things, hire someone who knows the field and can get you up to speed whether you are franchising or just building your business.

Today’s franchisee has new tech based apps coming across their desk every day. What do you see that successful franchises are utilizing?

There are an abundance of tech apps and tools being made every day. For the most part, there would always be an email system, a team organization/ communication tool, social media, website, and analytics tool.

What’s the right blend of people/tech/ social media for a franchisor and their franchisees to succeed?

Balance is always key so having professionals who are passionate about the products and/or services, the company’s vision, brand, and core values is extremely important. Technology and social media is important to incorporate in a franchise business to showcase that brand and it is important to show transparency and the human touch with consumers.

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Mandatory Fees, from page 54 charge a mandatory fee of more than 20% of a customer’s final bill, the resulting liability can be devastating.

This is especially true for those businesses that rely on these mandatory fees as their main source of revenue.

The consequences of improperly assessing mandatory fees to customers should not only concern traditional restaurants or hotels operating in New York. The “hospitality industry” could also include other businesses that prepare and offer food or beverage, or a business that provides services in connection or incidental to such preparation and offerings. The regulation explicitly states that a catering business or even a company providing premade box lunches are subject to these requirements. And even if your business somehow does not fall within the definition of “hospitality” you still risk similar liability under New York Labor Law § 196-d.

These laws were originally drafted

with good intention. Specifically, they were meant to stop a business from deceiving its customers and retaining fees paid by patrons who believed they were giving those fees to the business’s employees. In reality, a business is most likely charging its customer a mandatory fee merely to cover their overhead or administrative costs. However, many New York businesses have already fallen victim to these technical rules and regulations and more lawsuits continue to be filed each week.

Any business that is charging its customers a mandatory fee is urged to consult with experienced labor & employment counsel to ensure that the required disclaimer and notification is present on all necessary documents. If all requirements are not met, the business risks costly class action claims that will seek all mandatory fees collected for the last six years.

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February 2019 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com • 107

Weiss, from page 88 ing potatoes. Many of our BHS/H. Weiss clubs have embraced many of the special diet offerings including gluten free, keto, vegetarian and vegan that our club chefs have actually managed to be really appetizing to members. A fresh new approach to serving these healthier menus is our 10.5” coupe plates with some embossing - so as not to look too plain. We are helping our club clientele match that up with lots of specialty glasses.

The warmer weather will also be marked by the return of club members to outdoor dining. We are suggesting a couple of creative serving concepts for terraces, poolside and golf course halfway houses. I can’t believe how attractive many of the new melamine pieces are. In addition, as club professionals seek to avoid glass outside, plastic tumblers and wine glasses are nicer than

ever. We are also working with our customers to brand many of those items with their club logos. Many of our clubs are also actively seeking ways to minimize disposable items to reduce trash.

It’s interesting trying to balance a green and sustainable solution, which has put a simple item like a

straw in the cross hairs. I hate paper straws because they fall apart, but they are a necessary evil. The good news is that they are finally available with both wrapped and unwrapped options.

The new season also means an update of club cocktail menus. With that we are working with our clubs

to update how they will serve their drinks. We like the use of coupe glasses, and mason jars in less formal areas. Keep an eye on colored HI balls and lots of pressed and cut glass. You will continue to see lots of infused liquors. I also just had the best mango/habanero margarita and lime cucumber “gimlet”, it’s a great addition to a club menu. One of the interesting trends you can plan on this year is a move away from beer as we see real growth in tequila and rum flights and paring dinners.

At BHS/H. Weiss, we have a team of sales professionals who specialize in tabletop. Our goal is to help clients find and suggest appropriate settings for everywhere and to lend our years of experience in working with the club professionals to help you find the right look.

www.host.fieramilano.it/en

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Long Island City, from page 74 It would certainly appear the retail rents are on the rise in Long Island City with Amazon on the way.

I think LIC’s landlords should however look carefully at their space and determine a fair market rent today, based on the use, credit worthiness of the tenant and the likelihood that the tenant will not just survive but make a profit. Good Landlords want their tenants to be successful. Killing them on the rent is a formula to be vacant, pay multiple brokerage

fees and having their space tainted if constant turnover that no one can make it there.

The message I believe tenants heard was if you have something unique, untested or controversial, then Long Island City is the place for you. I think that is exactly the right formula. Something for everyone.

Jazz, Rock, country music late at night we have that. You want great Indian or Szechuan, Ethiopian, Thai, Vietnamese food even if you do have

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a proven track record, bring it to Long Island City. Kosher deli we have that too. If you want to shop for one of a kind items whether it be clothing or home goods there is something for everyone in Long Island City. I defy anyone to label Long Island City.

With the anticipated growth of the restaurant marketplace in Long Island City, it is vital to look at the dynamics of the market today. Among the staples of the LIC restaurant community are a pair of family op-

erated restaurants that truly understand their customers.

Manetto’s at 10-76 Jackson Ave, still run today by the Manetto family.

Outstanding brick oven pizza made by family who truly care about quality and the dining experience. Also on Jackson Ave. is Manducatis (translated to mean “you all eat”) run by the Cerbone family since 1977. There is no shortage of great history here serving outstanding cuisine coupled with owners that are still there today insuring the same exceptional dining experience that has made them the “go to” Italian place for over 40 years.

It should also be noted LIC has several of the newest, eateries offering eclectic and innovative menus.

I believe that diversity is exactly what attracted Amazon to LIC. Amazon also wants to be known for its diversity of products to insure that captures as much of the market as possible. Landlords everywhere should wake up. The chances of your storefront going dark is much greater with a national chain than the hard working immigrants that have successfully assimilated into the neighborhood. They live in the neighborhoods they serve, their kids go to school there, and they have their finger on the pulse of what’s trending in their own backyard. Their spouses also are tied to the community they serve a la carpooling or shared daycare etc. They go to the same church or synagogue. They attend others life events, they network and support one another’s business. That is the formula for success for any city.

Amazon spotted it and was correct to locate there.

Amazon however should NOT be credited with reviving Long Island City. They are just the beneficiary of the diversity and thriving economy that was established by the hard working people and intuitive landlords that welcomed the diversity and hard working immigrants into their real estate.

NYC Dept. of Health Tribunals, from page 84 When given the choice by the Judge if you want an inspector present, we recommend waiving the inspector’s presence at the hearing.

Often it is beneficial to have someone attend the hearing, don’t represent yourself. There are things that must be left to the professionals. If you hire an accountant to do your taxes, hire an attorney to defend your interests. Hiring an attorney is not expensive and you do not have to personally attend, which in the end can save you time and money.

After the hearing, decisions are usually sent by mail. Any fines assessed must be paid within 30 days from the decision date.

your new “A” will be in the big yellow envelope.

To sum it all up…

You will always have two opportunities (inspections) to get an “A”. If you get 13 points or less on the first inspection, bravo. Post the “A” and you are good for about 9-12 months.

Don’t get comfortable and stop food safety practices just because you got an “A”.

If you scored 14 points or greater,

then DOH will be back for another inspection that will determine your letter grade. You will always have hearings after inspections when 14 points or more are assessed.

Don’t automatically accept settlements especially for F1 hearings.

HANDS-ON CAREER TRAINING

The second inspection also known as the F1 graded inspection…

The inspector is back for the second inspection and you received more than 13 points. Violations are written, points assessed, and another hearing is scheduled. The inspector will hand you a letter grade card (B or C) based on the amount of points you received and a Grade Pending card. You could post either; the choice is yours. However, we recommend posting the GP card until you receive the decision from OATH.

INTRODUCING THE

The settlement offer…

DO NOT automatically accept. If you accept this offer, the grade issued at the second (F1) inspection stays and you waive your opportunity for a hearing.

The OATH hearing…

Based solely on points, also known as the F1 inspection hearing, it will determine your letter grade.

Be on time, if you are late, you can be prevented from seeing a Judge.

Same suggestions as for the F0 hearing, but this time hopefully when you receive a decision from OATH,

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NYSRA, from page 34 possible now and in the future. We are looking forward to unveiling our new booth and sharing information about our member support pillars at the show.”

NYSRA will be presenting a panel discussion during the show, Challenges Facing Small Business in New York, on March 4 at 11:45am. With labor costs at unprecedented levels, rent costs higher than ever, and a seemingly never ending amount of red-tape, running a business in New York City is more challenging than ever. To help owners and operators make sense of it all, the Association will bring together a panel of experts to provide insights on many of the issues keeping restaurateurs up at night. Questions like: What are you doing to keep labor costs down?

How can your local chamber help?

Is there upcoming legislation that

may provide relief to small businesses? We will answer these and a host of other questions during this important discussion. The panel will be in Room 1C03.

During the show the Association will also be hosting a members-only cocktail reception on 3/4, and will be giving away prizes each day of the show. You can visit NYSRA at booth #1243 to find out more. The NY Restaurant Show is a great opportunity for restaurateurs to learn about best practices, new products and trends, and to network with fellow restaurateurs. This year show attendees will have access to three shows with one badge as the NY Restaurant Show will be co-located with the Healthy Food EXPO and Coffee Fest. NYSRA members get two free show badges.

For more information go to nyrsa.org.

Chef Jonathan Scinto, from page 16 other side of the camera. I created this character that the producers wanted: the Long Island/Brooklyn Piper kid.

So that’s exactly what I gave them and the viewers loved it.

What are the differences between cooking on a line and competitive cooking?

Reality TV cooking is not even close to working in a real kitchen. It’s a different kind of pressure than creating 300 covers a night. But don’t kid yourself with the camera rolling the pressure is very real.

How did you turn the TV experience into the Chef John brand?

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mind. I left the studio and right away when I landed home here in New York I created a brand. Instantly I started networking within the first day and said I’m going to make sure people know exactly who I am not just because I’ve been on TV and

I’m going to use that as great PR. I had been given a gift of national TV exposure, which is an enormous value you simply can’t buy. So I used that and the first thing I did was I reached out to local charities.

During my first year we did 15 charity events and we were doing at least one a month. That’s how I got my name out there. We did meet and greets and I cooked. I spent tens of thousands of dollars of my own money because as a business I was buying supplies and cooking for a thousand people and giving out samples. What I did was I used every event to capture emails. That enabled us to build a social media brand quickly. I realized that we could leverage Instagram to upload videos. Within the first year, it all paid off with calls to cook for many high profile people and A-list celebrities. That later turned into companies engaging us to promote their brands like Chicago Cutlery.

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BOOTH #1731

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Easy Ice, from page 33 ly and making sure not to store food or bottles in your ice bin is the best way to prevent harmful microbes from polluting your ice supply. Make sure to clean the exterior of your ice bin at least every month with a quatbased cleaner or detergent. Schedule a professional cleaning for your ice machine at least every six months.

Ozone dispersing generators have also been found to be quite effective at preventing the spread of dangerous organisms in an ice machine.

Cockroaches and Other Critters Yes, cockroaches and other pests will make a nest in your ice machine if you’re not careful.

All kinds of creatures like cockroaches, ants, and even rats like dark, enclosed, moist environments and ice machines check all those boxes.

Although most pests generally don’t prefer the cold, there are plenty of areas within your ice machine, such as

the compressor and condenser housings that can reach temperatures of up to 90 degrees.

Like any area of a restaurant that is prone to infestation, the presence of cockroaches and the like are due to overall kitchen cleanliness. Unclean floors, unsealed food, and dirty dishes are common attractions for those little scavengers, and they’ll crawl right through a drain or water pipe to get to them. Once pests realize they have access to a source of food, they’ll

look for a home nearby. Regularly cleaning your kitchen and staying within health inspection guidelines is the best way to prevent cockroaches and other critters from making a nest in your ice machine or anywhere else in your establishment.

If cockroaches or any other creature end up in your ice machine, it’s a real headache to get rid of them.

You’ll first want to immediately shut off your ice machine and call an exterminator, which means you’ll have to purchase ice until the exterminator arrives.

Once the exterminator has sprayed your ice machine, you’ll have to call a professional cleaning service to perform a deep cleaning on the unit before you can use it again. That means more replacement ice until a technician makes his way to your establishment.

It can take weeks and hundreds to thousands of dollars to get rid of roaches and get your machine to operating condition.

Cleaning is the Key Any of the creatures or crud we’ve mentioned above will land you in trouble with a health inspector. Even worse, if a customer does get sick from a dirty ice machine, the word can travel fast on social media that you are running an unclean facility.

Ice machines are one appliance you should not neglect. Routine cleaning is an absolute must if you want to maintain a clean supply of ice for your guests. If you don’t have the time to clean the ice machine, call a good ice machine cleaning service to come by every six months – your customers will thank you.

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Great Performances, from page 2 more, sun-drenched and very, very comfortable.” Savanna and Hornig spent $12 million to modernize the eight-story.

Now, it provides Great Performances with a “state-of-the-art facility that will incorporate significant production and energy efficiencies,” Neumark said. It will include space for the Sylvia Center, a non-profit which offers nutritional education to neighborhood families.

Neumark estimated the buildout cost at $4.5 million. The asking rent was between $25-30 per square foot, she said. The tenant was repped by Cushman & Wakefield’s David Lebenstein and Debra Wollens. The landlord was repped by Cushman’s Mitch Arkin and Omar Sozkesen and by JRT Realty’s Ellen Israel and Lauren Calandriello.

With the Great Perfomances move not only does the Bronx add a sig-

nificant job creator but one of the industry’s truly legendary philanthropists. Neumark gives unselfishly of her time to a number of causes as a member of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger Advisory Board, a board member of the Fund for Public Housing and Chairwoman of the Hudson Square BID and of course, time is devoted to The Sylvia Center. It is a non-profit that Neumark founded, and it teaches children and their families how to cook and eat healthy food though hands on experiences on the farm and in the kitchen.

Celebrating its 12th anniversary this year, The Sylvia Center has served some 20,000 students with its programs in New York City and Columbia County. Students learn what it takes to prepare nutritious meals on a daily basis, and gain confidence knowing they can do something that’s good for themselves now, and the future.

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CIA, from page 98 to return to America for a few smokefilled semesters at the University of Vermont. Back in Israel with negligible Hebrew skills, Solomonov found work at a bakery making traditional breads and pastries. Something sparked, and after advancing to short-order cook, Solomonov began to explore the prospects of becoming a chef.

His next move took him to culinary school in West Palm Beach, after which he migrated north to Philadelphia. Solomonov was soon cooking in the French kitchens of Chefs Terence and Patrick Feury and under the mentorship of Chef Marc Vetri in his growing Italian empire. While he advanced as a cook, Solomonov always felt the pull toward the flavors of Israel.

In 2003, Solomonov’s brother was killed while serving in the Israeli army, and the tragedy pushed Solomonov to focus on better understanding his country’s language, food, and culture.

After two more years cooking with Ve-

tri, Solomonov took over as executive chef of Steve Cook’s Marigold Kitchen.

Solomonov and Cook proved to be a dynamic pair and went on to open Mexican Xochitl and Solomonov’s dream restaurant, Zahav in 2008. The Israeli restaurant is a celebration of Jewish and Middle Eastern cooking,

and the passion he poured into Zahav earned Solomonov the James Beard “Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic” Award in 2011. The team soon formed Cook + Solo restaurant group and has since opened Percy Street Barbeque, two Federal Donuts locations, and kosher Citron and Rose. In 2013, Solomonov

won the StarChefs.com Philadelphia Rising Star Restaurateur Award.

Founded in 1946, The Culinary Institute of America is the world’s premier culinary college. Dedicated to developing leaders in foodservice and hospitality, the independent, not-forprofit CIA offers master’s, bachelor’s, and associate degrees with majors in culinary arts, baking & pastry arts, food business management, hospitality management, culinary science, and applied food studies. The college also offers executive education, certificate programs, and courses for professionals and enthusiasts. Its conferences, leadership initiatives, and consulting services have made the CIA the think tank of the food industry and its worldwide network of more than 50,000 alumni includes innovators in every area of the food world. The CIA has locations in New York, California, Texas, and Singapore.

BOOTH #228

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Sederholt, from page 20 nies for all those years. I had employees in multiple states and with a wide range of health issues – some even catastrophic. Tom has always been my “body guard” and saved us over a million dollars during his tenure. The secret is his fundamental understanding of the goals and objectives of the business and then the tenacity to go out and fight for you. People like Tom add value that drops to the bottom line every year.

The unsung hero for many businesses is your accountant who can contribute in many ways to your bottom line. This key role should not only be tasked with keeping your general accounting and tax reporting in line, they should be a senior advisor and “personal coach” in establishing good business practices. I have seen many smaller restaurant owners try to avoid the use of a CPA in order to save money. In many cases it ends poorly, particularly if the business is seeking financing or gets into tax trouble.

Sales tax, payroll taxes and annual income tax reporting can be daunting and costly if mistakes are made. Since the majority of small businesses are set up as LLCs, their financial reporting is based on the calendar year and the consequences flow directly to the owners. Many of these business owners wait until the last minute and throw some semblance of their records into a box and hope for the best. The result can be a hit to your bottom line, penalties, additional interest or worse.

I recently spoke to my old friend and accountant, John Moore CPA, the President of Advance Accounting Systems in Rye Brook, NY (jmoore@aas-cpa.com) about choosing the right accountant. We discussed the importance of having an accountant with private industry experience on top of being a certified public accountant who understands the theoretical and practical aspects of your business. All of this

results in a better outcome for your bottom line. If they had worked in private companies they will have the skills to understand financial, operational and business strategies and to drill down on industry specific concerns. Not just theoretical accounting.

I have recommended John and his firm to many restaurants and foodservice operators because he fit their criteria. I have been particularly impressed with how they understand that a restaurant owner is focused on operating the business and not the creation of financial statements. They coach their clients into following solid practices and guidelines which will ultimately save them money. He also has stressed the importance of keeping accurate records on a day to day basis by tracking sales, expenses, keeping all invoices and staying on top of inventory management. One big recommendation is for clients to automate their accounting systems either directly or through the accounting firm.

The huge value add is that John and his team will roll up their sleeves and get it done for you as I have experienced first-hand. They listen and respond to your needs and budget and can integrate your POS system and even maintain your books remotely. This reduces the time you need to put in as well as your costs when you have to file tax returns.

There are many dollars to be picked up off the floor at the end of the day. Making good decisions selecting your partner in securing favorable insurance products and comprehensive accounting services can be among the wisest business decisions you make all year.

If you have any questions or just want to discuss your business please contact me at dsederholt@ ragnarpartners.com

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IRFSNY, from page 26 Bottom Line, Create a Successful Restaurant Strategy for 2019, Social Media Marketing and more.

The Health & Diet Track, which is part of the Healthy Food Expo, will feature 18 sessions with topics ranging from Neuro-Nutrition, PlantFriendly Ingredients, Fresh Food Tips, Serving Gluten Free, Sourcing Local Food, Chile, Prebiotics, Spice Sourcing and more. In addition, Ally Biernat, manager for Kitchens with Confidence by MenuTrinfo, LLC will lead a paid workshop, AllerTrain, an ANSI accredited, manager level, food allergy and gluten-free training course. The course teaches food service professionals about the top foods causing food allergies, proper protocol for preparing food to avoid cross-contact and how to better serve diners with special dietary needs.

David Scott Peters, restaurant

coach and founder of TheRestaurantExpert.com will offer a threehour paid workshop Take Back Your Budget: The Key to Profitability. In this special session, attendees will learn how to build a budget the right way and about the tools to use to be profitable, focusing on the single, most-controllable number in any restaurant. The 2019 International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York will be held Sunday, March 3 - Tuesday, March 5 at the Javits Center in New York. The tradeshow and conference will provide thousands of industry professionals with access to the hottest menu trends, state of the art design and decor, a renowned education program, special events including Hip Sip, Rapid Fire Challenge, several culinary demonstrations, and hundreds of leading vendors and purveyors dedicated to serving the restaurant

& foodservice community.

innovative products in the industry.

For more information, visit www. internationalrestaurantny.com.

The show is owned and managed

by Clarion UX (www.clarionux.com), and sponsored by the New York State Restaurant Association (www.nysra. org). Clarion UX produces 37 events across 13 sectors of both trade and consumer events. Clarion UX, which is the U.S. division of Clarion Events, UK, and backed by The Blackstone Group has become one of the fastest growing event companies in the U.S. with aggressive growth through both acquisition and launch.

Clarion acquired PennWell in early 2018, bringing 4 Tradeshow 200 events into the U.S. portfolio and super-charging the already rapid growth. Clarion UX has offices in Trumbull, CT; Kennesaw, GA; Boca Raton, FL; Tacoma, WA, and Fairlawn, NJ.

The 26th annual trade show and conference will be co-located with Healthy Food Expo New York and Coffee Fest, and one badge will grant attendees access to all three events offering the largest food & beverage experience in the Northeast.

Healthy Food Expo New York will bring attendees access to the latest and greatest healthy products from organic, vegan, gluten-free and allergy-safe to hormone-free, nonGMO, plant-based, low-sodium, low-fat, and more.

Coffee Fest will bring all things tea and coffee under one roof to provide attendees with the most

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