March 2014

// NEWS

PARTNERSHIPS

Charlie Palmer Lands Plum Knickerbocker Hotel Partnership Having spent $200 million to buy and restore the long-dormant Knickerbocker Hotel, owners FelCor Lodging Trust and property manager Highgate weren’t about to skimp on food and wine.

T

he Knickerbocker, presiding over the Times Square corner of Broadway and West 42nd Street since 1906, has tapped famed modern-American chef Charlie Palmer to run its restaurants and bars.

The partnership reflects the cut-nocorners demands of the city’s superheated, high-end lodging industry.

FelCor bought what had long been a Class-B office building for $115 million in 2011 and took out an $85 million construction loan. This summer, it is to be reborn as a four-star inn for the first time in over 80 years.

Palmer owns Michelin-starred Aureole in the Durst Organization’s One Bryant Park across the street. He’ll now also oversee the Knickerbocker’s 120seat fourth-floor café, a ground-floor grab-and-go spot, a private dining venue and a 7,550 square-foot indooroutdoor rooftop lounge with room for 250 people.

The arrangement makes Palmer the kitchen king of West 42nd Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway.

Hotel guests wishing to eat off-site will be offered “priority access and preferential treatment” at Aureole.

The block’s south side had long been an eyesore across from One Bryant Park and 4 Times Square. The Dursts sound delighted by recent changes, including the Hilton Garden Inn con-

The iconic Knickerbocker Hotel is set to reopen with the legendary Charlie Palmer anchoring the kitchen

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struction next door.

Durst Organization President Jody Durst said, “Charlie is an outstanding operator, and we will look forward to the reopening of the Knickerbocker and its contribution to the neighborhood.”

Palmer lends the Knickerbocker instant culinary credibility, crucial to its local image. Manhattan hotels are enjoying nation-leading occupancy of more than 87 percent, but the Knickerbocker’s 330 luxury rooms and suites must compete with thousands more coming on line.

“The Knickerbocker’s ownership aims to establish it as one of the city’s best hotels,” Lodging Advisors analyst Sean Hennessey said. “Key to meeting that standard is to offer destination dining which has a reputation and allure beyond that of the hotel itself.”

Palmer’s company owns or operates 11 eateries and three hotels around the US. Known as a pioneer of “progressive American cuisine” with a farm-to-table emphasis, the award-winning chef frequently appears on TV. “We didn’t want just a celebrity chef,” added Knickerbocker managing director Jeff David. “Charlie is a hotelier as well. He knows our business, and this is a passion project for him as well as for us.” David said it was too soon to talk about room rates, but the Knickerbocker’s competitive market “niche” would include the Langham on Fifth Avenue, the Gansevoort Park, the NoMad and the Surrey. “They’re in our wheelhouse,” he said.

In contrast to the Knickerbocker’s landmarked, Beaux-Arts skin, the interior would be “very contemporary but not hip,” David said. The Knickerbocker is expected to sign a contract with the famously tough New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council. It was unclear what role the union will have in the restaurants.

// NEWS

RESTAURANTS

Junior’s Selling Flagship Location in Brooklyn The iconic cheesecake maker plans to temporarily leave the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and Dekalb Avenue but promised to return following a condo project.

J

unior’s opened its original Brooklyn location in 1950 and has been a fixture ever since.

Junior’s plans to sell its downtown home, clearing the way for a new condo building with a really sweet perk — easy access to top-flight desserts. The iconic eatery is expected to move out of its 17,000-square-foot flagship following the sale, but believes it can negotiate a deal to return as a tenant and open a new restaurant on the ground floor.

The Rosen family, owner of the 64-year-old business, fended off suitors for the two-story building for years before finally capitulating to the sweet temptations of Brooklyn’s whipped-up real estate market.

It's safe to say that the building, which has been home to one of Brooklyn's signature establishments for nearly 65 years, is going to be replaced with a tower.

“The development market in the city is at a fevered pitch right now,” said Bob Knakal, chair of Massey Knakal, the brokerage firm marketing the property.

“When you have a market like that, it makes people think.”

Junior’s opened in 1950 on the corner of Flatbush Ave. Extension and Dekalb Ave. and quickly settled in as must-visit for celebrities, politicians and blue-collar Brooklynites alike.

The restaurant parlayed its famed cheesecakes into a brand, opening lo-

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// NEWS

HOSPITALITY

Delaware North Companies To Acquire Patina Restaurant Group Delaware North Companies, a global leader in hospitality and food service and one of the largest privately held companies in North America, announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority interest in Patina Restaurant Group.

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atina Restaurant Group is a leader in the premium segment of the restaurant and catering industry and operates restaurants and manages catering and food service operations at highprofile venues in New York, California, Las Vegas and Orlando.

Patina Restaurant Group is currently majority owned by Shidax Corporation, a publicly traded, Japanese foodservice company. Following the closing of the acquisition, Shidax will continue to own a minority interest in Patina Restaurant Group. Subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close at the end of the first quarter of 2014.

"Patina Restaurant Group is one of the most respected restaurant companies in North America, with an unequaled group of world-class venues and restaurant locations," said Jeremy Jacobs Jr., principal, Delaware North Companies. "Nick Valenti and Founder/Chef Joachim Splichal have built an exceptional company focused on culinary excellence and outstanding service that we are proud to add to Delaware North's world-class portfolio."

Valenti and Splichal will remain in

Joachim Splichal and Nick Valenti are the cornerstone of Delaware North's acquisition of the Patina Group

their current positions at Patina Restaurant Group, providing continued leadership and innovation to Patina and now also applying their experience and knowledge across Delaware North's portfolio. The addition of Patina Restaurant Group will bring the total number of employees of the combined company to nearly

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60,000. Total revenue for Delaware North with the addition of Patina Restaurant Group is expected to be in excess of $3 billion in 2014.

"Joachim and I are delighted to now be a part of Delaware North, a company we've admired for many years," said Nick Valenti, CEO of Patina Restaurant Group. "We share a common philosophy centered on providing memorable dining with superior service to our guests."

Patina Restaurant Group is a leader in the premium segment of the restaurant industry. On the West Coast its portfolio includes the renowned, Michelin-starred Patina Restaurant in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Nick & Stef's Steakhouse, Cafe Pinot at the Maguire Gardens, Catal and three other restaurants in Anaheim's Downtown Disney District, Leatherby's Cafe Rouge at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Hollywood Bowl, Pinot Brasserie in Las Vegas and catering and food service in museums and cultural centers throughout California.

On the East Coast, its portfolio features the Michelin-starred Lincoln Ristorante at Lincoln Center, New York City's world-famous Rockefeller Center Ice Rink, Rock Center Cafe, The Sea Grill, Brasserie, Cafe Centro,

Naples 45, The Grand Tier Restaurant at the Metropolitan Opera and La Fonda Del Sol. Other East Coast properties include Tutto Italia Ristorante at the Epcot World Showcase in Orlando, Fla. Patina Catering is one of the premier caterers on the West Coast.

With a loyal and longstanding clientele, annual events include the SHYEmmy Awards, the City of Hope Spirit of Life Dinner, Los Angeles

continued on page 104

Main Office: 282 Railroad Avenue Greenwich, CT 06830 Publishers: Leslie & Fred Klashman Advertising Director: Michael Scinto Creative Director: Ross Moody Contributing Writers Warren Bobrow Wyman Philbrook Noelle Ifshin Andrew Catalano Phone: 203.661.9090 Fax: 203.661.9325 Email: tfs@totalfood.com Web: www.totalfood.com

Total Food Service ISSN No. 1060-8966 is published monthly by IDA Publishing, Inc., 282 Railroad Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830. Phone: 203.661.9090. This issue copyright 2014 by IDA Publishing Inc. Contents in full or part may not be reproduced without permission. Not responsible for advertisers claims or statements.Periodicals Postage paid at the post office, Greenwich, CT and additional mailing offices. Additional entry at the post office in Pittsburg, PA. Subscription rate in USA is $36 per year; single copy; $3.00. Postmaster: Send address changes to Total Food Service, P.O. Box 2507, Greenwich, CT 06836

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// NEWS

HEALTH & SAFETY

NY Senator Urges Ban On Bread Chemical After a snack at a McDonald’s restaurant on 10th Avenue, Stanley Glover seemed a little surprised upon learning that a chemical in his hamburger is also used to make yoga mats.

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he chemical, azodicarbonamide, is an elasticity agent used in shoe soles and yoga mats. But it is also known as the food additive E927, used to bleach flour, make dough easier to process, and make bread last longer.

The Subway restaurant chain announced last month that it is in the process of removing the compound from its bread. Recently Sen. Chuck Schumer called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban E927 from food altogether.

Subway’s announcement came after a popular food blogger, Vani Hari of foodbabe.com, launched a petition asking the sandwich chain to stop using the ingredient. A representative for Subway said the change was underway before the petition was launched, but did not immediately provide details on when it started or when it would be complete.

Hari pointed out the substance is potentially harmful, noting one can be put in jail for 15 years in Singapore for putting it in food. Her petition garnered over 85,000 signatures since its launch on Feb 4.

In Australia and most of the European Union E927 is not allowed in food.

In 1999, a group of experts presented a report to the World Health Organization (WHO) citing azodicarbonamide as a cause of asthma among workers who manufacture and process the com-

“McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, and many other fast food chains and bread producers use E927 in their products,” said Schumer.

pound.

In the United States, the compound can be used in food, but is limited to 2.05 grams (0.07 ounces) per 100 pounds of flour.

“McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, and many other fast food chains and bread producers use E927 in their products,” said Schumer.

Two chemicals resulting from baking the E927 are carcinogenic, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy organization. Both of the substances, semicarbazide and urethane, pose “negligible” or “little risk” to humans, even if E927 is used in the maximum lawful amount. Yet, since many bakers get by without the additive, CSPI suggested that the FDA ban it.

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“Cancer is on the rise. We’re never quite sure why. Why not be safe, rather than sorry?” Schumer said. He wrote an open letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg asking her to ban the substance from food.

When azodicarbonamide is ingested,

most of it breaks down to another compound called biurea. In 1965 an experiment cited in the WHO report was done on rats and dogs fed for a year with food containing 5 and 10 percent of biurea.

Rats showed almost no bad reactions, but most of the dogs died within a year.

Since the dogs were of “uncertain and variable origin,” the report dismissed the experiment. Schumer offered the reporters a McDonald’s hamburger, a prop for his press conference, but it took a while for someone to accept it. In the end, a dog named Walter, who happened to pass by, ate it.

MJ Fox, the dog’s owner, said she wasn’t particularly concerned about Walter eating fast food. Glover wasn’t concerned either - as a dance student he usually watches his diet and doesn’t eat fast food often.

#2225

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// NEWS

HEALTH & SAFETY

Day&Nite/All Service Continues To Forge New Vision Refrigeration might not seem like a very sexy idea for a restaurant but it can mean life and death, literally, if it's not done right.

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t all started with technicians, Irwin and Kenneth Sher, brothers who repaired refrigerators. But in 1977, they had a dream. And today Day & Nite, which started out with timely response and quality diagnosis, has exploded into a company that services both the hot- and cold-sides, reporting on equipment asset life for cap ex consideration, and other kinds of financial analytics, while providing faster turnaround on second-call response and reducing the cycle of service through the appropriate use of technology.

“Our goal is to continue to provide a premium solution that enables our clients to have less headaches, more uptime and faster quality diagnostic,” says co-owner Matthew Sher. The Long Island native and his cousins Brett and Rick Sher, the family’s second generation have teamed to build on Ken and Irwin’s accomplishment of creating a world-class service leader. Much of the new vision’s agenda includes an unprecedented commitment to technology.

“Implementing a new service dispatch accounting system, tablet computing and field automation, the centralization of dispatch and operations, gives our clients an edge and proper decision sup-

“Customers today are significantly more sophisticated in what they're looking for, as it relates to financial reporting, how they want to approach repairs. So there's a lot more need for financial analytics and reporting. We're positioned to support the market very differently than other companies.

It's what we do,” says Sher.

port. New analytics are in place in our dispatch department to ensure our customers have the right service partner. You have to see it to believe it, the inventory, the people, the processes, the technology in action and the inspiration to be the best.”

But it's not just restaurants.

Day&Nite now services everything from environmental walk-in boxes to major arenas and restaurant projects.

Sher notes that today the restaurant business is in an era of constant regulation, but that's not a problem for his business. “We stay current on

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how we can help our clients avoid any health department regulation and have the highest of letter grades. We've expanded our hardware department so that our clients’ equipment lifespan is extended and energy consumption is reduced. By way of our full service plumbing division, our grease trap management service program eliminates all drain flies, odors and potential backups.”

But it's not just regulations and hardware that have changed. “Customers today are significantly more sophisticated in what they're looking for, as it relates to financial re-

porting, how they want to approach repairs. So there's a lot more need for financial analytics and reporting. We're positioned to support the market very differently than other companies. It's what we do,” says Sher.

“For example, what's going on real-time via the field automation of tablets in the field that directly interfaces with the service dispatch accounting system? The analytics that we use allows us to deliver that information to our clients. We've effectively wrapped up almost the entire financial sector over the past handful of years.”

Sher notes that the company is doing exclusive warranty service support for some of the finest manufactured equipment. “We have relationships where we're sending our technicians to the factories regularly and based on what we built here this past year, the factories are now coming to us, all of which gives us the ability to support these very sophisticated food service environments.”

Sher explains that there are really two issues for restaurants and their equipment. “The actual operation of the piece of equipment, and the ability in many cases to track the amount of energy that a piece of equipment's using, or the amount of water that a piece of equipment is using. We're able to actually come to the table with real solutions.”

But the company's main goal is to help customers run their equipment in the most financially effective way.

“All to stay ahead of the market to support the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut metropolitan, Central Carolina and Florida food service industry in the best way possible,” says Sher.

#1930

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// NEWS

SIGNATURE OFFERINGS

Tri-State Chefs Turn to Cholula To Create Signature Offerings Cholula hot sauce is hot but this year it’s turning up the temperature as it welcomes internationally celebrated Latin chef, author, and TV host Ingrid Hoffmann, host of Cooking Channel's Simply Delicioso and author of Latin D'Lite to its line.

"I

have cooked with Cholula for years. Its blend of peppers, chili, and spices has heat but also an authentic, rich flavor," says Hoffmann. "Hot sauce is an essential ingredient in Latin cooking, so I am excited to join forces with such a prestigious brand to share recipes that pack a delicioso flavor punch."

Dana Lawnzak, marketing director at Cholula Foods, says the company is excited to have the Colombia native as its spokesperson. "As a foremost authority on Latin cuisine, Ingrid is a natural fit to represent Cholula, appealing to a fan base in both the English and Spanishspeaking communities," she says.

Hoffman’s role will be to show how Cholula can be used as an ingredient in cooking, developing exclusive recipes for the brand using Cholula flavors, and incorporating the hot sauces into some of her existing recipes for a series of webisodes that will be released on the brand's website over the next year.

Hoffman puts it down to “spicy living,” but she won’t deny her favorite “go-to” is herbs and spices, which make food taste great, and, even better, don’t add many calories to a meal.

“I’m obviously someone who uses a lot of spices in my cooking. That's one of my go-tos for flavor, herbs and spices. When you're wanting to eat relatively clean and healthy, you have to

Cholula hot sauce is turning up the temperature as it welcomes internationally celebrated Latin chef, author, and TV host Ingrid Hoffmann

build in your flavor blocks, your layers of flavor that will balance. To do that creatively, obviously you need to like spice. So it's always been a very natural thing for me to cook with spices, and to look at them as an ingredient, and not as a condiment.”

Hoffman says she’s been using Cholula for years. “It’s really because of their flavors -- chili lime, the chipotles.

There’s so much you can do with their hot sauce.”

Unlike a lot of hot sauces, Hoffman

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says, you don’t taste chemical flavors that can alter recipes when using other brands. “And it makes a great flavor-enhancer and it’s so easy to use. I could be sitting at home without even thinking I'm going to entertain and all of a sudden I have somebody walk in. I could take a Greek yogurt, put some cumin in it. Put a little bit of any of the Cholula sauces out with some crudites, and you've got something that looks like a lot more, and done in a very easy way.”

What’s in it for chefs? “It’s one of the few lines in hot sauces that you can actually use straight from the bottle, minimizing prep time, as if you had a line cook,” she points out.

Hoffman notes that the sauce is particularly suited to restaurant cooking because of its variety of flavors and combinations, like chilis with lime and garlic.

“You have one layer of flavor without having to clean and chop and especially when you're cranking out food for 500 tables, when you can rely on this sort of quality ingredient, that could help you cut out a step, or more, that’s really something you want in your kitchen. Right now you might have one person cleaning and chopping. You no longer need that. Think about it in terms of manpower, or kitchen space, or hours of work. There’s tremendous labor savings alone.”

Hoffman says chefs don’t have to think about using Cholula in just tacos and pizzas and the meals in which hot sauce is traditionally used. “It could be cocktails, it could be anything.

My main issue with bottled sauces is there’s always an aftertaste, that chemical preservative taste.”

The Latin chef says there can be limitations to using hot sauce. “You can use it when you want some heat but don’t want it jumping out. That’s where Cholula comes in. Sometimes you can mask it, which makes it really good to use in cuisine from Korean to Indonesian to anything because of the flavor profiles that they are creating.”

Hoffman says she got her start as a chef from her mother. “She is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef who started her catering business from our home kitchen when I was four years old. So I only knew weekends and holidays were for working at a restaurant at age 14.”

Since she was trained very young, and lived in different parts of the world, “It very much expanded my palette,” Hoffman explains. “I always joked that I'm a mutt because, although I'm Colombian-born, I was raised in the Netherlands, and the Caribbean on my mother's side, and get the Bolivian, Argentinean experience from my father's side, so all of these flavors were something that I grew up with, eating all sorts of very diverse foods.”

"Really, cooking is playing,” she says.

“I always joke that I go into my lab and play, when I'm creating recipes. It's a process. Because you start off with an idea – ‘Oh, I want to mix maybe olives with fennel. And some herbs.’ But you don't know if you want that to be a salad, or you want it to be a brine. Maybe it could be a stew. What protein am I going to add to it? It's always a very fun, adventurous path.”

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// NEWS

PARTNERSHIPS

Easy Ice Teams With Ecolab To Support First In Nation Subscription Program Easy Ice, LLC announced an expanded sales and service partnership with Ecolab’s Equipment Care Division. Under the terms of this partnership, Ecolab will offer the Easy Ice Commercial Ice Machine Subscription Program to its customers throughout all major markets in North America.

"O

ur partnership with Easy Ice enhances Equipment Care’s endto-end solutions,” says Mike Goede, Vice President of Sales with Ecolab Equipment Care. “Ecolab customers appreciate innovative business solutions that solve specific pain points, and the Easy Ice program does just that.”

Whether it’s a restaurant, hotel, manufacturing plant, hospital, or a golf course, competitive pressures require business owners to focus on what makes them different. Ice is a commodity, which doesn’t justify the capital expense and distractions that come with owning and operating an ice machine.

“As a trusted supplier to the food service industry, Ecolab began guaranteeing the performance of dishwashing systems years ago,” says John Mahlmeister, CMO of Easy Ice. It is a natural step for owners to seek guaranteed performance from their ice machine as well.”

“In addition to ice machine performance benefits, comprehensive

“It is a natural step for owners to seek guaranteed performance from their ice machine as well.”

cleaning is imperative for health and safety. Ecolab is the leader in sanitation and their expertise helps us ensure our customers nationwide are serving clean, safe ice.” says Mahl-

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meister.

By providing a guaranteed supply of ice at an affordable and predicable cost, Easy Ice enables business owners to re-deploy thousands of dollars and

many valuable hours of their time to areas of the business that create differentiation and drive success.

Easy Ice’s partnership with Ecolab allows them to expand their reach geographically, specifically in the New York City and Tri-State areas. Easy Ice is gaining NYC ice machine subscribers daily, including well-known restaurateurs like Marc Murphy and Amanda Freitag.

Easy Ice is the only national provider of ice machine subscriptions. Partnerships with Ecolab, Hoshizaki and Reddy Ice uniquely position Easy Ice to deliver their innovative solution at the local and national level. The Easy Ice end-to-end solution saves owners thousands of capital dollars and hours of hassle – enabling them to invest in revenue-generating assets. The all-inclusive subscription service features Hoshizaki ice machines, repairs, maintenance, water filters, cleanings, replacement ice and more. With no long-term lease and the flexibility to upsize the equipment, Easy Ice guarantees they’ll earn your business every day. Follow Easy Ice on Twitter @ TheIceologist.

Ecolab, a trusted partner at more than one million customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is a global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources. With 2012 sales of $12 billion and 41,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions and on-site service to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world.

#1931

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// MEET THE NEWSMAKER

Neil Cohen

us know our customer and be able to identify their needs.

President of NJ Restaurant Equipment Corporation

W

alk us through the history of NJRE Corp.

After 25 years of honing my design and build skills in Manhattan, increased rents, more restricted truck access and the slumping economy I thought New Jersey would be our next step. I found a warehouse spot close enough to the city that would be easy for my long time customers to get to me and allowed for parking, truck access and enough storeroom space, as we are currently outgrowing our present space.

What was the need you identified when you opened the business?

Especially because of the economy restaurant owners more than ever were/ are looking for value.

They want great equipment but at a low price. That is where we come in because of our understanding not only the equipment but the market as well.

The need in the industry for new and used equipment at a high quality but low price up until we opened wasn’t there in this industry. Also, people don’t want to wait for their equipment we knew we needed to have an expansive inventory.

At any given time we can have between half and three quarters of a million dollars in inventory. Which also allows for us to fill one of the other needs we identified which is a quick turn around time for equipment. If a restaurant’s stove goes down on a Thursday or Friday and they cant wait two to four weeks for a new one. We can have one there the same day and even offer them a variety of options.

How have you filled that need?

With the addition of space and the ability to buy containers of equipment we are able to create preferred pricing from our vendors and pass along those savings to our customers. Once we identify a product we like based on price versus performance we bring that in en masse and hold inventory of those items.

How have the needs of your customer evolved?

As we have grown not only has our customer base grown but also so has the need to keep up with and in most some cases set the standard for the ever evolving restaurant equipment industry. Our customer base is so diverse from Mom and Pops, to pizzerias, to large hotel and restaurant chains; to fine dining to corporate cafeterias and everything in between we do it all.

The Internet has really changed the business in our opinion for the better we have a much more educated customer and our knowledge of the equipment and electricity and gas line and health regulations has to keep up with what is happening out there.

The customer comes in now and expects full service from design and layout to consulting and even menu planning we have had to adapt to these changes. I went out and hired chefs and restaurant people. I didn’t hire salesmen I think combined, my staff collectively had maybe two weeks of sales experience before coming to me but they have over 75 years in the restaurant industry (combined of course). This helps

For over 28 years, NJ Restaurant Equipment Corp., headed by Neil Cohen, has been supplying the greater tri-state area with quality restaurant equipment and supplies.

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Talk about the categories you serve?

I mentioned most of the categories in that last answer but others include, bakeries, schools, and contractors. We really serve everyone we even put ice machines into a local airport.

How do the needs of the pizzeria differ from those of the restaurateur?

I do want to make one thing clear as I answer this question; we do a lot of pizzerias but also a lot of other business as well. Every business is unique in their needs because of one reason or another whether it is size restrictions, hood issues or whatever, each operation is different and offers varying degrees of challenge and difficulty.

What’s new in pizza prep and cooking technology that our readers should know about?

The newest trend in pizza refrigeration is the refrigerated sauce bin in the pizza prep tables. This has really been a breakthrough for not only sanitation purposes but also for efficiency.

The new pizza oven trend is high heat, high btu, lower cook times. The new “wave” in pizza ovens is 1000-degree ovens and brick lined (top and bottom) decks.

How has the growth of the pizza oven beyond the pizzeria created growth opportunities?

Any type of growth in this industry has presented opportunities, whether it is the growth of the Internet, combi-ovens, infrared cooking technology and yes pizza ovens are going into places that would not ordinarily have purchased them in the past. Also, we see

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// C-CAP TRADE TALK

WITH JOYCE APPELMAN

Interview with C-CAP Grad & Wine Director, Carlton McCoy Normally we don’t focus on Newsmakers outside of Metro New York, but Carlton McCoy is an exception.

L

isted in the Forbes 30 under 30 in 2014 in the Food & Wine category, The Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) alum recently debuted a new wine tasting program, which allows hotel guests a casual après ski tasting with a sommelier in the legendary The Little Nell Hotel’s cellar in Aspen, CO. McCoy is the second African American and one of 133 top wine professionals to have earned the title of Master Sommelier in the U.S. Formerly of Per Se, Aquavit, and Craft Steak.

For those that don’t know you, give our readers a little background about yourself and what got you interested in culinary arts which eventually led to a successful career in wine and service?

I was raised in what could be described as a rough neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and I spent my free time helping my grandmother with her church-based catering business. In high school I enrolled in the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), which helps underprivileged youth get a head start on culinary careers. I was awarded a scholarship to The Culinary Institute of America, where I found

Joyce Appelman, Director of Communications, C-CAP New York, NY j oyc e a p p e l m a n @ g m a i l .c o m

my true passion: wine and service.

Thanks to my education, I was able to work in a variety of great restaurants like Thomas Keller’s Per Se, Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit, Tom Colicchio’s Craft Steak in New York, Eric Zeibold’s CityZen at The Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C., and with Doug Anderson at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C. Now I’m the wine director for The Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado, and I got my Master Sommelier Diploma last May! C-CAP works with many public schools across the country to prepare underserved high school students looking for a career in the restaurant and hospitality industry.

How did C-CAP make a difference in your life?

It opened a lot of doors for me. CCAP was instrumental in my success – without it, I have no idea where I’d be.

Congratulations on making the 2014 Forbes: 30 under 30 list! Has this newly acquired title been opening new doors for you?

Not yet… Although it has put me on the radar of a lot of influential people. I’m excited to see what comes of it.

Carlton McCoy is Wine Director of The Little Nell Hotel in Aspen, CO

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What type of training or experience prepared you to become a sommelier?

It was a culmination of back and front of house experience. Working in the kitchen taught me different flavor profiles and to have a better understanding of how food service works. It also gave me a better work

continued on page 47

// Q&A

EXCLUSIVE FOODSERVICE INTERVIEWS

Jeremy Wladis CEO of The Restaurant Group

You might know Jeremy Wladis for his famous brunch, or chicken wings, or his burritos or burgers. But what he's best known for is his pizzas and salads, which bring a wealth of ingredients to each savory dish. CEO of The Restaurant Group, Wladis has opened and owned dozens of restaurants all around the country.

H

ow did you get started in this business?

That's a funny story. I grew up in Syracuse, NY, right on the Syracuse University campus. My father actually was a bartender when I was a little kid at my grandparent's topless joint. It was called the Palace Lounge, and when I was about 7 or 8 years old, my father opened up a little grocery store on the Syracuse campus, where I helped out.

I was mentored by some really good people, these two guys who ran hotels in Syracuse, and they convinced me to go to Delhi as a junior college for the hotel-restaurant program, which led me to the University of Houston, which was one of the top hotel-restaurant schools, with the Hilton Hotel School.

I worked for the Hilton, the Marriott, then went to Naples, Fla., to be a captain of a restaurant for a few months.

After that I went to Syracuse to open up a fish restaurant with my father called Fat Brothers Fish Fry. I did that for six to eight months, and since I always knew I was going to move to New York City, where my father had been bringing me since I was 8 years old, I went there and got a job at the Intercontinental Hotel.

But my big dream was always to work

at the most famous restaurant in the world, Tavern on the Green, so I went there first. I was hired basically to be the dishwasher but I turned them down. So I went to work at the InterContinental and then, a year later, I went back to Tavern and convinced them I was the right guy to be a restaurant manager, and became the youngest restaurant

manager in Tavern on the Green history.

Where does Warner LeRoy come in?

We'd be in the middle of 200 people waiting for reservations, an hour wait that they had made reservations for exactly 30 days prior, standing there, waiting to sit down with their in-laws and for a wedding or party or some-

What happened after that?

The guy who was running it at the time, Bruce Axler, who was the guy that took it from a 13-, 14-million loser to a 30-million world success, the busiest full- service restaurant in the world,

You might know Jeremy Wladis for his famous brunch, or chicken wings, or his burritos or burgers. But what he's best known for is his pizzas and salads, which bring a wealth of ingredients to each savory dish.

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became my mentor, friend, and business partner. Sadly, he died recently.

But Bruce was instrumental in helping me have the vision to open up the Fuel concept, which was, pizza by the slice, wings, salads, and no waiters. I was tight with Bruce. I would sneak upstairs and sit down with him in the office and learn and pick his brain.

But my big dream was always to work at the most famous restaurant in the world, Tavern on the Green, so I went there first. I was hired to basically to be the dishwasher but I turned them down.

thing and Warner would come in, and we'd have to drop everything to go make sure every light bulb outside in Central Park was turned on, every Christmas light bulb was turned on.

Warner was the most detail-oriented human you've ever met, and it was all about vision. Everything was about the visual and the effect and the atmosphere, and he felt he had to serve good food, and it had to be reasonable, but

boy, it had to be about the atmosphere and the visual.

Where did you go from there?

I went over to the Plaza Hotel, which was great, running the Palm Court, the Oyster Bar, the Oak Bar. It was the experience of a lifetime. Then I managed Carrabars, a really good Mexican restaurant with great frozen margaritas. It was the late '80's, and they were somewhat new to the world. I worked there for about a year or so, and then Bruce came to me and we started looking into this chicken wing thing. I went to work for Atomic Wings for only six months, and then Bruce invested in me and we opened a wing place by Columbia University, and then I opened up a place called the Firehouse, and Bruce was helpful in putting that whole thing together with me. I raised money from all the guys at the 92nd Street Y that I played basketball with, $5,000 a man. It's still standing, the Firehouse, it's about 24 years old right now, and that was my first restaurant. Chicken wings, burritos, burgers, that kind of thing.

Then the restaurant next door became available and I opened up a little Italian trattoria that I changed six times.

And then, Good Enough to Eat. They're standing out in the freezing cold, waiting in line. Now, here we are, The Restaurant Group, with over 15 restaurants.

Where did the Fuel concept come from?

About 15 years ago, I was visiting my mother in Charlotte, NC, and said, this is a town that needs restaurants. Driving by this old 1930's, 40's gas station, my partner, Lincoln Clark, had this vision of building a restaurant, making it look like it was a 1930's Pure Oil gas station. We ripped out the sheet-rock, and, just brought it back to the natural

We'd be in the middle of 200 people waiting for reservations, an hour wait that they had made reservations for exactly 30 days prior, standing there, waiting to sit down and we'd have to drop everything to go make sure every light bulb outside in Central Park was turned on.

beauty of this restaurant. Won preservation awards for it and everything.

There are nine other Fuels in D.C and the Carolinas.

When did you start getting into pizza?

This place called Punch Pizza was doing this thing where you order at the counter and you sit down and they bring you your food. You choose your toppings and they put them on and you sit down and everyone gets their individual pie. And I thought, we have to look into this. About a year or two ago we started researching how to do this individual pizza concept, Chipotle style, Subway style, and about a year and a half ago, we started going all over the country and looking for these things and we found one in Vegas, a bunch in California, San Diego, LA and Atlanta. And we tried to pick all the best attributes of each one and things we thought didn't work the best. Get rid of those. And we created what we think is the best ingredient menu possible.

We've been making pizza for 25 years and we've got this crust that is crispy with a wonderful chew.

We've also got what we think is prob-

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former boss at Tavern on the Green, Patrick Faup. Hardest working guy in the industry, still, to this day. Patrick has worked at La Reserve and many of the French restaurants and then Tavern, and then he ran the Merchant Group and Flute. Zach Current is my partner and he's worked just about every job in the industry. Then there's Carl Carbone, who was my college roommate, who consults for us. It's all like a family.

We all work way harder than we should, probably.

So after all this, are you pleased with your success?

ably the most diversified menu of any of these concepts out there, from pulled pork barbecue to Buffalo chicken, to margherita burrata, to Old Bay shrimp. You can come in and design your own with barbecue sauce, cream sauce, and cocktail sauce. And then you can use goat cheese, gorgonzola, prosciutto, shrimp, arugula, pineapple, you name it.

It cooks in two minutes. We can pump well over 150 people in an hour, 150 pizzas in an hour, and every one of them is great. That's how Custom Fuel was born.

How is your salad line different from your pizza line?

You can create your own salad by choosing all the same pizza ingredients. And it's spun right there in front of you, with your choice of dressing. So it's a pizza and salad concept.

One of the things you've done better than anybody is this collective mix of concepts you've been able to build.

How did you do it?

I have a great staff. I've got a great salesman, Eddie Schwartz. I've even got my

We probably make less money than we should, but we like it. We really put the investors first, because they're our friends and family. It's a lot of $25,000, $50,000 investments, and, even in a restaurant that's doing well, from time to time, a restaurant doesn't do what you expect it to do. But we still find a way to give them 10 or 15%. So we take care of them that way. It's not in our contract but we'll eat the management fee ourselves and take care of the investors because these people, my friends, I feel like these people are my family.

What's made you so successful?

We're friends outside of work, we like to go to dinner with each other, hang out with each other and I think that's a big part of it. It's a family environment, and that's what makes us so successful.

What lies ahead?

We're signing two deals right now for 2 AG kitchens. We're opening, Custom Fuel in Harlem next week, and we're building Dupont Circle Custom Fuel as we speak. We're in talks with a well-known chef from the Food Network. We've got a lot of different things going on. And I'm excited about all of them!

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#1425

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// SCOOP It’s Now Legal In NYC For A Waiter To Give You Water You Haven’t Even Asked For Scoop says think back to the last time you were at a restaurant. Did your server set down a glass of water in front of you? Did he or she ask if you wanted water first? If you were in a New York City restaurant and your server gave you water you didn’t ask for, well, that’s illegal. At least until the repeal of a local regulation goes into effect this month.

Ah, days of yore! Such fun little laws we sometimes forget about that pop up to the top so we can giggle about them before we do away with them forever.

INSIDER NEWS FROM METRO NEW YORK’S FOODSERVICE SCENE

We are pointing to a subdivision of Section 20-08 of Chapter 20 of Title 15 of the Rules of the City of New York Governing and Restricting the Use and Supply of Water that prohibits serving water in a restaurant unless a patron requests it. But is anyone actually aware of such an ordinance? Probably not. “I have a restaurant for 27 years, but I never knew that,” the owner of one Theater District restaurant. “But we always ask, ‘Would you like some good New York water or some mineral water?’”

The co-owner of a Staten Island pizzeria felt the same way. But it sounds like at his joint, no one was in danger of violating the law anyway. “Oh, really? I never heard of that,” he said.

“But we don’t serve it, because we want people to order beverages and wine. Otherwise, they’d just fill up on water.” There’s got to be at least one legal mind out there, though, and the NYT found that in an owner of another Manhattan restaurant, who said the servers always ask first. “Otherwise, it’s a waste. We have to pay for the water they use,” he said. “The less we use, the less we have to pay for. And even

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Did your server set down a glass of water in front of you? Did he or she ask if you wanted water first?

If you were in a New York City restaurant and your server gave you water you didn’t ask for, well, that’s illegal.

though New York City has the best water, bottled water is a selling point, and you can make a decent profit.” Before former mayor Michael Bloomberg left office, his administration took to the law books and started scrapping such regulations, setting this one up for repeal unless there’s a drought emergency. The repeal takes effect later this month. And of course, puns abound.

“We’re very happy that the adminis-

tration is taking a glass-is-half-full attitude to reviewing old regulations,” said a spokesman for the New York State Restaurant Association. “It’s good for both the city and the industry to get them off the books.”

Jumeirah Group Appoints Former NYC Chef As Culinary Director Scoop sees that the Jumeirah Group has appointed Chef Christian Gradnitzer as the Corporate Culinary Director of the recently launched Restaurants and Bars division (RnB). In this role, Christian is responsible for the future development of the culi-

nary offering and innovation of the global luxury brand’s food and beverage portfolio.

Christian’s career started in his native Austria and nearby Switzerland which prepared him for subsequent

roles in London as Junior Sous Chef at The Dorchester Hotel and later Chef de Partie for Cunard Cruise Lines. In 2000 Chef Gradnitzer joined Jumeirah Group and the team of Burj Al Arab as Sous Chef. He soon became the Chef de Cuisine and progressed to Executive Sous Chef of the world’s most luxurious hotel where he supervised the operations of 175 chefs and 60 stewards. In 2006 Chef Gradnitzer became Executive Chef for Jumeirah Essex House in New York before returning to Dubai to serve as Executive Chef at Jumeirah Emirates Towers. He was appointed to Madinat Jumeirah in 2009 to operate the resort’s culinary and stewarding operation. This led to his promotion as Resort Executive Chef of Madinat Jumeirah where he managed outside catering requests, the Conference and Incentive culinary team and Jumeirah restaurants housed in Al Qasr, Mina A’ Salam and the Souk at Madinat Jumeirah.

As Corporate Culinary Director, Chef Gradnitzer will be part of the core team responsible for driving the RnB division forward. The aim is to create and operate highly desirable restaurants and bars in order to maximise revenues and establish the Jumeirah Group internationally as a leading operator of successful food and beverage

venues.

Manhattan’s Dinner Lab Adds A Delivery Service Open To Non-Members Scoop sees how each week, Dinner Lab brings in chefs from across the country to cook elaborate milt-course menus at offbeat locations. The meals are open only to Dinner Lab members.

But as an experiment for this month, Dinner Lab will offer a Weekly LabBag delivery service. A visiting chef will prepare each week three meals

Chef Lalita Kaewsawang of Thailand, second from left, prepares her sauteed shrimp in garlic-basil sauce with the help of Amrita Datta, left, and chef Francisco "Paco" Robert, far right, during NYC’s Dinner Lab, a supper club that holds dinner parties at various random locations including this empty restaurant that is under construction as well as the top of a parking garage or an empty office building.

CONNECTICUT NEW YORK

NEW JERSEY

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

181 Marsh Hill Road 91 Brainard Road 566 Hamilton Avenue 15-06 132nd Street 1966 Broadhollow Road 720 Stewart Avenue 43-40 57th Avenue 1335 Lakeland Avenue 650 S. Columbus Avenue 305 S. Regent St. 777 Secaucus Road 45 East Wesley Street 140 South Avenue 1135 Springfield Road

that can be eaten at home or at the office. Recently chef Eric Bolyard, who has worked at New York's Eleven Madison Park, prepared a tribute to Spain's Basque Country. The menu options included cider-braised lamb shoulder with lentils, leek and chorizo stew, espelette-dusted mahi-mahi with braised garbanzos and a vegetarian meal with roasted king oyster mushrooms and charred eggplant puree. Each meal is $11.50. Prices for the Weekly Lab-Bag will range from $8 to $12. Delivery is an additional $2.50.

Discounts are available for Dinner Lab members.

Lunches can either be picked up at Dinner Lab's Mid-City prep kitchen or delivered to the CBD. Dinners are delivery only. While lunch is hot, dinners arrive as a kit that you finish at home.

All meals must be ordered online by 4 p.m Wednesday. Lunches are available for Thursday or Friday. Dinners can be delivered Thursday through Sunday.

For Dinner Lab's management, data is almost as important as dining. After each meal, guests rate every course.

That information gives chefs feedback about what dishes would work best in a potential fine dining restaurant.

The delivery experiment, Dinner Lab hopes, will offer chefs more information about how their food would fare

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Orange, CT 06477 Hartford, CT 06114 Brooklyn, NY 11232 College Point, NY 11356 Farmingdale, NY 11735 Garden City, NY 11530 Maspeth, NY 11378 Bohemia, NY 11716 Mt. Vernon, NY 10550 Port Chester, NY 10573 Secaucus, NJ 07094 S. Hackensack, NJ 07606 S. Plainfield, NJ 07080 Union, NJ 07083

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

in a casual operation. "As we have a chef in town," said CEO Brian Bordainick, "it gives them another vertical

Last year, the company had only one full-time employee. Now it has 53, with 26 employees based in New Orleans.

to test."

Dinner Lab began in New Orleans and has expanded to nine other cities. Last year, the company had only one full-time employee. Now it has 53, with 26 employees based in New Orleans. In about a month, the company will move to a new 4,000-square-foot headquarters on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in Central City.

Upstate New York Restaurant Has 5-Year Waiting List Scoop says it's not Spago, nor Per Se. It isn't located on Rodeo Drive or in Columbus Circle. Infact the restau-

203-795-9900 860-549-4000 718-768-0555 718-762-1000 631-752-3900 516-794-9200 718-707-9330 631-218-1818 914-665-6868 914-935-0220 201-601-4755 201-996-1991 908-791-2740 908-964-5544 continued on next page

rant locted 110 miles from NYC with the longest waiting list, five-years to be precise, is a small, nondescript, 12-table basement located in Earlton, N.Y., named simply enough Damon Baehrel after its owner and chef. Its guests come from 48 countries and include such celebrities as Jerry Seinfeld, Martha Stewart and Barack Obama himself. However what makes Baehrel's restaurant the most exclusive restaurant in the world is not the decor, nor the patrons, some who fly overnight from Manhattan to

pay $255 for dinner (before wine and tip), nor the hype (although all the advertising is through word-of-mouth), but the food, which is all cultivated, grown, prepared, cooked and served from and on the property, and where Baehrel is literally the only employee.

"I’m the chef, the waiter, the grower, the forager, the gardener, the cheesemaker, the cured-meat maker, and, as I will explain, everything comes from this 12-acre property." The reality is that farm-to-table dining is not exactly a revolutionary concept, although it certainly makes for a far more enjoyable eating experience. Increasingly, though, entrepreneurial chefs are doubling down on the eat-local trend and bringing customers into their own homes (or cozy approximations thereof ). At these culinary salons or underground restaurants, as they’re often called, professionally trained cooks host for-profit dinner parties in unexpected spaces, spots."

Baehrel has no staff, unless you count his wife and a tech-savvy friend, who help him manage the reservation e-

mail address posted on his website.

He spends no money on marketing and doesn’t have a business manager cultivating endorsement deals. There have been no profiles of him in major food magazines nor write-ups of his restaurant in any newspapers. In spite of this, or possibly because of it, the wait time just keeps getting longer.

The chef, waiter, gorager, grower (etc), never started off as one: "He learned how to cook from his mother, an avid gardener, and also from years doing odd jobs in mountain-resort kitchens in the Northeast. “I learned bits and pieces along the way, but I never did the research, never looked in a cookbook. In my family, we just learned to do it ourselves, and the inspiration came from nature,” he says. After an injury in 1985 derailed his nascent career as a professional motocross racer, Baehrel and his wife bought their land and opened a catering business specializing in foraged food. It eventually morphed into the bistro concept

“I learned bits and pieces along the way, but I never did the research, never looked in a cookbook. In my family, we just learned to do it ourselves, and the inspiration came from nature,” he says.

in 2006 and since then has relied almost entirely on word-of-mouth buzz.

And a lot of buzz there is: as Michael Chernow of New York's chain of Meatball Shops says, "With Baehrel's skills,

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it's like he's the Michael Jordan of culinary art." However, what is most unique, and why Baehrel's kudos and fame, are well-deserved, is his passion for working, cooking, that he takes no shortcuts, and that he has learned how to survive.

Celebrity NYC Chef Giada De Laurentiis Makes Modeling Debut Scoop says “What's cookin, good lookin'?” as Giada De Laurentiis left the kitchen for the catwalk last month at New York Fashion Week's Heart Truth Dress Collection show. For her runway debut, the Food Network star and cookbook author, 43, rocked a bright red, short-sleeve floor-length gown by Carolina Herrera featuring a plunging neckline and large slit.

The Italian-born beauty's brunette locks were neatly parted down the center and tumbled down in waves as she flashed her trademark smile before the crowd at Lincoln Center.

The celeb chef has a star-studded background: she is the oldest daughter of actress Veronica De Laurentiis and actor Alex De Benedetti, and her grandparents were Italian movie star Silvana Mangano and famed producer

The Italian-born beauty's brunette locks were neatly parted down the center and tumbled down in waves as she flashed her trademark smile before the crowd at Lincoln Center.

Dino De Laurentiis. "It's such an important message for women to hear," the mother of one told reporters before the American Heart Associationsponsored show. "It's something we all need to pay attention to and raise awareness for," she said of heart disease. The popular cooking show host also gave fans an update on her nearly 6-year-old daughter Jade, who loves to cook - just like her famous mom! "I

Giada De Laurentiis left the kitchen for the catwalk last month at New York Fashion Week's Heart Truth Dress Collection show.

think maybe she loves the stuff when we get to get a little messy," De Laurentiis said of cooking together with her little one. Other celebs who joined De Laurentiis on the runway included Real Housewives of Atlanta's NeNe Leakes, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin's daughter Ireland Baldwin, and singer Colbie Caillat.

For Now, Judge Keeps Picasso At NYC’s Four Seasons

million piece by granting it landmark status. The rest of the restaurant was granted landmark status in 1989.

Chef Steve DiFillippo Wins NFL Community Service Award Scoop notes that Chef Steve DiFillippo, who owns Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse near Grand Central Station in New York, won the Chef Andy community service award for raising $20,000 this year for the Taste of the

Scoop notes a conservation group has won a temporary injunction to keep a Picasso painting on the wall of the famed New York City restaurant The

#1212

A state Supreme Court judge in Manhattan ruled last month that the restaurant's owners and landlord can't remove the unframed 1919 stage curtain called "Le Tricorne".

Four Seasons. A state Supreme Court judge in Manhattan ruled last month that the restaurant's owners and landlord can't remove the unframed 1919 stage curtain called "Le Tricorne". Instead, the judge ordered the parties back to court this month. The New York Landmark Conservancy owns the painting. Landlord RFR Holding Corp. has said the wall where the painting is hanging is threatened by a leaking pipe and shifting tiles. The conservancy disputes those claims.

Conservancy President Peg Breen has said the city should preserve the $1.6 39 • March 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

NFL to help fight hunger. He was presented with the award on Saturday, the day before the Super Bowl. “Taste of the NFL” rallies local and well-known chefs to come together to fight hunger. Every year, The Chef Andy award, named after Andy DiVincenzo from Buffalo who was a Taste chef for years and passed away one week before Super Bowl in 2004, is given to the Taste chef who employs the most spirit in fundraising. Chef DiFillippo raised the

funds this year by hosting events and partnering with Gallo wines: any time a guest at his restaurant ordered a Gallo wine, the proceeds went to Taste of the NFL. “It's our mission as participating chefs to raise more money each year for hunger relief,” said Chef DiFillippo. “I could not be more proud of our team at Davio's and we look forward to raising the bar next year to kick hunger."

#1932

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#1830

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// NEWS

GROWTH #1444

LiveDeal, Inc. Taking A Bite Out Of The Big Apple With Move To The East Coast LiveDeal is now bi-coastal! After announcing last month that its “instant deal” platform, www.livedeal.com, has added New York City to the company’s offerings, LiveDeal is now on both coasts, and in the country’s two largest cities, Los Angeles and the Big Apple.

A

s LiveDeal continues to expand across the country, bringing NYC on board is a huge move especially given the platform just launched in Q4 2013.

LiveDeal chose the $660 billion restaurant industry to introduce its realtime, “instant deal” engine, and since its launch, the company has quickly added San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and now New York City. In just over a quarter, LiveDeal has over 1000 restaurants posting deals on the site. The company’s deal engine is gaining in popularity with each city it adds to the livedeal.com platform.

This phenomenon is likely due to customers being able to transact directly with the restaurant instead of through livedeal.com which eliminates LiveDeal as the middleman in the sale. For merchants, no intermediary means more profits and even more attractive deals for potential new customers, and for consumers, transacting directly with the restaurant they choose from the instant deal site means not having to enter any credit card information on the website.

LiveDeal CEO Jon Isaac said, “Our platform is thriving because it drives business to merchants in a manner

that is unlike what they have with the typical daily-deal service. We believe that clients realize tremendous value in our solution because they have more control and choice than they have had before.”

New York City offers a great opportunity for livedeal.com’s geolocation technology which enables businesses to communicate real-time and publish instant offers to nearby consumers. With over 40 thousand restaurants and bars that rake in over $33.6 billion in revenues spread out over the 5 boroughs, it’s a technology that will serve consumers well. These many thousands of restaurants in NYC now have the potential to leverage LiveDeal’s “DealCentral,” where they can add deals on the fly, at any time day or night, without the cumbersome process that other daily deal companies have.

Jon Isaac said the Big Apple represents the heart and soul of a major marketplace where he believes his company’s platform can flourish.

Isaac said he plans to continue expanding into major metropolitan areas throughout the remainder of the year.

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// NEWS

HONORS

NJRA To Honor Female Food Service Pros With Special Tribute To Dowdell’s Legacy On March 3rd, the New Jersey Restaurant Association will be hosting a “Women in Foodservice” Reception to honor the female professionals of our industry. Female chefs & restaurateurs, legislators and of course men of foodservice are set to gather.

T

he Reception will be held at NJRA’s Hospitality House on

126 W State Street in Trenton from 11:30am to 2:30pm. Delicious food,

wine and beer tasting will be served by our official partners: Sofia Kara-

kasidou of Kuzina by Sofia, Amy Coss of the Milford Oysters House, Marilyn Schlossbach of Langosta Lounge, Roberta Adamo of Catelli Duo, Marissa Lontoc of Hudson County Community College, Beer Sampling

by Jacqui & Chip, owner of Rinn Duin Brewing, Wine Tasting by Dina Opici, owner of Opici Family Distributing During the reception, NJRA staff & board members will perform a

continued on page 104

continued on page 99

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// CHEFCETERA

UP CLOSE WITH METRO NEW YORK'S CHEFS

Steven Ferdinand

Chef at Bleecker Kitchen & Co. in New York, NY Chef Steven began his culinary career with internships at such storied Manhattan restaurants as Lutece and Le Cirque. After years of rigorous, hands-on French culinary experience, he was off to L’Ecole at the French Culinary Institute for his formal education.

U

pon graduating FCI, he cooked with Chef Marcus Samuelsson at Aquavit for three years, until becoming Executive Chef at Le Zoo on Greenwich Street in the West Village of New York. He garnered numerous accolades for his work there, including “Best Under Fifty-Seat Restaurant in Manhattan” in the New York Times. Chef Steven’s next stop was Florio Café and Bar in San Francisco, where he served as Executive Chef for three years. During his tenure there, he obtained and maintained a lofty three stars in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Before getting on board for the opening of Bleecker Kitchen & Co., Chef Steven was involved with the opening of Sugar and Plumm and headed the kitchen at Sky Loft, the boutique hotel in the MGM Grand Las Vegas, again garnering the highest of praise, including both the Five Star and Five Diamond awards. The Finer Things Hospitality Group opened Bleecker Kitchen & Co. in NYC this past December. We found out more about Chef Steven Ferdinand in this month’s Chefcetera.

You trained at the French Culinary Institute. Who influenced you to start a career in foodservice?

I grew up on a four-acre farm in Pennsylvania and witnessing first hand

Even though we are talking about comfort food, I use the best possible ingredients and minimally process the food.

My menu and food is inspired through culinary specialties covering all parts of the country.

where food comes from truly sparked my drive to enter into the culinary arts.

Has working in NYC alongside highprofile names like Marcus Samuelsson helped you achieve a full scope of culinary skills?

Cooking came quite naturally for me.

The organization, discipline and passion necessary to succeed at high levels in this business definitely came from working with chefs like Marcus Samuelsson.

What’s your spin on comfort food and what are you doing to set yourselves apart from others?

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Does Bleecker’s cocktail menu match the creativity offered on your dinner menu? Who’s handling the innovative drink offerings and how important is it to offer a signature cocktail list?

Absolutely! A signature cocktail list is very important. Tim Cooper and Justin Noel have worked together to coordinate a fresh ingredient cocktail program that plays off of the flavors coming out of the kitchen. The cocktail menu is seasonal with a focus on American spirits and is filled with food friendly ingredients.

Nowadays the bar is just another venue that can, and should enhance the dining experience. We are excited to tie it all in together and think we have it dialed in!

We can talk about how great a menu is, or how important location is, but in your opinion, how important is a wait staff to the success of a restaurant?

The food can be the best in the world; if the wait staff is not up to par, the patrons will not return and the restaurant cannot succeed.

What roles does the vendor community on both the equipment and food supply side play? And in your opinion, is today’s salesperson providing the level of service you need to succeed?

Vendors have a very important role Working with my vendors while striving for the freshest ingredients, at the best possible prices provides my cooks with the tools to succeed in a fast paced environment with the demands of my extremely high standards. Getting the best equipment that you need provides a platform to succeed at high levels of volume. I have been loyal in using all of my salespeople/vendors for over ten years. This creates loyalty on both sides of the business.

The Chef and the food they’re serving always receives the credit and attention, and rightfully so, but how important is the actual equipment you’re cooking with?

Equipment is crucial with modern technology and the rising cost of utilities.

Today’s modern equipment helps impact these costs. Now, with the Rationale combination ovens you can roast, steam, fry and thaw food with precision.

Because of the cutting edge equipment’s proficiency, you can now lower labor costs and eliminate waste because of over cooking.

Do you feel that the restaurant industry suffers too much from Zagat, Yelp, and other consumer review sights? Are consumers depending too much on review?

I do not think the restaurant industry suffers greatly. In my opinion, after reading the reviews (positive and negative), it gives the restaurant direction for improvement. Consumers are also savvy enough to weigh the good and the bad reviews, and then come in for a visit to experience the food for themselves.

C-CAP, from page 29 ethic. The front of house taught me salesmanship and professionalism.

It’s important to have all of these to be a successful sommelier.

What is most rewarding aspect about your job?

When the guest has a great time.

That’s the ultimate goal, but it’s much easier said than done.

In your opinion, how has the world of wine in our industry changed over the years? Are the standards rising, and how are consumers responding?

The standard for sommeliers has been raised. We’re in a world that’s much more global. The guests expect you to know it all and to have seen it all… you’re not allowed to have a specialty anymore. The consumers

are driving this change. It is their expectation that you have more experience than them to be relevant. I have to have something to offer them as far as information and experience to really show them my value and expertise.

Talk a little about your new wine tasting program in The Little Nell’s cellar. Where’d the idea come from and what makes it so successful?

It was something I wanted to create to expose our wine program. Everyone had an idea of what our 20,000 bottle cellar is like, but no one had been there and experienced it. It was about creating a transparent experience for them that was authentic.

Basically, it’s a wine geek’s dream. It isn’t some hokey, pretend wine cellar. This is our “wine dungeon” where

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we’ve worked, stored and aged wines for our guests since 1989.

When a guest books a tasting, I consult with them to figure out a theme.

If you like Burgundy, it will be a Grand Cru flight, and if wines from Spain make you happy, we’ll assemble some amazing riojas.

What inspires you when you are curating a wine list? How do you choose, stay within a budget, what does the process involve?

There are three things: 1. What the consumer actually demands. (Guests enjoy them, so I buy them).

2. What I really enjoy! (These regions might not be the most popular… but the wines are phenomenal).

3. Profit. (There are certain wines I can’t buy because the margin isn’t

good enough on them. You have to be cost conscious).

What advice can you give that young student looking to make a career move in this industry?

Learn how to work in a restaurant.

Every great sommelier I know started as a food runner or busser. Some of the most pretentious and flakey sommeliers are people who woke up and chose it as a profession out of the blue. Go through the ranks! You are expected to execute normal front of the house duties as a sommelier, so be ready to do it all.

Also, travel whenever you can. Your days on the beach are over! Vacation time should be spent in a winegrowing region.

#1902

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// INSURANCE

FIORITO ON INSURANCE

Getting Started with Your Health Care Reform Communication The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is moving ahead, and it's time for employers to focus on communicating how health care reform impacts their employees. According to a recent study, 75% of employees surveyed say they are relying on their employer to educate them about health care reform and what it means to their benefit plan. (AFLAC 2013 Workforces Report.)

Bob Fiorito, Vice President of Business Development at Hub International Robert.Fiorito@ hubinternational.com

I

t's only natural for employees to have questions about how reform will affect their health benefits. By taking the time now to develop a communications strategy for the next 12 months, you can reduce confusion and time-consuming follow up.

Here are some general tips for employers to improve the effectiveness of their health care reform communication: Start now While employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act will not be penalized or fined for not providing the "Notice of Coverage Options" notification

by October 1st, some employers may wish to provide the notification.

For some employees, this may be the first time they receive a formal communication about health care reform. A Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll revealed that 42 percent of Americans were unaware that health

care reform is the law of the land with 12 percent believing that Congress repealed it while another seven percent thought it was overturned by the Supreme Court. Assume that you will be dealing with a number of misconceptions about the law, such as the belief that coverage will be available at little to no cost.

Keep it focused In addition to ensuring that your communication complies with government requirements and deadlines, be sure to focus on the aspects of health care reform that are likely to have the greatest impact on your employees right now.

Every business is different, and some company health plans may be undergoing major changes due to health care reform. Stick to the current facts and the issues that directly impact employees.

Communicate often Don't underestimate how confusing this information might be for some employees. Develop a timeline to stage the key messages that you need to communicate - including both the communication that is required for compliance purposes as well as key messages that reinforce the value of your employee benefits program in this changing environment.

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Know Your Limits Make sure that your desire to be helpful in explaining available options to employees does not conflict with the following general standard: Do not provide personal financial advice to employees. If your health care reform communication is construed to be advice and an employee later regrets their coverage decision, it may provide ammunition for a lawsuit.

It is recommended that employers stick to communicating the value of their own health insurance program, and maintain a neutral stance with regard to communicating any information about Exchanges and health care reform rules. Promoting your own plan is consistent with maintaining a culture that values employees while also helping satisfy carrier participation requirements, an ongoing concern with fully-insured plans.

The majority of my restaurant clients are planning to release the required Exchange Notice mandated by the law. Some will even include the following disclaimer when mailing that Exchange Notice: “We are providing this Notice only because federal law requires us to provide it to you. We can provide you with no further information about its contents.

We also cannot provide you with assistance in evaluating your options for exchange coverage or the potential penalties under the law, but the government agencies will have some educational materials and sources for additional information. You can find more information to help you make your decision at www.healthcare.gov or https://www. cuidadodesalud.gov/es/ (Spanish); starting October 1, you can also call (800) 318-2596.”

If you decide to communicate additional information about health care reform, consider using a disclaimer such as this on your written communication: “We are sharing information with you about what is currently known or discussed about health care reform. We cannot guarantee its accuracy, and many other factors can affect you and your options under the law. If you need to rely on any information about this law, we suggest you speak to your own personal tax or financial advisor.”

Bottom line, find a trusted advisor; work together to develop a strategy and come up with a viable solution before it’s too late! An experienced and knowledgeable advisor will not only ensure that your business is compliant with reform, but will most importantly discuss a strategy to avoid any negative impact of this legislation on your business.

Robert Fiorito, serves as Vice President, HUB International Northeast., where he specializes in providing insurance brokerage services to the restaurant industry. As a 20-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. For more information, please visit www. hubfiorito.com

#1761

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// NEWS

FIRE SAFETY

Bronx Firm Brings Three Generations Of Experience To Fire Prevention Strategy It’s not something restaurants like to think about, but the threat of a fire is always there.

That’s why it’s so important to keep range hoods clean, sprinkler systems up to date, new fire prevention systems installed, old ones brought up to code, even fire extinguishers recharged.

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ew York-based Master Fire Prevention, in existence since the ‘60’s, helps restaurants do all these things, and more.

“Back then, it was a struggling business,” recalls Peter Martinez of his father’s budding company, which has grown to include a range of fire protection and prevention products, services, sprinklers, and systems.

Martinez, owner and president, says his father, Peter Sr., took the company from fire extinguishers to fire-prevention systems. From there, customers began requesting a raft of services, including system and ductwork maintenance, cleaning and installation, even inspection.

When Martinez took over from his father, he decided to add manufacturing to the company’s list of services—first out of a garage, then a small store, and finally a sheet-metal factory, where the company custommakes all the necessary parts and pieces for its customers. “We manufacture our own materials and install them,” Martinez says. “Someone can

come to us, and there’s no middleman. It’s a turnkey operation.”

The business has changed over the years, Martinez notes. “Food service operations have been, looking for service contracts from reputable, licensed people to do their quarterly cleanings. Otherwise, they will not get insurance. It used to be the business was fairly fly-by-night but it’s a whole different story today. Now, the business is highly regulated and licensed.”

Through the years, Martinez says, the company had to constantly retrain its employees for each kind of distributor, have safety and OSHA cards for construction personnel and hold safety meetings for all, including office workers.

“Every year the National Fire Protection Association numbers change, and we have to keep up with those,” says Martinez. “This is very important.”

The team at Master Fire Prevention has been in existence since the ‘60’s and helps restaurants keep range hoods clean, sprinkler systems up to date, new fire prevention systems installed, old ones brought up to code, even fire extinguishers recharged.

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“Our training in fire protection was constant, because everything changes. We used to make most of our materials by hand, but as you look at your vendors, a lot of them have accessed a lot of new technology, and these products have obviously become far more sophisticat-

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ed. CAD systems to cut the metal, CNC machinery for computerized metal cutting. We now have computerized hydrant testing, and in the sheet metal business, which is a big part of our business, we've gone to CAD- operated machines, where you plug in the drawings and it cuts out the metal, according to the specs.”

Fire codes have also changed. “Every year the National Fire Protection Association numbers change, and we have to keep up with those,” says Martinez. “This is very important.”

Even when the challenges are

smoke and all the grease away. It was across from Lincoln Center and they didn’t want any of that smell in the neighborhood.”

Martinez is intent on taking the business into the third generation.

“It’s very important to me that this company remain family-owned,” Martinez says. “It was my father’s dream for me to succeed him, and it’s

Even when the challenges are many, Master Fire Prevention gets in and does the job, says Martinez. One restaurant didn't want exhaust going to the roof, so we put in a precipitator the size of a small school bus inside the restaurant, and the smog hog, a water wash system that cleans itself on a daily basis to take all the smoke and all the grease away.

many, Master Fire Prevention gets in and does the job, says Martinez. “One restaurant didn't want exhaust going to the roof, so we put in a precipitator the size of a small school bus inside the restaurant, and the Smog Hog, a water wash system that cleans itself on a daily basis to take all the 54 • March 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

my dream for my son to take over.”

His son is now part of the team.

“He's getting his feet wet. He's learning from the bottom up. Nothing's too small for him to do. Working with the men. Coming in early and staying late. I want him to learn not just the technical, but the people, too. He has to learn how to work with the customers.”

The fire prevention business may seem very mechanical. “But it’s 100% people. Business is all emotional,” Martinez says. “Business is all relationship. That's the number one thing. This is a family-oriented business, and it will always stay that way. The person is key to the business. The customer is number one.”

// NEWS

GROWTH

Irwin Halper Set To Be Feted

By AJC At Spring Event On Tuesday, June 10th Irwin Halper of the I Halper Paper and Supply Company will join a prestigious lineup of honorees at the annual American Jewish Committee's (AJC) annual Food Service Division's gala.

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he New Jersey paper distributor is set to receive the AJC's Human Relations award. Halper joins veteran food brokers Herb Reichenbach and Pat Ianaconi of Acosta Sales and

Marketing and the Singer Equipment Co. as this year's honorees at the event slated for the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

The Halper story reads as one of

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those great American success stories with humble beginnings. Back in the early '90s, Donna Harper decided to start her own paper company with her husband, Irwin. What began with one truck and 1,000 square

feet in a friend's warehouse has now bloomed into a thriving paper business, Halper Paper and Supplies.

My wife did the paperwork,” Irwin recalls, of his printing and writing merchant wholesaler business. “And from that we grew slowly but surely based upon our relationships with the customers and how we treated people. Our son Matthew was in college and Andrew was still in high school. When Matthew graduated from college, he came into the company.”

When Andrew graduated from college, he decided to join the

continued on page 83

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// NEWS

INNOVATION

Owareco’s New Dehydration Technology Offers Superior Food Waste Solutions Here are some breathtaking facts. More than a third of all the food produced in the world is wasted, according to foodwastestats.com.

O

ver one billion tons of food is never eaten. Forty percent of the food grown or raised in the U.S. alone is not eaten. There was a 50% rise in food waste from 1974 to 2003.

It's the third largest component by weight as it rots in landfills. Each per-

son in the U.S. produces almost 500 pounds of it yearly. And it's only getting worse.

Granted, it's a sad situation. But what do we do with all that waste? If Owareco has anything to say about it, it can be dehydrated and environmentally and cost-effectively convert-

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ed into a product that can be used for landscaping or gardening.

“Our name stands for organic waste reduction and conversion,” says Dr. Robert J. Woodbine, senior vice president. “We also liked the play on words, being aware of what happens to 'organic waste,'” adds Leah Alex-

ander. “Our slogan is reducing costs, reusing waste, restoring the environment, organic waste reduction and conversion.”

Dr. Woodbine, Ms. Alexander and her brother, Myron Alexander, are all partners in the venture, which seeks to provide restaurants, food service institutions and municipalities with a safer, less expensive way to get rid of waste while lowering its carbon footprint to protect the environment.

“How it works is simple,” says Woodbine. It all began in South Korea, a small land mass, which was driven by necessity to find a solution for managing its food waste. Dr. Woodbine points out that, at that time, most food waste was disposed of by food digesters ­huge units that use a tremendous amount of water and enzymes to di-

Owareco's Senior Vice President, Dr. Robert J. Woodbine

gest and break down the food. These units produced ‘gray water,’ a biohazard, which had to be processed downstream in municipal waste treatment plants.

“When you looked at the cost of installation, the added plumbing, the additional water, the effluence downstream in the municipal waste system having to take care of that environmental pollution, you saw, as the S. Koreans did, a big problem,” says Dr. Woodbine.

Owareco now uses the technology developed in S. Korea to dehydrate food waste to reduce its volume, carbon footprint and the need to be hauled away to landfills. With Owareco's Ecovim food dehydrators, no added water or digestive enzymes or wood chips are needed, no plumbing or venting is required, and these standalone on-site units can be installed either inside or outside.

“The actual technology is the mechanical agitation of food waste in the interior of the unit with a combination of oil heat and heated air,” says Dr. Woodbine.

At the end of the batch-feed processing cycle, users get potable water that can be used for landscaping or gardening, and nutrient-rich soil amendment to accelerate composting. Modifications are even being made to compact the soil to bio fuel pellets as well. “The end product is

reduced by 75 to 90%,” says Dr. Woodbine, “because we're extracting the fluid content in food waste, and coming out with a dry product.”

The cost-savings are just as impressive, he notes. “You're going to save using the Ecovim systems because, on the front end, you don't have costs for plumbing or venting, no permitting, no ongoing cost of enzymes and wood chips and chemical deodorizers, and on the back end, the food waste is being rehydrated or reduced by up to 90% of its original volume and carbon footprint. You're hauling away less frequently so hauling fees are reduced, if you haul it away. Many restaurants on the West Coast use the end product for landscaping so there are no tipping fees. And you're not burdening the environment with this 'gray water.'

Some schools are even using the soil amendment as a profit center, selling to landscapers, instead of baking cookies, Dr. Woodbine says.

The systems also have a built-in

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proprietary deodorizing aspect. “The odor you do get at the end most people like. It smells like coffee grounds or bouillon, depending on the amount of beef in there,” he explains. “No gas emissions, no venting, the carbon footprint is reduced because of the dehydration. You're hauling less frequently and not as much. That's if you haul at all. What's not to like?” he says.

For municipalities like New York City which is imposing composting mandates for restaurants this spring or summer, there is less waste and less cost.

The Ecovim units come with a oneyear warranty, and locally there are trained technicians who can provide 24-48-hour maximum repair time frame. Soon the units will have wireless troubleshooting, so technicians

will be able to troubleshoot remotely, and fix 80% of the issues without having to come out at all.

“Leasing and financing are also available,” says Dr. Woodbine. “We make it very easy for those who see that our technology is affordable and workable to meet these mandates.”

#1931

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#1813

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// THE WINE COACH

WITH LAURIE FORSTER

Spring Wines from Loire If you are looking to spruce up your wine list for spring, you definitely want to consider the wines of the Loire Valley.

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he Loire Valley is in northwestern France - a cool climate growing area that produces wines known for their crisp acidity which makes them exceptionally food friendly. The Loire has a diverse range of wines that includes sparkling, white, Rose, red and, of course, luscious dessert wines. Three of my favorite Loire white wines are Muscadet, Rose d’Anjou and Savennieres.

Muscadet is a Loire Valley wine region that focuses on making bright, high acid, white wines from the Melon de Bourgogne grape. Muscadet is known for its minerality with a backbone of acidity that makes this wine a natural pairing for oysters and all things seafood. The best vineyards are in the area around the Sevre and Maine rivers and are labeled “Muscadet Sevreet-Maine.” Some Muscadet will be labeled sur lie to indicate the significant amount of time spent aging on their lees. Lees are the dead yeast cells that are leftover from fermentation. Aging the wine on its lees will add additional complexity, character and taste. There are some excellent small producers that focus on making high quality Muscadet wines including Marc Olivier, Andre-Michel Brégeon, Luneau-Papin and Chateau du Cleray.

Another great way to help your guests kick off spring is with Rosé. The Anjou region of the Loire is known for its easy going Roses that have a touch of sweetness. Rosé d’Anjou can be made from a blend of grape varieties, including

food, as well as seafood dishes. What producers look for include Marquis de Goulaine, Sauvion, Remy Pannier and Monmousseau.

Savennieres is also an area in the Anjou region that makes a more serious white wine from the Chenin Blanc grape. This small appellation is known for its bone dry Chenin Blancs that, with age, develop honeyed, creamy whites that also have citrus flavors and, you guessed it, crisp acidity. Although not aged in oak

barrels, Savennieres will appeal to wine lovers who enjoy the creamy richness of oak aged whites. These are complex wines that improve with age, unlike most white wines. Great with seafood, Savennieres also has enough body to stand up to poultry and pork. Once you’ve tasted a great Savennieres, you will have a hard time finding anything else like it. Producers to try include Domaine des Baumard, Domaine du Closel and Chateau d’Epire.

The wines of the Loire Valley are among some of the best in the world and they are tailor made for spring. Adding these wines to your wine list will give your guests a tour of the Loire Valley by glass with stops in Muscadet, Rosé d’Anjou and Savennieres. Bon Voyage!

#1930 Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach, is a certified sommelier, award-winning author and media personality. Forster is the host of her radio show The Sipping Point and her mobile application “The Wine Coach” was listed as one of the Top 8 Wine Apps in Wine Enthusiast. To find out more visit: www.TheWineCoachSpeaks.com | @thewinecoach | facebook.com/winecoach

the relatively obscure Pineau d’aunis or Grolleau, as well as the more familiar Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec or Gamay. These wines have aromas of cherry and berries with enough acidity to balance the sweetness. There are wine snobs who turn up their noses at pink wine but don’t be one of them if you want to please your guests. Rosé d’Anjou is a great pairing for barbeque, spicy cuisine like Asian

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// NEWS

EVENTS

Ferdinand Metz Foodservice Forum To Focus On the Hottest Trends During The International Restaurant & Foodservice Show Of New York During next month’s International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York attendees will have the opportunity to participate in more than 40 complimentary education sessions at The Ferdinand Metz Foodservice Forum, the gold-standard, industry-leading educational conference for today's foodservice professional.

S

essions taking place Sunday, March 2 through Tuesday, March 4 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center will focus on hot trends, building customer loyalty, developing winning teams, maximizing profits and implementing operational excellence.

“The Ferdinand Metz Foodservice Forum will offer real applicable business lessons and trends our attendees can apply to their operations now and see results,” said Ron Mathews, Vice President, Restaurant and Foodservice Events Portfolio. “Restaurant and foodservice professionals will learn how to build beverage profits, use social media and email and video marketing to increase customer loyalty, how to build their career network, healthy and gluten free menu labeling, effective management tips and how to build winning teams.”

A few of the exciting sessions include: How Mobile Payments can Increase Loyalty and Build Your Brand - Alex Bard, IT Manager, Just Salad, Jessie Gould, VP of Retail, Organic Avenue; Craig Bloom, Webmaster, ST Management, Fresh & Co.; Ellen Kim, ‘witchcraft; and Moderator Denee Carrington, Forrester Research will provide lessons learned from the entire mobile payments process.

Foodservice Council for Women,

The Bowery's Roger and Sons will welcome show guests to one of IRFSNY's largest booths

Women Winning in Business – Chef Ferdinand Metz, Kathleen Wood, Kathleen Wood Partners; Betsy Craig, MenuTrinfo, Marisa May, SD26, Sally Minier, Sweet Sally’s, and Sandy Korem, The Catering Coach will offer “secrets" for winning in today's competitive marketplace.

Turning Local Purchasing into Profits for Farmers, Restaurateurs and Entrepreneurs - 2nd annual Farm to City Expo sponsored by Empire State Development, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Cornell University and Edible Magazine will

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explain how to tap into the $1 billion market for local foods in New York City.

Complying with the Affordable Care Act: “Obamacare” Requirements that Restaurant and Foodservice Employers Can’t Afford to Miss: During this presentation, attorneys Michael Volpe and Nicholas Reiter from Venable LLP will answer common questions from restaurant and foodservice employers about the Affordable Care Act. The Food Trends Demonstration Theater will feature presentations from Anton Testino, Food Network’s Chopped; Christopher Singlemann, Executive Chef of Watermill Caterers;

Danielle Rimmer, Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen; David Binkle, Los Angeles Unified School District; Jules E.D. Shepard, Jules Gluten Free; Marlisa Brown, Author of “Gluten Free Hassle Free.”

6 Technologies Successful Restaurateurs Can’t Live Without. Speakers Bobbie Lloyd, Owner, Magnolia Bakery; Michael Chernow, Owner, The Meatball Shop Co; Dean Jankelowitz, Owner, Jack’s Wife Freda; Giancarlo Fiorarancio, Director of Information Systems, Shake Shack; and Moderator Mark Buonagurio, Director of Sales, NCR will discuss how technology for a restaurant can help with operations, drive down costs and create meaningful customer engagement.

Fast Casual Industry Council Presents Lessons from Leaders 2.0. Larry Reinstein, Salsaritas; Geoff Alexander, Lettuce Entertain You; Kathleen Richardson, Urban Farmhouse and Moderator Sam Stanovich, National Restaurant Association will discuss business successes, challenges and obstacles.

The 21st Annual International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York will bring together thousands of foodservice, restaurant and hospitality professionals from New York State, and will feature more than 500 leading vendors, accompanying the Ferdinand Metz Foodservice Forum education sessions and buzz building special events. This is one of the main events in New York serving the restaurant and foodservice industry, sponsored by the New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA) and produced by Urban Expositions. The show will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, Sunday, March 2, 2014 through Tuesday, March 4. To learn more, visit http://www.internationalrestaurantny.com.

// NEWS

TABLETOP

Libbey Debuts Expanded Line Of Slim Product Built For The Needs Of NYC Area Operator It may not sound very exciting, but the way glassware and dishes can be stacked is often a crucial part of a restaurant operation.

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o Libbey, makers of glass products for the foodservice industry, changed its manufacturing and design process to create a more stackable line of both glass- and dinnerware.

“In the Restaurant Basics line, it’s very important that all of the glasses are straight, so they're not cocking one way or the other and causing problems as they stack,” says Susan Dountas, Director, Marketing Libbey Foodservice.

“Also, to make sure that when one glass goes on top of another, that it won't shift. So you have to contour this kind of glass differently than you would a normal glass interior. From the dinnerware perspective, it's a matter of design again, so that it has that lower profile, yet is still durable and protected by our warranties.”

It’s all about helping to make a foodservice operator more efficient, says Dountas. “Our Slenda line actually has a regular profile and a low profile. The low profile allows you to stack more dishes on top of each other than a full profile does. This allows you to take up less space and put more product on top of another.”

It’s about space, Dountas adds.

“That's probably the simplest way to say it. It's just like, at home, we're al-

“We’re lucky because we are so close to our customers and have such a broad customer base. We get a lot of ideas and requests from them as well as watching trends so that we are sure that we're on top of the glassware that we need and introducing new designs so we stay relevant,” Dountas explains.

ways looking for more counter space and it's even more valuable in a bar or a restaurant. It can save you space by being able to go vertical.”

Dountas notes that bars always need more prep space, especially now that it can take multiple items to mix for specialty drinks as opposed to just tapping

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a beer. “That's another reason why it's just so important that the glasses don't interfere with the process, but that they're close at hand, easily accessible, not annoyingly in the way all the time,” she says.

Another important consideration with dinner- and glassware is washability. “The washability is the same with all of our products. The low profile isn't so low that the server has a hard time picking up the plate from its edge.

Sometimes you can get so low profile, you’re struggling to get it off a tray.

That's not the case here.”

When space is at a premium, bartenders want to be able to serve multiple drinks out of one style of glass. “Our line is perfect for that,” says Dountas.

“We go from a DOF all the way up to a large tumbler. But durability and stackability are key and we feel we have the edge.”

The company tries to make the stackability look like a design element.

“It’s not, what is this doing in the middle of my glass? It’s more, it makes the glass look a little bit more interesting,” Dountas notes.

She adds that Libbey has nine or 10 styles of glass, including smaller-sized ones for beer because, with the new premium and craft beers, the alco-

hol content is high. “Our dealers have wanted to downsize a little bit to compensate for that. So those are some of the reasons that we add into our lines.”

At the upcoming National Restaurant Association show, the company will introduce a new line of stackables to complement the Restaurant Basic one with a little different design.

Dountas says the Practica line is her favorite. “We just did some new photography with the Practica bowl and the food stylist liked it so much that that's all she's using now. They come in four sizes, so they stack either way.

If you wanted to have multiples of one size, they'll all stack up vertically. Or, if you wanted to nest them, you could do that, too.”

Dountas describes the bowl design as sweeping up and then back down before shaping itself into a bowl. “That’s great for a server, or a customer, because you can put your thumb in there to secure it. It helps the server not end up with that thumb in the salad. You're able to hold it and really not interfere with the food or the contents or the bowl in any way. So, it's great for front of the house if you want to serve from it. But we're also seeing a great back of the house application, too.”

Dountas admits there’s a lot of competition, especially in glassware, but the company has twice the assortment of its next closest competitor and what helps it to continue, as a leader is to introduce new designs into the marketplace. “We’re lucky because we are so close to our customers and have such a broad customer base. We get a lot of ideas and requests from them as well as watching trends so that we are sure that we're on top of the glassware that we need and introducing new designs so we stay relevant,” Dountas explains.

// NEWS

RESTAURANTS

Samuellson and Westchester Investment Firm Announce New Equity Deal Marcus Samuelsson Group, originally founded by chef and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson and his Red Rooster Harlem partner Andrew Chapman announced plans late last month to partner with a Westchester based firm .

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on Moelis and Sandy Loewentheil, cofounders of L+M Development Partners, have joined as strategic investors in the company’s continued growth and development. L + M is a developer that has made its mark with successful and socially responsible investments. Moelis is a founding member of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, on the Board of Trustees for both NYU Law School and John Jay College as well as a member of the Board of Directors for Civic Builders. Loewentheil is on the Board of Trustees for Washington University in St. Louis, Rye Country Day School and on the Board of Directors for STRIVE for College.

“Ron’s approach to business and commitment to the community is in lock step with the vision Marcus and I had when we started this company three years ago,” shared Andrew Chapman, who will be moving from company CEO to a board position along with Moelis and Samuelsson.

“To have Ron’s expertise and passion at the table will propel the company’s mission to grow the restaurant com-

next chapter in our development.”

These corporate developments were led by Marcus Samuelsson Group media advisor Derek Evans, with the new investor Ron Moelis introduced to the company by attorney Deborah Wolfe of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, who represented Marcus Samuelsson in connection with the transaction.

Marcus Samuelsson Group (MSG) is a New York City-based, hospitality management and food media com-

“Ron’s approach to business and commitment to the community is in lock step with the vision Marcus and I had when we started this company three years ago,” shared Andrew Chapman.

Restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson and his Red Rooster Harlem partner Andrew Chapman announced plans late last month to partner with Westchester based L+M Development Partners

munity and increase local employment in Harlem and beyond.”

Howard Greenstone, former President/CEO and partner of Rosa Mexicano, is joining Marcus Samuelsson Group as a strategic advisor. A seasoned operator who led the growth of the popular Mexican restaurant group to its current 15 locations nationwide and four international li-

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censing deals, Greenstone was previously Vice President of Dry Dock Restaurants in Weehawken, NJ, and Director of Operations of Sfuzzi restaurants in ten states.

“I’ve known and admired Howard’s keen understanding of how to grow smart and sensibly for a long time,” shares Marcus Samuelsson. “It’s a true pleasure to work with him on the

pany. From high-end restaurants to fast-casual cafés, MSG is committed to providing an exceptional and distinct culinary experience at culinary venues and events all over the world.

A dedication to excellence, community and diversity is core to the group’s beliefs and offerings.

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#2007

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#1125

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#1838

#1711

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// NEWS

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Smile, Your Restaurant Is On Camera They say a picture is worth a thousand words and that is especially true in the restaurant business.

Y

our food is truly your bread and butter and when that food is captured on camera, you want it to be the best it can be. That’s why as a restaurant owner, one thing you don’t want to skimp on is photographs and video. In the Internet Age you have to think about every photo, every video as part of your “public relations” plan.

Dark pictures of your restaurant’s food on your Smartphone just won’t

Cindi Avila, Public Relations & Communications, ICE, New York, NY g re e n g o d d e s s p r @ g m a i l .c o m

cut it. Video you pieced together on your laptop? Not the best way to rep-

resent your creations.

If you have a website -- and these

days you have to have a website -- you want the pictures on your homepage to shine. Video on your homepage is another huge plus. According to a study by the Wharton School of Business, prospective customers are 72% more likely to purchase a product or service when video is used.

It makes sense; the visuals make their buying decisions faster. After seeing a video or photo slideshow, most people will have a greater un-

#1711

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derstanding of the subject or product. Yet a great number of people still refuse to invest in pro-quality photos & video. Why? The Number One reason most people don’t hire professionals to take their pictures or produce their videos is because they think they can do it themselves. The second reason, not surprisingly, relates to money.

In the end though, you need to invest to make your business a success and you need to think of these visual assets as another investment. It may cost more than $1000 to get pictures taken or a couple thousand dollars and more to get a video done, but if it brings in lots of business, it will prove to be a great investment that provides consistent returns.

Pictures and video also go hand-inhand with public relations in another way.

If you are using a public relations expert, you need pictures. For example, when said PR person pitches your restaurant for stories, the chances of getting someone to actually write about your restaurant increases dramatically if pictures are sent with the pitch (or press release). Many digital publications don’t have photographers on staff so PR professionals make their lives much easier when they send a self-contained story with high-resolution, high-quality photographs.

Video is also incredibly useful in this regard. Many TV outlets want to see video clips of a chef before booking them on TV. They want to know that the Chef can talk and cook at the same time and that they make ‘good TV.’ They also need b-roll for advance promotion and other production elements.

It’s not that difficult to get this done.

If you want to find an affordable and experienced photographer or

videographer who provides quality work, look no further than your FB or Twitter. Put out a call to your friends in the business, chances are they will have some great recommendations that won’t break your bank. If you already have a PR rep, ask them for their recommendations as well.

You will find someone who will make

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your business shine and hopefully increase your business.

Cindi Avila is the owner of Green Goddess Public Relations in NYC. She specializes in food, family, health and education clients. Her clients include the Institute of Culinary Education and Blossom Du Jour restaurants.

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// FOOD SAFETY

WITH WYMAN PHILBROOK

Norovirus Evaluating your risk and developing a proactive plan to address it.

I

originally was planning on writing about a different topic this month but the headlines in the news and the discourse that I have heard from the industry, regulatory and public sectors indicated this subject would be timely. Over the last few weeks there have been news stories on large scale outbreaks that have affected a large resort (200 people), 2 large ships from the same cruise line (600 & 189 people respectively) and multiple educational & healthcare institutions. When you are discussing numbers of victims in the 100s from diverse locations, everyone sits up and takes notice. As a foodservice manager, what should you know about this viral illness and how you can address it in your overall food safety plan? Let’s first discuss what it is and the conditions it needs to survive and spread

Basic Facts about Norovirus The virus was first identified in an outbreak at a school located in Norwalk, Ohio during the 60s (it is still referred to as Norwalk or Norwalklike virus and encompasses multiple strains in the category). Its main sources are contaminated water; water filtering shellfish, contaminated fruits & vegetables and infected individuals. It is the number one cause of food-borne illnesses (approximately half of all cases). It is second only to the common cold in reported cases.

The virus is highly resistant to normal disinfectant strength levels, can sur-

self-serve stations Condiments- stations & on tables • Tables, counters & bar surfaces • Chair backs • Trays & tray slides • Elevator buttons • Restrooms • Cashiers & money *An important fact to note is that many high-volume facilities have alcohol-based sanitizer dispensers available for employees and customers. Hand sanitizers are a supplement and not a replacement for proper hand washing procedures so this should be conveyed at the dispenser location or through training.

•

Wyman Philbrook

Owner of Philbrook Food & Beverage Consulting And Training philbrook_fandb@comcast.net

Food Safety Systems vive under refrigerated temperatures and even in a reasonably high acid environment. Like all viruses, it needs a host to grow in and replicate but can survive outside of the host. Norovirus has not been successfully grown under lab conditions so it is difficult to determine its survival under normal cooking temperatures. Only a small dose is required to infect an individual and once they are exposed an individual will show the following symptoms of gastroenteritis within 24-48 hours (can be as early as 12 hours): • Cramping • Projectile vomit • Diarrhea • Headaches • Low-grade fever, chills, muscle aches & weakness may also occur These symptoms will last for 24-60 hours and positive results of a stool sample will confirm its presence.

There is no drug treatment or vaccine for the virus and it needs to run its course. Symptoms tend to come on quickly and are severe initially.

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Typical Methods of Transmission As stated above, an individual can become infected by consuming contaminated water or food product. An infected person can pass on the virus to the surface of a consumable product or on to a contact surface, where it survives but does not grow.

Improper hand washing after using the toilet, the spray from or physical contact with vomit are the ways an infected person can pass the virus on.

As stated, viruses need a host to grow but will survive outside of one. The virus can then pass to multiple surfaces once that original contaminated area is touched. Environments with large populations that are more or less closed i.e. healthcare, cruise ships & educational facilities will have high numbers of individuals coming in contact with certain areas/surfaces.

Such as: • Handrails- stairs & escalators • Doorknobs & door handles • Utensils, glassware & china on

Foodservice operators should implement the following in their overall food safety plan to address the main issues that contribute to an outbreak: Education & Training ProgramEnsure employees are aware of Norovirus symptoms and transmission methods. An exclusionary agreement that outlines reportable symptoms should be reviewed and signed by the employee annually and kept on file.

Exclude from the food establishment and notify the regulatory agency if an employee is confirmed with Norovirus. The manager will request medical clearance before allowing the employee to return to work.

Cleaning & Sanitizing SOP – Employees should know and follow procedures and cleaning schedules for equipment and contact surfaces.

Have procedures outlining the cleaning after an incident of vomiting.

Employee Hygiene Policy – Employees should practice good hygiene especially with hand washing, uniforms and proper glove use.

Approved Vendor Program – Insure vendors are inspected by regulatory agencies and achieve satisfactory

results. Establish recall procedures & communication with all vendors.

Food-borne Illness Program – Establish a questionnaire to use and document any notifications by customers of illness after eating in your food establishment. Management should follow-up and track incidents for patterns. Notify the regulatory agency if an outbreak is suspected.

Risk Assessment for Viruses – Review and document all high contact surfaces in your facility and establish a response to sanitize or change a potential procedure if Norovirus is suspected i.e. discontinue all self-service.

Handling a Norovirus Outbreak When you learn or are notified that a confirmed outbreak implicates your food establishment or facility, you need to react quickly. First steps you will take are to limit transmission of the virus and prepare for a visit from your local regulatory inspector. Having conducted a risk-assessment &

developed the suggested programs for your food safety plan will make your initial steps easier to accomplish.

Step 1- Address all contact surfaces that may spread a virus.

Step 2 – (for the inspector) • Have all invoices for all food deliveries pulled for review • Have a list of all employees who missed work for illness for the previous 2 weeks • Show verification of sanitizing- both chemical & by heat (final rinse temperature for dishwasher) • Demonstrate employee knowledge of Norovirus & exclusionary policy • Provide both visual & interactive proof of employee knowledge on proper hand washing and glove use I was the director for food safety & sanitation at a major east coast university and our residence dining facility was implicated in the outbreak

since a large number of students that tested positive for Norovirus had eaten in the facility. We were able to take all of the referenced steps and the regulatory & school officials were able to determine that our actions were appropriate and that food & kitchen employees had not been the likely source. (The investigation pointed at a communal restroom on a residence floor as the probable source site).

When a food facility has been confirmed as the source like the recent cruise ships and the resort, management must relay the information to individuals who may have been exposed as quickly as possible and conduct a deep cleaning and sanitizing procedure throughout the premises.

Provide the regulatory officials with full cooperation regarding their requests and seek their guidance. A single designated individual should be the contact with all media so that the company is providing a single focused message.

The key conclusions and facts of this column are that Norovirus strains are highly communicable and due to its survivability on foods and contact surfaces very hard to contain when allowed into your food establishment. Using this information can help you prepare for, prevent and contain possible Norovirus outbreaks in your facility. The less you are able to control its access and its capability to spread, the higher the number of infected individuals it will produce. Any number of confirmed cases is bad for the health of your customers & employees, your sales and your reputation. Being proactive regarding the causes and effects of an outbreak reduces your risks.

In the coming months we will be addressing Cross-Contamination, Cross-Contact, Cleaning & Sanitizing and anything else regarding food safety that become major news stories.

iHalper, from page 55 company, too. “And we went from 1,000 square feet to 10,000,” says Irwin. “Which then became 24,000 total. And two years ago, we moved to our present facility that’s 60,000 square feet. Customers, the growth of employees, trucking, labor, all has increased tremendously to get us where we are today.”

Sadly, Donna was not here to see all the success. She passed away in 2004.

“There were no purchase orders.

There were no confirmations coming back and forth. It was, 'Fred?'

'Yes, Ben.' 'Here's what I need.'

'Okay.' 'Good. Send it in next week, and how do you want me to pay you?

'That type of thing. So I always enjoyed that level of honesty. But, like everything else, our industry has

For almost a century the Halper family has been providing quality products and services to the restaurant and food service industry in the greater New York and New Jersey area.

changed.”

Irwin says he remembers when, on the holidays, every paper distributor would call the other one to wish him a happy holiday. “Whether it was Jewish New Year, New Year's or Christmas, we would call each other.”

Irwin's sons slowly began to take

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the business helm with their dad. “I would continue to make a left every day. And then the boys said, gee, Dad, why don't you make a right?

And I would say, make a right? Gee, I never thought about that. Let's see what happens. And then I made the right. So we're bringing it up to the next level. They have taken my entre-

preneurship and my excitement, and my having this industry in my blood to the next level. A secretary and two trucks! They are here at 6 in the morning and we are talking at night what's going on in the business.”

But the real honor will come this year when Irwin is recognized by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) as an industry leader. The AJC advocates global diplomacy and working towards eliminating anti-Semitism and supporting Israel's journey towards peace and security.

“Our family is very close and that's the reason why we've succeeded,” says Irwin. “Oh, it's like any other family business. You go out for dinner, and everybody's, okay, we're not going to talk business, and the whole night is about business.”

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// FOOD SAFETY

WITH NOELLE IFSHIN

The Value Of An A On Your Next Health Inspection Customers should not have to spin the roulette wheel each time they visit your restaurant; they should experience the same quality of food and service every time.

I

t should not matter which chef or server is working on any given day, the customer experience should never be a surprise. It is one of the reasons McDonald’s is the number one restaurant in the world – you know what you’re going to get whether in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago.

Consistency is the key to establishing regular clientele, and regular clients are the most important customers to have. Maintaining regular clientele is a critical factor in establishing a solid reputation that will attract newcomers. Assuming you have hired the right employees and trained them properly, here are 4 points to focus on to ensure consistency:

Consistent Messaging Your food isn't the only thing you provide your guests; you also give them an experience. A lack of consistent messaging can turn customers off and stop them from coming back. Your brand’s message has to extend to every single aspect of your restaurant, from the persona of your servers, uniforms, type of music playing in the dining room to the logo on your napkins. Also, all of your advertising, marketing and social media campaigns must be aligned to accurately depict what your restaurant

Noelle Ifshin, President & CEO, 4Q Consulting New York, NY n o e l l e @ 4 Q C o n s u l t .c o m

is. Customers trust you to deliver on your promise and they want to know what to expect.

Consistent Food Beyond reducing waste, as referenced in Measure by Measure, consistency produces the same appetizer, entrée and cocktail every time. For this reason, written recipes and standardized kitchen and bar procedures are essential. You want your signature Salmon entrée to taste the same on Monday night as it does on Friday night. Additionally, establishing correct production levels ensures menu items are available when your guests want them.

Consistent Service Whether you are fine dining, casual table service, or a neighborhood dive bar, guests have certain expectations as to the service they want to receive.

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How guests are greeted at the door and at the table, when and how their orders are taken, how they are served and treated, are all essential “Steps of Service.” By having these service steps codified, and adhered to, in conjunction with your brand image, ensures a uniform delivery of your product.

Great service is achieved by knowing the basic steps of service that guests expect and being able to repeat them time and time again.

Consistent Vigilance You and your manager’s daily vigilance to the standards you set are crucial in order to ward off possible problems. This can be done by getting ahead of any potential issues through proper planning, training, and constant communication. All employees must know their roles, how to execute them and what to do should they run into problems. As discussed in our

previous Blog, Are Your Pre-Service Meetings a Waste of Time? Pre service meetings are the appropriate time to reinforce your expectations and standards with your staff. As an owner, you should know what’s really going on in your restaurant from the guests’ point of view. Consider using trained mystery shoppers from firms specializing in this service, or recruit your own shopper from your pool of friends, acquaintances and even regular customers.

Monitor and engage in on line review and social media sites, such as Yelp, Trip Advisor and Facebook to see what your guests are saying about you. These observations can serve as a way to identify where improvements need to be made and can be used to retrain, tweak and change as needed.

Great dining experiences can be easily cancelled out by one bad experience and one bad experience will cause a customer serious hesitation when deciding whether or not to return to an establishment. You have thoughtfully created a product and image for your restaurant. It is imperative that you preserve that identity. Consistently providing the same quality product can determine the success or failure of your restaurant.

This does not mean that your product must be high end or gourmet; it just has to be the same product day in and day out.

Don’t know where to begin? 4Q Consulting can develop customized business and operational guidelines to help you start and run your business.

Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

// TECHNOLOGY

WITH SCOTT SPITZBERG

The Modern POS Value Proposition A Point of Sale system is an important business tool, which is ever evolving and thus, becoming more robust in what they can offer, however many restaurants often underutilize them and thereby forego some of the greatest opportunities to make more money and reduce shrinkage.

Scott Spitzberg, Owner of Restaurant Software Solutions, LLC in West Orange, NJ scott@efficientrestaurant.com

In fact, the advancements in POS

A

t a recent industry roundtable discussion, I made note of a prominent New York restaurateur who noted that “POS is pretty expensive for what they offer.” I couldn’t disagree more. In fact, the advancements in POS technology should have, if anything, increased the price of the software, but system prices overall have come down due to decreasing hardware costs and increased competition. The value proposition of a modern POS has never been better.

To fully understand the value of a POS, one cannot judge it on its basic functionality or price alone. There is a tendency to overlook the complete feature set because of time restrictions, the extreme pressure to get open and that many restaurants don’t often have an IT person to evaluate the offerings. Thus, the POS purchase is often pushed to the side and ends up as a last consideration. In my experience, I have heard many restaurateurs make their POS decision because they have

technology should have, if anything, increased the price of the software, but system prices overall have come down. a friend with the same brand, the general manager used this one before and of course, it’s the cheapest one and that “they all do the same thing anyway.”

Other detrimental aspects to the total value proposition are 1) the misconceptions that you can buy your own hardware on the Internet or at auction and expect to save money. In fact, this hardware often fails more quickly, doesn’t qualify for warranty repairs and causes unnecessary downtime for the business. 2) The notion of the “free systems” that are widely offered, usually backed by a credit card processor that wants to lock in your business – for them. Not only isn’t it free, but it’s not often a good deal for the business, these contracts may

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contain, among other things, hidden elevator clauses and automatic renewals that can lock you in for many extra years. 3) Attempting to remove some of the services offered with the POS such as training and support to shave money off the proposal. Providing turnkey solutions is the mission of the value added reseller (VAR) and provides the best opportunity of success for the entire installation.

Modern POS systems do more than just send orders to the kitchen and collect money. Today, POS features and benefits include reservation systems, customer loyalty, web-based reporting, real-time alerts, biometric timekeeping and attendance, online ordering, pay-at-the-table, digital signage, marketing functions and much,

much more. Not all systems are created equal; some do more than others and some do them better than others.

A business owner cannot afford to either overlook or undervalue the total cost of ownership and the return on investment that can be generated by a modern POS from a reputable VAR. In short, a POS can be your most productive, least expensive “employee” that is always hard at work for you.

Having immediate access to information quickly, regardless of whether you’re in the kitchen or on vacation, is one of many ways to maximize the value of your POS and will, very quickly, pay for itself many times over.

See if you can quickly and accurately answer the following questions: What percentage of your customers are regulars? What is the average amount of the items you have to comp/delete per week? How much did you pay in overtime last year? What is your average check amount? What is your best selling and/or highest margin item?

If we can change our perspective of POS as a cash register and instead as a Customer Resource Management tool or Management Information System and it becomes clear that to do without one, fail to upgrade regularly or to fail to source your MIS services from a reputable, knowledgeable reseller will put you behind the competition for the lucrative repeat clients and patrons that buy high margin items.

Mr. Spitzberg owns Restaurant Software Solutions. He has an MBA in business finance and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and Cisco Certified Network Associate. He also participates as a network professional with the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools certifying network engineering curricula for federal accreditation.

#1830

Call Vic Rose: 732-864-2220

#1212

#1252

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// NEWS

PACKAGING INNOVATION

Midwest Firm Brings Innovative New Bag Design to NYC Area Foodservice Operators Ever thought much about the bags you get for takeout? They’re just to stow leftovers in and if they have grease stains, or spill the contents, what’s the problem? That’s what takeout bags are for.

B

ut a company in Chicago has realized that, for $1.50 a bag, a restaurant can brand itself, call attention to itself as a place you want to return, and even upsell the dining establishment itself, all with a carefully, beautifully designed bag to take food home in.

It’s called the Versatote, created by Bulldog Packaging, and it’s made of reusable materials, and has elongated handles so you can sideload cartons without worrying if they’ll tip over, unlike traditional takeout bags, which are taller, and awkward to load. With the Versatote, trays go in easily, and when the bags are loaded, users simply pull up on the handles, with straps keeping them secure, and food stays safe and unspilled, say its owners. And it looks pretty nice, too.

“It works for branding. Customers might even take them to competing restaurants or to the soccer game and there’s your name and logo, publicizing your restaurant in an attractive and convenient way, everywhere a consumer goes,” says Kiel Brunette.

Brunette notes that his daad started Bulldog in 1990. “We set out with just one hot stamp machine, 25,000 zipper garment bags and through years of hard work and customer support we’ve now grown to over 50,000 square feet of warehouse, five hot stamp machines, six 6-color press machines and over 1,000,000 in inventory.” Brian Brunette, his father, actually started out in the retail packaging business. “My dad did zipper garment bags. He was the first to stock side-zipper garment bags,” says

Bulldog's new patent pending Versatote bag

Kiel. But what really brought Brian to the world’s attention was his discovery of the non-woven reusable bags now seen at grocery stores. Though the business began as a supplier of retail and promotional products, the last few years has seen Bulldog make a direct entry into the food market with these kinds of bags.

“We offer domestic short-run printing on a variety of stock-size bags,” says Kiel. But what makes the company different is what’s on the bags -- its printing and artwork. “We bring a retail mindset to the product mix,” says Kiel. “We work with Kate Spade and Club Monaco and they have a demand for quality graphics, textures, materials. For a lot of bag manufacturers in the food industry, printing and artwork are an afterthought. They’re in the commodity business, not the design solution business.” But that’s what sets retail and foodservice businesses apart, Kiel adds. “Their image. Their brand. The feeling you get when you go to that restaurant. How do you carry that image out the door?” says Brian. “Let’s take most restaurants. They’ll have their logo or design on the tablecloths, the linens, the menus, but when they bring you

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your takeout, it’s in a brown paper bag – not the memory you’re looking to walk out the door with.

We take our experience with retail presentation into the food industry. Today it’s more important than ever to create a consummate experience, and that includes what customers walk out the door with.” Says Kiel, “That’s especially true in the restaurant business. So much is based on repeat experience. You have a very small opportunity to capture that image and keep people happy with you.”

Kiel explains that his father’s artistic expression of a restaurant’s image or brand is what makes their bags stand out. But even more, it’s the way the company has devised to keep food secure in doggie bags or from takeout that’s an added bonus. “If you don’t pack something properly and it ends up on a customer’s clothes, he’s not in a hurry to come back,” says Brian. Kiel says his dad, who he feels has transformed the way retail and promotional companies go to market with their products, is now bringing that finesse to foodservice. “We’ve seen an explosion in the last five to 10 years in the use of bags not only as a way to take

a product home, but now as a promotional item, too,” he says.

“There are a lot of tricks to turn a bag into a marketing piece, to capture an image, the feeling and emotion of a restaurant experience. We’re now offering to restaurants that same option we’ve given businesses like Kate Spade and Club Monaco, at a minimum quantity, a chance to see if our bags don’t bring you more business.

It’s not just that our bags are beautifully designed. If things aren’t packaged expertly, it can ruin the experience and cost you a customer.” Kiel says the way his dad operates the business is unique, too. “My dad will go to a restaurant, as you’re sitting down at a steak house, trying to enjoy a nice dinner, and he’ll bring a bag of designs and walk around as people are eating and ask, which design would you like your takeout in?

We look at it as, if we were the consumer, how would it affect us going to a restaurant if our food were packaged in something like this? There’s an inherent flaw with traditionally-designed takeout bags. They’re vertical constructions, containers you have to tilt to get in a bag, and that’s how you get salad dressing onto a steak, pasta that’s stuck to the lid.

When you’re spending $60 to $100 on takeout, it’s not what you want for the money. Our bags prevent that from happening, and are designed for ease-of-use for restaurant employees, too. It’s timeconsuming to pack a brown paper bag, staple it, put it on the shelf the right way so things don’t spill and get damaged.

Our bags are labor-saving. They help speed up the restaurant operation.

And any customer taking that bag is immediately lifting that restaurant in their mind. It’s convenient, it won’t roll around in the car. It won’t leak grease onto the carpet. Any restaurant who gives a consumer a bag like ours is going to make food taste better, and that restaurant will be the first one that customer orders food from next week. We

elevate that restaurant in his mind.” And when the customer’s done with the takeout? No garbage pail for that bag. “It’s an attractive, reusable shopping bag to take to the grocery store, to take lunch to the office in.

And for the restaurant, where else do you get that market exposure for $1.50 to $2 a bag?” says Brian. “You’re making the customer feel better about your restaurant and you’re branding yourself.

You’re also being sensitive and green.”

Another plus, the father and son feel, is being able to accommodate any style of container in their bags.

“For large orders, if you go to a restaurant and want something for catering, or having the family over and need eight dinners, there’s been no universal packaging system. You’ll get a half-pan, a halfround, a quarter-round, eight different styles of containers going into one order.

Our bags accommodates all of that, and keeps it secure.” One more thing that sets them apart, the Brunettes say, is that restaurants can order their bags in small quantities. “With some packagers, you have to buy a huge quantity, more than the smaller chains can afford. With us, you can order as few as five, to try us out,” says Kiel. But Bulldog isn’t limited to working with just the smaller chains.

“We sell to the large chains, too, who often want to buy 10,000 sports-themed or holiday-themed bags. It helps customers see them as a smaller, communitybased outfit.” What’s next? “Catering,” says Kiel. “It’s a large area of growth for the fast-food chain down to mom and pop operations. Home delivery will be a big area of growth, too. We do it all. We design bags that can brand a restaurant – and make its food easy to take home, too.”

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Newsmaker, from page 26 a real growth, which to us is extremely satisfying in mixer sales. More and more places now are making their own dough from scratch to keep up with the competition. Because consumers are so educated these days, thank you Food Network, freshness of product is becoming more prevalent in the industry.

Our mixer sales have increased exponentially since we’ve opened.

Do you offer design services, talk about your approach to design?

As I touched on earlier we hired restaurant people and former chefs to form our team. Our approach is simple, we have to first understand the type of business: fine dining: pizza places: take out: quick serve: cafeteria: etc… Then we look at the menu and the space with which we have to work. We also design bars so we take into consideration the tap system, style of bar, how many seats. The other part and sometimes the most important part is understanding the budget involved. We then have to work with the architect and contractor to surmise if we have any restrictions (hood space, electrical or plumbing issues). Having a staff that understands how the food business and most importantly how the kitchen operates is key. They then can lay out the space according to the customer’s needs and wants. We then go to our on staff architects and have the drawings built to our specifications.

How do you find yourselves growing with your customers as they expand from an initial restaurant to multiple units?

That is a good question and our relationships with our customers manifest themselves in a variety of ways. The first time around usually the customers want to do everything themselves, then the second time around they are either too busy or don’t want to deal with the “headaches”. We do their layout and design with their close supervision, then when the third time comes around they

rant. It feels like we do that on a weekly basis.

With over 2,500sq feet of showroom space, NJRE Corp. has one of the largest on-site selections in the northeast.

pretty much hand us the keys and say tell me what I have to do.

There are others that no matter what they micromanage the process from soup to nuts but at that point we are so used to working with them it is second nature to us.

We also have those customers that no matter what they bid us out every time and every time they come back to us but that is the nature of our business and we are used to it.

It’s easy today for buyers to just shop price on the net, why is a dealer like you more important than ever?

It is very easy to surf the web, put in your credit card and buy a piece of equipment. Free shipping, no tax how could you go wrong? Well I will tell you how, what happens if something is wrong, who do you call, 1-800-I don’t care and get nowhere with the person on the other end of the phone. What happens with your old equipment, what if you have a big order, who is going to help you make sure they fit? What about providing spec sheets for the architect? These are all services we offer and more. We truly are a full service equipment provider from equipment, to consulting, to design, to menu development, to sourcing an architect, a contractor, a hood installer. You name it and we do it. We will bring your new equipment in and place it where you want and take out your old equipment.

You can’t find that anywhere online.

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Are there success stories that stand out?

Because we hold such a vast inventory of product some of our major success stories revolve around setting up a restaurant with very little (if any) lead time. Sometimes it feels like one of those cooking shows where you have 24 hours to completely renovate a restau-

Crystal Ball what will the company look like in 5 years…10 years?

You never know what direction in which you might head but we have grown appreciably each year in business which in itself is a major accomplishment however we definitely have bigger plans. We are looking to expand our current location to include a smallwares division, a show kitchen and warehousing all in one location. Also, look for our new webstore coming soon.

For more information on NJ Restaurant Equipment Corporation, please visit www.njrecorp.com or call 201313-3334.

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// NEWS

COOKING INITIATIVES

Montague Teams With monobloc To Launch New Cooking Initiative What do high-end cooking equipment, resorts and Michelin-starred chefs have to do with one other?

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hey’ve all come together under monobloc, a new resource for upscale kitchen designers and exclusive chefs looking for the right product and solution to accomplish their goals, according to The Montague Company, a producer of high-end cooking equipment. Montague, the 150-year-old, family-owned business, will supply the hot-side systems needed, including the Montague Range.

“Montague has announced William Dolan and Michael Poulos of monobloc as the company’s new manufacturer representatives covering New York; Northern New Jersey; Western Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C., Maryland; Virginia; Southeast West Virginia, and Delaware (Sussex County), Montague vice president of sales and marketing,” Gary Rupp explains.

With over 60 years of combined industry experience, Dolan and Poulos have overseen the design and installation of kitchens at some of the country’s most exclusive restaurants and resorts.

Dolan has overseen projects ranging from historic Greenbrier Resort and the White House to kitchens for some of the country’s top chefs. An experienced trainer, Dolan initiated and built

“Montague has announced William Dolan and Michael Poulos of monobloc as the company’s new manufacturer representatives covering New York; Northern New Jersey; Western Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C., Maryland; Virginia; Southeast West Virginia, and Delaware (Sussex County), Montague vice president of sales and marketing.” one of the industry’s premier test and training kitchens, and spearheaded the use of interactive product cutaways to facilitate product comparison and showcase brand benefits.

Poulos has a diverse background in the front- and back-of-the-house oper-

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ations, and has worked with Michelinstarred chefs across America. His specialty is cooking execution and processes that are crucial to solving chefs’ exacting needs and requirements of kitchen space.

“The needs of the dealer-consultant continue to evolve and the projects are more intricate and therefore require a higher level of expertise,” says Dolan.

“The dealer today is looking for solutions to problems on many different types of projects,” adds Craig Smith, regional sales manager of Montague.

“They're looking for design modifications out of the ordinary. Because chefs and end-users today are traveling more, they're seeing more things around the world, and they want to bring those concepts into their operations.”

What makes Montague stand out, says Smith, is the way the company designs its products. “Everything is highly engineered with the customers' expectations in mind. Everybody wants the highest quality at the lowest cost, of course. But the way products are designed today, you truly get what you pay for.”

“Chefs today are looking for integrated solutions that involve highly skilled technicians, a CAD program and a

team of R and D people who work together to get the customer the solution they need,” says Dolan.

“Products are so unique and sophisticated today that you need all levels of talent to bring solutions to the problems of design, the execution of the product, the actual production and delivery of the product. And once the product is installed, where it's going to live the rest of its life, you need technicians. We have it all,” says Smith.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Technicians in the field come in to make sure that everything's hooked up right. “We also make sure the chefs understand how to operate the equipment so they actually get the biggest bang for their buck,” says Smith.

“We are confident that Bill and Michael will add a great dimension to the Montague team” says Rupp. “They will help us increase our presence in the D.C. and Metro New York areas and drive sales to a diverse group of chefs and operators.”

Other Montague products include the Montague Vectaire Convection Oven, which produces precision baking using indirect or “muffled” heating system that prevents flue gasses from entering the cooking chamber. This reduces exposure to potentially harmful carbon monoxide while maintaining even temperatures.

Montague also provides in its LEGEND® equipment line, the 36” range match Heavy-Duty Electric Induction Range for both front and back of the house preparations, and featuring four individually-controlled 3.5kW hobs; one-piece 6mm-thick Ceran glass-ceramic cooktop for ease of cleaning; a pan detection system with a temperature sensor and an integrated fan cooling system to keep controls cool.

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// MEET THE NEWSMAKER

Joe Ferri, President of MAFSI

The good thing about the world of foodservice sales is that it changes by the day. It can also be what makes it challenging.

But for Joe Ferri of the Manufacturer's Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry, or MAFSI, it's the lifeblood of being president.

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an you give our readers some background on MAFSI? The organization, a 65-year-old non-profit trade association with 275 representative agencies in the U.S. and Canada, specializes in sales of commercial foodservice equipment, service, tabletop and furnishings. We're the only ones who touch all the segments.

We're the window to the marketplace – service agencies, consultants, dealers, the various categories of end users, manufacturers. We're the only ones who know the entire industry.

We could be in your kitchen measuring where a piece of equipment goes, or outside looking at venting, talking to Con Ed, sometimes with the dealers, sometimes the service guy. We're there to help support you anywhere in foodservice.”

How did you get into the business?

I got my start as a little kid working for Triboro Soda Fountain Refrigeration on the trucks with my brothers-inlaw. I've worked as a distributor and for dealers, had my own business. I've

Joe Ferri is the President of MAFSI, a 64 year-old professional trade association comprised of 270+ independent sales agencies and 260+ manufacturers of commercial foodservice equipment, supplies, tabletop and furniture.

worked as a rep since 1990. I've been in the business 45 years this year.

What's the niche the rep fills in the marketplace?

We're channel partners. We don't take title to goods. We don't add cost.

If anything, we reduce the cost of

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EQUIPMENT & SUPPLY REPRESENTATIVES

goods. We're a window in, a facilitator. It's a very different role than pure sales.

What makes MAFSI unique?

Compared to other trade associations, MAFSI is very much an education and relevancy-driven organization. These days, we're technologically driven. We're data-driven, and in terms of big data, we're doing a lot about that now. We're compiling industry information in a way no one else has before.

Can you outline your agenda for MAFSI? We touch all the sectors of the industry. We're the only ones positioned to have our hands on all that data. We can help reps both inside and out-

side.

We have The Barometer, a predictive tool, and a quarterly survey for reps around the country and when we look at it historically, it's tracked exactly what the industry does. It's a great predictive tool because we have those feet on the street, and we've expanded our categories, and made it more granular, in terms of results. We have a new annual market forecast – we call it The MAFSI Market Forecast -- that draws together the national trade pubs, economics, the USDA, the predictions of reps, published in a booklet that pulls together all that data like only MAFSI can because we have all the data points. I want MAFSI

continued on page 96

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Mafsi, from page 94 to be the one place anyone can go to find anything they need to know about the industry.

What was accomplished in the previous administration?

They were the first to set up our goal of helping successfully to guide the customer through the conception, selection and acquisition of the phases of purchasing.

heavy equipment, for example? I've experienced that problem myself.

You can order things online but how do you get them? I don't see the Net having a big impact on what we do.

What are some of the upcoming highlights of the MAFSI 2014 agenda?

We just held a regional conference on what we call “repology,” which included the roll-out of a software

What are MAFSI's goals for attracting the next generation of reps?

We're particularly interested in recruiting millennials. They're drawn to our business model because it's inclusive, they're digital natives and we're so data-driven. Plus, we have a flexible work schedule, and an entrepreneurial aspect. Most millennials want to be independent but part of an organization – running their own business within the framework of a larger business. The rep business model is extremely well suited to them. You can rise through the ranks so quickly. You can have immediate success. It's fast track, and they like that.

What impact do you see the Net having on the supply chain?

I don't really see it as having as much of an impact as the merger and acquisition activities, like Sysco and US Food. That will change the game. With the Net, you have logistical problems.

How do you deliver something like

platform that wraps up rep agencies' data, including all data points from the annual market forecast, customer relationship management, with predictive capabilities, as well as a new software piece, SpecTract. That's a national curation service of product specs. We are going to be the librarians for all of the 11-400 construction specs that include food service documents so when a project is spec'd by a consultant; MAFSI will embrace that and create a database accessible by interested parties. SpecTract, will be subscription-based, for members only.

We're in an advisory role. We're not in the arbitration business; we're not going to be the peacekeepers. It's why we're getting so heavily involved in data and tracking. We want to curate the information, so folks can go out and do what they need to do. We intend to be that clearinghouse that gives them everything they need to know.

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// NEWS

MENU SOLUTIONS

MRS Teams with Chloe's to Bring Fresh New Look to Tri-State Soft Serve MRS Baking Distribution Corp. makes more than 1,000 customer deliveries each day. “My father, Marty, started MRS in the early 1980s,” says Steven Borg, vice president of MRS.

"H

e bought his first route, and started building more from that point on.” The company has since adapted to the needs of an evolving industry,

earning its reputation as the master consolidator in the baked goods arena.

Borg notes that MRS is now responding to schools’ needs for 100% whole-wheat and nut-free products,

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stating, “We've set up product from certified nut-free bakeries that can be distributed to schools. We've developed a system of distributing nutfree products to the schools requiring them.”

A number of smaller manufacturers constantly look to MRS for distribution of their line in the area they serve. This is promising, but also highlights another aspect of the industry. Borg states, “You can count on one hand the larger manufacturers that are still around.”

This change in manufacturing coupled with the sophisticated needs of the customer has caused MRS to become even more essential. That’s when Chloe’s entered the picture.

“We came across Chloe's at an industry show for food service managers. We were actually at a booth next to them,” says Borg. Chloe’s looked to MRS for distribution of their new product, a healthy alternative to other popular dessert choices. One of

Brooklyn, from page 3 the partners at Chloe's, an avid biker and marathon runner, didn’t want his excess bananas to go bad and so decided to create a frozen dessert.

This creation aligned perfectly with MRS Baking’s constantly evolving line of products.

Borg says, “We weren't really equipped to handle a frozen line. After talking with them, we leased our first frozen truck.”

The dessert is gluten-free, nut-free, and kosher parve, a healthier version of frozen yogurt. Borg described this dessert as fitting in very well with the changing ideals of the baking business. Ice cream and frozen yogurt are typically preservative and chemical

laden. Chloe’s new dessert, consisting of three ingredients, is basically fruit in a pop.

Borg states, “I see it as replacing the Colombo Frozen Yogurt which contains 15 to 20 ingredients. Chloe’s dessert is more like a frozen fruit product. It's low in calories. It really blows the other things away.” Its obvious nutritional value doesn’t take away from its taste though. Chloe’s makes a chocolate version, along with a wide range of fruit flavors.

They keep their desserts seasonal and fresh.

cations in Times Square, Grand Central Terminal and at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.

But it’s the original Brooklyn location that will always conjure the nostalgic images. President Obama made the pilgrimage in October 2013 with thencandidate Bill de Blasio on a campaignstyle visit, pressing palms between the restaurant’s vinyl booths and the red-topped bar. “The Rosens expect to open a second Brooklyn location and possibly another, temporary spot in the neighborhood during construction on the Flatbush corner,” Knakal said.

The plan is to return to the original location and keep two Brooklyn restau-

rants, but Knakal acknowledged they’ll have to work out the homecoming with the developer. “The only thing for certain in life is death and taxes, right?”

Knakal said. “It’s our objective to move back in.” The building could rise at least 20 stories, and with air rights it could rise to become one of the borough's tallest.

The property offers great street access in a borough that now rivals Manhattan on developers’ wish lists, he said.

“All around,” Knakal said, "it’s a world-class asset from a development viewpoint.”

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// NEWS

INNOVATION

Jersey’s Bon Chef Leads Industry With Continual Flow Of Innovative Serving Solutions He may have only been 17 when he started but Sal Torre quickly worked his way up from shipping clerk at a distributor to director of purchasing, in charge of all the buying, to the manager of customer service to where he is today, founder and president of Bon Chef, Unbreakable Sandstone serving pieces,chafing dishes, soup marmites coffee servers and other solutions for cooking and presentation.

“I

was the go-to guy when they needed something or when there was a problem,” he recalls. “And then an opportunity came around for me to get into manufacturing myself. I seized it and we started Bon Chef.”

Back in July of 1972, Torre purchased an aluminum foundry that was making omelet pans for the retail industry. “And we're making a cast aluminum omelet pan for gift shops, and gourmet shops and housewares shops. From there, I took the product and made it look like pewter , the Pewter Glo product,” Torre says. “That became our initial product line.”

But the company had a hard time, with restaurants, not wanting their customers to eat off metal. Then the Bicentennial of the United States came around in 1976. “A lot of guys were using pewter at that time because it resembled the old Americana, pewter mugs and pewter plates. So we had a little shot in the arm, but soon after the Bicentennial wore off, so did the sales.”

Torre says his lucky break came when he was at a trade show displaying all the company’s Pewter Glo products, and the people that were coming

“You need the commodities to keep you going. But you need the innovation that makes you stand out from the pack.”

into the booth were far and few between.

“Our customers loved the idea that the aluminum product that looks like pewter doesn't break. But not everyone likes eating out of metal. I thought, if I can only make this aluminum look like ceramic, with the added plus that it won't break, I'd have a winner on my hands.”

So, that evening, Torre went to a Tru-Value hardware store. “I picked up a couple cans of Krylon spray paint, white and black, and went back to the New Orleans Superdome, where the show was, and I sprayed about a half-

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dozen pieces black and a half-dozen pieces white, and I prayed to God that it dried by the next day. Well, the next morning, I get to the show, and everything is dry. I did a perfect job spraying them. I put them out on display, and we were the sensation of the show. We were throwing our pewter around to prove it wouldn’t break. Everybody in the show was excited about it. People were bringing customers over. The dealers, I mean, everybody, went nuts about it. I came home with almost 1,000 leads and a slew of orders and had no idea how to make it.”

The only problem? “Now what do we do? But after many, many failures, we finally came up with a process that's still safeguarded today. And we make our sandstone product with that process. It turned the entire company around. We began growing at a rate of 15 to 20% a year,” Torre says.

The Bon Chef founder notes that he had all the major contract feeders, the major chains, buying the company’s Sandstone product. “Around that time I remember going to a show, with our Sandstone food pans inside of borrowed chafing dishes from people who made chafing dishes. And our customers kept saying great, you guys

make chafing dishes now.”

Torre says he explained that he had just borrowed the dishes from another company. “But after about 25 or 30 of those inquiries, I got the message, and I used my knowledge that I gained by working for the distributor. And all my old contacts from importing for that distributor, I now used to start bringing in my first imported product, which was chafing dishes. Then, when we brought in the chafing dish, we saw there were so many improvements that could be made.”

The first chafing dishes, he says, thinking back, were rollback chafers.

“They used to slam and bang when you let go of the cover. So, the first thing I said was, I'm going to make a slow-down mechanism so that the cover never slams down again. And we invented it. Then I remembered when I was selling all these chafers at Minner's, at my first job, the handles would get loose. The legs would fall apart. So we developed a certain system that once we screw these things together, they never loosen up. So that was the second improvement. Then came the dripless water pan so there was no water all over the tables,” Torre says.

Then Torre got a call from the director of food and beverage at Marriott, who wanted to find a way to make its coffee less bitter from reheating.

“So we invented the first insulated coffee urns, beautiful banquet coffee urns, double-wall-insulated, and we changed the whole way coffee is served at banquets, in insulated urns that keep coffee hot for four to five hours. No more coffee that tastes bitter anymore, because you don't have to reheat it. Marriott spec'ed us for all their coffee urns.”

continued on page 103

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Bon Chef, from page 100 Another idea, Hot Solutions, were pans used at steam tables. “But first we needed to reinvent the way steam tables were being used,” Torre says.

“Every steam table used what's called a food pan. Ordinary hospital-looking food pans. So, we developed and invented a tile system, where we use a tile or a template that replaces the food pan. We cut holes in this tile and we dropped one of our pieces of Hot Solutions (beautiful pieces that go inside the hole) and that's now the new steam table, rather than these food pans that look so horrible. Anybody who was using a steam table now had a much, much better way to serve food.”

Another Bon Chef innovation is its Cold Wave bowls, three bowls inside each other to create an air chamber and a gel chamber between the three bowls. “It gives you the illusion of a very thick stainless steel bowl but without making it solid thickness, put ice or something cold in it, you don't get any sweating on the outside. It's aesthetically pleasing.”

Bon Chef used three bowls instead of two, putting them inside each other, so now there were two air compartments, with the outer compartment just air but the inner filled with gel.

“So when you freeze these Cold Wave bowls, the air pocket protects the gel from thawing out very quickly and whatever food you put inside the bowl acts as another insulator, and you can start out in the morning with, let’s say, potato salad at 35 degrees. And, by the end of the day, at 5:00, the potato salad is now 34 degrees. It drops a degree.”

Torre says the bowls are flying off the shelves. “Major hotel chains are using it for breakfast. They're putting all kinds of fruits and vegetables and salad dressings in it. At a breakout session, they don't have to worry about ice or refrigeration. They put these bowls on a cart. And they have an entire salad bar without ever using one cube of ice. You can even take them

outdoors and not worry about the ice melting.”

But Torre doesn’t spend all his time coming up with new products. He’s on top of production and delivery, too. If an order takes longer than two weeks, “That order has to come to me for the reasons why, and then I make sure we turn heaven and earth, we figure out a way, and we get that order delivered.

About 95% of our orders ship out the same day they're received.”

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Torre agrees the business has changed. But some things remain the same. “The sale side of the business is built by relationships, no question about it. Relationships are the most important part of the equation. So, when we hire a sales rep, the critical thing I look for is what relationships they have with the dealer sales people. And if they don't have any relationships, forget it. The dealer sales person has a choice of many, many

factories and importers to go to. So who does he or she go to? They go to who they have the best relationships with. What I'm buying is relationships,” he says.

Torre says the key to his business is innovation. “You need the commodities to keep you going. But you need the innovation that makes you stand out from the pack.”

NJRA, from page 45

Delaware, from page 8 Philharmonic gala, Heal the Bay Benefit dinner, as well as numerous entertainment and fashion events.

Patina Catering is also the exclusive caterer for some of the finest performing arts and cultural centers in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Francisco.

Delaware North Companies is one of the largest and most admired privately held hospitality companies in the world. Founded and owned for nearly 100 years by the Jacobs family, it is a global leader in hospitality and food service. Its family of companies includes Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, Delaware North Companies Gaming & Entertainment, Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services, Delaware North Companies Sportservice, Delaware North Companies International and Delaware North Compa-

nies Boston, owner of TD Garden.

Through these companies, Delaware North manages and provides food and beverage concessions, premium dining, entertainment, lodging, and retail at many large venues and special places. These include high-profile venues ranging from sports stadiums, entertainment complexes, national parks, airports, and some of the top regional casinos in the country.

Delaware North Companies has revenue exceeding $2.7 billion annually and 55,000 associates serving half a billion customers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

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“building dedication” ceremony with a mounted plaque on the Hospitality House in honor of beloved former NJRA President, Deborah Roy-Dowdell, a woman who inspired and led the association for over two decades.

Tickets to attend the reception of $50.00 pp. Sponsorship packages are available (Silver Level...$250; Gold Level…$500; Platinum Level…$1,000). All the proceeds will benefit the Women in Foodservice and Deborah Roy-Dowdell Scholarships Funds.

Under constant threat of shifting economic winds and super storm weather emergencies, the people who own, operate and serve New Jersey’s celebrated eating and drinking destinations generate nearly $12 billion in annual economic activity. For over seven decades, the NJRA has

been their essential ingredient.

As the voice of the state’s largest private sector employer, NJRA makes available the highest quality education and training resources for New Jersey’s 300,000 restaurant professionals. It is also a direct link to the elected officials and policy leaders whose decisions impact every restaurant owner’s opportunity for success. NJRA’s full-time experts track all the action in the State Capitol so members know exactly how and when to act to keep their restaurant viable and open for business.

For more information or to R.S.V.P., contact NJRA Events Coordinator Lucie Delcuvellerie at LucieD@njra. org or (609)599-3316.

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// MIXOLOGY

WITH WARREN BOBROW

Metro New York Mixology It’s snowing again and with this latest blast of winter comes the desire to perk up our palates. Most foods and drinks that we sup during the winter months are too heavy from over-cooking and our palates numbed from the relentless cold.

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hen why, pray tell are the best and the most aromatic oranges available only during the winter months?

Perhaps this is because with the fifty shades of winter outside, our palates scream for awakening and citrus fruits do this with alacrity!

Blood Oranges are flooding the store shelves right now. This unique style of citrus fruit has forced us to reckon with their oily, zesty aromatics and lip smacking acidity. Their color of crimson “blood”(the juice) adds to the attractiveness of your creative mixed drinks. The awakening spark of this citrus is just gorgeous when mixed with barrel aged spirits such as the new “Old Tom” from Caledonia Spirits in Vermont. Old Tom is a style of gin that makes its way from the earliest days of the Jerry Thomas era when gin was aged in an oak whiskey barreltaking on the aromatics and sweetness from the charred wood.

Caledonia Spirits in Vermont is taking whiskey barrels and treats their already aromatic and flavor driven, fermented raw honey gin to an extended aging session. The oils and flavor compounds that come from the charred

Warren Bobrow Warren Bobrow is the cocktail writer for Williams-Sonoma, Foodista, Voda Magazine and the 501c3 not for profit Wild River Review/Wild Table, where he also serves as an editor. www.cocktailwhisperer.com

wood gives the gin a toasty, sweet and creamy texture that is quite unique.

Old Tom styled gin is quite aromatic and inviting in a mixed drink. For this combination of sweet to acidic, I suggest using a couple ounces of blood orange juice. Keeping it simple is the mantra of the winter months. You don’t need to overly complicate drinks to make them memorable!

I’ve recently discovered that aged

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Balsamic Vinegar is the perfect liaison of summer to the colder months in a compact and delicious, winter cocktail. I’ve also added slow cooked stone fruits to the mix along with a dose of Bitter Truth Aromatic bitters. Good hand cut ice is essential here, as is a generous portion of the abovementioned blood orange juice.

A Curious Conundrum Ingredients • 2 oz. Barr Hill Old Tom • 3 oz. Or two heaping tablespoons of roasted fruit puree (roast plums, peaches, nectarines and blood oranges, for an hour or two at 300 degrees, cool, and then roughly puree) • 2 oz. Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral water – lemon essence • 5 drops aged Balsamic Vinegar (the thicker and older, the better!)

• Bitter Truth Aromatic bitters Preparation 1. Add all ingredients EXCEPT for the sparkling mineral water to a Boston Shaker filled ¾ with ice 2. Shake hard for 20 or so seconds 3. Pour into two rocks glasses with one large hand cut cube of ice in each glass 4. Top with the Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water and the bitters 5. Garnish with a slice of blood orange and two bar straws in each glass Another cocktail that enlightens and enlivens your palate is the “Variation in the Winds of Camille” cocktail.

This drink takes brandy from Catoctin Creek in Virginia and twists it up like the cocktail known as a Side-

car. A Sidecar for all who don’t know is a lovely little slurp that combines Brandy or Cognac along with lemon juice and Cointreau Orange Liqueur.

My Sidecar uses the usual ingredients along with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and a dose of the marvelous “Figgy Pudding” bitters from Arizona Bitters Lab. The extra smack of fresh citrus in my Sidecar gives greater depth to an already flavor-driven cocktail.

Variation in the Winds of Camille Ingredients • 2 oz. Catoctin Creek 1757 Distillers Reserve Virginia Brandy • 1 oz. Freshly Squeezed Grapefruit Juice • ½ oz. Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice • 1 oz. Cointreau Orange Liqueur • 3-4 drops Arizona Bitters LabFiggy Pudding Bitters Preparation 1. In a Cocktail Mixing Glass filled ¾ with ice, add all the ingredients EXCEPT for the Figgy Pudding Bitters 2. Mix thirty times with a long cocktail spoon 3. Strain with your Hawthorne strainer into two coupe glasses 4. Drip the Figgy Pudding Bitters over the top of the cocktails and garnish with long, thick slices of grapefruit zest, pinched over the top extracting essential and potent oils of the fresh citrus fruit

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// INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

WITH FRED SAMPSON

Packaging of Leftovers and Overworked Menu Descriptions Why change the column’s name to “For Your Information”? When I started writing “Straight Ahead” almost 30 years ago, the industry’s growth was seemingly moving at a normal rate and “Straight Ahead” was a laid-back look at what was taking place.

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oday’s advancements and activities are alive and vibrant and in some cases moving at warp speed. It is my wish to reflect that change. The key word today is information; that’s the bottom line.

Over the course of a normal week, I read and scan 30 to 40 articles dealing with the restaurant industry: they range from food and labor costs, to location selection, menu structure, staff training, government affairs, and economic trends.

In addition, I speak to a number of people who are involved with the industry. Much of this constitutes the basis of the material that appears in my articles. I do, in many instances, voice my opinion on the subject at hand, based on more than 70 years in the business. For the record, I was a teenager when I first went to work in my family’s restaurant.

This column deals with two issues: packaging of leftovers and overworked menu descriptions.

About 100 cities across the country have already passed legislation banning Styrofoam containers, including New York … and Washington, DC, could be next. I’m not going to deal with the cost impact affiliated with this legislation, but rather, some of the

Fred G. Sampson,

President of Sampson Consulting, Inc. fredgsampson@juno.com

ways operators can use to handle leftovers and menu items to go.

I’m not sure when and where the practice of offering “leftovers to go” began. No matter, it is here to stay and even more so in today’s economy. In an article by China Millman of the Pittsburgh Gazette, he pointed out that “few restaurants seem to realize that the way leftovers are packaged and handled has a significant effect on the guest’s experience.” It is his opinion that unless someone requests otherwise, servers in full-service restaurants should pack up leftovers for the diner, and preferably away from the table. One of the primary joys of dining out is avoiding the cleaning up. Watching someone scrape plates isn’t much more fun than doing it yourself. Most fine restaurants in Pittsburgh do package leftovers out of sight, but that doesn’t guarantee an elegant presentation. A plastic grocery

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bag and Styrofoam containers look out of place in an elegant restaurant, especially when they are plunked on the table while a group is lingering over coffee and dessert.

Even if the negative effect of poor packaging is slight, restaurants are missing an opportunity to leave diners with a positive impression, by servers marking to-go boxes with the name of the dish and the current date, and placing boxes in attractive brown paper shopping bags emblazoned with the restaurant’s name. People even reuse these bags, providing free advertisement for the restaurant.

Obviously, operators in any of the cities that have banned Styrofoam are changing the way they handle not only leftovers to go, but prepared meals for takeout. Here again is a chance to enhance your product and stand out from the competition. Think about it.

I do agree with Mr. Millman; I believe that taking the time to make the leftover package more appealing can have a positive effect on guests, not only when they receive it at the table, but when they open it at home. It could remind them of a pleasant experience at your restaurant. After all, they thought it was good enough to take home. You might even consider it as building goodwill after the sale.

In case you haven’t noticed, today’s consumers are more aware of the various aspects of eating out than any generation before them—from the quality of the food, to the ambiance, to what constitutes real value at every price point. They are also the most surveyed. Phil Vettel, restaurant critic of the Chicago Tribune, asked his readers to share with him their opinion of the most overworked descriptions appearing on menus.

The following are the top ten: Grilled to perfection … World-famous …

Homemade … Hand-selected … Voted Best Burger … Caught this morning …

Death by Chocolate … Mouth-watering … Oven-roasted ... and, Cooked to perfection.

Mr. Vettel also reported that the question most often asked by a server is—you guessed it—“Is everything all right?” Does this sound familiar? If I may, I’d like to comment on the “Is everything all right?” line. In my view, when a server asks that question, it leaves the impression that there might be a problem. Instead, how about: “Is there anything else I can get you at this time?” One of the distinguishing characteristics of today’s consumers is that they will not hesitate to let you know when they are not satisfied. They will instantly share their dissatisfaction with a server and, if left dissatisfied, perhaps even share it with their friends on Facebook and other worldwide media.

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109 • March 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

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110 • March 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

111 • March 2014 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

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