Bond Girl
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Posts posted by Bond Girl
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Menu holy trinity according to Bond Girl:
Cinnamon/Cardamon/Cumin
that's almost garam masala!
That's why I love it!
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Menu holy trinity according to Drew Nieporent:
Tuna/Salmon/Sword Fish
Menu holy trinity according to Insignificant other:
Miso/ Ponzu/ Lemon Oil
Menu holy trinity according to Bond Girl:
Cinnamon/Cardamon/Cumin
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Here is some advice from a Taiwanese chick who grew up cooking on nothing but woks, go to China town and get yourself the cheap stainless steel version that comes with a ring on the bottom so that you can stand it on your stove top. If you are in NY, I'll show you where to go for it.
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Of course not. Besides,. I am starting small scale, I think, 60 seats is not a big place even in New York City. I have no desire to have an empire.
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I almost sign up for the same course, except with my job I never know when 'm getting out of work. Also, as a person with two graduate degrees (in English Lit and in Business), I had enough of school. May be, it will be the biggest mistake that I make, but this one may just have to be learned on the job. Okay, anyone know how I can get a miracle.
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Seafood Gumbo in the winter, beer steamed shrimp with cajun seasoning in the summer, Pan seared skate with brown butter whenever I can find skate, crabmeat salad with avocado, and just plain cold soba with dipping sauce late at night.
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I havent been there for a few years, but One if By Land, Two if By Sea is quite romantic...
yeah but food is not so great....
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Not sure if this still holds, but March used to be really nice, but that was many years ago when I actually got taken out on dates. Having said that I am hearing rave reviews on the atomosphere in Asiate.
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cool Rachel!
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The cost doesn't surprise me, but I'm not sure if its all that necessary. I think I will stop by Hearth one of these days and ask Marco about this.
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My hair dresser likes this one too (she's Japanese). I am actually thinking about going sometimes this week.
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A couple of additional thoughts:
- It's important to distinguish between the role of chef and the role of restaurateur. A person can be both, of course, but savvy investors will recognize that the two skills are different. As a result, to many investors it doesn't matter how well you cook -- they're not going to invest in a chef's project; they're only going to invest in a restaurateur's project. In most cases, with multimillion-dollar openings, there is a Phil Suarez or a Jeffrey Chodorow paired with a Jean-Georges Vongerichten or Alain Ducasse. As I mentioned above, were I a talented chef looking to do a big opening, I'd be looking for someone like that to partner with -- getting investors would be no trouble after that. Otherwise, I'd look at a smaller opening -- a 71 Clinton Fresh Food as a prelude to a WD-50 as a prelude to something even bigger.
- Current employment, and the relationship with the employer, should be kept in mind. Word travels fast; if you're out there promoting your investment online and to dozens of people in the flesh, it's not going to be a secret for long. Thus it's important to be up front with one's employers -- they shouldn't find out through word-of-mouth that their employee is looking to strike out on his own. I don't know this particular situation well enough to comment on it -- maybe this has all been done -- but it's always worth keeping in mind. The same goes for follow-up and updates.
I'm not sure if many restaurant groups are quite so generous to invest in their own employees, because you are looking at diluting the market share. Logically, it really doesn't make sense and that's the unfortunate aspect of it. If I were a restaurant group principal, I would want to invest in my employees if any one of the chefs or managers wants to go out on his own because in that you foster a mutually beneficial relationship. But, most people don't see it that way.
This is the reason why there is always a lawyer involved somewheres between investors and entrepreneurs. When I worked in Private Equity, no one gets to talk about anything because of the confidentiality agreements. I'm certain that words to get around, but the possibility of law suits always kept people tight lipped on confirmation.
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Yes, I definitely want other partners. Ideally, I want a chef partner and someone else who has general day to day management and wine knowledge. May be it's my business school training, but I think if you tie people's bonus to the overall bottom line, everyone will try harder to make the whole thing work. It was how I ran a very successful finance team for many years. Then again, that may not be realistic in the restaurant world. In a worse case scenario, I can probably hack to day to day management job, and cram the wine knowledge.
Today, I am hopeing to get a meeting with potential chef number 2 and branch out to the lower east side where the rent is cheaper. NYC chef's suggestions make a lot of sense, but now I am stuck in a ditch since anything involving kitchen design/layout, equipment needs and general constructions costs will depend on a menu and the concept. I can somewhat put together a menu of fares I like to serve (based on the 10 app, 10 entrees 5 to 8 desserts and sides rule), but I'm not sure how realistic that is as well.
Still need to call around to see who can get me an internship somewheres.
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Why categorize it as anything? It's good food which ever label you stick on it.
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NY Chef, Welcome to egullet!
I think I won't be happy unless I have a restaurant that serves food in quality of at least a 2 star equivalent. I know I'm being a brat but bad food is just an assult to the common senses, and I much prefer to serve something that I believe in.
Bean, you are right on the industry norm, but I can't help but try....
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For a chef at a top rated restaurant $2.5MM is not a lot of money according to some investors I know, neither is 100K a piece. I'm not certain but I do think Craft costs more than $5MM to build.
By the way, Welcome to eGullet!
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Thanks Herbacidal. Hey, weren't you suppose to come up here one of these days?
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Joe, doing lunch means increasing costs without promise of return.
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I am actually very glad for all the negativity, because as a finance person and risk manager, I want to know all the risks involved. Irwin's advice makes sense, the rent is killing me. I either need to look into a lease/buy back situation or try to figure out a way to lower my rent. I am also looking to find a part tiime internship at some restaurant so that I can learn the operations. Does anyone know how I can go about doing that?
This weekend I decided to put finance on hold and look into the "concept" part of the business plan. The chef who wanted to go into this venture with me changes his mind according to his moods, the general condition in the world and may be even the phases of the moon. This week he is having trouble figuring out exactly what he wants, but he is gun-ho on going into business with me. He's what Mayhaw would call an adrenaline junkie. All he knows is that he does not want to do Japanese food and 500+ covers per night anymore but beyond that he does not know what kind of food he wants to cook, which mean I can't precisely define my market. He has a lot of experience with some of the finest restaurants in NYC, but I think I am going to call back up chef of choice next week just to know I have options.
We did, however, get general staffiing requirement somewhat mapped out. For a 60-80 seat restaurant, operating 6 days a week, we need about:
4 servers (15 covers each)
a buser
a runner
1 bartender
2 host/hostesses
1 manager
1 sommelier
For the back of the house, we need:
1 Sou-chef
3 line cooks
1 expeditor
1 pastry chef
1 pastry cook.
We also need prep cooks, stewards and dishwashers.
Having been through business school during the height of the dot-com era, I would like to use the Bill Gates philosophy of management, which roughly translates to if you treat people well, they will work hard in return. I want to offer full healthcare benefits, paid vacations and other perks to everyone....that is until I was told that my full payroll including worker's compensation cannot exceed 35% of my gross revenue. Okay, employees will get part time shifts, and partial health benefits.
Still can't find a way to improve on the 16% return for my investors.
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Hearth rocks big time. I just had a wonderful dinner there at the kitchen counter. It was fascinating to watching the kitchen going in full force, but even better was the braised octopus on my plate, that was redolent of the deep velvety taste of red wine. The sea bass with fennel and preserved lemon takes you through the different texture of fennel from puree to braised to raw. The gnocchi was nice and hearty without being gummy. This was undoubtedly the best gnocchi I tasted in recent times. The goat milk panna cotta provides the perfect finish. Unlike the proprietor of Chikalicious, Marco is friendly and chatty to all that sits at his kitchen counter. Anyone who hasn't been should get themselves there immediately.
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I want to own a sweet little place that serves inventive American cuisine. I want the quality of food to matter, the presentation to be interesting and service that can stand up to some of the best places in town. And, even though I don't know much about wine, I would like to have an interesting wine list. And, yes, I would like to be involved in the day to day running of a restaurant.
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Having dreamed about having my own restaurant for many years, I recently decided to get off my lazy ass, stop complaining about my job and start making this dream a reality. Hey, we all need a new year resolution sometimes! In an ideal world, I would waltz into a room full of investors, dazzle them with my vision and walk away with enough cash to start many restuarants. But in reality, to dazzle the investors, for even half a restaurant, I need a business plan and may be even a prayer to the patron saint of hopeless causes.
While I never worked in a restaurant professionally, I have a graduate degree in business, and a restaurant is after all a business. I know I wanted a casual fine dining restuarant in downtown manhattan, no bigger than 80 seats. A quick enquiry amongst all my restaurant friends told me that I probably need about a million at the minimal as a start up cost.
Being that finance is where I am most comfortable, I start with that part of my business plan. Assuming that I can get people to invest one and a quarter million structured as 75% capital stock and 25% loan, the investors can have 50% of my business, but I know that I'll probably end up giving away more than that.
Next I decided to make a few calls to check out the location and rent prices. According to a well know restauranteur, rent prices in Tribeca cost about $40 per square feet, but when I call several commercial real estate brokers it's more like $50 per square feet. Rents on Park Ave South goes as high as $100-$125 per square feet, but you are paying for the priviledge of having places like Patria and Sushi Samba down the street.
Like any banker I whipped out my calculator for a quick reality check. $50 pere square feet at 3000 square feet of space means about $12,500 per month in rent. Now the well known restauranteur also told me that my rent should ideally be no more than 5 to 10% of my gross revenue. If I settle on rent being 7% of my gross revenue, then my average check needs to be more than $70 per person. This would give my investors a return of 16% on their investment, which doesn't seemed like a lot. Hmm, back to the drawiing board and did I say I needed a prayer?
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Finally completed the Lobster souffle in three days. I didn't have the heart to kill the lobster so I ended up partially steaming it and then chopping it up to make the lobster jus. I tried both the recipes, and found the Julia Child/Jacque Pepin easer to work with. It was a lot easier than I anticipated, once the jus is done. And, the end result was as good as I expected. Would I make it again in the near future? Probably not, unless I have a large dinner party planned. However, the lobster jus I had left over was priceless. I used it to make a nice bisque with a bit of Tamarind, Ginger and Cayenne the next day, which made the whole venture all the more worthwile.
Starting a Restaurant in NYC
in New York: Dining
Posted
You guys are so nice. I need all the encouragement I can get.
This week I am battling the concept issues. I am trying to estimate the kitchen budget, but I know that I may be totally off because I have no idea how to optimize a professional kitchen, and if there are certain equipments that I can get second hand. A quick skim through past issues of Food Arts told me that the kitchen alone can cost more than the entire initial funding.
Potential chef partner number 2 may just be too expensive for my budget. Okay, may be I should quantify that, I think he is too expensive given his experience. While he has worked for many years in a fine dining restaurant, he's never opened a place before. The insignificant other once told me that a high profile chef would make all the difference. I don't disagree with that, but so far I'm not having much luck. Back on the trail again.