Restaurant Evolution - Part IV
July 1, 2006
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(continued)
Kornick: At N9NE, we launched a $69 margarita with premium Tequila and Grand Marnier and a green-sugar 9 stir stick and got huge publicity; it landed in 20-plus publications and [the drink] still opens our cocktail list. We never do discount promotions. On Administrative Assistant Day, N9NE in Vegas at The Palms Casino Resort had a three-course prix fixe lunch for members of its club and their assistants, an elegant affair that landed in gossip columns.
McBeth: Qdoba expanded its Q to Go catering line, offering hot-food bars for groups of 20 or more. We began with a taco bar, but in the past year, we added a Naked Burrito bar (with bowls instead of burritos), nacho bar, and salsa and chips bar, so customers can build their meal themselves with whatever they want.
Svensson: Our guest-chef series with a tasting menu, three to four times a year, with chefs from, for example, Cyrus in Sonoma and Per Se, keeps growing in popularity.
Sandoval: Some tasting menus at Maya and Pampano in New York: four courses with wine pairings from California, Chile, Argentina and Mexico, three months at a time.
How are you taking advantage of opportunities to increase your bar business?
Svensson: We're right across the street from Cornell's Johnson School of Business, which does lots of entertaining and recruiting and wants to reserve part of our bar. They want light hors d'oeuvres and lean toward something healthier than our pub food menu. So it's a matter of customizing things. We're adding a wine bar with 10 stools to our Ristorante Banfi, a Tuscan-style restaurant, redesigning its buffet area for breakfast and lunch, and taking out a half-wall to make it look more open in December.
Kornick: N9NE has a Champagne/caviar bar at center stage with soft-suede booths. A mixologist devises recipes for cocktails. We work with beer, Tequila, and other spirits companies to promote partnerships at concerts and other events, and we participate in the Napa Wine Auction every year.
Sandoval: We hired a national beverage director last year and now do wine and Tequila tastings, and we change our bar menus more aggressively. We've seen sales and profit margins increase as a result.
Robinson: Scala's Bistro is closed from lunch to dinner, so a bistro menu is served in the bar. We're building a new bar in the lobby of the Sir Francis Drake.
McBeth: Since bar items are a small portion of our sales, we have no plans to expand more, as other segments bring a bigger bang for our buck.
Schwartz: Last summer we brought in a DJ on Sundays, which went well.
In what area do you find the greatest opportunity for maintaining and boosting profits this year?
Robinson: We’re increasing the check average---not by price increases, as we're very price-sensitive---by adding mini-desserts, expanding our side dishes, training our staff to up-sell, selling premium spirits at the bar, and making sure every table has appetizers to share. This was important since during our hotel renovation, lots of rooms were taken out of service and scaffolding was covering our building.
Svensson: Beverages are always our biggest profit center. So we're offering more of a variety of beers due to requests, and we did a beer-pairing dinner with about eight international and domestic beers. We always update our wine menu every week in terms of vintages and preferences, and our wine-by-the-glass program is always popular.
Schwartz: We've done a lot of amazing things since opening in 2002, but if no one knows about it. . . So to maintain and keep buzz, we brought in a PR firm with connections all across the country.
Sandoval: In spirits sales---definitely an underserviced area of our restaurants across the board until now. When Maya opened ten years ago in New York, our bar was 500 square feet in a 5,000-square-foot restaurant. When Zengo opened in Washington last October, our bar/lounge was 1,200 square feet in a 6,000-square-foot restaurant.
McBeth: In maintaining food and labor costs through MenuLink and top-line sales by increasing our Q to Go line. We also began our first TV commercials, in Denver, our most mature market.
Kornick: In repeat business. You need to let customers know how important their business is, so they'll keep coming, no matter the next new hot property. We painstakingly maintain so things look and feel new, with happy smiling people who work there. In general, N9NE in Vegas doesn't advertise, though The Palms does. Marketing and PR are important, and our chefs are out at charitable events.
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