Pride of Place
Restaurateurs Attuned to Their Environment Spawn Successful New Concepts
By Joan Marsan, Associate Editor -- Hotels, 6/30/2000 11:00:00 PM
Chefs do not need to emphasize localized cuisine to please customers, although regional fare often tops establishments’ lists of best sellers. And indeed, several restaurants represented here pay homage to site-specific flavors. Boston’s The Federalist heralds its New England clambake. Fresco, out of Macau, highlights historic Portuguese and Mediterranean dishes, such as seafood paella Valenciana. The Restaurant Kämp in Helsinki stars a noisette of Finnish reindeer. And while the spate of Mediterranean-inspired openings suggests otherwise, it is not a requirement that this collection of hot new restaurants feature southern European and northern African specialties.
Rather, those who cultivate an understanding of the moods and character of their clientele and location may find new touches that will capture the interest of the customers their restaurant is most likely to draw. Their understanding will guide them to seize opportunities and fill voids. The CuisinArt Resort & Spa in Anguilla attracts sophisticated foodies eager to taste exotic meals emphasizing crisp, natural cuisine. The resort’s Santorini Restaurant delivers just that, offering Caribbean-touched takes on Mediterranean dishes with ingredients produced by the property’s very own hydroponic garden. Chefs of Aurora at the Great Eastern Hotel identified Londoners’ desires for an establishment offering modern service with classic culinary values, so they reintroduced gueridon cooking. Similarly, Halo at the Morrison in Dublin offers guests an upscale, dramatic atmosphere that no other outlet could mimic.
Addressing culinary values, perhaps, is the greatest key to the success of these concepts. These restaurants have virtually guaranteed their success by providing customers with an experience they cannot find anywhere else and, of course, by offering unfailingly extraordinary cuisine. (While poor service remains the number one cause for complaint in Zagat surveys, a Coyle Hospitality group poll of restaurant-goers revealed that food quality is the top reason customers will return—even in instances of bad service.) In our annual round-up of outstanding new F&B concepts, HOTELS presents ventures that bring value to the table, satisfying their customers’ experiential appetites.
Faya Mediterranean Bar & Grill, Thistle Euston, Thistle King’s Cross and Thistle Lancaster Gate, London
When Thistle Hotels debuted their Faya restaurant concept in September 1999 at the 361-room Euston Hotel in central London, F&B managers saw a 30% increase in dinner guests and revenues over the previous establishment, Spires, a traditional hotel dining room. The second Faya, with its street-level, corner location at the 215-room Thistle King’s Cross, heralded a 75% increase in covers and revenues. A third Faya opened at the 390-room Lancaster Gate in May 2000. “This concept was designed so the fare fills a gap in local cuisine and design,” says Stefan Breg, F&B director, Thistle Hotels. And in so doing, it draws a crowd.
The contemporary concept presents a strong image and identity at the middle price range, a niche traditionally filled in London by non-branded, family-owned restaurants, Breg says. Faya differentiates itself from these competitors by emphasizing consistency and a sense of ownership among all its staff members. As Thistle opens more locations, each will sport the same logo and look and will draw from a menu library. But individual locations are encouraged to make adjustments in cuisine and service style that appeal to the local clientele. Employees at each outlet assist in the creation of the concept, and their first-hand knowledge is an asset that helps them sell the product. Belief in and enthusiasm for the concept on the part of the staff makes Faya tough competition for its peers, Breg says.
Faya wouldn’t work in a highly traditional environment, Breg says, but the theatrical kitchen and ethnic touches, such as the tagine brought to the table in a clay pot, make it a perfect fit for the spirited London neighborhoods in which it has opened. Faya is one of three homegrown concepts to come out of Thistle (CoMotion, a New York deli and Italian café fusion concept, and Gengis, featuring Asian-Mediterranean fusion, are the others). Taking advantage of the F&B talent on hand and hiring consultants to create a concept, Breg says, can be no more costly than working through licensing agreements. But Thistle gives fair consideration to joint ventures, leases and franchises, as well. “We carefully consider what’s best for each site,” Breg says. “We look for maximum profit. We go for a lease if there’s no reason to invest in brand.”
Halo, Morrison Hotel, Dublin
Drama is the draw at the 94-room Morrison Hotel’s Halo restaurant. Deep purple velvet drapes cut across black, reflective walls. Velvet throws drape white chairs contrasting with dark oak tables. Ever-changing light washes over the two-story atrium space centered on a three-paneled gold painting of two paths crossing, emphasizing the East-meets-West aura that permeates the entire property. Feng Shui concepts directed John Rocha, the internationally renowned Irish designer who created the look of the hotel and restaurant. The US$14-million project (including the hotel and restaurant) opened in June 1999.
The cuisine brings fusion to the fore, appealing to Dubliners who are enjoying access to previously unexplored luxuries. “Ireland as a nation is performing well,” says Aoife Henderson, director of sales and marketing. “We have wealth we never had before. People want to enjoy good food and wine with new tastes in new settings, and we provide that experience.”
Creations that veer from traditional Irish or continental, combining flavors to create global cuisine, include coconut, chili and cucumber prawn soup; crispy Peking duck, tamarillo and chili sauce with sesame seed pancakes; and cured salmon, Nori seaweed, leek, cucumber and celery fondue in a parsley emulsion. The menu even features an Irish-meets-other side dish of baby roast potatoes with lime leaves.
The concept has been so popular with locals, who make up 40% of the restaurant’s business, that Halo has initiated two sittings for dinner, the first at 7 p.m., and the second at 9 p.m. And the activity attracts in-house guests. “They want to be part of the experience,” Henderson says.
The Federalist, Fifteen Beacon, Boston
Chef Robert Fathman spent formative years in California developing a passion for seafood that guided him when he was given an unbridled opportunity to create the menu for The Federalist at the 61-room Fifteen Beacon. The Federalist’s menu features lobster soup, pan-roasted salmon, fresh Dungeness crab, sautéed Dover sole and a New England clam bake. The kitchen boasts a fish tank housing lobsters, which guests, who share Fathman’s passion, consume at a rate of about 75 pounds per day. Cooks can make errors preparing meat dishes and cover them up, Fathman says, but the delicacy of seafood challenges and fascinates him.
The Federalist brings New York-style culinary seriousness to Boston. Attention to detail extends from food—Fathman cultivates a rooftop herb garden to ensure access to prime ingredients—to décor. Seasonality of these handpicked ingredients promotes a dynamic menu. Large-scale, abstract expressionist paintings by prominent artists adorn the walls, and crystal glassware, silver flatware and bone china grace the tabletops. Perhaps the restaurant’s most arresting feature is the signature wine cellar with double-vaulted ceiling and caged-glass stock. The 17,000-bottle collection includes classic vintages of Chateau d’Yquem, Mouton Rothschild and Chateaux Margaux, as well as a 1907 Heidsieck Monopole rescued from a schooner sunk by a German U-boat.
Fathman was a veteran of six openings when he launched The Federalist in January. To guarantee a smooth start-up, his staff worked through the menu for the four weeks prior to the inauguration date. He also limited service to 40 guests for the first evening. “There was a lot of hype surrounding the opening of this restaurant,” Fathman says. “I didn’t want people coming in and then leaving dissatisfied.”
Still, the restaurant’s extreme popularity took him by surprise. He expects to pull in US$5 million in annual revenues, and 85% of the business comes from outside the hotel. An average of seven private dining events per week heightens an already exceptional number of covers. The rapid pace spurred him to boost the number of sous chefs from two to four. Fathman keeps his sous chefs on the line, correcting and praising line chefs and guaranteeing adherence to his standards. Labor costs as a percent of revenues run 33%, and food costs, though declining, average 40% to 55%, reflecting the high-cost menu items.
Restaurant Kämp, Hotel Kämp, Helsinki
Since restaurateur Carl Kämp opened Helsinki’s first luxury hotel in 1887, the 179-room Hotel Kämp has captured the imaginations of Finnish citizens. In past centuries, political figures, artists, composers and writers gathered at the Upper House restaurant, taking to its stage to present shows and state opinions. The composer Jean Sibelius even scored music commemorating the Kämp. The property’s location in the city’s center, near the harbor and adjacent to the Esplanadi Park, once again attracts locals who gather at the Kämp restaurants to see and be seen in a place that pays homage to Helsinki’s cultural life.
Suffering from age and disrepair, the Kämp closed in the 1950s, only to regain its former glory when it reopened in May 1999 under the direction of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Although the Restaurant Kämp had been redecorated innumerable times, through research and attention to detail, designers retained as much of the space’s original character as possible. They recovered the room’s original ceiling paintings and reviewed historic records, reproducing the look documented by works of art including “A Party at Kämp” by Victor Andrén, which now hangs in its original position in the restaurant.
Service standards, feeding a 45% labor cost, approach the same high level of classical elegance, as does pricing. “Other restaurants have brought their pricing up toward our pricing,” says Tomi Söderström, restaurant operations manager, noting the establishment’s impact on the local restaurant community. While Helsinki offers countless cosmopolitan dining options and an array of Lap and Russian eateries, few restaurants strive toward the elegance the Kämp has achieved, with menu items including such meals as tournedos of beef with duck liver and truffle ragout and caramelized scallops built around a white bean salad. The high-end image has served the Kämp well. Rather than deterring local diners, it has attracted them, with 70% of the clientele drawn from the Helsinki community and allowing the Kämp to achieve annual revenues of FIM 6 million (US$1 million), contributing 20% of the hotel’s revenues.
Santorini Restaurant, CuisinArt Resort & Spa, Anguilla, British West Indies
From whitewashed domed villas to sparkling blue seas, the 93-room CuisinArt Resort & Spa embodies the Mediterranean experience. As befits a property so fully steeped in its theme, the Santorini restaurant serves up the fare of the region that inspired the resort’s designers. And although CuisinArt’s owner’s passion is Italy, the bounty of the whole Mediterranean, including France, Greece, Turkey and Morocco, finds representation on Santorini’s menu, as does a touch of Caribbean spice. The cumin and curries of neighboring islands liven up the crisp freshness of Mediterranean fare, and the fruits of the sea, including crayfish, lobster and yellow-tailed red snapper, lend local flavor.
Fresh produce is equally part of the Santorini package. Gardens and a hydroponics farm enhance the CuisinArt aesthetic, and the farm supplies about 85% of the produce that goes into dishes at the resort’s restaurants. Cucumbers, in fact, have been so prolific the resort sells them to neighboring hotels and restaurants. Since the December 1999 opening, “We’ve been making adjustments,” says Chef Denis Jaricot. “We started with nine varieties of tomatoes, and now we’re down to six.” Next year only the three most flavorful and hardy varieties will be planted.
The farm’s output is extremely advantageous to the restaurant as Anguilla, like much of the Caribbean, faces environmental constraints that complicate the cultivation and procurement of fresh, affordable produce. Duties alone add an average 10% to food costs, which, even at CuisinArt with its ready supplies, approach 35% to 38%. Labor costs, at 12%, ameliorate the pricing problems.
Jaricot builds menus around the farm’s seasonal produce, and finds that guests at the resort are experimental, fond of fish and appreciative of vegetarian entrées. Guests come to the CuisinArt Resort expecting a dose of culinary excitement. “They’re not afraid of anything,” Jaricot says, “so experimentation is good here.”
The restaurant’s ability to attract sophisticated diners has led Jaricot to launch cooking classes at the establishment, also making use of the hydroponic garden, and focusing on vegetarian cuisine and seafood. Complementary to hotel guests and US$20 per person for outsiders, the classes draw up to 40 students three times a week.
Aurora, Great Eastern Hotel, London
Aurora boasts pride of place as the Great Eastern’s showcase restaurant. The hotel also features its designer and restaurateur Terence Conran’s first pub, George. While Aurora draws a crowd, its popularity is based on a reputation for excellence and a return to classic culinary arts. Aurora features cheese and liquor trolleys, gueridon work and flambé cooking and serves up treats such as ravioli of confit duck with roast salsify and haricots blancs & Xeres sauce.
“Aurora is not about being trendy or fashionable,” says Andy Jacob, restaurant manager of the venue, which generates 10% of the Great Eastern’s revenues. “If you try to do that, you run the risk of being ‘in’ for a short and highly profitable period, but then somewhere else comes along and the in-crowd moves on.”
Instead, Aurora focuses on developing relationships with customers, 80% of which come from the local area. Repeat business, the conscientious effort to address guest likes and dislikes and a desire to keep the restaurant dynamic have resulted in frequent menu changes, but food costs remain reasonable, hovering at 29%. Labor costs account for a mere 8% of revenues, Jacobs reports.
Fresco, Mandarin Oriental, Macau
Restaurants throughout Macau offer a fairly standardized, low-priced regional fare delivered family-style in an outdoor environment. “What was lacking was a more stylish venue,” says Jorge Smith, F&B manager, “with a distinctly different (but not so radically different as to alienate) food concept, in line with the values of the hotel brand and resort complex—yet still delivering a fine Macanese experience.”
Fresco appeals to the distinct palates of its Hong Kong Chinese guests and expatriates, international Western travelers, and local Chinese and Portuguese clientele by presenting Mediterranean and Asian fare in a fresh way. An “XO” fried rice dish is served with carefully placed scallops and asparagus. The “Hanging Skewers of Babylon” consists of freshly grilled skewers of seafood, meats and vegetables suspended over a bed of wild rice. An open show kitchen keeps the restaurant lively and reinforces the idea that everything is made to order.
Fresco generates approximately 13% of the total covers for the Mandarin Macau’s F&B division, which includes four other outlets, and has added 10% revenues to the division’s overall performance in its first four months of operation. Projected annual revenues are US$1 million. Labor costs run 40%, and food costs average 30% of revenues.
Fresco provides a great lesson in avoiding the dangers of internal competition, Smith says, as the Cantonese, Italian and international cafés are close cousins to a Mediterranean and Asian concept. “Our concern with such a mix is to have a solid identity,” Smith says. “We are not serving fusion cuisine. Our concern was to create a restaurant offering side-by-side authentic Asian and Mediterranean foods.”
Tamarind, Herods Palace, Herods Sheraton Resort, Eilat, Israel
In the desert, lone tamarind trees in the distance promise an oasis, a thirst-quenching interlude in an otherwise barren place. The Tamarind restaurant’s waiters tell the story of the tamarind tree to each guest, pledging a culinary experience akin to finding salvation in the sands. And guests are buying into the experience. Tamarind pulls in about US$62,000 in revenues each month. Food costs average 31%.
To the delight of food aficionados throughout Eilat—up to 70% of the restaurant’s guests are drawn from outside of the hotel—Chef Todd English’s venture showcases his classical Mediterranean style. Main courses include whole braised spring chicken with green olives and preserved lemon, accompanied by saffron potatoes and carrots; quick-braised fillet of butterfish on raisins and onions with chickpea sticks and garlic spinach; and charmoula marinated white Palamida fillet, grilled and served on green beans with crispy breaded eggplant and tomato fondue.
No related content found.
View All Podcasts
