Recent Posts
- Don't Overlook The Obvious
- More Than Customized Design
- 3 Components To A Successful Concept
- Seeing The Unseen
- Surviving Without A Hamburger
- Restaurant Names Create Expectations
- 'Food and Beverage Outlets' Must Go
- Reading On The Plane
- Understanding Human Nature
- Service That Creates Loyalty
Recent Comments
- Slharbi on Don't Overlook The Obvious
- Gauthaman on Don't Overlook The Obvious
- higasz on More Than Customized Design
- Krauss Sven on 3 Components To A Successful Concept
- Martin on Surviving Without A Hamburger
Most Commented On
- 'Food and Beverage Outlets' Must Go (16)
- Surviving Without A Hamburger (5)
- Don't Overlook The Obvious (2)
- Something to Chew On: Examine the Hotel F&B Business (2)
- Understanding Human Nature (2)
Archives
Blog
Surviving Without A Hamburger
June 27, 2008
Do hotel restaurants always need to have a hamburger, Caesar salad or club sandwich on their menus? This is the question I am asked one way or another at nearly every new restaurant we operate or design a menu for.
It is a good question as it speaks to the basic need for a harassed traveler to have some familiar items on the menu. It does, however, conflict with the notion today of menu integrity—a restaurant with a chef-driven vision for the menu that has clear ethnic or regional values.
How does a menu align itself with an expensive, themed restaurant with gobs of atmosphere? Does a heart next to an item on a menu really need to be there to show what you should eat? Hmmm, then should you feel guilty about the other stuff on the menu that is not so good for you? What happens when a hotel guest wants that hamburger that you knew you should have left on the menu, but you opted instead for the talented chef who won the battle for menu integrity?
My only answer to these questions is this: You really can’t please all of the people all of the time, so here are some tips.
1. Put the hamburger or club sandwich on the bar or roomservice menu--you can always serve it in a pinch in the dining room without having it on the menu. I was in a 5-star hotel's restaurant having lunch the other day and the two businessmen next to me had a sandwich and fries that were not on the menu. I asked the server how they got their lunch, and he told me that the items were on the bar menu.
2. If you want your restaurant to be competitive with street restaurants, you do need to have passionate chefs that live and breathe their craft. So you really need to understand who your target guest is, what they want and the style they want it in, and a chef that understands that too.
3. Restaurants today have become the jewelry of hotels. If your hotel is like one of the trendy, cool hotels in New York, Los Angeles or any other city in which cool hotels need restaurants that are cool too, well, go back to No. 2: Do your guests need a heart to tell them how to eat, or are you better served with a passionate chef?
4. Lastly, hotels have a big advantage over independent restaurants in that they have more venues--roomservice, bars, banqueting and a restaurant--that provide them with the opportunity for varied menus (and inventory). And if the hotel is reasonably large, it has a built-in clientele to serve to. Standalone restaurants have to go with the inventory they have.
Just yesterday I was in a pre-opening operations meeting for an Italian restaurant in a 450-room hotel with just one restaurant that currently only does about US$1 million a year,and I was asked, “What about the guest that just wants a hamburger instead of pasta?”
I gave the answers above, told them that in my experience it does not make a difference, and gave them plenty of examples of successful restaurants in hotels that had ethnic menus without hamburgers or club sandwiches. Some of the first examples that come to mind are Todd English’s Olives in Las Vegas; Spoon at the InterContinental in Hong Kong; Fifth Floor at The Hotel Palomar in San Francisco; Ducca at The Westin in San Francisco; and Gordon Ramsay at The London in New York. The hotel GM smiled, the chef smiled and the owner grimaced.
I will let you know how it goes, but I bet it will work.
Posted by Bob Puccini on June 27, 2008 | Comments (5)
In response to: Surviving Without A Hamburger
Burger Guy commented:
Bob, I agree that burgers can be offered on the bar/roomservice menus, but they definitely need to be offered, especially for the burger-loving American traveler. See www.hotelburgers.com for some creative ways to build/package a hotel hamburger.
In response to: Surviving Without A Hamburger
The Jeweler commented:
Couldn't agree more with this statement: "Restaurants today have become the jewelry of hotels." If you are operating a boutique, upscale or luxury property, you better make a splash with your restaurant...
In response to: Surviving Without A Hamburger
Another burger guy commented:
Of course you should have the 'burger . . what pretentious chef would pass up the chance to make a re-markable example of an American standard?
In response to: Surviving Without A Hamburger
slider commented:
I say stay true to your concept. authencity is more mouth watering than a big juicy burger. My thought is to always have some standard items on the menu to accomodate your hotel guests, but there are many ways to do that. In an Italian restaurnat you could have Flatbread pizza instead of a burger, in an indian restaurant you could have lamb or chicken kabobs for example. If you have a cool restaurant in a cool hotel, I doubt your guests care one way or the other if you have a burger, they are probably more adventerous and seeking a new experience more than anything else. To all the burger lovers out there, I say, live a little, try something new.
In response to: Surviving Without A Hamburger
Martin commented:
Bob, as with your 'f&b outlets' article a couple of weeks ago, this is another corporate thing. Corporate F&B people just do not have the creativity of the boutique guys. They don't really understand how to run a restaurant anymore. Focus is on big bucks profits in rooms and catering. I remember the days when the best F&B came out of Hilton in the late seventies and early eighties. They had an F&B research facility and test kitchen in New York - they were leading the trends. Somehow though they lost it and they along with the other monoliths will struggle to get it back. If there is no EBITDA there is no effort. What about the passion! No right minded chef (except BBQ chefs of course) could say that he is passionate about his burger over his own version of Tournedo Rossini or his Ceasar salad over his Lobster parfait!