TASTE bite-size: You can still open in New York

0:07Definitely balling the budget here too. I mean, I know we're going to talk about costs and they're rising everywhere, but you can still open in New York. I hope that's like a headline from it. Like you can still actually open a restaurant here. We've had a great run with reported stories and we've won three James Beard Awards. So over the course of the time, we've been honored by our peers. And we're in a cool part of Inflection Point for Food Media right now. I think it's like really exciting. I know there's been a lot of closure and changes happening and that's been not as exciting. But the folks who are still around right now, there's some exciting things happening.

0:38And the way we cover not just restaurants and chefs, but, you know, grocery and CPG and all sorts of things. I think having a really strong sense with the media and like a media strategy as an operator is important. It can be from a PR agency and being professionally honed or it can just be you and your TikTok and doing authentic and cool. But you have to play in that sandbox. I'm going to the days when a chef can just be a chef and head down doing service and that's it. Like, no way. Does not work today.

1:14in america the the best food city is los angeles by far in terms of like just diversity of cuisine and really cool um neighborhoods that have like really like concentrated like five or six restaurants like like it may be in the south bay and be like oaxacan cuisine it might be korea town it might be a little japan um but definitely new york is the best restaurant city in america I think we as New Yorkers, we understand some of the major tenets of hospitality and restaurants. So like great cuisine, great space like that, like has mood and vibe. You know, of course, like having service that makes sense.

1:54I think we're very impatient when service does not make sense as New Yorkers and and restaurant and operators, restaurants, operators will be told that very quickly. We have history, too, obviously. Now, a lot of history has gone away in the past decade. So that's one thing that we don't have anymore. Plenty of classic places have gone away. But we have, you know, this is where pizza was basically invented. You know, we have an incredible Chinatown in three boroughs. We have Koreatown. But then you look at places like London that I think in terms of creativity, because of costs of operation, operating costs, there's more creativity happening in London.

2:32It's obvious. You look at menus in New York and you're seeing a hard seared fish in an herby sauce. You're seeing steak for one, steak for two. You're seeing a lot of the same things, whole fish perhaps, depending on the cuisine. And of course, chicken. You're seeing lots of roast chicken. So there's just a lot of uniformity with the menu structures in New York that you're probably not seeing as much in London. New York is not the only city. I mean, San Francisco, but up-x cows are massive as well. And that's mostly because of real estate. You know, we're over$100 per square foot here in Manhattan.

3:09And it's really different from a lot of other cities. So you've got that real estate cost. We've got labor costs are higher here,$70 in wage. Plus, you've got taxes here, you know, payroll taxes that you can't ignore. I think it is required that you put butts in seats and you sell food, right? so you have to do crowd pleasers absolutely agree and and a lot of chefs just find pressure to do these certain crowd pleasers and you know for to vary results sometimes those crowd pleasers work extremely well and you're gonna get people coming back for those those like the steaks and the the proteins and you know like pastas for 40 42 and like what you have to charge and you know sometimes it works but like in terms of creativity maybe broadly it's not as creative as other cities i just had an amazing meal in chicago at a restaurant called feld which i really love and that was a tasting menu they won the james beard award so they're like really well regarded now but they're they're operating you know on the the near north side it's it's not in um you know it's not in like the loop or like in a high rent neighborhood and i think what they're doing is an example of in chicago you can get like a really like you can get a black box with like a little backyard and like pay like a tenth around is what you pay even brooklyn and do like an extraordinary tasting menu so i think like chicago is cool like right now i've been back a couple times this year and they love restaurants in chicago like they have a really well-paying supportive community there um and it gets forgotten sometimes and the weather can be challenging for some people and to move there but there's there's just like great restaurants in chicago i think like phoenix arizona i've i've heard it has some really interesting opportunities there um you've got like obviously a lot of summer or winter you know snowbirds coming down it's an older population but i think there's um some like real movements happening within like the younger generation in phoenix i didn't think i was going to talk about phoenix today

5:11know your market so like you can't just like pop up in a city and expect people to come because of your press in in new york and i mean it certainly is not going to happen i live in the hudson valley now the lower hudson valley and there's a city of kingston it's about a two two hour drive from new york city and that's a really interesting city for for a lot of people to look at and there's definitely a community there who support the new restaurants and i think a lot of people from the city are are moving up there full-time or part-time like when moving up from new york to kingston And hypothetically, you obviously, you need to get to know the community.

5:49It's so important. You have to go, and it's not just going to the community board, but it's understanding where the nearest school is, even if it's not a concept that appeals to children. Just know where the school is and know where the annual community events, they happen all the time. Some operators move and they're just like so focused on opening and doing the getting the menu right and concept right that they don't think about the community. And especially the hotshots who maybe have great press and really have extraordinary food fail because they're not ingratiating themselves in the community.

6:25Hawksmore is a great example of like an import that just took off in Brooklyn and just did so well. And I think that was like just getting your operations really in check and understanding the market and doing some of the things I previously said, which was like know your market get to know the community so ambassadors club clubhouse place right now and i think there's like a lot of like oh like what what like a mystique around it and i think when you're coming from overseas or even moving from la to new york which has been really challenging in the past like now the brand equity of some of these places are so strong that you can't deny it in certain cities i mean carbone is a great example they are great operators too and like i love i I went to Carbone in Las Vegas last year and it was really good.

7:06Like it was probably better than the Carbone here in many ways. So you have to nail like the simple stuff, like make sure the food is really good and like your service is really trained. But I think like as the generations have gotten, like as like the younger generation are like perhaps is like a pet theory, a little more open-minded to brands coming in as opposed to maybe 20 years ago when there was like a lot of like, like I'm like the out-of-town chef is not welcome here. Not every restaurant should have a cookbook. But if you engage with an agent and the agent believes in your story, that is your first step typically.

7:42And if that agent believes that you have an ability to tell a story and perhaps sell books, it is so worthwhile. It is so, it is like, many of you use the term, like saying it's like the most expensive business card you'll ever produce. But that's like so true. because you know the economics of restaurant cookbooks you know you're you're putting a lot of your advance into the actual book and we're all hoping that sells and some sell really well and some sell more modestly but like they still sell and they get into the homes of people and you know the cookbook industry is interesting it's not uh strictly uh an object that you're gonna like cook from right like a cookbook can be many things it can be in the kitchen it can be on a nightstand it can be on your coffee table and buyers and we're selling you know cookbooks are doing well and people love cookbooks and and they're for a lot of reasons and you know with a restaurant book you have the opportunity to really think about your story particularly if you're a restaurant group that's been around for some time and wants to tell that heritage or if you're a chef at a restaurant you have a really great sense with like recipe development and concept.

8:50I think the process is, it's tough. It's not an easy process. Multi-year, a lot of work. It's a lot of restaurants and a lot of chefs, like in the end, they look at the book, they get the book sent to them and at the end, like, wow, I did that. And they feel a lot of pride. And like we know, chefs have a ton of pride in their work, you know, day to day in the kitchen. And when you have a book, it's an extension of that.

9:19We need to fix our payroll tax. I mean, explicitly, I'll say it like it's too high. It's unfair. And operators are struggling to make rent with this tax in place. And I think, you know, one solution and Camilla Marcus has presented this. It's her idea and I'll share it. I'll paraphrase it. It's like, you know, take two thirds of that payroll tax you pay every month and give it back to the restaurant. Don't give it back to the operator. It's not going to be profit. But let them do something with that payroll tax. Like let them invest and use that savings towards PTO and benefits for their staff.

10:00Let them reinvest it. Because, you know, we know restaurants are people intensive. You need a lot of people to operate a restaurant in that same, you know, 2 ,500 square foot space. Think about that. The staff at a restaurant and the staff next door at like a watch store or at a Verizon store. It's like a 50th, you know. You can have like 75 employees and you can have like four employees. You're paying the same rate of payroll tax. You're paying the same rate. You're paying the same, but you're paying much less, obviously, with fewer employees. So I think the cities need to realize that payroll taxes is detrimental to restaurants' growth.

10:42And we need restaurants to be open in communities. We need these restaurants to be operating in neighborhoods that without a restaurant there or a cafe or bar, et cetera, they're dead at night. And that's a public safety issue. You need street traffic. You need foot traffic. You need operating. restaurants and keeps neighborhoods safe and um so like there's a lot of like civic i would say obligation from governments to help restaurants survive and pretty simple ways to adjust the tax structure i like that point you brought up connor i think it's super on point like we are um in the middle of a low-minus epidemic i think that people are glued to their phones um myself included like Like, you know, I take the full responsibility for that, too.

11:31And, you know, at some point, doctors are going to say you have to, like, leave your phone at home and go to a restaurant, go to a cafe, go to a live comedy show and not be on your phone. It's just like for public health. And this is a great reason why we need these third spaces to be open in communities. And we all love restaurants for many different reasons. But I think one reason we all really love restaurants is that it's a place that we see people interacting, bumping up against each other, celebrating, maybe just having a boring salad, you know, rice bowl. Like, but still, you're like interacting with humans as opposed to, you know, people who are working from home remotely getting that that seamless order, you know, and not talking to anyone for the day.

12:15Like that can't be good.

12:19Five, seven years ago, I mean 19. I'm like, so yes, like creators, they weren't even called that then. You know, they're really fun. But like, I'm still like the New York Times Review, Los Angeles Times Review, Eater, Infatuation, like the journalist doing the job. Those would be the most important voices. It's flipped, obviously. Influencers have so much importance now. And like they really do put butts in the seats. And people really do follow TikTok to get that dining recommendation. definitely wouldn't have predicted that five years ago. Now, I think the audiences are more discerning for who they follow and who they trust.

12:55And there's many creators, meaning they don't work for a publication, who have used journalistic integrity and standards and never take free meals and pay their way. Because they see the value. Especially if they're popular and they're getting money from other streams, they don't need to take money from the restaurants to do their job and be good at it. So I think there's like a little bit more discernment from the audience towards creators now. Hands down, it's Seoul. It's Seoul. And I'm not trying to be the guy who's been to Seoul and wants to talk about Seoul, but I've been there like 10 times.

13:28I've been very lucky to go there a lot. And I've been lucky to go with friends. I've done work there. And the dollar is very strong. It's the won right now. And so it's definitely a trip that I think your dollar goes far. like korean people operators and restaurants and just korean people are extremely cool and gracious and and want i would say want to have like new yorkers and folks from london in their restaurants i feel there's a stigma that is a little bit of a closed society i think that that has been smashed the globalization of korean culture has really helped and there's traditional restaurants like like a stew shop or kimbap or like korean barbecue of course and then they have like Like, voenisserie and pastry is incredible.

14:14Like, amazing places. Pizza is getting better. And I think the cocktail scene is really strong as well. And, like, Japan gets a lot of press still. And, like, the tourists in Japan is a wonderful place. But I would really recommend going to Seoul first. And visiting all of Korea, to be honest, because Seoul is a hub. You can take the trains down to most of the countryside and these other cities. It's such a wonderful place. So, easily Seoul.

14:44you