Today in the final installment of the stealth series, the media weighs in and answers the question - Is it possible to have a stealth restaurant opening in NYC? Answers from Bon Appetit, Eater, Gourmet, Nation’s Restaurant News, NY Times, and Zagat.
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For those of you joining us mid-broadcast, catch up on the chef's take and the publicist strategy to opening a restaurant under-the-radar.
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Full story after the jump.
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Colman Andrews, Gourmet Magazine:
Short answer: No, I don't think it's possible to have a stealth opening in New York City. Something like seven out of every ten New Yorkers apparently has a restaurant blog, and they've got the city covered. Unveil a storefront anywhere in Manhattan with tables and chairs set up inside and I guarantee you that within half an hour somebody will be knocking at the door asking what kind of restaurant you have and when it's going to open. Half an hour after that, it'll be on restaurantnerd.com.
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Andrew Knowlton, Bon Appetit Magazine:
In New York? Today? Absolutely, positively, emphatically, unfortunately, no.
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Ben Leventhal, Eater:
Yes, it’s possible. If you’re opening between 23rd and Canal, you stand a chance of opening quietly if you plywood your venue and leave it up until you’re ready to open publicly - that is, leave it up through construction and soft-open. It would also help if you could identify an alternate entrance and exit to the venue, so as not to draw attention to a slew of activity during soft open. A back door, service entrance off an apartment building, or the like. Of course you’ll also have to ask all patrons, staff, and suppliers to sign air-tight NDAs as well. A strategy such as this one ensures at least a 16% chance that you can open quietly.
If you are outside of this zone, it’s much easier. Open on 89th and York (again leave the plywood up until the very end) or Queens and you have a good chance of opening as quietly as you wish. There’s much less foot traffic to these areas in aggregate, so your odds improve. Of course, you still have to hide from Meehan, which can prove difficult the farther from the East Village you get.
Other factors, in general, all of which make it at least 50% harder to open quietly: owner/chef name recognition (good luck, Sam Mason); type of food (much harder to open Asian-inflected and burger restaurants quietly); design treatment (the more new and exiting it looks, the more attention you get); price point (the more expensive it is, the less forgiving are diners’ first impressions).
The other way to buy yourself some time regardless of location and plywooding is to time your open to either Memorial Day or Christmas time. These are the two periods of the year, particularly Christmas time, during which most of NY is on vacation - and thus, not eating in and seeking out new restaurants. See esp: Mario Batali’s genius Del Posto strategy, which did buy him a week or two on Bruni. He began opening in early December 2005 and for the most part let VIP tourists be his guinea pigs until January.
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Peter Meehan, New York Times:
No.
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Bret Thorn, Nation's Restaurant News:
Open for previews: Give everyone who comes in a discount of 20 or 30 percent until you’re comfortable with the food and service, even if it takes weeks. The critics might still come, but they’ll know that you know that you’re not ready for a review. On top of that, opening for previews will have a double benefit with regard to attracting and keeping regular customers: 1) During the preview period they will think that they’re getting a good deal; and 2) they will be emotionally invested in the restaurant, and feel like insiders, because they can say that they’ve been eating there even before it was really and truly open. Part of being in preview is only offering limited seating, which already is done frequently. Determine how many guests you can handle comfortably and politely turn everyone else away. Maybe give them a cookie or something to assuage their hurt feelings.
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Tim Zagat, Zagat Survey:
The answer is yes. A vast majority of restaurants don't get much attention. There are 17,000 full-service restaurants in New York City and only about 2,000 get reviewed. Serious restaurants hire PR people to reach out to writers, but there are restaurants that still have to hang bunting in the window to get lots of attention.
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But for serious restuarants wanting to hold off being reviewed, they can, and often do, put "preview" on the menu for a period of time. Customers like to come in for previews, just like in the theatre, before the press and anyone else. Restaurants should be prepared rooffer a discount, or free glass of wine, some gesture to say "we're not fully in gear yet." If someone reviews the restaurant during its preview, I think that's form just as it would be in the theatre.
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