I had conversation recently with a couple of chefs about the current state of media as it pertains to restaurant openings. Given the light speed of Gotham's press and PR machine, we wondered aloud whether it was possible to have a stealth opening?
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Today we hear answers from the chefs and restaurateurs: Batali, Bradley, Carmellini, Goldfarb, Nieporent, Meyer, Telepan and Traussi.
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Tomorrow the publicists. Thursday the media. If you're a chef with dreams of opening under the radar, you won't want to miss this.
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Full story after the jump.
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Mario Batali, Babbo et al.:
For the working chef/restaurateur there is not a chance to open under the radar provided the person(s) have been on the radar before. This means one thing - practice only on your friends.
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Jimmy Bradley, Red Cat et al.:
I would say it is quite easy to open and have it go the way you anticipate as long as you don’t hire a publicist and shout from the roof tops. I would add that Most of all the openings that are in question here had retained a publicist. I have had this same conversation since the day The Red Cat opened and it comes down to a very simple catch 22: you need the press to get your message out and get customers, but once the press gets wind, you have to play by their rules.
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If one were to use the simple common sense formula of raising more money, not retaining a publicist until the project is ready, then putting the word out as one would like it to be, then it would be a whole different ballgame. Of course you have to back it up when the judgment begins, but that is really day one, because the guests are really the benchmark of a restaurant business, NOT the press.
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I would also say that of all the peers I have talked to about this, most would say I am crazy, so there you have it.
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Andrew Carmellini, A Voce:
I think it's impossible to open anything under the radar anymore. We didn't have any opening party. I limited the reservation spots. The first night open we had a hundred walk-ins. The second reservation that walked in was a famous food writer. Then the bloggers showed up. Nine days later we had a local magazine review and within 42 days after that, every major and minor review had been done as well. In the end you have to figure if you’re going to open something today, you will not get any leeway whatsoever and you'll just have do your best and do what you do. The things that matters most is that you make sure people are happy when they leave.
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Will Goldfarb, Room 4 Dessert:
Yes. Do it in Queens.
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Drew Nieporent, Myriad Restaurant Group:
No. I guess the time has come when you don't have that luxury. You want people to come in when its open, but with a tempered expectation. The only way is taking fewer covers, but then people hear about it and show up. There's no good answer. You have to be ready, and if its good, it will get better."
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Danny Meyer, Union Square Hospilality Group:
No. It's not possible to have a stealth opening - and that’s just part of what's so exciting and challenging about being in the restaurant business these days. You're seen! You're noticed! It matters! Imagine your local hardware store or dry cleaner or deli on opening day. They still have to hang bunting and banners to get attention from would be patrons. All we have to do is turn the key and hold the door open!
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I think as long as bloggers and mainstream press always take a long view - understanding that while it's fun to be the first to do a "barrel tasting" and to tell the world what the first drops of a new wine tastes like - it's also not wise to ignore a vineyard's historic pedigree when predicting the future and developmental arc of a wine. Restaurants with serious aspirations spend a lot of money to build places for the long run. They negotiate long term leases to assure that there is adequate time to evolve as a business, and to earn a return on large investments. In that, there is a fundamental tension between the brilliance of blogs - which can provide real information in real time - and the reality of a restaurant's life, which is a slogging day-to-day work-in-progress. The good news is that blogs - which are not constrained to weekly reviews - can also do a better job of covering evolved restaurants than the mainstream media often can.
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Bill Telepan, Telepan:
I truly believe if you do not hire a PR company, and try to open up stealth-like, that there are too many people who like to chat. Also, it depends upon the person opening. If they like to talk (too much) then they would tell too many people. That being said, the press is always looking to write about anything and somehow, someway it would always get out.
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Brett Traussi, Operations Director, Dinex Group:
We know it’s impossible to open under the radar; the thing you absolutely can’t do is to open before you are ready. We try to schedule a sufficient period of staff training, ideally two to three weeks before we open officially. This is not soft opening; it really is intended for training purposes, so it would be inappropriate for the media or the general public to attend. We change things every day until we feel the formula is appropriate. It’s a question of balance. The floor staff is always eager to ramp up quickly so they can earn their tip income, but as the manager you have to feel that they are ready. The media wants a scoop and will try and come as soon as you open; while its nice to get the reviews out of the way you had better be prepared.
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