When searching for a restaurant consultant, you may be faced with some location barriers. Some restaurant consultants simply may not have the means or manpower to travel to your location. Synergy Consultants work with restaurant clients worldwide and come to straight to you; whether you’re located in Indonesia, Florida, or the U.K., we’re here to help you, face-to-face. Call us old fashioned, but we believe in meeting with our clients and assessing, in-person, their goals and objectives.

 

Speak a different language? Our team of expert consultants do too: English, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin and Thai are some of the languages we speak.

 

Additionally, we have offices located in California, Louisiana, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Florida and Ohio. Our team has literally traveled over a combined 12 million air miles! We don’t believe in borders and are excited to meet you! Contact us for information on how we can help your restaurant achieve optimal success.

 

Services:

• Menu development / menu engineering
• Nutritional analysis
• Operations management
• Restaurant and kitchen design
• Feasibility studies
• Franchise and chain development
• Restaurant plans
• Restaurant start up help

At CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, many innovators have recently proudly demonstrated their nifty tech gadgets, but there was one in particular that caught our eye that was showcased last year.

 

Don’t pretend you’ve never played games with sugar packets or surfed the net on your phone while waiting for your food to arrive at your favorite restaurant. Perhaps you are familiar with the occasional annoying server that you wish would just hurry and take your order? The E-Table to the rescue!

 

Check out this video that reveals the cool features that this projected-oriented touch screen table has.

 

Touch screen tables are actually not a brand new concept and have been around for a few years. However advancements in technology make the newer products on the market even more amazing. Talk about elevating the restaurant guest experience! Ordering, playing games, surfing the net all at your table. How do you feel about this concept? Do you think restaurants would invest in technology like this? Share your thoughts!

Greetings!

To your success,

Dean and Danny

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Game Changers: Trends That Will be Shaping Our Industry in 2013

By Joan Lang

This past year was one of galvanic changes—and 2012’s got nothing on 2013. In the following paragraphs, we detail a few of the game-changing developments we’re following for the coming year.
Shareable Menus

In today’s foodservice market, it seems there’s no such thing as oversharing. Culinary adventuring and the desire to taste more launched the trend to sharing and sampling; the recession and the need to cut back on spending cemented it in place.

Now we are seeing menu after menu selection deliberately positioned for sharing and participating, including meat and cheese plates, appetizer combos, fondue, chips-and-dips, pizza and more. And like most menu items these days, the more customizable these shareable specialties are, the better.

Even as critics start to grouse about value, mainstream chains are getting on-board, like burger specialist Red Robin with its Garden Fresh Hummus Plate and mix-and-matchable Jump Starters; and Yard House with its extensive selection of snacks. (Not coincidentally, can you say “enhanced beverage sales”?)

Pan-ethnic “Taquerias”

You can thank Roy Choi and his iconic Kogi Korean-style tacos for the newest wave of cross-cultural tacos—itself the second salvo in a boomlet of authentic Mexican taquerias that took place half-a-dozen years ago.

Tacos are the perfect vehicle for fillings and flavors of all kinds, endlessly customizable and affordably priced, even when they’re filled with artisanal ingredients like heirloom pork belly and housemade pickles.

The new Salvation Taco in New York City, brainchild of the Spotted Pig’s April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, is a case in point, with its housemade “tortillas” (including chickpea and naan) as a delivery system for such bi-cultural fillings as roasted cauliflower, sweetbreads and braised lamb breast.

The new Antique Taco, in Chicago, has the same M.O. with its “market Mexican fare,: including tacos filled with the upgraded likes of tempura fish and sriracha tartar sauce, plus baskets of snacks, masa flat bread and horchata milkshakes.
Classic American, with a Twist

Fried chicken, mac-and-cheese, burger-burgers-and-more-burgers. These favorite American comfort foods just keep getting more popular, especially in the hands of audacious young chefs who are putting their own twist on these classics.

Partly it’s due to younger diners, who are just learning about the pleasures of dining out. And partly it’s due—yet again—to the economy, which has put a high price on taking a risk. For an operator, putting your stamp on a familiar classic makes it that much easier to sell.

Boke Bowl, a hipster-friendly ramen restaurant in Portland, OR, is home to the incredibly popular Thursday-night Boke Bird, featuring brined, par-smoked and fried Korean-style chicken served family-style. Los Angeles is having a bit of a mac-and-cheese moment with options ranging for down-and-dirty bbq sides to the four cheese-roasted shallot-and-jalapeno version served at The Hudson.

And in the meantime, the burger trend just keeps on rolling, from Subway’s Angus Melts to the obligatory elevated burger (often made with custom-blend beef, lamb, pork or portabello mushrooms) on every chef-driven menu.

Super-Sandwiches

Speaking of familiar with a twist, here’s a category that will never be the same again. Chef-driven, sandwich-specializing concepts have elevated this once-prosaic lunch food to the stratosphere, with high-impact ingredients from the fillings to the breads, condiments and accompaniments.

Michael Voltaggio’s Ink.Sack brings sophisticated sandwiches like Spicy Tuna with Miso-Cured Albacore, sriracha, and mayo to the city of Los Angeles. Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi of Torrisi Italian Specialties and Carbone have opened a paean to the iconic club sandwich with the aptly named Lobster Club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Four-unit Bruxie Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches has put a neat twist on the sandwich by basing all of its selections on an authentic Belgium waffle instead of bread, from savory smoked salmon with dill cream cheese to sweet Nutella and bananas. As the fledgling chain claims, it’s “street food that’s perfect for breakfast, lunch, midday snack or dinner as well as a dessert or late night treat.”

Competition from All Sides

Anyone who thinks competition is only coming from their own sector isn’t looking at the big picture. To the retail industry in particular, foodservice looks like a high-margin, high-demand business. According to Technomic, for instance, the c-store segment has its eyes on the foodservice prize, which should give QSR operators plenty of pause. And quality-oriented supermarket players like Bristol Farms and Whole Foods have long provided restaurant-competitive ready-to-eat options to time-strained consumers.

A new 49,000-sq.-ft. Publix in Longboat Key, FL, offers an array of specialty and prepared foods, as well as indoor and outdoor dining areas, and serves as a prototype for future development and remodeling efforts for the grocery chain.

Wawa, a c-store chain based in the South, has gone heavily into fresh food, with a comprehensive selection offering both made-to-order and grab-and-go items, from breakfast burritos to a rotation of soups (including family-size). And regional player Sheetz has a menu that rivals that of any fast food restaurant’s.

Quick Casual Goes Ethnic

Call it the Chipotle Effect—many entrepreneurial hopefuls do, as they double down on fast-casual concepts that support global menu concepts and an all-American focus on freshness, convenience, and healthy customizable food options.

• Sataza bills itself as a “unique take on Indian” that features fresh, grilled-to-order bowls, wraps and plates that customers can build from a selection of different bases, proteins, chutneys and sides

• Foumami, in Boston, is a fast-casual Asian sandwich bar that features signature freshly baked Beijing-style “bing” bread with a variety of different fillings (braised brisket, seared-steamed chicken), salads and soups.

• San Francisco’s U-Sushi is all about making this iconic Japanese specialty more approachable with a “you design, we roll” concept that’s brought up to speed with sushi-making “robots”

• Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill is positioned as a fresh alternative to burgers and fries, with freshly made pita and build-your-own shwarma-style sandwiches, plates and salads

Chains Launch New Prototypes

With so many new competitors opening up, older well-established brands are placing their bets on dynamic new building prototypes—and sometimes on new concepts altogether, as in the case of Shoney’s On the Go, a fast-casual version of one of the country’s oldest family-style restaurant chain.

• Taco Cabana has unveiled a more contemporary version of its design, incorporating colorful pink walls, street-life photos, hanging metal lamps and outdoor patio seating

• California Pizza Kitchen’s new flagship in Sunrise, FL, emphasizes the 28-year-old chain’s casual California roots, with lots of earth tones, reclaimed wood and a firepit-equipped terrace

• Domino’s new “Pizza Theatre” proto puts pizza making front and center, allowing guests to watch dough being tossed and pizzas being assembled and cooked

• Mall standby Sbarro is moving upscale, with a new logo, cooking method and recipes, and a new prototype scheduled to be unveiled early this year

• White Castle’s new Laughing Noodle touts, of all things, a menu of multicultural noodles like Taco Mac & Cheese and a Spicy Thai-Style Chicken noodle bowl

 

 

 

Fried Food Flies Back onto Menus

Despite all the talk of healthy cooking techniques and more nutritious menu items—and certainly, those trends are here to stay—there’s a growing recognition that restaurants are particular good at one thing few home cooks will even attempt: deep-fat frying.

That’s part of the reason for the big fried-chicken boom that’s occurring, and for the growing popularity of fried potato specialties like housemade truffled tater tots and duck fat French fries. On the guest’s part, the thinking goes: “If I’m going to indulge I might as well indulge.”

Other signs that these are frying times:

• Donuts are the new cupcakes, as Krispy Kreme’s accelerating fortunes and the success of Federal Donuts in Philadelphia attest

• Bar menus are rife with thirst-inducing items like fried olives, pork nuggets, fried cheese curds, deep-fried deviled eggs, and even Southern fried bacon

• New-wave clam shacks are turning out old-fashioned standards like fried clams, hush puppies, fritters, onion rings and more

• Ethnic fried foods like arepas, empanadas, and croquettes are being given the star treatment

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Recipe for Success: Don’t Forget the Food

By Mark Ladisky, Senior Operations Associate

 

In 2012 I would estimate that Synergy spent time with more than 50 different clients in the restaurant business, performing a variety of tasks ranging from recipe development to planning and branding sessions and operations assessments for concepts both small and large. The one question that I am asked more than any other is simply some variation of “What is the secret to a successful operation?”

My answer to that question may seem simple, never forget the food. It’s the reason many brands ultimately decide that they need the services of a company like Synergy to help correct the situation—over time and without malice or intent, they have simply lost focus.

It may seem like a silly answer to such a critical question, but in today’s market of highly competitive and agile companies, attention can be drawn away from the whole core business of selling a good product. If you don’t believe that is possible then kudos to you, but it is a fact that there can sometimes be so much attention put on streamlining an operation or a sales metric that a company can unconsciously and in very small increments lose focus on providing a quality food and beverage experience with the necessary hospitality required for that exchange.

The process of forgetting the food is not uncommon by any means; we have identified it in many an assessment report this year alone. We as groups can become so fixated on penny profit improvements and millisecond ticket time changes that we can often forget there is a customer at the end of the process, and they really only care about whether the food and the service were to their expectations.

The cause is hard to identify, because it typically happens over time in a process one of our partners calls “death by a million cuts,” and it usually starts as a part of a cost-cutting measure or expansion effort. If you are currently with a company that has not introduced a new menu item in recent memory, or where there is no current food costing or no proven recipes, then you are potentially on that path.

If you have had discussions about how important it is to use Product X over Product Y in a recipe for streamlining the supply chain because it’s a penny cheaper although it of lesser quality, then you are at risk of losing your way. And it’s time to call a time-out if your company is evaluating the elimination of the culinary department to save on payroll with no plan for alternative development.

We recently had great success with clients who can identify that they have “jumped the shark” in this area of the business, and when they contact us it is often because they don’t realize how far they have evolved from the original standard set however long ago. Making one food change often has a string of attached consequences that may not have been originally anticipated but impact the business in more than one way.

For example, we worked with a barbecue restaurant that for consistency purposes decided to have some of the barbecue produced offsite in a plant. The initial intent of the change was actually to improve and standardize the product, but the unanticipated fallout was that the units no longer had the smell of barbecue because they weren’t producing it onsite when guests were on the premises. Customers noticed—it often came up in reports that the food was “not as good as it used to be.”

Rewinding the clock to the point that the particular decision was made was the solution, and instead of going offsite with the product we suggested they improve store-level training and prepare everything onsite. Initial testing brought food scores up a measurable degree, and the company saved money in the process by buying a raw product rather than a fully cooked one. This also served to lower the carbon footprint of the finished items.

In today’s restaurant landscape it is rarely the case that a restaurant in the casual segment needs a full-time executive chef onsite, and if outsourcing a product is the right solution it is definitely something we will recommend. It’s important, however, to always keep an internal standard for quality and to keep working on an item until it meets those standards. Synergy can help to clearly define those standards and find solutions to overcome any challenges that may present themselves as part of that effort.

One of the best pieces of advice I can offer clients who ask about simple, quick solutions is to suggest an internal quality panel made up of a few key players from objective departments who develop a set of parameters for quality and quality alone, with the ability to send a product or menu item back down the line for reworking if needed.

It’s a lot easier and far less expensive in the long run to keep your standards clearly in sight than it is to come back years or decades later trying to find out where things may have gone wrong and try to correct the situation. Saving money is what we all want to do, and shortening ticket times is a definite benefit to any concept. But if you can keep chanting “don’t forget the food” during the process, you and your guests will be happier in the end.

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Instagram Gratification

The business world had barely heard of Instagram prior to April 2012, when Facebook shelled out a billion dollars to acquire the cult-favorite photo-sharing site; now it’s one of the fastest-growing social media applications in the world. Instagram is viral, it’s visual, it’s inclusive and interactive, it’s food porn: What’s not to like?

We mentioned Instagram briefly last year in the article “New Tools for Your Social Media Arsenal,” but if you haven’t climbed on board yet, this may be the time. QSR Web recently gave a shout-out to visual content as the top marketing trend for 2013, and Instagram represents one of the easiest and most engaging ways to get visual with your brand. And, of course, food and beverages are one of the top subjects for Instagramming—about 60% of them, according to one source.

Now the company has rolled out a Web browser-based interface to complement its mobile platforms, making it easier to leverage the possibilities. Not surprisingly, especially given the Facebook connection, there is also a growing roster of available services and ancillary resources to support the app, including Statigram, Venueseen, and Simply Measured. (For more information on how to use such resources, click here.)

Starbucks is an early-to-the-party example of how to put the Instagram platform to work in a sophisticated, integrated fashion. Here are some other ways that Instagram is being used in the restaurant world:

• Dude-food website foodrepublic.com has let several high-profile chefs, like Tom Colicchio and Marc Vetri, take over its Instagram, allowing them to spend some time snapping and commenting away in and out of their restaurants. The site also publishes its favorite photos from readers. How about that for “great exposure”?

• Comodo, a Latin American restaurant in New York City, may be the first restaurant with an Instagram menu. Owners Felipe Felipe Donnelly and Tamy Rofe couldn’t help noticing that patrons were snapping away in their new restaurant anyway, so they asked them to upload the photos to Instagram, using the hashtag #comodomenu. A virtual “menu” of pictures is created, and customers are able to easily search the app for a quick glance of the restaurant’s offerings. And anyone who contributed a photo gets instant buy-in, as in “Hey, I took that photo!”

• Report your company news via Instagram by using it as a public relations tool to announce the news visually, including daily specials, profiles of staff members or regular customers, recaps of events, or to take your customers behind-the-scenes into the kitchen. Spy House Coffee, in Minneapolis, uses the app to showcase its baristas, events and contests.

• Reward your Instagrammers. Host preview menus or other special events for loyal Instagram followers, or treat them to a free drink, dessert or appetizer. You can also use Instagram to run a contest, promoted via other social media accounts. For instance, you can encourage patrons to share images from their meal, including a #hashtag so that you can track entries.

• Or do what Ben & Jerry’s did, using Instagram as the platform for a multilayered campaign that asks fans to “Capture Euphoria.” Users snap pictures of what joy looks like; tagged photos are posted to the gallery, and 20 of them will be selected for use in local advertising around the world. The genius of this campaign, created by Silver + Partners, is that it simultaneously engages and rewards ice cream lovers.

• Use multiple hashtags to help your business get found. Instagram lets you tag your photos with hashtags (i.e., #1234, #abcd) so that each photo will automatically be added to a search base. For example, if you post a picture of your popular Cobb Salad and label it with your restaurant’s Instagram hashtag as well as #CobbSalad, people who are in the mood for a salad or even looking for a recipe at home are more likely to find you.

If you’re new to Instagram and want to boost your own photo-taking skills, this article from The Boston Globe is a great starting point.

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Tip of the Month

Food Republic is one of our favorite new(ish) sites. Ostensibly designed for a male audience, the site and its associated weekly newsletter are loaded with recipes, drink information, chef interviews, food trends, culinary-travel information, kitchen product information and more—ideal for the restaurant professional of any gender

Managing partner of Synergy Restaurant Consultants, Danny Bendas, took some time out to give his expert thoughts on some familiar restaurant topics. In this Food Service Equipment article, UNIT DESIGN: Smokin’ Fast, Smokin’ Hot ‘Pit To Plate’, Danny talks about how Synergy helped transform Sonny’s Real Pit B-B-Q’s kitchen into a leaner and more efficient space.

 

“McNab enlisted Synergy’s help in designing a kitchen to fit the space. The resulting kitchen features a compact, straight-line layout with the smaller of the unit’s three smokers, the 450-lb. one, anchoring one end; charbroiler, fryers, rethermalizer, range and ovens arranged along the back wall; and hot- and cold-holding drawers and wells, slicing station, soup wells and salad/dessert area along the make-line. To prevent bottlenecks at the expediting area, the planners specified an extra-wide pass-through window.” Read the entire article.

 

Danny also lends his perspective in this Monkey Dish article, Fast-casual restaurants add drive-thru service.

“As much as QSRs want to compete with fast-casuals—introducing higher-quality menu items and other experience-oriented amenities—many established players in the fast-casual sector want to emulate QSRs in one critical area: stay-in-your-car convenience.” Read the entire article.

 

For more information on the latest in restaurant trends and insights, sign up for our FREE monthly newsletter.

The prospect of owning and operating a successful restaurant is a dream come true for many an entrepreneur, but unfortunately, it may feel as distant as far-off dream those who are actually struggling. You’ve heard the varying (and often scary) statistics – that a large percentage of restaurants fail within their first year of opening. While the actual numbers have been contested, the truth still stands that operating a profitable restaurant is ultimately a challenging feat.

 

A restaurant can emerge from a vision but to become truly successful, the restaurant business plan must be thoughtfully executed. So the actual simple answer to the burning question, “why do most restaurants fail?” is simply because the ones who do fail to create a solid business plan. Like the saying goes, “fail to plan, plan to fail.”

Every aspect and every detail must be closely studied and examined. Your goal is to learn if your vision is feasible and that requires analyzing your menu and restaurant operations, competition, location, target market, supply chain, financial model, risk evaluation, and management. With this plan, you must then create a real strategy for success.

You must be able to confidently and clearly answer questions such us:

– What are my core values?
– What will I be better at then anyone else in the space?
– What are the consumer needs, wants and expectations?
– Who is the core customer?
– What demographics will I need to be successful?
– What does the competitive landscape look like?
– How am I going to build brand awareness?
– What type of budget with this vision require?
– Where am I going to find funding?
– Does my financial model make realistic sense?

 

While the planning may be daunting, it must be done. You don’t have to do it alone, however. Synergy helps restaurant entrepreneurs bring their visions of success to life with detailed restaurant business plans. If you have any questions, please contact Synergy at 888-861-9212.

 

As restaurant consultants, our goal is to help you make your restaurant as
successful as possible. Sometimes, our clients aren’t sure exactly where
they need help or what needs to be done. Regardless of your specific
situation, it’s all about maximizing your restaurant’s efficiencies.

We help owners elevate their restaurants, from independently-owned, to
national franchises and chains, to the next level:

• operations
• menu development
• nutritional analysis
• supply chain management
• restaurant start-up help
• restaurant management
• marketing
• branding
• restaurant design
• quick service, fine dining, and chain

Synergy Restaurant Consultants: 25 years of restaurant success. Contact us
for more information on how we can help take your restaurant to the next
level of success in 2013.

We hope you all survived the first week of 2013 and have freshened up, ready to take on the new year! The first week of 2013 proved to be an interesting one in restaurant news. Here’s our list of some interesting stories:

1) Los Angeles Eatery Gives Discount if You Hand Over Your Phone
2) Hulk Hogan Opens Hogan’s Beach Restaurant in Tampa (For Real)
3) Wendy’s, Domino’s ring in new year with aggressive value plays
4) Jamba Juice Debuts First Kids’ Meal Menu
5) Foie Gras Ban In California Means Big Business For Nevada Restaurants

 

Flavor & The Menu, the premier magazine for exploring food trends and news, covers the flavor functions of produce in their latest article written by Joan Lang. Danny Bendas, managing partner of Synergy Restaurant Consultants, is quoted in this article …

 

“Fruits and vegetables can also be used in boldly flavored relishes, chutneys, sauces, pickles and other condiments to bring an explosion of color and flavor to finished dishes, says Synergy’s Bendas.”

 

Read the entire article here: Flavor Functions of Produce

Greetings!

To your success,

Dean and Danny

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The Latest on Late-Night Dining

In St. Charles, MO, the local Applebee’s offers karaoke and half-price appetizers and drink specials from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., courtesy of the chain’s “bee’s Late Night” alter-ego. McDonald’s has featured its Breakfast After Midnight program in a number of test markets, including 24-hour locations. And in Boston, several serious restaurants are offering casual Asian-style post-party fare such as ramen and Korean-style fried chicken.

These are just a few of the many ways that restaurants are taking advantage of the “nocturnivore” cravings of a new generation of diners who want to eat out late but still well—a segment that early-to-the-trend Taco Bell famously dubbed fourthmeal. It’s a daypart that appeals not only to shift workers and college students on late-night study breaks but also to after-hours revelers and a whole lot of restaurant employees—and it also features prominently in the growth strategies of a number of savvy operators.

It’s all part of a larger trend toward snacking and eating smaller meals throughout the day, and it means that patrons no longer want to be locked into the standard breakfast-lunch-and-dinner schedule. Dunkin’ Donuts chief chef Stan Frankenthaler calls the phenomenon clockless dining, and it’s also driving such developments as 24-7 breakfast menus, late-afternoon bar menus, and smaller snack-size portions on menus (think Mickey D’s $1.99 Angus Snack Wraps and KFC’s Snacker line of little sandwiches).

While the main-meal idea still exists it’s been chipped away by the snacks that are in growing demand by on-the-go consumers, and now account for 20% of all meal occasions, according to the NPD Group. The research firm’s new “Snacking in America 2012” also reports that more than half of all Americans are snacking two or three times a day.

After-dark sales are a big beneficiary in these tectonic lifestyle changes—it stands to reason, especially where sales at lunch and dinner may have maxed out and fixed costs are already covered. At Applebee’s, for instance, the late-night daypart reportedly accounts for 13% of total sales, and has helped to boost demand for higher-margin alcoholic beverages.

Many restaurants satisfy hunger cravings with pared down late-night menus that are more in keeping with what guests want at that hour, and are also easier for the kitchen to execute. The Capital Ale House, in Richmond, VA, concentrates on such “simple servings” as sliders, meat and cheese plates, Belgian-style “frittes” (fries), and chicken wings. Sauce Restaurant in New York City dispenses packaged to-go fare like pasta with sauce, meatball sandwiches, and scrambled eggs with toast from a late-night window that’s open from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, when prep crew is onsite anyway, cutting meat and cooking the long-simmered foods that are a specialty of the dining room. Uni, an upscale Japanese sashimi specialist in Boston’s Eliot Hotel, morphs over into a more casual ramen bar at 11 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, with commensurately egalitarian prices—many an off-duty ramen-loving chef can be spotted there.

Speaking of late-night dining and chefs, in-the-know diners know to follow their favorite chefs to their chosen after-hours dining destinations for some of the best food and fandom. To that end, many restaurants sponsor after-hours Industry Nights knowing that not only will they get post-shift business from restaurant employees but they’ll also attract groupies and friends.

Vincent, a neighborhood bistro in Chicago, co-sponsors a regular first-Sunday-night-of-the-month Koffeeshop – Industry Night that does double-duty as an educational event. And part of the appeal of a new website/app called Chef’s Feed, in which high-profile chefs share their tips for where to eat and what to order, is finding out where they are when their own kitchens close.

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Choosing the Right Contractor

By Gary Wiggle, AIA, Restaurant Design

You have found the perfect location. Your design team has come up with a solution that encompasses your vision. So now, let’s get it built!

Who should I call? My neighbors had a great contractor remodel their house. The contractor who built the offices next door seemed like a very nice person. That may not be enough, however, because as it turns out, this is one of the most important decisions you can make as you start your project.

Building a project that involves specialty systems requires a contractor with experience in that type of construction. Restaurants are complicated—lots of plumbing, mechanical and electrical. Health and safety requirements reviewed by numerous agencies. Coordination of the kitchen equipment installation. Refined interior finishes in the public areas. It takes an experienced contractor to make it all work, and stay on budget and on schedule.
The type of restaurant is also an indicator of your contractor selection. A contractor who has built 20 chain fast food locations may prove to be a poor choice to build your full- service restaurant. A contractor with a great reputation building in food courts may not have the proper experience in building your new ground-up dinnerhouse.

Do your homework. Find out who builds similar restaurants, in type (fast casual, quick serve, full service), size, and budget. Get references and then talk to them and view their finished projects. Did they build for the same client more than once? Look at projects that are a few years old. Did the construction hold up? Are the systems still working? Has the maintenance been reasonable?

If the contractor is being selected early in a negotiated contract situation to help on the budgeting of the project, make sure they are experienced enough to give you accurate numbers—if they’re giving you the numbers that you will be basing all of your financial decisions on, they have to be right. If you have a $500,000 budget and you base all of your financing on these numbers, but the bids come in at $600,000 because the contractor was not familiar with what it takes to build a restaurant, your project is in jeopardy.

When this happens, the tendency is to blame the design team on “overdesigning” the project, when the reality is that it has been underbudgeted. Restaurants are inherently expensive building projects. The amount of furniture, fixtures, and equipment can add up to a great deal of money for even the simplest restaurant. And a successful restaurant, which is what you want, will also be used hard, meaning that durability is important.

Cost cutting to meet a poorly budgeted project typically involves less expensive finishes and poorer quality equipment—maintenance issues that will possibly impact the quality and success of your restaurant.
Do not base your decisions only on budget. It is very tempting to take that low bid. But I advise my clients that the best choice is not the lowest bid, but the lowest qualified bid. Price is very important, but look also at past experience, schedule and references. Is the bid following the plans and specifications or are there a number of substitutions and “value engineering” ideas included to make the number artificially lower? Is the schedule too good to be true? Doing your homework and researching the contractor’s reputation and abilities will always pay off.

Good restaurant contractors are out there! Using the right one cannot guarantee the success of your restaurant, but it will give you the right start to what we all hope is a tasty, enjoyable, and profitable restaurant business.

For help designing or rebranding your new restaurant project, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.

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In an Era of Hospitality Specialization, More Specialty Bars

Back in the July issue of this newsletter, we wrote about the blurring lines between bars and restaurants. Now, like restaurants, bars are specializing—not just along the lines of wine bars and brewpubs, but even by concept and type of spirits. And is it any surprise that many of these are run by restaurateurs who are diversifying into cocktails that complement the cuisines they love?

• Encore, a new high-end hotel-casino from Steve Wynn in Las Vegas, will play host to VDKA, a martini bar showcasing more than 150 types of vodka, including rare, top-shelf pours and such flavored vodkas as bacon, basil, tangerine, whipped cream and sugar cookie. The new bar will also feature a dispensary system that delivers the vodka perfectly chilled, which thickens the spirit and makes it more smooth

• Zapoteca Restaurante & Tequileria in Portland, ME, stocks more than 100 different kinds of tequila and mescal. In order to help educate guests about this relatively unfamiliar beverage, the restaurant offers tasting flights and weekly samplings, as well as private events that can be arranged via New England’s only certified tequila “sommelier”

• The Third Man, in New York City, styles itself as “an early 20th century Vienna themed bar,” with chef-inspired muddled cocktails and a limited menu of Austrian-style small plates prepared next door at Edi and the Wolf, an Austrian restaurant with the same owners

• Chicago’s new Three Dots and a Dash is a tiki bar (read: rum drinks) being developed by Rich Melman’s sons Jerrod and R.J., partnering with well-known Windy City bartender Paul McGee. It’s located downstairs from the Melmans’ relaunched Bub City, itself a country bar and barbecue restaurant that was originally started by Dad

• New York City has several new speakeasy-style bars specializing in gin, including Madame Geneva, which is adjacent to the popular Saxon & Parole. The cocktail list includes the Singapore Sling, a variation on a French 75, and of course an artisanal Gin & Tonic, and the brief menu of snacks touts such Asianate fare as shrimp toast, salt-and-pepper squid, and fries with vindaloo ketchup

• Seven Grand Whiskey Bar, in Los Angeles, serves—surprise—some 375 kinds of whisk(e)y from around the world, including comparative tasting flights of rye, bourbon, single malt, and Irish, organized for drinkers at three different levels of experience (entry-level to connoisseur). Seven Grand is even home to a Whiskey Society that is dedicated to educating the public about rare whiskies. Parent company 213 Nightlife, which operates 10 high-profile cocktail bars and pubs in the Los Angeles area, also owns Cana Rum Bar

• The underappreciated South American brandy called Pisco gets its own special treatment at Amaru Pisco Bar in the Queens, NY, neighborhood of Jackson Heights. Owned by Rodolfo Mayor, who helped introduce Peruvian-style rotisserie-chicken via the local chain Pio Pio, Amaru showcases some 16 different types of Pisco, for sipping straight or mixing into cocktails, plus a menu of snacks like anticuchos (beef heart skewers)

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Tip of the Month

The National Restaurant Association has released its much-anticipated “What’s Hot” culinary forecast of menu trends for 2013. Based on surveys of more than 1,800 chef-members of the American Culinary Federation, this year’s list runs the gamut from locally sourced meats and produce to whole-grain items on kids’ menus. This year, the NRA also surveyed nearly 200 professional bartenders, who shared their predictions about barrel-aged drinks, food-liquor pairings, and culinary cocktails for next year.

 

Can you believe yet another year is coming to a close? We hope your 2012 was a successful one! To wrap up the year and look into new food industry insights for 2013, we hope you’ll check out our December newsletter coming out next Tuesday (subscription is absolutely free). But for now, here’s a sneak peak of what you can look forward to.