FSR magazine April 2018

NO. 53
FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANTS : SETTING AMERICA’S TABLE
®
Cauliflower
Power
Getting Real
About
Real Estate
Waste Not.
Earn More.
How to Host
an Imported
Beer Dinner
Feast in the Middle East
In a region with a
storied past, Middle
Eastern cuisine carries
the eclectic history
of its varied origins.

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April 2018 No. 53
®
38
46
Fresh takes on
middle eastern
at zahav in
philadelphia
are just one way
the cuisine is
making a splash.
Middle eastern cuisine: cook n solo restaurants / chef coMpeitions: World food chaMpionships / real estate: rockit ranch
54
Traversing
46 Civilization’s
Breadbasket
By maggie Hennessy
From Egypt to Lebanon to Iran, you’ll
find overlap in dishes like tabbouleh,
pilaf, and hummus, but each dish differs
heavily by region.
Contents
38 Ready. Set.
Compete.
By Laura ZoLman KirK
How chef competitions can benefit
both chef and industry alike.
54 Getting Real
About Real Estate
By amanda BaLtaZar
How to choose a new site in a new
city or state goes beyond the old
adage, ‘location, location, location.’
cheFs & ingredients
17 Eats, International
Gert Kopera is elevating Chinese
food through his role with
international restaurant group
Hakkasan.
liquid intelligence
28 Sips from the
Mediterranean Sea
Unique flavors, textures, and aromas
arrive on menus influenced by
Mediterranean culture.
FOODNEWSFEED.cOm april 2018 1

Contents
11
FoodNewsfeed.com April 2018 No. 53
25
33
First Course
11 Cauliflower Power
When California Pizza Kitchen
announces its newest crust is made of
cauliflower—that’s when you know
a once fringe ingredient has gone
mainstream.
12 Waste Not. Earn More.
A handy infographic explaining how
reducing waste can send lost revenue
back to your bottom line.
CheFs & ingredients
22 Moves Toward Middle
Eastern
Bright, simple, and wholesome
ingredients from Israeli, Greek, and
Middle Eastern influences shine
through on modern menus.
25 Reimagined, with
Respect to Roots
When developing authentic menus,
staying true to a specific cuisine while
also flexing creativity is easier said
than done.
Liquid inteLLigenCe
33 For Sake’s Sake
Now is the time to explore sake.
35 How to Host an Imported
Beer Dinner
Create a menu that marries global
cuisine with imported beers.
BaCk oF house
72 An Oklahoma City Star
on the Rise
PERSPECTIVES At just 33, restaurateur
Rachel Cope has taken OKC by storm
with five concepts.
75 A More Human Touch
of Tech
FINANCE Streamlined operations
through new tech never come at the
expense of customer care.
77 The F&B Bookkeepers
SERVICE How specialized accountants
can make all the difference.
80 Where Chefs Eat
DANNY MENA The co-owner of new
Bushwick traditional Mexican café
La Loncheria lists his neighborhood
haunts.
CORRECTION: The photo of kevin Burke in
the rising stars feature on page 56 of the
march issue was taken by Taylor made
Photography.
Also in this issue 4 highlights from Foodnewsfeed.com 6 Brand stories 8 editor’s Welcome 78 Advertising index
FSR is a trademark of Journalistic, Inc. and the content of this magazine is copyright © 2018 Journalistic, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. The opinions of columnists are their own. Publication of their writing
does not imply endorsement by Journalistic, Inc. FSR magazine (ISSN 2325-2154) is published monthly by Journalistic, Inc., 101 Europa Drive, Suite 150, Chapel Hill, NC 27517-2380. Periodicals postage paid at Chapel
Hill, NC, and at additional entry points. SUBSCRIPTIONS: (800) 662-4834, www.FoodNewsfeed.com/subscribe. FSR is provided without charge upon request to individuals residing in the U.S. meeting subscription
criteria as set forth by the publisher. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to FSR, 101 Europa Drive, Suite 150, Chapel Hill, NC 27517-2380. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any fashion without the
expressed written consent of Journalistic, Inc.
ThinksTock / Lori Luo, Ani rAmen house / hAikArA sAke / ThinksTock
2 APriL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COm

Fries, reimagined.
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Exclusively
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Learn more at simplotfoods.com/sidewinders.
© 2018 J. R. Simplot Company SIDEWINDERS is a trademark of the J.R. Simplot Company. Our unique SIDEWINDERS Fries are proprietary and patented under one or more patents and
pending patent applications. See www.simplotfoods.com/patents for more details.

E-NEWSLETTERS
We now have a full suite of
e-newsletters beyond our
flagship FS Insider:
WHAT’S ON A guide to the best in
foodservice video.
RES-TECH Our latest content
about restaurant technology.
BEVERAGE NEWS & TRENDS Our latest
content about the beverage
business in restaurants.
FoodNewsfeed.com/subscribe
THE MOST POPULAR STORIES ON OUR WEBSITE, OR WHAT YOUR PEERS ARE READING
Online
FOODNEWSFEED.COM
BIG PORTIONS AND A
DIVERSE MENU HAVE
MADE CODY’S A HIT IN THE
SUNSHINE STATE? UP NEXT:
THE ENTIRE SOUTHEAST.
GETTING SOCIAL
Twitter Twitter.com/FSRmag
Facebook Facebook.com/FSRmag
RESEARCH
Whitepapers
FoodNewsfeed.com/whitepapers
Industry Reports
FoodNewsfeed.com/reports
INDUSTRY NEWS IN YOUR INBOX
Sign up for FS Insider, our
four-times-weekly e-letter.
Text FSR to 33233 or visit
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CODY’S ROADHOUSE
Cody’s Original Roadhouse Preps for Florida Takeover
The 16-unit brand, founded in 1994, is ready to franchise its way across the
Southeast, with a goal of 100 restaurants in the next five years. But first, Cody’s will
grow in the Sunshine State, a market as diverse and challenging as they come.
FoodNewsfeed.com/Codys-FL-Takeover
5 SECRETS FROM
DC’S RESTAURANT
WUNDERKIND
At 25, Carlie Steiner
became co-owner of Himitsu
in Washington, D.C.
Since the restaurant first
opened in 2017, lines have
formed for a spot in one
of only 24 seats. Steiner
shares her tricks of the
trade.
FoodNewsfeed.com/
Wunderkind-Secrets
21 OF AMERICA’S MOST
LEGENDARY RESTAURANTS
These iconic institutions
have dominated the
country’s dining scene
for decades—sometimes
even centuries. Great
food and outstanding
service never go out of
style. Check out which
legendary eateries made
the list.
FoodNewsfeed.com/
Legendary-21
THE A–Z OF BUILDING
RESTAURANT LOYALTY
Many companies concentrate
on the importance of
engaging with the millennial
generation, but currently
there are four generations
with spending
power to consider. Is your
restaurant ready to rise up
and meet the changing
demand?
FoodNewsfeed.com/
Generational-Loyalty
PLUS FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS / SIPS APPEAL / HEALTHY EATING / LEADER PERSPECTIVES
4 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

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Learn more: tysonfoodservice.com
©2018 Tyson Foods, Inc. Trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by Tyson Foods, Inc. or its subsidiaries, or used under license.

APRIL
®
Brand Stories inside FSR
IN PRINT
37 Meet Me at NRA Show
FABIO VIVIANI This celebrity chef and restaurateur
explains why he has been attending NRA Show for
over a decade.
{ SPONSORED BY THE NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION }
TRENDING ON THE MENU
63 Chef Tools
As pressure on restaurants grows, high-tech equipment
helps chefs and their kitchens keep up with a
growing list of demands.
Online
Go to FoodNewsfeed.com/Sponsored-Content
MANAGEMENT
MENU INNOVATION
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Idaho ® Potato Pairings
Idaho® Potatoes & Vegan Recipes
Overloaded Vegan
Baked Potato
12 Idaho® Potatoes
6 C Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
3 C Spicy Corn
3 C Black Beans
3 C Vegan Sour Cream
Chef Jennifer DiFrancesco
Pitchforks, Canisius College
Buffalo, NY
The Passion
As the vegan trend continues,
Idaho® Potatoes are a great recipe
option. This “cheesy” Mexican-style
stuffed potato is meat and dairy free
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on its own.
For this and other recipes from chefs
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Welcome
Magic in the Middle East
In AprIl of 2012, I took an early birthday trip, boarded a flight around midnight
at Dulles International Airport, and was eating falafel on the cobbled
streets of Istanbul by the next evening. It was love at first bite—not that I
hadn’t had falafel before. The first time was in Amsterdam, actually, and
I literally cried tears of joy. But there was something different that I loved
about the falafel in Turkey, and something else I loved even more around
every corner.
After the falafel came the fasulye, stewed white beans in tomatoes with
bread or rice to soak up the broth. Next it was gooey, cheesy pide, a football-shaped
flatbread with an egg in the middle that every Middle Eastern
and Mediterranean culture has a version of (most well-known, perhaps, is
Georgian khachapuri). At crowded hookah bars, I was delighted by small
bowls of dried chickpeas served the way Americans serve beer nuts. And at
seemingly every restaurant, I was thrilled by fresh, simple salads.
Maybe it was what the French call terroir—the way the soil made the
vegetables taste, the way the air smelled, the way the breeze tousled my
hair, and how crisp that Efes pilsner tasted on tap. But to me, it was magic.
Fast-forward three years and I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to
visit a dear Israeli friend whose mother served us a full brunch in her apartment
facing the Mediterranean Sea. The shakshuka tasted better than any
I’d ever had, but maybe that was because it was imbued with the sense of
place.
The table at Ima’s was bursting—salads, smoked fish, fresh cheese,
creamy dips, flaky pastries, seeded breads, and three types of olives, at
least. Among the pastries was something that reminded me of a breakfast
I’d had in Turkey. It was paper-thin phyllo dough wrapped around cheese
and meat filling and baked until golden and flaky. In Turkey, it’s called
börek and is rolled like a cigar. In Israel, they serve bourekas, and the
phyllo is layered and cut into puffed, stuffed squares.
While I love bread and pastries (who doesn’t?), the city of Tel Aviv had
something my heart truly desires: fresh juice. Across from the Airbnb
where I stayed was a stand overflowing with bright orange and yellow citrus,
crisp green leaves, blushing pink apples, earthy ginger roots, and deep
purple beets. In the week I was there I maxed out the stand’s punch card
and earned myself a free smoothie. It was paradise.
Both trips gave me tremendous insight into food and life. It was in Israel,
in fact, that I began plotting my move to Los Angeles to scout the food
scene. Upon arrival in the City of Angels in October of 2016, a friend took
me to a local Armenian institution: Zankou Chicken. I dipped an unusually
soft falafel into the creamiest, dreamiest tahini and cut the richness with a
beet-pickled turnip. Yep, there was some magic in there.
Laura D’Alessandro
Editor
LauraD@Fsrmagazine.com
Fsrmag
@Fsrmagazine
On the Cover
To my joy, the popularity of Mediterranean/Middle
eastern cuisine—and specifically
Israeli cuisine in recent years—
has skyrocketed in the u.s. i’ve been
lucky enough to find myself talking
shakshuka with some of the top chefs in
the country. but each cuisine, like each
person who loves it, has its own story.
Take a look into the cuisine’s collective
storied past on Page 46, zoom in on the
region’s ingredients on Page 22, and get
a creative take on cocktails on Page 28.
You might just find a place for some
creamy, dreamy tahini on your menu yet,
if you haven’t already.
Laura: Libby McGowen / ThinksTock
8 apriL 2018 FoodNEWSFEEd.com

EVERY VINE
TELLS OUR
STORY
SUSTAINABILITY. QUALITY. INNOVATION.
World-class tomato dishes start with premium California tomatoes. That’s
why Angela Mia® uses only 100% vine-ripened, steam-peeled tomatoes—
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To learn more, visit ANGELAMIA.COM
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We’ve taken the bold, balanced flavor of Texas Pete ® Original Hot Sauce and created
Texas Pete ® Original Dust Dry Seasoning to bring even more versatility to your menu.
With lower sodium than the competitors, Dust will be your new favorite seasoning.
Learn more at TexasPeteFoodservice.com/Dust

First course
thinkstock
Versatile cauliflower is
making its way into
menus by masquerading
as pizza and burgers.
Cauliflower Power
By Laura D’aLessanDro
What is a
menu without
cauliflower
these days?
When California Pizza KitChen announces
its newest crust is made of cauliflower—
that’s when you know. the beloved lowcarb,
gluten-free ingredient has gone from
fringe trend to mainstream menu star.
the national pizza chain announced
in late January that its newest nationwide
rollout would be the introduction of
a cauliflower pizza crust. CPK also touted
the crust as a “unique source of vegetable
fuel.”
“Rich in nutrients and low in carbs, cauliflower
is a powerhouse ingredient that
continues to show its versatility and popu-
FOODNEWSFEED.com APril 2018 11

First Course
larity as the star—not the side—of the
plate,” says Brian Sullivan, senior vice
president of culinary innovation for CPK.
And, surprisingly, that’s what diners
want more of these days: vegetables,
or vegetables disguised or dressed up
in unusual ways.
Pizza crust is just one way restaurants
big and small are integrating the
cruciferous chameleon into their menus.
Hard Rock Cafe used cauliflower in a
burger on its first-ever meatless menu.
Major food vendor US Foods released
spicy battered cauliflower as a product
in late summer of 2017.
But for those watching the industry
and its menus, this change has been a
long time coming. Just ask Liz Vaknin,
cofounder and experiential marketer
at New York–based Our Name Is Farm.
Vaknin and cofounder Shelley Golan
work with local food growers as well as
the consumer markets those farmers
serve to bridge the gap.
“I grew up noticing the versatility of
this relatively cheap, hearty, and gluten-free
vegetable that is very high in
nutritional value if eaten fresh,” Vaknin
says. “My family is of Jewish, Middle
Eastern, and North African background,
so growing up I ate cauliflower in
many different versions: in a beef stew
braised with turmeric, paprika, white
pepper, and garlic; fried or roasted with
tahini or yogurt and sumac; stuffed with
seasoned lamb kefta and braised in a
spiced tomato sauce; in root vegetable
pickles preserved with turmeric and
chilies; the list is never-ending.”
It’s quite a contrast to sneaking it
into pizza crusts or mac and cheese,
but that’s not a bad thing. As Vaknin
puts it, everyone else is just catching
up. Familiar iterations with cauliflower
hidden inside could be the beginning.
“Americans are using cauliflower in
applications that are already familiar
to them, to make the vegetable more
appealing, like in pizza, buffalo style, or
mac and cheese,” Vaknin says. “Once
they feel comfortable with the vegetable
in general … I believe they’ll find
more creative ways to prepare and consume
it, too.”
Waste Not. Earn More.
It’s an issue everyone in the industry is talking (and worrying)
about, including 1,300 chefs who reported that food waste
reduction was a top priority in the National Restaurant
Association’s annual report.
Food costs
represent
up to
35%
of a
restaurant’s
gross
income.
CONSUMERS ARE CONCERNED, TOO
A study by Unilever revealed:
72%
OF U.S.
DINERS
CARE
about how
restaurants
handle
food waste.
$8
COST SAVINGS
COSTS
$16
BILLION
ANNUALLY
72 %
Diners
Care
SOURCE: REFED’S 2018 RESTAURANT FOOD WASTE ACTION GUIDE
52.4
MILLION
tons of food waste
is sent to landfills in the
U.S. each year, and
7.3 MILLION
tons of that comes from
full-service restaurants.
It costs the industry
$16 billion annually.
47 %
would be
willing to
SPEND
MORE
to eat at a
restaurant with a
waste reduction
program.
THINK THE OUTLOOK IS DISMAL?
There’s something you can do.
For every dollar a restaurant
spends on food waste
reduction, it can realize
$8 of cost savings.
In total, restaurants could
achieve an additional
$620 MILLION IN PROFIT
potential per year by adopting
waste prevention strategies.
12 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

Find your
Ispirazione
Italiana
What's my Italian Inspiration? The beloved
recipes that have been passed down in my family for generations. So
when I was looking for a cheese to top my aunt’s Eggplant Parmigiana,
I knew it had to be Galbani ® Fresh Mozzarella. It’s creamy, delicious, and
tastes like my childhood in Italy. I love that it has no artificial colors or
whiteners. We strive for the freshest, most natural ingredients at Prova
Pizzabar—and Galbani cheese makes it easy.
—DONATELLA ARPAIA, CHEF/FOUNDER, PROVA PIZZABAR
Find more Italian Inspiration and Donatella’s video at GalbaniPro.com.

First Course
Next-Generation Staff
Millennials make up about 40 percent of the workforce this year. Here are five expert tips for getting
this generation into your open positions—and keeping them.
ISTOCK
THE BEST
BRAND WINS
Millennials are
a brand-mindful
generation—
they want to
work for a brand
with a strong
story behind it.
APPLICATIONS
FOR SHORT
ATTENTION
SPANS
Today’s top
talent needs a
simple, seamless,
and quick application
process.
BENEFITS
FOR BRINGING
FRIENDS
Referrals
remain the primary
way to
find dedicated
staff; make sure
employees are
rewarded for it.
SCHOOL HOUSES
(STILL) ROCK
Working with
learning institutions
to create
curriculum can
give you first pick
of top graduates.
RECRUIT THE
RIGHT RECRUITER
Millennials
make up the
largest segment
of the workforce.
Recruiters
need to know
who they are
and what kind of
jobs they want.
SOURCE: THE
NATIONAL RESTAURANT
ASSOCIATION’S 2017
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
REPORT AND THE
NATIONAL RESTAURANT
ASSOCIATION’S HUMAN
RESOURCES & RISK AND
SAFETY CONFERENCE
Revolving Door
With great power comes great responsibility—but it
turns out that responsibility is what keeps employees
around. Turnover is high in the restaurant industry, but
SOME POSITIONS HAVE MORE STAYING POWER THAN OTHERS,
and position level is a better predictor than pay.
RESTAURANT
MANAGERS
BARTENDERS
& BAR STAFF
23% 25%
BUSSERS,
DISHWASHERS,
RUNNERS
34%
DATA COURTESY OF UPSERVE / THINKSTOCK
14 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

Two-Way Radios
bring more
to the table
HOW WILL TWO-WAY RADIOS
BENEFIT YOUR RESTAURANT?
• Improve table turns, resulting in
increased revenue
• Reduce customer wait time
• Coordinate your different staffs for
improved operations
• Communicate discreetly amongst
your staff
Qualify for FREE Radios with
end-user rebate. Call for Details.
888-550-3216

Co-hosted by: Flavor Forays
(the original producers of the Championship BBQ & Cook-Off)
AND
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21st Annual Championship
& Cook-Off
Benefitting World
Central Kitchen
and Chicago Food
Depository
Sunday, May 20, 2018
4:00PM – 7:00PM
Galleria Marchetti
825 W Erie St, Chicago
SPONSORS

IngredIents
Middle
Eastern and
Mediterranean
page 22
trendIng
Developing
authentic
menus
page 25
Chefs &
Ingredients
haKKasan’s
crispy ducK
salad
Eats,
International
Hakkasan
By AmelIA levIn
Gert Kopera acts to elevate
Chinese food in his role with
international restaurant
group Hakkasan.
gert Kopera, executive vice president of global restaurants at the
international restaurant group Hakkasan Group, believes in changing
global perceptions around Chinese food.
“Chinese food in China can actually be quite expensive, not at all like
the comfort food or fast food many are accustomed to seeing. The smokiness
of the wok, the crunch and play with textures, the various smells
FOODNEWSFEED.COm april 2018 17

Chefs & IngredI ents ProfI le
and shochu cocktails—it’s about the
whole experience of Hakkasan that we
are trying to package and continue to
develop, step by step,” Kopera says of
the Hakkasan restaurant brand, which
is managed by the Hakkasan Group. “It’s
a distinctly driven process, and we’re
excited to see the next generation of elevated
Chinese cuisine.”
After opening its original Hakkasan
restaurant location in London in 2001,
Hakkasan Group has grown to represent
17 different brands with 41 locations
total, 21 of which are under direct Hakkasan
Group management in the U.S.
Focused on high-end, modern Cantonese
cuisine, the four Hakkasan restaurants
in the U.S. have long been
known for popular dishes like Black
Truffle Roasted Duck, Roasted Silver
Cod with Champagne and Chinese
Honey Sauce, Stir Fry Black Pepper Ribeye
Beef with Merlot, and an assortment
of creative dim sum offerings. The
U.S. Hakkasan restaurants are located
in New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas,
and Miami while another seven are in
locations like London and Doha, Qatar,
with two more set to open in Indonesia
and Saudi Arabia in 2018.
Kopera, who is based in Las Vegas,
leans on his 30 years of experience in
the international hospitality industry
Gert
koPera
“We are seeing a lot more vegetables come into
play in Chinese cuisine and a more sophisticated
play on textures with lighter sauces.”
yauatcha’S
edaMaMe
truFFle
duMPlinG.
hakkaSan’S
Grilled chilean
SeaBaSS.
Stir-Fry
Black PePPer
riB eye
BeeF with
Merlot FroM
hakkaSan.
Hakkasan
18 april 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

Master’s Reserve ® Renewal cut glass
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Elevate your crafted creations with Master’s Reserve ®
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It’s one more way Libbey is Serving Experience
to support your success and your vision by combining
inspired tableware, trend knowledge and expertise
into innovative, insights-driven tabletop solutions.
Discover insights that help bring your vision
of success to life.
to guide his work at Hakkasan Group.
Before joining the group in 2017, he
served at the COO for restaurant group
d.ream and senior vice president of food
and beverage for in hospitality company
Jumeirah Group. He also spent
15 years with Rosewood Hotels and 12
years with Hilton International in various
positions with an integral role in
food and beverage development.
At the Hakkasan Group, Kopera
oversees a team of VPs that is both horizontally
and vertically structured. For
example, he oversees the VP of Operations
U.K., who handles all restaurants
across all brands in Europe, but he also
works with the brand directors for the
various restaurant concepts including
Hakkasan, Ling Ling—Cantonese
restaurants in Greece, Morocco, and
Norway—and Searsucker—American
restaurants in Texas, California and
Nevada .
To develop menus for a restaurant
group of such scale, Kopera works
closely with a culinary development
team that includes Michelin-starred
chefs Tong Chee Hwee and Ho Chee
Boon, as well as the brand’s chefs at
each outpost to drive new dish ideas.
“We are aiming to build a culinary
team for our development in Asia, but
for now we have our team in London,”
says Kopera, who travels regularly to
the various Hakkasan locations in the
U.S. and abroad to check in and assist
with menu development.
Naturally, because neither Kopera
nor the head chefs can be everywhere
at once, they rely on feedback from
customers as well as special advisory
boards, which are made up of seasoned
culinary and hospitality professionals
on Kopera’s contact list.
“If the soup is too peppery or the skin
of the dim sum is too thick or needs
color, these are things we will report
back to the culinary team, and they
will work on their dishes,” Kopera says.
When putting together new dishes
or special menus, Hakkasan Group will
first have its advisory board members
come into the restaurant to test out
dishes before they are tweaked and put
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it comes to bringing in other local influences from
different parts of the world.”
on the menu, or not.
Trends, customer feedback (shared
especially through social media), and
changing consumer patterns drive new
menu development. “We are seeing a
lot more vegetables come into play in
Chinese cuisine and a more sophisticated
play on textures with lighter
sauces,” Kopera says. “We have been
refining dishes such that the plate
might look similar, but the honey sauce
is definitely lighter with less sugar and
there is more of an emphasis on nonmeat
ingredients and textures.”
Hakkasan Group events like worldwide
chef competitions also help spur
new ideas for menus. For example, last
October, five chefs competed in Shanghai
to go on to compete against winners
from Hakkasan Group teams in
Doha, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and
Dubai, U.A.E.
Some of the dishes from that event,
such as a curry dumpling that was
developed in India to cater to a highly
vegetarian consumer base, have since
led to new dim sum options at Yauatcha,
a dim sum and chinese restaurant
brand with locations in Texas and
Hawaii, as well as India, the U.K., and
Saudi Arabia.
“Now that we’re seeing the rise of
more vegetarian dishes in general, we
are bringing some of those ideas from
the India locations to the U.S.,” Kopera
says. “It’s easy to be more experimental
with dim sum when it comes to bringing
in other local influences from different
parts of the world.”
As region-specific Chinese food
fever grows, including interest in the
modernized Cantonese variety Hakkasan
restaurants serves, Kopera sees
the Hakkasan Group’s role as necessary
to guiding the narrative away
from the “cheap” comfort food image.
“I think Hakkasan continues to serve
as a benchmark for high-end Chinese
food, similar to what Nobu did for Japanese
food,” he says.
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CHEFS & INGREDIENTS INGREDIENTS
Moves Toward Middle Eastern
and Mediterranean
BY AMELIA LEVIN As more restaurants and chefs rally around these bright, simple, and wholesome
cuisines, the crossovers with Israeli, Greek, and Middle Eastern influences shine through on
modern menus. Here are a few ingredients trending at the moment.
Tahini
Chef Wyatt Lash
The Commoner
PITTSBURGH
No longer reserved for
making hummus, chefs
are enjoying tahini on or
blended with just about
anything. When it comes
to vegetables, the sesame
seed paste lends an umamirich,
savory note and thickening
function when used
in dressings and dips. Executive
Chef Wyatt Lash at
Hotel Monaco’s The Commoner
in Pittsburgh uses
tahini in a puree made
with charred eggplant and
24-hour brined, breaded,
and charred cauliflower. This
forms the base for a more
composed dish with more
breaded cauliflower pieces
that are fried, tossed in a
harissa buffalo sauce, and
served with crispy chickpeas,
coconut flakes, and a cooling
yogurt sauce.
THINKSTOCK
22 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

ChefS & i ngredientS i ngredientS
Chef Heidi Krahling
Insalata’s
San anSelmo, California
More chefs are reaching for
pomegranates—from the
seeds, juice, and even the
molasses made from it—
for that bright pop of tang,
adding acidity in marinades,
salads, sauces, and more. At
Insalata’s in San Anselmo,
California, chef and coowner
Heidi Krahling uses
pomegranate molasses in
a one-hour marinade for
lamb skewers, combining
the ingredient with lemon
juice, cumin, salt, and pepper
before broiling or grilling
the lamb loin pieces.
She serves the skewers with
a persimmon chutney made
by simmering the fruit with a
little brown sugar, cider vinegar,
lemons, golden raisins,
and a mix of spices that
includes ginger, cinnamon
sticks, cumin, cardamom,
coriander, star anise, and
whole cloves.
Pomegranate
Molasses
ALSo try
Za’atar
Labneh
Zhoug
Sumac
Canyon Ranch in
Tucson, Arizona mixes
pomegranate molasses
with this spice blend
of sesame seeds,
marjoram, and sumac to
marinate lamb loin.
Serve with: a salad of
spinach, tomatoes,
crumbled feta, and
dried figs.
Much like a burrata
appetizer, Ēma in
Chicago offers this
tangy Middle Eastern
yogurt cheese as a
refreshing starter.
Serve with: toasted
marcona almonds,
roasted grapes, burnt
honey, and toast points.
Shaya in New Orleans
adds this Yemen
condiment of herbs,
chillies, coriander,
cardamom and lemon
juice to its Jerusalem
Mixed Grill sandwich.
Serve with: chicken
livers and hearts, veal
sweetbreads, onions,
pita, and tahini.
At Bread & Wine in
Chicago, this spice
is used as a bright,
slightly sour flavoring
for honey yogurt sauce.
Serve with: torn mint
leaves to garnish a
blend of cooked lentils,
carrots, celery, onions,
beans, and beets.
THInKSToCK
24 AprIl 2018 FooDNEWSFEED.com

Trending Chefs & i ngredienT s
Reimagined, with
Respect to Roots
Lori Luo, Ani rAmen House
By Mandy ellis
When developing authentic menus, staying true to a specific
cuisine while also flexing creativity is easier said than done.
ani raMen
house’s MazeMen
brothless raMen.
Mingling coMfort flavors with Modernity, culturally inspired menus
have the power to offer diners flashbacks to childhood and travel adventures,
as well as fresh experiences. Today’s full-service restaurants with authentic cuisines
are leaning into to this role, blending new trends with old roots to serve
up authentic, yet approachable bites.
Chefs, then, are aiming to educate consumers’ taste buds by walking the fine
line between staying relevant and paying respect to time-honored ingredients
of specific cuisines. Finding that balance
and trying to add your own creativity to
the mix, however, is not an easy task.
“You used to give your interpretation
and customers accepted it, but if diners
want to know what’s in ramen or how
to make it, they access it now via the
internet,” says Luck Sarabhayavanija,
founder and owner of Ani Ramen House
in Montclair and Jersey City, New Jersey.
“There’s zero room for errors, and if
you make a mistake, you’ll hear about it.”
Sarabhayavanija reaches into his personal
experience backpack to mix conventional
tastes and current trends to
spark his own slants on recipes. Ani
Ramen House’s short rib ramen combines
chicken and beef broth along
with braised short rib for an updated
dish, while its salt-based ramen that
includes yuzu citrus notes is based on a
restaurant experience Sarabhayavanija
had traveling in Tokyo. “We went to this
amazing ramen house, Afuri. They were
using yuzu in ramen. I was skeptical;
when I think ramen, I want a spicy bowl
or something on the salty or earthy side.
I don’t think of something citrus-y. [But]
it worked so well,” he says. He is thrilled
with the new menu addition back in New
Jersey. “Every sip of broth, you get the
salt, umami, and chicken broth, but it
ends with a citrus note that feels like it
cleanses your palate; it’s crazy,” he says.
Beverly Gannon, owner and chef of
Hali’imaile General Store in Makawao,
Hawaii, combines memories from her
childhood in Texas with Hawaiian
regional cuisine for a modern tostada:
duck marinated in Chinese five spice,
plus jicama, cilantro, ginger chili dressing,
and a crispy tortilla with hoisin
sauce. “It’s taking what I knew as
a tostada and creating something that
evolved into what I call Mex-awaiian,”
she says.
Pass the
Plate
Shareable dishes plus appetizers are thriving because customers want
to sample many menu items, Sarabhayavanija says. Tables of eight to
10 diners slurp on a shared ramen bowl and split small plates to fill their
desire for variety.
FOODNEWSFEED.com ApriL 2018 25

Chefs & IngredI ents t rendI ng
Pixabay/Jonathan Valencia
Cara Stadler, chef/owner of Brunswick,
Maine’s Tao Yuan Restaurant, says
sometimes designing a menu is about
finding refreshing ways to remind customers
of their own experiences. “What
makes ethnic food amazing is the rich
cultural identification, especially for
those who have experienced the countries
through travel or childhood,” she
says. Stadler’s Malatang soup, a sweet
broth and poached vegetables topped
with spicy numbing sauce, exemplifies
this, as this street food hails from a very
specific Chinese region. “We put classic
dishes on the menu, things from parts of
China you’d have to visit to understand,”
she says. For those who know the region,
the Malatang soup brings nostalgia.
Chefs agree that traveling and trying
other chef’s cuisines helps one grasp the
true elements of global dishes. But once
chefs have got a good grip, they can’t
chicken
bao
Like dumplings, bao buns are
growing in popularity as a vehicle
for bold flavors. Both Tao Yuan and
Ani Ramen House utilize the buns
as delicious blank templates for
showcasing intriguing flavor profiles.
be afraid to push the boundaries. “Play
around. If Indian is trending and you’re
doing Chinese, try an Indian-inspired
dumpling,” Gannon says. “How can you
make it something diners are hearing
about, but with your own twist?”
Be mindful, however; isolating dishes
from popular flavors and ingredients is a
recipe for failure. “Be open-minded, and
don’t be afraid of change or ingredients
you don’t recognize,” says Ben Diaz, executive
chef of Los Angeles’ Mexican restaurant
Toca Madera. “Embrace [trends]
yet stay true to the food.”
Paella at
the lazy goat.
The Bolder the Better
With Mediterranean and indian food trending, guests are being
exposed to more spicier bites. Mediterranean cuisine is moving
toward Spain, Morocco, and tunisia, says craig Kuhns, of Greenville,
South carolina’s the Lazy goat. he’s seeing more use of regional
spice mixtures like ras el hanout and baharat. and with indian cuisine
now in the mainstream, customers are on board to try more flavors
within the culinary canon, says navjot arora of oLd Monk in
new york city. “indian food is seeing a renaissance.”
FARM
FResH
Following a larger shift in
the food world, global
cuisines are also trending
more vegan, vegetarian,
and organic, using clean,
simple ingredients. “We’re
waking up to demands for
all-natural, local, organic
products,” says Arora, who
serves dishes like Jhaal Moori
with wild rice and wasabi peas
for distinct, healthier flavors.
old monk’s
Wild Rice
Jhall mooRi.
table 301 reStaurant GrouP
old MonK
26 aPril 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

SponS ored content
How Kitchen
Equipment
Makes Employee
Turnover Less
Painful
Edward NuNN dEscribEs how
rEstauraNts caN usE tEchNology to
miNimizE thE impacts of staff churN.
EmployEE turnovEr hurts.
Not only does it cost restaurants
an average of $5,864
to replace each employee,
according to Cornell’s Center
for Hospitality Research,
but it also strains restaurant
operations when a team is
short staffed. These shortages
impact food quality,
customer experience, and
even the morale of other
employees.
Using the smarter
equipment, however, can
boost efficiency, help restaurants
cope when staff
is short, and improve
employee morale to prevent
further turnover. Edward
Nunn, Business Development
Manager at Hatco
Corporation, explains how.
hoW can restaurants
reduce the impact
of turnover on
operations?
By definition, efficiency
is the ratio of outputs to
inputs. The way to improve
efficiency is “doing more
Edward Nunn is a Business
Development Manager
for the Hatco Corporation.
He joined the company
two years ago, bringing
with him over 10 years’
experience specific to light
cooking equipment and
food holding technology.
He has worked in the North
American foodservice
equipment industry for
nearly two decades.
with less.” In foodservice,
this means having a
laser-like focus on labor,
food, and utility costs compared
to revenue. Technology
is playing a key part
in addressing all of these,
including kiosks, mobile
ordering, at-table PDQ
payment systems, and
improved ingredient formulations,
packaging, and
preparation to address food
waste.
What can restaurants
do to improve
efficiency?
Self service, be it “grab and
go” or drive-up collection
is growing in popularity
across many foodservice
formats. Combined with
in-advance mobile ordering,
this reduces labor for
serving. However, quality
and perceived quality
remain vital. Gen Y and the
upcoming Gen Z are used
to improved food quality
standards, having grown
up with everything from
organics to better burgers.
To maintain quality, yet
deliver faster speed of service,
better holding equipment
and faster cooking
methods are required. For
example, speed ovens—like
those from Ovention—use
forced hot air and efficient
food loading to dramatically
cut cooking times and
maintain a high quality
standard. Precise, user-configurable
preset programs
also maintain consistent
cooking results. These can
be found in Hatco’s new
IRNG series of induction
ranges or Hatco’s TQ3
toaster, which uses profiles
for different bread products.
Even Hatco’s drawer warmers
now feature a touchscreen
option with the ability
to hold different draws at
different temperatures and
set a hold time for each.
Another way to improve
efficiency is to employ
multi-tasking equipment,
such as Hatco’s HCWBI
series of hot/cold wells and
HCSBF hot/cold shelves.
Both hot and cold food can
be stored or merchandised
from the same footprint
depending on the daypart
or season.
hoW can automated
cooking technology
make training neW
staff easier?
Programmable equipment is
an obvious means to reducing
or refocusing training
needs. Most commercial
food operations prepare
and present the same thing
over-and-over, and consistency
is a key to brand loyalty.
Checking the “reliable
and consistent cooking”
box, frees up time to spend
on training for sanitation or
customer service. Equally
important, when staff does
turn over, training a new
team member to press the
right button is easier than
having to train for several
complicated culinary operations.
hoW can equipment
help maintain
customer experience
despite turnover?
In a saturated foodservice
market, with more choice
than ever in history, brand
is the thing that matters
most. The incoming generation
of consumers is keen
to identify with brands and
remains very loyal. Underpinning
a brand is consistency
and predictability.
Any equipment, procedures
or technologies that supports
that should be high on
the list of considerations. l
FOODNEWSFEED.cOm April 2018 27

Wine
For Sake’s
Sake
page 33
Beer
How to Host
an Imported
Beer Dinner
page 35
Liquid
Intelligence
Sips from the
Mediterranean
bybLos
restaurant’s
mediterraneaninfLuenced
oLd
fashioned.
GreTa ryBuS
By Barney Wolf
Cocktails inspired
from Greek, Italian,
Levantine, and
North African cuisine
stack up on today’s
bar menus.
LabeLing something Mediterranean
can be a bit simplistic. The Mediterranean
Sea Basin encompasses
parts of three continents, numerous
nations, and various cultures, topographies,
and agriculture.
“The Mediterranean may have a single
meaning, such as geographic, but
in culinary terms it is so much more,”
says Juan Coronado, brand ambassador
for Bacardi. “There are unique
cultures that have [Mediterranean] flavors,
textures, and arom as.”
Similar ingredients show up in
cooking across the region, especially
olive oil. So do fruits like grapes and
28 april 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COm

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LIQUID INTELLIGENCE SPIRITS
WORLDLY LIBATIONS
EXPERTS SHARE WHAT THEY LIKE TO PAIR WITH A RANGE OF CUISINES.
CUISINE: PERUVIAN
PAIR IT WITH: pisco-based cocktails,
White Bordeaux, Pinot Noir, and Malbec.
“Our most recommended alcohol is pisco, specifically
the varietal called Quebranta, for our pisco
sours, pisco punch (frozen or on the rocks), and a
few more craft cocktails. With cebiches we recommend
pairing with Château Ducasse’s Bordeaux
Blanc. For our Pollo a la Brasa dish, we recommend
Montinore Estate’s Pinot Noir. And for our
Churrasco cooked over a charcoal grill, we love the
Gauchezco Reserva’s Malbec.
MARIBEL RIVERO, EXECUTIVE CHEF
YUYO | AUSTIN, TEXAS
CUISINE: INDIAN
PAIR IT WITH: aromatic white wines, rich red wines,
and cocktails that mimic standout flavors.
KARMA MODERN
INDIAN’S GINGER
BLOSSOM COCKTAIL.
CUISINE: JAMAICAN
PAIR IT WITH: sweet cocktails, white wines, and
Red Stripe beer.
“A lot of the Jamaican dishes we are serving are
spicy so we’re pairing cocktails that are a little on
the sweeter scide to balance out the heat. Crisp
Loire Valley white wines are also great, and you
can’t go wrong with an ice-cold Red Stripe beer.”
AARON PAUL, BEVERAGE DIRECTOR FOR CALIFORNIA’S
ALTA GROUP
KAYA RESTAURANT | SAN FRANCISCO
CUISINE: CUBAN
PAIR IT WITH: a mojito.
“Our beverage program prides itself [for having] the
best mojitos in town, [like] our Chusma Fina, which
is a play on our classic mojito.”
“Indian cuisine is well-known for its intense aromatics
and, at times, its heat. With that in mind, more
aromatic white wines such as Gewürztraminer and
more rich gamy/spicy reds such as Carignan and
Syrah are solid go-to wine pairings. As for cocktail
pairings, I first try to identify the most standout flavors
of the dish, then go through the ingredients
that either possess the same flavors or flavors that
share affinity with those in the dish being enjoyed.”
JAMES LANFRANCHI, LEAD BARTENDER + WINE STEWARD
KARMA MODERN INDIAN | WASHINGTON, D.C.
CUISINE: INDONESIAN
PAIR IT WITH: crisp, light lagers; bright, fruity and
acid-driven white wines; and anything built off the
refreshing sour or highball model.
“While a pairing with an IPA or robust red isn’t
impossible, the cuisine’s use of complex flavors
and, of course, spicy chillies, can make it pretty
challenging, as tannins and high-alcohol contents
have a tendency to accentuate the chili’s heat.”
IVAN LICATA, GENERAL MANAGER
ESTEFAN KITCHEN | MIAMI
TAYLOR VAUGHT, GENERAL MANAGER
SELAMAT PAGI | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
JOY ASICO
30 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

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Liquid i nteLLigence SPi R itS
SiPS A PPe AL
Spirit Works
Distillery’s
Sloe Gin
Ashby Marshall, coowner
of Spirit Works
Distillery with husband
Timo Marshall, started
crafting sloe gin to pay
homage to Timo’s family
in England, who have
been producing the
spirit by mixing sloe
berries, sugar, and gin
for generations. Spirit
Works’ take starts with
onsite-produced gin,
added with botanicals,
citrus, and about two
pounds of sloe berries
per bottle. “Notes of
cranberry and pomegranate
swirl through
the palate,” Ashby says
of the finished product,
which she enjoys as
a replacement for vermouth
in manhattans or
negronis.
SebaStopol
California
lemons as well as herbs like parsley, and spices
such as saffron and cinnamon. All can play a
role in creating Mediterranean cocktails, as
do anise-flavored spirits like Greek ouzo, arak
from the Levant, and raki in Turkey.
Grown in Greece
When Americans think Mediterranean cuisine,
they often focus on Greek food, partly
because so many ingredients in that cooking
style are found across the region. The socalled
“Mediterranean diet” is also based on
a traditional Greek diet.
At New York City’s Molyvos restaurant,
general manager and wine director Kamal
Kouiri tries to implement the same ingredients
in Greek food—the raw materials, the
herbs and spices—on the restaurant’s beverage
menu. That extends to Greek spirits,
including the anise-flavored spirit ouzo and
a brandy called tsipoura made from pomace,
the leftover fruit solids in juice or oil. Creating
its own Greek-influenced infusions to
American cocktails, Molyvos concocts offerings
like the Wild Strawberry Mojito, in which
mastiha—a mastic resin–flavored liqueur—
and mint with strawberry are infused with
rum, or the Cretan Mule, a version of a Moscow
Mule using Roots Herb Spirit, ginger root
soda, vodka, and fresh lime juice.
The concept of employing similar ingredients
in food and cocktails is important at
Kipos Greek Taverna in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina. “You want fresh ingredients—herbs,
juices—in craft-made Mediterranean cuisine,”
says Will Bingham, Kipos’ bar and beverage
director. Cocktails made with Greek spirits
and liqueurs dot the menu. They include The
Minotaur, which mixes Skinos mastiha and
lemon, and the Mykonos Mule, which uses
fig-infused Haraki brandy. Bingham also uses
ouzo, but those cocktails need other strong
flavors to tone down the anise, he says.
Italian influence
Much of Italy touches the Mediterranean
Sea, and Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse
features Italian liqueurs, fruit, and herbs in
many cocktails at its nine units in the U.S.
“We have a lot of Italian ingredients around
that we like to use,” says Jennifer Schubert,
general manager of the Manhattan location.
The Corretto, for instance, is Davio’s take on
the traditional caffè corretto featuring not
only grappa (an Italian pomace brandy) and
espresso, but also limoncello. Italian negroni
cocktails, employing gin, vermouth, and
Campari liqueur, are also big sellers.
All about the olive oil
Although olives may be a well-known garnish
for martinis, olive oil is not something
many think about for a cocktail. But Bacardi’s
Coronado included the favored oil years ago
when he was the cocktail innovator at José
Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup. He infused vodka
with olive oil to create an eponymous martini
for the Mediterranean restaurant Zaytinya
in Washington, D.C. The oil is heated to
95 degrees Fahrenheit and added to vodka,
mixed, and frozen for 24 hours. The oil is then
scraped away, leaving the vodka with its flavor
and aroma. He then added dry and blanc
vermouth, verjus, and ice.
Mediterranean Exploration Company in
Portland, Oregon, which looks to the Eastern
Mediterranean region Levant for inspiration,
uses an olive oil-washed gin in its Azores
High cocktail, which also has vermouth, tonic,
and lime. “You can take any cocktail and
give it a Mediterranean feel by incorporating
the right ingredients,” says Jamal Hassan,
head bartender. The Olive Branch cocktail,
for instance, is basically a martini but with
za’atar bitters. His take on a daiquiri includes
sumac. Hassan also helped create Mediterranean
Exploration’s own arak, a Levantine
anise spirit, that is in the Arak Colada cocktail
with rum, coconut, pineapple, lime, nutmeg,
and crushed ice. “Arak and anise classically
work with anything with citrus,” he says.
Notes of North Africa
Miami’s Byblos restaurant features a largely
Levantine- and North African-influenced
menu, and the cocktails make good use of
fresh juices, says Jorge Islas, bar manager and
master mixologist. “We try to be unique and
implement spices and freshness in any cocktail,”
he says. For the signature Marrakesh
Garden cocktail, cold-pressed cucumber and
celery juice, mint, and lime are combined to
go with gin or rum, then finished with nigella
seeds. Byblos’ take on an Old Fashioned
utilizes Turkish coffee in a syrup mixed with
bourbon, rum, and bitters. Islas adds cardamom
to the syrup, which makes the cocktail
“like no one else’s,” he says.
32 April 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

l iquid i ntelligenC e W ine
people interacting with customers, their
influence has been huge.”
One such sommelier is Alex Trendler
of MIFUNE New York in New York City.
At the Japanese fine-dining restaurant,
he pours around 20 varieties of sake,
selling it in equal numbers with wine
and educating eager customers along
the way. “People want to experience sake,
and they want to learn way more than
just the name of it,” he says. “I love that.”
Haikara Sake
For Sake’s Sake
By Carly Boers
The popularity of
this traditional
Japanese alcohol
is increasing;
now is the time
to explore sake.
A cherry blossom
cocktAil mAde
with hAikArA sAke.
Sake iS officially booming in the U.S.,
says John Gauntner, president of the Sake Education
Council (sec)—an organization created to
promote sake education outside Japan. He has
studied the drink now for 30 years.
Gauntner says Americans’ sake consumption
has been on a steady incline since around 2000,
climbing around 10 percent annually to where it
sits today—more than 1.5 million gallons were
consumed in 2017. Sure, increased interest in Japanese
cuisine, namely sushi, is a driving force, but
Gauntner says a handful of factors play into the
current state of boom.
Lately, perhaps the biggest driver is the way
in which wine professionals have embraced sake.
“First sake started popping up in New York City
wine shops, and then in L.A. Then sommeliers
began offering it,” he says. “Since these are the
Sake 101
While enthusiasts like Gauntner and
Trendler do their part to educate drinkers,
the Japanese beverage is still largely
misunderstood in the U.S. For starters,
though it shares characteristics with
both, it’s neither beer nor wine. The
brewing process is closer to the former,
but, unlike beer, sake is brewed solely
from rice and without the presence of
enzymes.
Gauntner says wine comparisons
stem from the similar alcohol content—
sake has about 15 to 16 percent; wine,
roughly 10 to 14 percent—as well as the
manner in which flavors are assessed,
and the fact that both are typically
enjoyed with food. Also like wine, sake is
categorized. Instead of grouping by varietals
of grapes, however, sake is broken
down in terms of how much each grain
of sake brewing rice (of which there are
roughly 70 types) is milled.
Sake also varies greatly by region,
chiefly due to climate. The cooler weather
of Northern Japan means its sake is
fermented and stored at lower temperatures,
and the end product is cleaner
than that of its Western counterparts,
according to Gauntner. Regional food
also plays a role. For instance, brewers in
oceanside locations often produce light,
crisp sakes to match the area’s cuisine.
Emerging from sushi’s shadow
Sake is no longer just a means for washing
down sushi. In restaurants, it has
blossomed into a menu star in its own
right: Bartenders now craft cocktails
that spotlight the versatile beverage, and
sommeliers like Trendler look beyond
wine to offer comprehensive sake lists
FOODNEWSFEED.cOm april 2018 33

LIQUID INTELLIGENCE WINE
SIPS APPEAL
SakéOne’s
g fifty sake
A subtle, delicate sake
with plenty of body,
g fifty is the product
of Coastal Mountain
Range Oregon water
and Sacramento Valley
rice. Served chilled, it is
medium-dry on the palate
and brings about
notes of nectarine,
green apple, and mint.
Thinking beyond the
traditional Japanese
dish pairing, SakéOne’s
Jessie Sheeran recommends
enjoying
g fifty with grilled
meats, pasta, and hard,
aged cheeses. “Mac
‘n’ cheese and cheeseburgers
are absolutely
perfect,” she says.
FOREST GROVE
OREGON
and sake pairings. At MIFUNE, cocktail producer
Shingo Gokan offers the Seven Samurai,
composed of rye whiskey, aged sake, East
India sake, bitters, and smoked cinnamon.
Trendler, a wine industry veteran who had
never worked with sake before MIFUNE, says
the drink has broadened his horizons exponentially.
“We have a lot of cool sakes that
represent a wide range of flavors,” he says. He
plays off the restaurant’s ever-evolving seasonal
cuisine to create pairings, seeking out
both contrasting and complementing tastes.
In the case of the latter, he pours earthy Manzairaku
alongside a scallop with mushroom
consommé.
“Manzairaku tastes just like shiitake mushrooms,
so that pairing was a no-brainer for
me,” he says. Sake also gives him the opportunity
to play up the menu’s bold umami flavors
with varietals he says mimic the taste
of banana bread and bubble gum. “It sounds
crazy until you try it,” he says.
Increased accessibility
“Five years ago, Japanese fine dining was
the upper echelon of luxury,” Trendler says.
“Lately it’s become more accessible—and so
has sake,” he adds.
That trend toward approachability is also
thanks in part to makers like Umenoyado
Brewery. The fifth-generation brewer based
out of Nara, Japan recently worked with
New York-based Spirits Consulting Group
to develop Haikara, a sake created specifically
for the U.S. market. Spirits Consulting
Group CEO Susan Mooney says the citrusy
flavor combines notes of yuzu and white
peach and is “familiar to the American palate.”
Even the name Haikara, which translates
to “high collar,” hearkens back to the
clothing style of the first Westerners living
in Japan and “speaks to the east-meetswest
feel we wanted to create,” Mooney says.
“We were mindful to make a product that’s
authentic and rooted in tradition, but also
really accessible,” she says.
Trendler shares Mooney’s sentiment,
offering this advice to sake novices: “Don’t
worry about the labels or menu descriptions,
and don’t be intimidated by new language or
classification systems. Sake should just be
inviting and fun.”
GENSHU SAKE IS UNDILUTED, MEANING THERE IS NO SECONDARY WATER ADDED TO MODIFY
THE ALCOHOL LEVEL. THIS VARIETY, THEN, OFFERS A HEARTIER FLAVOR AND BODY.
THINKSTOCK
34 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

Liquid i nteLLigence Beer
ThinksTock
How to Host an Imported
Beer Dinner
By Liz Barrett Foster
Create a menu
that marries
globally
inspired fare
and authentic,
imported beer
for a theme
night guests will
be talking about
for weeks.
There’s no denying that Americans love
beer, and what they are really loving right now
are craft and import beers. In 2016’s $107.6 billion
beer market, craft beer sales grew 6.2 percent
and import beer sales grew 6.8 percent, according
to a report from the Brewers Association. With
imported beer’s growth now outpacing craft beer’s,
it only makes sense to take advantage of the trend.
Hosting a themed dinner night that pairs ethnic
food with its respective beer can attract guests
hungry for new experiences, new foods, and new
beers.
Choose a theme
If you run a restaurant that’s a natural fit for
imported beers—such as Mexican, Japanese, German,
etc.—half the work is already done. Choose a
theme that makes sense with the restaurant’s
brand, but also allows for a menu
that features several country-specific
courses that pair with that country’s
imported beer.
“For the most part, depending on the
type of food the restaurant specializes
in, beers from Belgium, Germany and
the U.K. are the easiest beers to pair and
sell,” says Morgan Herzog, owner of The
Beer Junction, a Seattle-based beer bar
and bottle shop where Belgian and German
imports are most popular. “A wide
variety of imports from all these countries
are readily available in most parts
of the United States, and they pair well
with food from their respective coun-
FOODNEWSFEED.COm April 2018 35

Liquid i nteLLigence Beer
SipS AppeAL
Kona Brewing
Company’s
Kanaha
Blonde Ale
Only recently launched
to be available nationally,
say aloha to this
bright beer made with
mango fruit and exhibiting
lightly toasted malt
character. Transport
guests to the breezy
beaches of Maui by
pairing it—and maybe
a few other Hawaiianbrewed
beers over a
few courses—with a
luau-themed spread of
grilled fish, salads, poke,
roast pig, and tropical
fruits.
4.2% ABV
Honolulu, HAwAii
Mura
tries,” he says.
Ember & Vine Woodfire Oven and Social
Bar, located inside the DoubleTree by Hilton
in Mars, Pennsylvania, planned a European
beer dinner in February, pairing five
courses of imported beer at a ticket price of
$60 per person with menu items such as spätzle
paired with the Bavarian Ayinger Brauweisse,
gravlax paired with the Belgian Orval
Trappist ale, and prime rib and Yorkshire pudding
paired with Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout
brewed in North Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
“We’ve done several craft brewery dinners
but wanted to try a format that featured multiple
labels instead of from the same brewery,”
says Harry W. Siebert, director of restaurant
operations for Ember & Vine. “I thought it
would be interesting to add a geographical
and multi-cultural component; the response
has been great.”
At Mura, a sushi restaurant and bar in
Raleigh, North Carolina, bar manager Greg
Keely says the restaurant’s Japanese beer
dinner last October sold out the 70 tickets
on offer. “We hosted a seven-course meal
and offered five beers,” Keely says of the
Hitachino Nest Beer Dinner. Tickets were
Fitting to its concept, sushi restaurant mura hosted a
japanese beer dinner in october.
$75 and included pairings such as a dish of
panko-fried smoked oysters, wasabi hollandaise,
pickled cucumber-daikon salad, and
red onion dust paired with Hitachino Nest
Red Rice ale from Kiuchi Brewery in Japan.
Planning makes perfect
With a theme set, it is time to talk with the
chef and beer distributor. “I’d suggest working
with a local distributor that you already
have a professional relationship with to assist
with the marketing and planning phase,”
Siebert says.
Keely says the same, adding, “It is absolutely
critical to find a responsive, excited,
and engaging partner.” Keely’s distributor,
who was just as enthusiastic about the event
as he was, helped in providing unique glassware
for the dinner and planning the dinner’s
menu by offering pairing advice. “We worked
with our executive kitchen team to formulate
a meal that would be both satisfying and
unique,” Keely says. “From there, we sat with
our brewery partners to ensure the beer pairings
were not only smart, but well-executed.”
Siebert advises operators to keep course
numbers and guest counts in check. “Keep
the guest count under 50 so that it still has
an intimate appeal and have enough staff to
deliver each course in a timely fashion.” Beer
dinners can lead to a lot of food and drink
consumption, so Siebert says it’s important
to keep the timing at a decent pace. “I
feel that four to five courses is perfect,” he
says. “That will give value, but not overload
your guests. Portion size needs to be that
of a small plate, so that,
by the third course, people
are still awake. The
pour size should be about
5 ounces. This will also
keep the crowd engaged
and not over-served by
the last course.”
Scoring a ‘sold out’
The final step is selling
tickets to the beer dinner.
For an event ultimately
about social engagement,
this is where social media
comes in handy. “If someone
‘likes’ the ad, then
someone on property
should reach out and try to get the reservation
booked,” Siebert says. “It’s important to
fill the seats because most people attending
these events are in it for the social interaction.
If you’re lacking reservations, fill the
seats with clients or friends and family. These
[dinners] are not usually huge profit makers,
but more of an opportunity to gain exposure
for your restaurant.”
36 april 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COm

SPONSORED CONTENT
COURTESY OF FABIO VIVIANI
Meet Me at NRA Show
Fabio Viviani, celebrity chef and restaurateur
BY PEGGY CAROUTHERS
For Fabio Viviani, a celebrity chef,
former Top Chef contestant, cook
book author, and restaurateur, the
annual NRA Show in Chicago is all about
networking. “This is a business based on
people, and in order to connect with
people you have to be where they are,”
Viviani says. “The NRA show is a great
source of connection. You can meet
vendors, employees, business partners,
and competitors.”
As an established chef, Viviani—
who has attended NRA Show for over
a decade—says that he has built many
relationships there and that the Show
provides him with opportunities to
catch up with his peers and gain a competitive
advantage by seeing what they
are doing. When he was just getting
started in the business, however, the
Show provided him with a valuable
platform on which to build his business.
“When I had one restaurant, I used the
Show to make connections to get better
pricing and discounts,” he says.
Vendors are a big attraction at the
Show for both established chefs and
those just starting their careers. Viviani
says he likes to browse booths to
find new products. “NRA Show is like
Candy Land for a kid,” he says. “I can walk
around for hours. Last year I found a better
system to manage my inventory that
I love, and I wouldn’t be aware of it if I
wasn’t at NRA Show.”
For first-time attendees, though, Viviani
suggests planning specific booths to
visit based on whatever challenges they
have in their businesses. “Go through
the directory and see what interests you,”
he says. “Do you need help with inventory
or beverage and alcohol? Do you
need new menus? What are your problems
in the restaurant today? If you can
figure out what you need, there will be
vendors who can help you with that at
NRA Show. Just go hunt them down.”
Viviani is a self-proclaimed people
person and he says that giving cooking
demonstrations is one of his favorite
parts of the Show. “Demonstrations let
folks break away from business for a second
and sit down to watch somebody
on stage making food,” he says. “The
interactions can get very personal, too.”
Another big reason Viviani says restaurant
professionals should attend NRA
Show is to learn new techniques and
enhance existing skills. “It doesn’t matter
how good you are or how big you
are, there is always someone out there
doing something better than you,” Viviani
says. “It’s a very good way to learn,
stay current, and be humble. Though
Viviani is well-established in the industry,
he says NRA Show provides numerous
opportunities for both experienced and
new chefs. “NRA show is a great opportunity
for people who are starting their
journeys in the culinary business to get
lots of insight and become knowledgeable,”
he says. “It’s a great organization,
and I’m very happy to be part of it.”
FOODNEWSFEED.COM APRIL 2018 37

Ready.
Set.
Compete.
BY LAURA ZOLMAN KIRK
Everyone wants to win a competition,
and the opportunity to unite
chefs and spectators over craft
and cooking can build a global
community. Here’s how competitions
benefit both chef and industry alike.
CHEF ADRIAN CRUZ
FROM MCALLEN, TEXAS,
PLATES HIS ENTRY DISH
FOR THE OPENING
ROUND OF THE STEAK
CATEGORY AT THE WORLD
FOOD CHAMPIONSHIPS.
WORLD FOOD CHAMPIONSHIPS
38 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

MARLA MARTINEZ
PARTICIPATES
IN THE USBG’S
LUCID COCKTAIL
CLASSIQUE IN
AUSTIN, TEXAS.
‘‘
Wget
JESSICA FRADONO PHOTOGRAPHY
e’ve been here before,” says Aaron Gregory Smith, executive director of the
United States Bartenders’ Guild (USBG), which puts on about 10 competitions
annually. Instead of calling the rise in competitions in the food and beverage
industries a “boom,” Smith calls it “more of a roller coaster.”
The number of competitions hosted around the country goes up, then people
burned out on them. Then they come back into fashion. “From my personal
FOODNEWSFEED.COM APRIL 2018 39

COMPETITIONS
‘‘
Chef Mathew Peters, the
first u.s. Chef to win BoCuse
d’or, PrePares a Meat Platter
at the 2017 CoMPetition.
Competing in this competition has been lifechanging
and eye-opening in so many ways,”
Chef Philip Tessier
Chef PhiliP tessier, teaM usa CoaCh and BoCuse d’or 2015 silver winner,
with Chef Mathew Peters, BoCuse d’or 2017 winner.
experience being in hospitality for 20
years, I think this is probably my third
or fourth upswing in the number of competitions,”
Smith says. And, while he
doesn’t think competitions are necessary
for the success of the industry—“I think
that the hospitality industry is competitive
enough on its own,” Smith says—
he does consider competitions helpful
in supporting chefs and bartenders on
an individual basis, acting as a tool for
professional development.
The industry, it seems, shares Smith’s
sentiment. Beyond the drive to win, participants
are flocking to food and beverage
competitions as a way to build their
networks, skill sets, and profiles. Many
view their experience inside the ring as
so integral to their development as professionals
that they are now shepherding
younger chefs and mixologists into
arena. Organizers and sponsors, too, are
benefiting from the action in the opportunity
it provides to buddy up with these
driven professionals.
The rise of competitions is certainly
shining a spotlight on the hospitality
industry, and, in doing so, hopefully propelling
the industry forward.
Competitors’ perks
Since the vast majority of hospitality
employers aren’t able to focus on professional
development in the day-to-day,
USBG’s competitions hope to fill the participants’
need by offering competitors
thorough feedback from the judges. Each
bartender receives a detailed breakdown
of where they fell at different stages of
the competition, as well as written feedback
on their strengths and where to
consider improvement.
“I hear from competitors year after
year, since we started that process, that
that is one of the most valuable experiences
that they gain from participating
in competitions. The hospitality industry
managers don’t always have time to give
thoughtful, comprehensive evaluations
to their employees,” Smith says. “We see
people returning to programs year after
year to demonstrate their improvement
and learn more about what they can do
to get better.”
Bocuse d’or / david escalante (top)
40 april 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

COMPETITIONS
Chef Lance Nitahara, a lecturing
instructor at the Culinary Institute
of America, shares Smith’s sentiment.
As a frequent competitor in American
Culinary Federation (ACF) competitions
over the last decade—as well as
a mentor for students preparing for
competitions through organizations
like ProStart and SkillsUSA—Nitahara
sees competitions as vital to a young
chef ’s education.
“I believe that everyone should compete
at least once,” he says. “It wasn’t an
experience that I necessarily wanted to
have until I actually had it, but it really
opened things up for me.”
His experience as a competitor has
kept him organized and his technical
skills sharp, Nitahara says. “When
I work with students who compete,
oftentimes there is only one gold and
only one silver. [When] they aren’t successful,
I see them really beat themselves
up about it. I tell them that the
competitions that I’ve learned the
most from are the ones that I didn’t
win.” Reflection in those instances, he
argues, helps chefs grow and learn.
Chef Philip Tessier, who won the silver
medal at the international Bocuse
d’Or competition in 2015 and coached
Team USA to gold in 2017, appreciates
his competition experience for the
chance it was to build a diverse network
of professionals in his field, as
well as push him to enhance his skills.
“When you’re in a professional restaurant,
you’re working at the stove,
you’re constantly refining your skills
and you’re working, ideally, amongst a
great team, but it’s one team, one chef,
that you’re working under. With the
Bocuse d’Or, I saw the opportunity to
work with multiple chefs across the
country. Why would I not want to be
in the center of this opportunity?” he
says.
To inspire other young chefs to
embark on such a unique opportunity
as representing the USA on a
national stage at Bocuse d’Or, Tessier
has written a book, Chasing Bocuse:
America’s Journey to the Culinary World
Stage, about his experiences with the
competition as a chef and coach. “Competing
in this competition has been
life-changing and eye-opening in so
many ways,” Tessier says. “The more
that young chefs begin to understand
the opportunity that competitions
have to enrich and focus their training
and create opportunity and exposure
to other chefs in different realms
across the world, [the better it is for
the industry.]”
Hard-won thrills
On top of personal growth opportunities,
participants also enjoy the notoriety
that competitions can bring. “From
my perspective now, having done the
competitions and having my own
businesses, it certainly has given me
a boost of credibility throughout the
industry, but it has also given me a
boost economically because people
want you to come and speak about
these things,” says Gavin Kaysen, chef
and owner of Minneapolis restaurants
Spoon and Stable and Bellecour, who
has competed in national and international
contests, including Bocuse d’Or,
where he has served as coach for Team
USA and now serves as VP of the board
of directors for ment’or, formerly The
Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation.
“Absolutely, being involved in barbecue
contests has helped our restaurants,”
says Melissa Cookston of
Memphis Barbecue Co. in Mississippi,
Georgia, and North Carolina and
STEAK in Mississippi. She has competed
in hundreds of barbecue competitions
for more than 20 years. “The
acclaim you can generate by winning
a ‘major’ is something you physically
can’t buy. It’s not something you can
plan on, but if you can make it happen
it’s an awesome thing,” Cookston
says. She would know; she’s been the
World Championship Barbecue Cooking
Contest’s grand champion two
times and the whole-hog champion
five times. What drives her to compete?
Beyond the thrill of the fight,
Cookston notes that it is the memories
made while cooking a hog for 24
hours that keep her coming back for
Path to the Podium
Winners offer advice to newbie
competitors.
OVER-PREPARE
“Because the minute you step
into a new environment, anything
can happen.”
— REBECKA EVANS, 2017 BACON
WORLD CHAMPION AT WFC
BE TRUE TO YOURSELF
“I always ask, ‘Would you cook
this dish for me if I came into your
restaurant?’ Typically, the answer
is ‘no.’ Then why are you going to
do it for a competition?”
— KAYSEN
FOCUS ON THE FLAVOR
“People win these competitions
because their food tastes great.
Obviously, the presentation and
the technique have to be spot
on, but you’ll see plates come
through and you’ll get excited
about it, then realize that it lacks
the substance beneath. Taste
your food over and over again.”
— TESSIER
FEEDBACK IS KEY
“There are some chefs that go
into competition and they are
very prideful about their food,
which sometimes is a good thing,
but most of the time it is not
[because] they won’t ask for a
critique or opinions from others
from the outside. Be open to
positive criticism; that is the best
way to evolve your food.”
— NITAHARA
LEARN FROM MISTAKES
“You know how I learned to
become a good whole hog cook?
By getting my butt kicked, then
going over what was good and
bad about that particular hog,
and then trying to fix the bad
things.” — COOKSTON
FOODNEWSFEED.COM APRIL 2018 41

COMPETITIONS
Lauren
Sponberg
pourS the
SponSor’S
beverage,
Lucid
abSinthe.
Shaun MegLen StrainS
hiS roxy rouge cocktaiL.
‘‘
The goal of the Cocktail Classique
is to educate bartenders about
the use of authentic absinthes in
contemporary mixology.”
Keri Meuret, Hood RiveR distilleRs
more. “We sit around, we talk. It’s about
the experience, and so much more than
the food and the win,” she says.
Getting to the winner’s circle, however,
does not come without sacrifice.
“Nothing good is ever easy. You have to
be humble, willing to learn from your
mistakes, and always keep a focus on
improving,” Cookston says.
Nitahara—whose mentor told him,
“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect
practice makes perfect,”—dedicates
somewhere between 90 and 140 hours
of practice before an ACF competition,
mimicking every step of the competition
from kitchen organization to cleanup.
“I don’t really want to go into it unless I
have a chance at winning the gold,” he
says of his prep motivation.
Bocuse d’Or participants dedicate an
entire year to preparing for the event,
with coaches dedicating almost two.
“There’s a lot of sacrifice and time that
it takes to do it right,” says Tessier, who
has served in both roles.
Motivations aside, participants overwhelmingly
say competitions are good
for the industry. “I think competition is
always good, whether you’re in a cooking
arena or [your competition] is across
the street,” Kaysen says.
Sponsors’ gain
Competitions, though, are not just for
the betterment of the competitors. To
fund such massive events, organizers
need sponsors. And sponsors, in return,
get a sweet deal: access to hospitality
professionals in an authentic way during
meaningful moments in their careers.
The stakes are high, and if a certain can
of tomatoes helps a chef succeed in a
national food competition, then that
chef might be more likely to lean on that
product in the future.
“Competitions allow us to create an
experience with a chef that’s unique,”
says Becca Yeagy, who is the territory
sales manager for Red Gold and
works with the tomato product company’s
corporate sponsorships. 2018
will be the company’s third year as a
sponsor at the World Food Championships
(wfc) in Alabama. Previously,
Red Gold has sponsored WFC categories,
like the World Sandwich Championship,
which requires competitors
use one of the brand’s products in the
judged dish. Red Gold also has placement
in each competitor’s pantry, as
well as a booth at the Tasting Village
to connect with customers coming to
watch the showdowns.
“[Chefs are at the WFC] and they’re
experiencing our products while
attempting to win $10,000–$100,000.
If they perform well and rely on our
product to do so, they’re more likely to
take that product home with them to
Jessica Fradono PhotograPhy
42 aPril 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

COMPETITIONS
LUCID COCKTAIL
CLASSIQUE
COMPETITOR,
CHRIS MORRIS,
PUTS THE FINAL
TOUCHES ON HIS
SOGNI D’ORO
COCKTAIL, WHICH
EARNED HIM THE
CHAMPIONSHIP
IN AUSTIN IN 2017.
FOODNEWSFEED.COM APRIL 2018 43

COMPETITIONS
A pAnel of
judges score
the opening
round
dishes for
the cowboy
chArcoAl’s
fire & ice
women’s
bArbeque
series
chAmpionship
At wfc.
A smokin’
wfc entry.
‘‘
At the WFC, which is open to the public,
Red Gold can reach customers from
both the retail and foodservice spheres.”
Becca Yeagy, Red Gold
the world bAcon
cAtegory’s quiche
structure build At wfc.
wfc’s cherferees
oversee All of the
Action in kitchen
ArenA to ensure
A fAir food fight.
World Food Championships
home cook kim bAnick from sAlem, oregon,
took home the world seAfood chAmpionship
with her AlAbAmA crAwfish thAi bowl with
coconut gulf shrimp.
44 April 2018 FoodnEWsFEEd.Com

their businesses,” Yeagy says. The format
works so well, in fact, that Yeagy
and her team have entered a multi-year
agreement with the WFC and are looking
to get involved with more competitions
on the regional level.
Similarly, Lucid Absinthe Supérieure
sponsors the Lucid Cocktail Classique
competition with the USBG to connect
with leaders in the bartending world.
“The goal of the Cocktail Classique is
to educate bartenders about the use of
authentic absinthes in contemporary
mixology,” says Keri Meuret, marketing
brand manager at Hood River Distillers.
Once a core ingredient, absinthe lost
traction in the U.S. after being banned
for 95 years; the ban was only recently
repealed in 2007.
“The Cocktail Classique is a way to
excite working bartenders about authentic
absinthes and to encourage them to
experiment and find innovative ways
to accent the botanicals at the heart of
this wildly versatile spirit,” Meuret says.
“Over the years, the competition has
enabled us to build a cadre of bartenders
in key markets with whom we have
established a personal relationship.” In
those relationships, Lucid acts to break
down the taboo surrounding its product
and, hopefully, gain loyal customers
along the way.
and beverage industries forward.
“The mission of [USBG] is to unite the
hospitality community and to advance
professional bartending,” Smith says.
Competitions, which have been a part
of the USBG since inception, help the
organization achieve this goal by bringing
bartenders from all over the country
with specific interests together to share
in this educational experience. “Communities
grow and form around that,”
he says. And the nature of the competition
helps to achieve the “advancement
of professional bartending” aspect of
USBG’s mission, in the opportunity to
test one’s skills against other leaders in
the field and then gather feedback to
learn and grow as a professional.
“Competitions are how we get a lot
of our members; it’s one of our primary
outreach programs that we organize
nationally,” Smith says. “A lot of successful
people in the industry have filled
their networks through those opportunities.”
Similarly, the mission of the ment’or
foundation supporting Bocuse d’Or
Team USA is to inspire and promote
young American chefs utilizing programs
that identify and showcase their
culinary talent. Young Yun, executive
director of ment’or, says competitions
within the organization like the Young
Looking to organize your own competition?
CheCk out 7 things to know Before starting a food or Beverage
Competition on Foodnewsfeed.com/readySetcompete.
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Competitions offer participants personal
feedback to enhance their skills, as well
as opportunity to expand their networks
and bask in the fame of glory—if they
are so lucky. Sponsors get to buddy up
with their target audiences, teaching
them about their products and forming
meaningful memories with them. And
organizers, too—like the USBG, ACF,
ment’or, and WFC—fulfill their missions
to support their networks of professionals
in a way that propels the food
Chef and Commis programs and the
international competition—Bocuse
d’Or—help the organization achieve its
mission by highlighting the art of cooking
and providing young chefs with the
tools to succeed in today’s professional
landscape. “Naturally, everyone wants
to win in a competition, but what I have
observed is how competitions also bring
everyone together to celebrate and
honor tradition [and] the craft of cooking.
[They] have become a global community
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FOODNEWSFEED.cOm April 2018 45

MIDDLE EASTERN CUISINE
TRAVERSING
Breadbasket
CIVILIZATION’S
Middle Eastern cuisine shows its range BY MAGGIE HENNESSY
46 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

MIDDLE EASTERN CUISINE
THINKSTOCK
RIPE OLIVES, FRESH
CHEESES, AND
CREAMY HUMMUS ARE
ONLY THE BEGINNING
OF A CUISINE THAT
SPANS A CULTURALLY
RICH REGION.
FOODNEWSFEED.COM APRIL 2018 47

Middle eastern Cuisine
Our love affair with the Holy Land
You can’t talk about the rise of Middle
Eastern cuisine in the U.S. without
Israel—a country scarcely 70 years old
and about the size of New Jersey whose
complex, magnetic food has taken Americans
by storm.
A young nation of immigrants, Israel
encompasses the culinary traditions of
more than 100 cultures that have been
in the country and neighboring Palestine
or moved back from the diaspora
to modern-day Israel. This includes a
considerable Arab minority, along with
populations from Iran, Russia, Hungary,
Morocco, Jordan, Iraq, and other countries.
There are Jewish culinary considerations,
too, of keeping kosher—though
Israeli cooking isn’t always synonymous
with kosher cooking, particularly in secular
places like Tel Aviv.
Buzzy Israeli concepts are popping
up all over the U.S. At Los Angeles’ Mh
Zh, patrons brave long lines for the sigbright,
fresh, and pickled vegetables alongside grilled meats are a
hallmark of meals throughout egypt, israel, syria, and iran ,to name a few.
A
group of countries spanning
from North Africa to
Asia, the Middle East is at
the crossroads of rich cultures,
fallen empires, and centuries of
migration. It encompasses wide-ranging
geographies, from vast, empty deserts to
lush countrysides, long coastlines, and
rocky mountains. From Egypt to Lebanon
to Iran, you’ll find overlap in dishes
like tabbouleh, pilaf, and hummus, yet
heavily regional differences within each.
To paraphrase celebrated Middle Eastern
food writer Claudia Roden in the
classic New Book of Middle Eastern Food,
the history of Middle Eastern food and
the Middle East are one and the same.
“Dishes carry the triumphs and glories,
the defeats, the loves and sorrows of the
past,” she says in the book.
Cook N Solo ReStauRaNtS
ilili
These diverse cuisines are no longer
relegated to blanket descriptors like Middle
Eastern or Mediterranean, as more
U.S. operators explicitly bill themselves
as Lebanese, Persian, Armenian, and
Israeli. In the process, Americans are
waking up to the deep nuances of this
aromatic, wholesome, vegetable-heavy
food, whose origins lie with the start of
civilization.
“The American dining public is increasingly
primed to be excited about what’s
new and next,” says Steve Cook, the restaurateur/partner
of modern Israeli spot
Zahav in Philadelphia who cofounded
the CookNSolo restaurant group with
chef Michael Solomonov. “There’s a sense
of adventurousness among diners now
that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Whether
that’s regional Thai, Malaysian, or Israeli,
there’s a much greater acceptance to try
something authentic.”
He likens Middle Eastern cuisine’s
trajectory to that of Italian in U.S. restaurants
in the 1980s, when generic redsauce
joints started giving way to more
regionally specialized concepts like Sicilian
and Tuscan, reflecting growing consumer
interest in authenticity.
48 apRil 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

Middle eastern Cuisine
nature funky ground lamb in a puddle of
tahini imbued with sumac and preserved
lemon. In New York, Tel Aviv celebrity
chef Meir Adoni’s Nur restaurant
nods to Israel’s Palestinian influences
via hand-cut beef tartare with smoked
eggplant cream, raw tahini, and sheep’s
yogurt. And at Zahav, Solomonov turns
Philadelphians onto street-food staples
like sabich, a pita sandwich with hardboiled
eggs and fried eggplant developed
by Iraqi Jews in Israel.
To say Zahav has gotten a lot of attention
would be a massive understatement;
the 10-year-old spot has nabbed top
accolades from Bon Appétit, Esquire, and
Eater, and remains one of Philly’s toughest
reservations. But when Solomonov
and Cook opened in 2008 on a nondescript
street in the Society Hill neighborhood,
“nobody was really talking about
Israeli cuisine,” Cook says. “People always
equated Israeli food with Middle Eastern,
and that was pretty much everything
they knew about it.”
Bringing hummus to the white
tablecloth
Despite shifting early toward more
approachable food, Zahav is a decidedly
upscale dining experience—with craft
cocktails and a strong focus on service
in a cool, loft-like space with an open
kitchen, leather booth seating, and dim
pendant lights. Cook says they had to
actively push back against a casual perception,
trading graphic T-shirts for
more formal staff uniforms.
It’s a challenge familiar to many Middle
Eastern concepts looking to divorce
themselves from the fast-casual, buildyour-own
bowl/sandwich image so many
Americans have cultivated of Middle
Eastern fare. In Chicago, 48-year-old
Armenian stalwart Sayat Nova has consistently
fought against the stereotype
that ethnic restaurants should be cheap.
“Middle Eastern food went on the
path of fast food and stayed with it,”
says chef/owner Roupen Demirdjian,
whose late father, Arsen, opened Sayat
Nova in 1970. “I think they just want to
attract the masses. We’re a little more of
an upscale, white-tablecloth restaurant.
Michael Persico
a family-style feast at zahav often includes many mezes, such as hummus,
baba ganoush, green tahini, and fresh salads.
FOODNEWSFEED.cOm aPril 2018 49

MIDDLE EASTERN CUISINE
“If you’re trying to sell
something that’s relatively
unknown, if you describe
it as Middle Eastern food,
you’re covering a bigger
area. It’s a get-them-inthe-door
kind of thing.”
ROUPEN DEMIRDJIAN
Sayat Nova, Chicago
50 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

ShakShuka iS
perhapS the
moSt iconic of
iSraeli diSheS.
Michael Persico
It’s troublesome, because people say, ‘I can get hummus and
lentil soup at this place down the street for very cheap.’ And
I’m like, ‘Well, yeah, but I go looking for the best chickpeas,
the best tahini, and best red lentils I can find.’”
Demirdjian’s family hails from the Adana region of Turkey,
near the Syrian border. It’s an area Armenian communities
called home for thousands of years as part of the
Ottoman Empire, until the Turkish-Armenian conflict of
the late 19th century resulted in the deportation and massacre
of roughly 1.5 million Armenians in 1918. Now just
50,000–70,000 Armenian Turks remain, and many call
Istanbul home.
Sayat Nova’s interpretation of Armenian cuisine thus
betrays strong Levant influences. Cracked wheat tabbouleh
salad is juicier than its herb-centric Lebanese sibling,
thanks to a heavy dose of tomato and lemon juice. And
everything from delicate lamb, beef, and chicken kebabs to
lamb-stuffed grape leaves is tinged with peppery spice. “That
comes from being in the middle of spice trade routes for centuries,”
Demirdjian says of being at the crossroads of western
Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and northeast Africa.
Even 48 years after Sayat Nova opened, Chicagoland
restaurants billing themselves as Armenian remain scarce;
Demirdjian could only recall fast-casual Siunik in north
suburb Glenview and full-service Ararat in Mundelein, Illinois.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t Armenian cooking
happening in the countless Middle Eastern–labeled spots
throughout the area.
“If you’re trying to sell something that’s relatively
unknown, if you describe it as Middle Eastern food, you’re
covering a bigger area,” he says. “It’s a get-them-in-the-door
kind of thing. Even in L.A., where there are a ton of Armenians,
they call their restaurants Middle Eastern. I never
did. I didn’t want to.”
Lightening up
Lebanese cuisine has long enjoyed a fairly high profile stateside,
which Philippe Massoud, executive chef and CEO of
ilili in New York, attributes to widespread Lebanese diaspora,
resulting both from catastrophe and exploration. The
19th century saw especially strong concentrations of Lebanese
people migrating to North and South America.
Lebanon was under control of the Ottoman Empire until
World War I, after which it was colonized by the French and
saw American troops in the 1950s and ’80s, though it’s been
formally independent since 1943.
To understand Lebanese cuisine, one has to understand,
beyond the nation’s contentious political and cultural history,
its geography and agriculture. Lebanon is one of the
few countries in the region that has four seasons, abundant
water, and a multitude of microclimates. “Things are
greener and there’s a lot of citrus, so flavors and ingredients
are allowed to have their natural presence on plate rather
than being over-seasoned or over-pickled,” Massoud says.
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MIDDLE EASTERN CUISINE
“These days, more
people are realizing that
Persian food is simple,
healthy, and delicious.
I think that is why it is
becoming popular.”
SHAWN SALOOT,
Darya Restaurant, Los Angeles
THINKSTOCK
52 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

Wealthy families might slaughter a goat
once a month, but the majority of people
eat primarily vegetarian—vegetable
stews and a variety of hot and cold
mezze.
Massoud opened fine-dining ilili in
Manhattan’s Flatiron district in 2008
as an answer to the success of high-end
Japanese spots Nobu and Zuma. “What
they did to Asian cuisine, we hope to
achieve with Levantine cuisine,” he says.
Ilili’s herbaceous, lightly dressed tabbouleh
reflects the region’s abundance,
while the hummus is almost theological
in its ratios: “Just soft enough to
maintain the integrity of the chickpea,
just nutty enough to give the flavor of
tahini, and just lemony enough for a hint
of acidity when you drizzle it with olive
oil and scoop it up with pita,” Massoud
says. “It took a while for people to appreciate
what we consider the real deal.”
What’s pervasive across the menu is
a purposeful lightness to entice people
to come back, which Massoud achieved
through reducing the fat, oil, and salt.
“I wanted people to come and have an
orgy of food and still be able to go dancing,”
he says.
Tasting Tehrangeles
About half of the country’s Iranian population
lives in Los Angeles, according to
U.S. Census data. The region’s diaspora
has been lovingly dubbed Tehrangeles.
Yet for a long time, residents’ exposure
to the cuisine was largely via sandwich
shops and kebab houses, like shoeboxsized
Attari and beloved strip-mall storefront
It’s All Good House of Kabob.
“These days, more people are realizing
that Persian food is simple, healthy, and
delicious,” says Shawn Saloot, partner of
stalwart Darya Restaurant in Orange
County and West Los Angeles. “I think
that is why it is becoming popular.”
Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest
continuous major civilizations, with
historical and urban settlements dating
back to 7,000 B.C. Once a major empire,
the country has endured invasions by
the Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols—
though it’s reasserted its national identity
throughout the centuries. Historical
interactions with neighboring regions
have undoubtedly affected the cuisine,
though, with Caucasian, Levantine,
Greek, Central Asian, Russian, and Turkish
gastronomy all leaving their mark.
“Persian food originated from different
parts of Iran, each with their own
specific and unique culture and geography,
such as the Caspian Sea whitefish
with herb rice,” Saloot says. “But
let me tell you something, Persian food
is not spicy at all.” Rather, he says, it’s
more often tinged with aromatic saffron,
turmeric, and cinnamon. Grilled meat
is often the centerpiece, with rice and
bread being staples of every Persian table.
Saloot opened Darya with his brother
Ali Saloot in 1985, opting for old-school
elegance via chandeliers, Victorian décor,
and an ambitious menu of traditional
Persian meats, stews, and rice dishes.
They opened a second outpost in Santa
Monica 10 years later.
The Saloots draw from Southern
California’s agricultural abundance to
faithfully re-create classic dishes, such
as kashke bademjan, with sauteed eggplant
mixed with yogurt, fried garlic,
turmeric, fried onion, and topped with
sautéed mint, garlic, and kashk (whey
sauce). Their famous tahdig, or crispy
rice from the bottom of the pot, is
heaped with Fesenjan stew, made from
slow-boiled chicken in a sauce of evenslower-cooked
pomegranate and ground
walnuts. Homespun touches permeate
Juicy Chicken—a kebab made from
chicken-breast medallions marinated
overnight in lemon juice, saffron, corn
oil, salt, and pepper, then charbroiled—
which was so named by Saloot’s then-7-
year-old son.
Yet even as the landscape has grown
more crowded with spots like stylish
Flame and Iranian-American Cafe
Glacé doling out lamb tahchin—saffron
rice cakes—and Persian gyros, Darya
remains true to the Saloot’s Iran for 33
years and counting.
“I cannot change the traditional Iranian
food,” Saloot says. “We have only
tried to keep its standard the highest
possible by using fresh and quality ingredients.”
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FOODNEWSFEED.cOm April 2018 53

SUNDA,
CHICAGO
REAL ESTATE
Getting Real About
Real Estate
BY AMANDA BALTAZAR
54 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

Choosing a
new location
in another city
or another
state takes
much more
than the old
adage ‘location,
location,
location.’
Rockit Ranch PRoductions
Billy Dec gets easily exciteD
about new locations and
puts everything into finding
the right spots for his
restaurants. The CEO and
founder of Rockit Ranch
Productions is making his
first forays out of Chicago,
where he has three restaurants,
to open a second location
of his concept, Sunda,
in Nashville this spring.
Many factors have gone
into the site selection, but
for Dec, “it simply comes
down to whether or not a
particular location is one I’m
dying to be in. To know if
it’s the right fit for our concept,
I have to love the people,
culture, environment,
beauty, potential. It has to
invigorate, excite, motivate,
and hype me up to deliver
our best product at the
highest level.”
Rockit Ranch PRoductions
Sunda,
FoodnEWSFEEd.Com
ChiCago
aPRil 2018 55

REAL ESTATE
To dig down deep with that, Dec has
been immersing himself into Nashville
for the past seven years. Beyond understanding
what makes a city tick, Dec
says, he also looked at Nashville more
scientifically, examining parameters
such as population growth, proximity
to targeted demographic, lack of competition,
and strategic local partners.
The AinsworTh
“To know if it’s the right fit for our concept, I have
to love the people, culture, environment, beauty,
potential. It has to invigorate, excite, motivate,
and hype me up to deliver our best product at the
highest level.” —Billy Dec, CEO & fOunDEr, rOCkit ranCh
The AinsworTh
Ainsworth,
newArk, nJ
Ainsworth,
new York CitY
The Golden rule
Golden Corral uses technology to hone
its site-selection process. The Raleigh,
North Carolina–based chain, which has
around 500 restaurants across the U.S.,
uses PopStats and Experian for demographic
information. It also uses a demographic
platform, Intalytics, for its major
analysis. “We have a pretty sophisticated
way of looking at this,” says senior vice
president of development Dave Conklin.
After this, the concept researches the
market. A high-density market is essential,
Conklin says, since high-frequency
users visit the restaurants as many as 80
times a year. For a large location, he looks
for 110,000 people within a 15-minute
driving radius and around 31,000 cars
passing daily. “Our preference is highway
exposure, and if we can’t have that,
we want the busiest street,” Conklin says.
The chain is not averse to small
locations, either. For these, it looks
for 70,000 people within 20 minutes,
21,000 cars passing daily, and 18,000
employees nearby. “That employee population
really drives your lunchtime business—we
survive on multiple dayparts.”
Conklin also looks at which bigbox
retailers, such as Home Depot and
Walmart, are nearby because they generate
traffic. “We also look at areas that
have positive growth—at eating and
drinking sales, as well as retail sales,”
he says. “This shows the health of the
market.”
A change that Golden Corral made in
recent years is a move into in-line and
end-cap locations. “Freestanding restau-
56 April 2018 FooDnewsFeeD.Com

REAL ESTATE
Paige HosPitality grouP
Southampon
SoCial Club,
Southampton, nY
121 Fulton
Street,
new York CitY
Paige HosPitality grouP
FooDnewSFeeD.Com aPril 2018 57

REAL ESTATE
Mr. PurPle,
New York CiTY
Gerber Group
The ChesTer,
New York CiTY
paiGe Hospitality Group
58 April 2018 FooDNewsFeeD.CoM

REAL ESTATE
rants will always be our bread and butter,
but changing market conditions, such as
increasing development costs and different
demands from consumers, have
resulted in us looking at different locations,”
Conklin says. In seeking in-line
and end-cap locations, the chain tries
to secure sites that have great visibility
from the street, pylon signage, great
access, and plenty of parking.
The imporTance
of siTe visiTs
Buffalo Wings & Rings also relies on science,
but takes a very hybrid approach
when selecting new locations, says Philip
Schram, chief development officer of the
Cincinnati, Ohio–based company, which
has 56 locations across the country.
The brand turns to data-mining companies
such as eSite Analytics. “They can
tell you who lives nearby, who works
nearby, and who are the customers,” Schram
says. “Therefore, we can understand
if our restaurants would fit.”
If a site’s approved, a team visits it
to look at a number of factors, but primary
among them are traffic, visibility,
and a vibrant trade area. It also looks at
the demographics. As a sports bar, the
company wants to be in an upper-bluecollar
or middle-white-collar area.
Schram has learned his lesson about
site visits and knows they’re non-negotiable.
He once skipped a Texas site visit
and didn’t realize the location was only
accessible from one side of the freeway.
“So, theoretically, while we have access to
a huge population, we actually only have
access to half of it.” The site was also halfway
between two vibrant trade areas and
three miles from most houses, which is
too far. This location, he says, has struggled
since it first opened.
Paige Hospitality Group is making
its first forays out of the New York City
region and expanding its brand, The Ainsworth,
to Kansas City in January, Nashville
in April, and Philadelphia this summer.
How To Choose
Your Next Location
GeT booTs on The Ground
Nothing stands in the place of getting to know the area
firsthand
harness TechnoloGy
Use digital analytics to gather demographics, traffic
numbers, and population stats
learn from peers
Look at who else has located nearby and notice if there
other anchors like big-box stores to draw customers in
examine The GrowTh
The rate of eating and drinking sales says a lot about the
health of the market
FLickr - Wu HaoxiaNg
FOODNEWSFEED.COm apriL 2018 59

REAL ESTATE
CEO Matt Shendell says three things
were important in the city selection: a
loyal sports fan base, an emerging food
and beverage scene, and a location
with plenty of New York transplants,
“because then you have brand recognition,”
he says. Once he decided to expand
out of the Big Apple, he made a list of all
the cities that touched all those points.
He then hired brokers who visited those
cities, and a team from the restaurant
group visited them based on the findings.
For real estate, Paige Hospitality
Group looked for nighttime traffic, Sunday
football traffic, and corporate happy
hour visitors. Shendell says he also looks
at whether there are other competing
businesses in the area and whether they
are doing well. Disposable income is also
a good indicator, he says, because the restaurant
needs to be near people who are
able to afford dining out. Plus, he shoots
for locations that have a good mix of residential
and commercial business, which
brings business at different times.
Howard Cannon is the president of
the consulting firm Restaurant Expert
Witness in Birmingham, Alabama. He
“You should never
compromise who
you are, what your
brand identity is, or
what your needs are.”
Billy Dec
CEO & fOunDEr,
rOCkit ranCh
says that when selecting a site, operators
need to check one of two boxes: either on
a busy street or far from it. And there’s
no middle ground between them, he says.
The former will have high rent, but also
a lot of traffic passing its doors; the latter
will have low rent but will require a
lot of marketing dollars to advertise its
presence. “You have to pick your poison,”
Cannon says.
The ideal building
Dec says he doesn’t really mind what
a building’s history is, since the world
moves at such a fast pace and circumstances
change. “Though in cases where
there has been a string of failures, I’d
watch out,” he says of leasing an existing
building.
Buffalo Wings & Rings opts for a mixture
of leased buildings and new builds
when opening a new location. “When
you build from scratch, there are no surprises,”
Schram says, “and when I do a
conversion, we often end up changing
80 percent or 90 percent of the restau-
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60 April 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

REAL ESTATE
rant, which doesn’t lead to any savings.”
Some franchisees, he says, view
the building as their 401(K) and want
to own the real estate, but often these
buildings are a liability instead of an
asset, “especially if the trade area moves
or the branding changes a lot,” Schram
says. “So you can end up stuck with a
building.”
Paige Hospitality Group’s Shendell
prefers to find sites that have held restaurants
previously, he says, “so all the
heavy lifting has been done for us.” Otherwise,
he explains, “there’s a lot more to
worry about and it takes about 20 percent
longer to open.” It’s also often more
expensive, too.
He seeks buildings that are 20–35
percent below market price on the
rent per square foot. He also looks at
the cost of build-outs he’ll have to do,
and at the Tenant Improvement Allowance,
which is the amount landlords will
spend so the restaurant can build out
the space.
LandLord considerations
As a former real estate broker, Scott
Gerber is pretty savvy when it comes
to selecting buildings for the 10 restaurants
in the portfolio of his New York
City–based The Gerber Group, nine of
which are in hotels.
First, if the site has had several
failed restaurants in it previously, he’s
not interested because there’s a stigma
to the location, he says. But there’s an
advantage in going into a space that a
single restaurant has previously occupied:
It typically has a lot of the infrastructure
he needs. Most important with
the building is the condition it’s in and
the ease of making any changes, he says.
The landlord is also of vital importance.
It’s important to research that person’s
reputation and how easy he is to
work with. “Inevitably, something comes
up that we haven’t thought of that’s not
outlined in the lease,” Gerber says. “So
having a good relationship can make
that easier.” If a restaurant was previously
in the location, ask its operators
about working with the landlord.
“Make sure the negotiation is a good
deal for both sides and only a little bit
painful for either of you,” Gerber adds.
“If I’ve made it too painful for the landlord,
then when I have to ask for something
that’s not in the lease, he’s going
to stick it to me.”
Above all, Dec says, one of the most
important things to consider in site
selection is making sure it fits the brand,
and that it’s not about a landlord’s deal
or city’s attraction.
“You should never compromise who
you are, what your brand identity is, or
what your needs are,” he says.
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FOODNEWSFEED.cOm April 2018 61

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Trending on the Menu
April 2018 // Chef Tools
ThinksToCk
The righT kiTchen gear
can help resTauranTs
balance all of Their
compeTing demands.
Tools of
the Trade
Advanced kitchen
equipment can help chefs
save money and boost the
productivity of their teams.
sTory // 64
Enhanced Efficiency
daTa // 68
By the Numbers
FOODNEWSFEED.cOm SpONSOrED CONTENT | April 2018 63

Trending on The menu // Chef Tools
HigH-TeCH ovens
make iT easy To Train
new employees,
save Time, and
improve produCT
ConsisTenCy.
TurboCHef
Enhanced Efficiency
High-tech devices and equipment save chefs time and money. By Peggy CarouThers
Today, pressure on restaurant leaders
is immense. From increasing
labor costs and a shrinking labor
pool to growing competition for customers
and a more demanding public,
there are numerous reason why chefs
and their kitchens are being tasked with
doing more with less. As a result, kitchen
tools that make the lives of chefs and
cooks easier are becoming a critical part
of operations.
“Restaurants have to continually reinvent
themselves and provide offerings
to an ever-changing customer demographic,”
says Dave Shave, vice president
of global sales and marketing at
TurboChef. “Given that expanding the
restaurant footprint or adding new locations
is not always an option, the need
for new equipment that can deliver new
menu options and expand revenue by
providing a high quality delivery solutions
is key. This equipment needs to
focus on being energy efficient, easy to
operate, and reliable.”
Installing tools that save space and
costs are great first step in making kitchens
more efficient. Ventless ovens, for
example, have lower upfront installation
costs than traditional ovens with
hoods, and they also reduce ongoing utility
costs. This means that restaurants
will receive ongoing benefits throughout
the life of the oven.
Equipment that also ensures food is
cooked consistently also offers big benefits
to the kitchen. “Induction delivery
systems can also help ensure that food
reaches customers at the best temperature
and consistency,” Shave says. This
can save cooks time and help managers
ensure quality dishes are being served.
Other tools can reduce strain from
the kitchen and make training new
cooks simpler. For example, food pro-
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pRoCessoR Can help
ReduCe kiTChen sTRain.
cessors help reduce prep time and create
more consistent menu items, says
Kevin Keith, national project manager at
Robot Coupe. “Never lose focus on basic
knife skills, but do understand there are
so many options with food processors to
make a kitchen run even more efficiently
and save both time and labor,” he says.
“By performing time-consuming tasks,
such as food prep, for them, the chefs
are now able to become more creative
and focus on other restaurant functions.”
Though it may not seem as glamorous
as high-tech equipment, storage systems
can be generate valuable cost savings.
“Storing and the smart handling of
food products to extend their shelf life
is one way to control costs,” says Patricia
Guerrero, a senior marketing manager
at Cambro. “This point is particularly
important for facilities that work
with a lot of fresh produce and other perishable
products. Making fresh produce
last for an additional two or three days
could help save hundreds or even thousands
of dollars per month.”
Even for restaurants that aren’t ready
to in large systems right away, starting
with a single new tool can still offer big
benefits, Guerrero says. “Implementing
use of just one type of product, a commercial-grade
storage container or food
pan with a sealing cover, is enough to
produce savings by itself, but combining
several creative solutions will always
have the most significant impact,” she
says. “Consistency, efficiency, and management
in every step of the operator
process, from ordering items to storing
and preserving them to preparing and
serving them, are the details that produce
successful businesses despite the
variables involved in food service.”
The Kitchen of the Future
Over the last decade, the speed of technological
growth has revolutionized life
outside the kitchen, and in the last few
years, it has been doing the same inside.
This speed of change, however, is only
growing, and restaurants can expect to
find new tools in their kitchens soon.
With the tremendous growth of
mobile technology, for example, it is
no surprise that it has already started
to cross into the realm of guest experience
and inventory control. “Connectivity
is becoming a key element in the
equipment space,” Shave says. “We have
seen over the past couple of years how
ordering has changed in this space with
mobile ordering now commonplace.”
But as these mobile technology
advances, it is also crossing into the
kitchen. “Integrating the equipment into
the ordering system to stage and streamline
the cooking process is the next step,”
Shave says. Additionally, he notes that
the new ability for equipment to alert
management when service is required
means that equipment has more up time
and can generate more sales.
Much like mobile, as new technology
revolutionizes other industries,
restaurants can expect these hightech
solutions to enter kitchens soon,
too. Datassential reports that 81 percent
of consumers believe science can
have a positive impact on food, and
research shows that many consumers
are interested in trying food prepared
with advanced techniques. For example,
33 percent of Gen Z and 31 percent
of millennial diners are interested in 3-D
printed foods, which could help further
reduce kitchen strain.
Machine learning is another way
technology may soon enter kitchens.
This technology could help chefs choose
new ideas, dishes, and ingredients to
explore and help them plan for shifts in
consumer demand and industry changes.
Datassential is already launching a new
machine-learning engine called Haiku
this year. This will help the company predict
food trends four years in advance
with 99.3 percent accuracy. These
resources are already available to chefs,
and as machine learning grows, these
kinds of tools could soon find their way
into individual kitchens.
Food and labor costs, customer
demands, and other pressures will keep
influencing the restaurant industry, and
as it shifts, kitchens will have to adapt to
new techniques and technologies to keep
up. By investing in the right tools, chefs
and their kitchens can become more efficient
and spend more time on the things
that matter most—serving good food.
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TRENDING ON THE MENU // Chef Tools
Tech Trends
TECH TRENDS IN THE KITCHEN: THE FUTURE IS HERE // COURTESY OF DATASSENTIAL
CONSIDER THIS: 81% of consumers believe science can have a positive impact on food. What are some ways this
can happen?
3-D PRINTING
• Could food printing be in the chef’s tool kit? In
2014, Barcelona-based Natural Machines produced
a 3-D food printer that could create many dishes
beyond just sweets. Currently, high-end kitchens
and foodservice operators are using the tool.
• 3-D printing technologies are printing foods
beyond confections, spanning everything from ravioli
to pizza and beyond.
• 33% of Gen Z and 31% of Millennials are interested
in trying 3-D printed foods
MACHINE LEARNING
• Machine learning tools could assist chefs in choosing
dishes, ingredients, and ideas for their menus.
• Datassential will be releasing a tool called Food
Studio this year, which harnesses the power of
machine learning to help chefs experiment with
and develop concepts with data on 1 million dishes,
flavors, and ingredients. Stay tuned!
• This year, Datassential will launch a new machine
learning engine called Haiku, which can forecast
food trends four years in advance with 99.3% directional
accuracy. A few predictions:
Trend Current Mac Stage 2017 Penetration 2021 Predicted Penetration Net Point Change % Change
Hard Root Beer Adoption 0.6% 1.1% +0.5% +80%
Ghost Pepper Adoption 1.2% 2.0% +0.8% +77%
Avocado Toast Adoption 1.6% 2.8% +1.2% +77%
Gose Inception 1.8% 3.2% +1.4% +76%
CELLULAR AGRICULTURE
• What is it? The production of agricultural products
from cell cultures within a laboratory. These products
are exactly or nearly the same as the original
product; the only difference is how they are made.
• 27% of consumers believe cellular agriculture foods
are better for your heath
THE CONCEPT OF CELLULAR AGRICULTURE IS
STILL BRAND-NEW TO CONSUMERS
While familiarity is stronger among tech enthusiasts,
younger generations, and foodies, there’s still quite a
way to go before cellular agriculture enters the mainstream
consciousness. But then again, it’s really all just
getting started…
FAMILIARITY WITH CELLULAR AGRICULTURE
TOTAL Foodies Tech Enthusiasts Gen Z + Millennials Gen X Boomers+
10% 19% 37% 26% 10% 4%
PLANT-BASED EATING Younger generations and foodies are leading the charge toward plant-based eating.
• Dairy // 16%
• Burgers // 14%
• Hot dogs / Sausages // 11%
• Ground meat // 10%
• Jerky // 10%
• Raw fish // 9%
• Shellfish // 9%
• Cold cuts // 9%
• Bacon // 8%
• Fish fillets // 8%
• Steak // 8%
65% OF CONSUMERS TODAY want plant-based alternatives at traditional grocery stores
68 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

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TRENDING ON THE MENU // Chef Tools
KITCHEN ROBOTICS
• Chefs need not worry! Consumers would prefer
robotic food and beverage preparation methods
to help with at-home cooking.
• Potentially, consumers prefer a human touch when
dining away from home because human care and
consideration in making their meals adds substantially
to the value of dining away from home.
• Interest in robotics as a part of life is growing and
will continue to flourish as technology integrates
itself into everyday life.
• Younger generations are the most welcoming to it
entering their lives.
CONSUMERS TODAY PREFER HUMAN
INTERACTION TO ROBOTS…
But the gap closes considerably with younger generations
and will likely continue to close as robots become
ubiquitous in everyday life.
Preference Total Gen Z + Millennials
Prefer Robots 14% 22%
Don’t Care Either Way 28% 26%
Prefer Humans 56% 47%
THE KITCHEN OF THE
FUTURE WILL INCLUDE
DEVICES THAT MAKE
COOKING EVEN MORE
EFFICIENT, SUCH AS 3-D
PRINTERS.
SHUTTERSTOCK
FOR FORWARD-THINKING CHEFS: How Consumers Feel About Futuristic Kitchen Technology
FUTURISTIC KITCHEN TECHNOLOGIES CONSUMERS WANT TO USE OR TRY
Technologies Total Gen Z Millennials Gen X Boomer Silent Gen
Back-of-the-House Robots 19% 29% 35% 18% 9% 0%
Interactive Food Prep Robots 19% 40% 34% 20% 8% 0%
3-D Printed Food 17% 33% 31% 15% 7% 1%
Lab-Grown Food 16% 27% 29% 19% 5% 2%
70 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

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FOODNEWSFEED.COM APRIL 2018 71

Perspectives By Mary avant
An Oklahoma City Star on
the Rise
at just 33, restaurateur
rachel Cope has taken
OKC by storm with five
concepts that are making
a name for the region’s
budding food scene.
When Rachel cope finds a gap
in the market, her first instinct is to fill
it. And in the up-and-coming Oklahoma
City restaurant market, there have been
plenty of gaps to fill. After working frontof-house
and managerial positions in a
number of local restaurants during and
after college, Cope set out to create a concept
of her own, inspired by the famous
Home Slice Pizza in Austin, Texas.
“There wasn’t really anyone here
doing pizza by the slice,” Cope says of
her New York–style pizza joint, Empire
Slice House. The 4-year-old concept features
a menu of out-of-the-box pizzas,
from the Ghostface Killah—made with
ghost chili marinara, pepperoni, poblano,
and barbecue chips—to the Brussell
Westbrook, featuring bacon, caramelized
onions, Brussels sprouts, and
cherry pepper relish. The late-night spot
is also home to a full bar, creating a vibe
that’s hip, cool, and affordable, Cope says.
“We kind of pride ourselves on latenight
dining,” she adds. “Empire filled
the niche for a funky pizza place that’s
open late with a full bar that we definitely
had never seen in the state.”
Empire has become so popular and
profitable, in fact, that Cope was forced
to build a to-go outpost right next door
in 2017, known as Easy E Slice Shop. In
addition to offering pizza by the slice,
RestauRateuR Rachel cope’s collection of RestauRants Ranges fRom new YoRk–
style pizza at empire slice house to vegan ramen at gorō.
Easy E serves as the catering and commissary
kitchen for Empire, improving
speed and service for its pizza-loving
guests.
But before Easy E came a number
of other Cope-led concepts, the first
of which was Gorō Ramen. For years,
Cope’s chef friend Jeff Chanchaleune
operated a ramen truck in Oklahoma
City, until he and Cope dreamed up the
concept for a pop-up dinner series—
called Project Slurp—in a nearby brickand-mortar
spot. For an entire year, the
pair hosted dinners once a month, where
Chanchaleuene would whip up ramen
and other Japanese cuisine, while Cope
would experiment with fun cocktails
and drinks to pair with the food.
“Not only were we trying out Japanese
dishes and Asian dishes, we were also
testing our drinks,” Cope said. “That was
our way of testing this thought: Would
people come to a ramen shop enough to
support it and be successful?”
The answer: A resounding yes. After
selling out every dinner that year, the
duo opened Gorō Ramen in 2015 in
OKC’s Plaza District—one of only two
ramen shops in the city.
Next came Revolución, a tacos-andtequila
spot in the home of a former
auto garage. Despite the prevalence of
Tex-Mex concepts in the market, Cope
says the concept she was going for—one
that was modern and cool, with a nod
to more traditional Mexican cuisine—
was nowhere to be found. So, naturally,
she created it.
The same goes for Ponyboy, Cope’s
coffee shop by day and cocktail bar by
Chris NguyeN
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Perspectives
night. The concept—which was designed
to have a “very Oklahoma bar vibe”—
boasts a lineup of down-to-earth cocktails
at approachable prices. “Sometimes
with craft cocktails, there’s this
pretentiousness that comes along with
that, and we don’t do that,” she says.
“That’s not who we are.” Instead, Ponyboy
focuses on locally sourced, recognizable
ingredients and a level of service
that makes bar-goers feel right at home.
Under the 84 Hospitality Group
umbrella, Cope’s handful of concepts
each have distinct personalities and
offerings but share the same guest
experience, atmosphere, and friendly
price point. Each location also places an
emphasis on putting employees first—
a mission that became close to Cope’s
heart after noticing that turnover at her
restaurants was unusually high. “I’m in a
city where there’s only so many people to
choose from, so I started thinking, ‘How
do I eliminate people leaving? How can
I make them see that waiting tables is
not just temporary—that this could be
a career?’” she says.
She quickly found her answer after
hiring a chief cultural officer, Anthony
Dobey, late last year. Together, they
worked to put an employee incentive
program in place, in which they offer
the group’s more than 300 employees
the tools they need to not only grow in
their careers, but also to grow as people.
The program includes perks like $10
haircuts, gym memberships and discounted
yoga classes, free movies at the
local theater, and a partnership with a
nearby bank, where bank employees give
talks on such topics as building credit
and opening a savings account. As with
the greater restaurant industry, 84 Hospitality
Group attracts young employees,
who Cope says are roughly between
the ages of 17 and 28. “When I was that
age, I wish somebody would have taught
me what we’re trying to teach them now,”
she says.
Though exact figures aren’t available
yet, Cope estimates that 84 Hospitality’s
turnover rates have fallen by 25 percent
since enacting the incentive program. As
she points out, a restaurant’s employees
are its best advocates since they are the
ones interacting with the guests. Cope
wants that enthusiasm for the company
and the city to shine through.
Also crucial for Cope: continuing to
deliver on guests’ expectations for new
and exciting concepts. “Now we feel an
obligation—in a good way—to keep
bringing cool things here,” she says of
84 Hospitality’s role in the Oklahoma
City dining scene. “It feels really good for
people to say, ‘What are you guys going
to do next?’”
And although she has considered
branching outside OKC to put her stamp
on other markets across the country,
Cope remains dedicated to the restaurant
industry in her home state.
“I would love to do something somewhere
else,” she says. “But am I ready to
let go of what’s happening in the city and
put myself in another market and try to
drive it there? I don’t know. I just need to
finish what we started here.”
Chris NguyeN
Although cope is open to future expAnsion beyond oklAhomA city, she is committed to driving the mArket with unique
concepts like ponyboy (top right), which speciAlizes in locAl fAre, And revolución with tAcos And ceviche (bottom right).
74 April 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

Service By Kevin Hardy
A More Human Touch of Tech
restaurants continue
to streamline their
operations with new tech,
but never at the expense
of customer care.
Abuelo’s
Abuelo’s finds thAt the right bAlAnce of technology cAn enhAnce its
hospitAlity And menu, which includes dishes like the pork tenderloin AbrigAdA.
About four yeArs Ago, Abuelo’s
Mexican Restaurants installed tabletop
tablets. The Ziosk devices allow customers
to order drinks, appetizers, and
desserts without a server. They include
games for kids and empower customers
to settle their bill whenever they please,
without waiting for a ticket or handing
over a credit card.
“We did not cut the number of servers
because you still need to order the
entrées from the server,” says Bob Lin,
president of the Texas-based chain. “And
with our restaurants, there’s so much
customization we allow our guests, it’d
be impossible to do it through a tablet.
We think of ourselves as a casual-plus,
so having those touchpoints with the
guests is very important.”
Table-top ordering represents just
one step the chain has taken to integrate
technology across the operation.
It might seem that such products fit best
in limited-service restaurants, where
value, speed, and convenience are the
main drivers. But Lin says full-service
restaurants can find success going hightech,
too. And they can do it without sacrificing
hospitality—an important differentiator
for the full-service segment.
In fact, Lin believes some technology
can improve the human element of
service. Abuelo’s table-top devices allow
staff to spend more time with customers;
servers are freed up from running
to the table with the check, back to the
POS station, and then back to the table.
“That stuff just kind of goes away,” Lin
says. “There are always those occasions
where the guest is frustrated because
they’re ready to go and they can’t find
the person to ring them out. It’s a loselose
situation where we’re not turning
the table as fast as we can and the customer
is dissatisfied.”
Lin says customers have met the
change in stride, and they can still order
and pay directly with a server if they
choose. It’s a key consideration for those
guests who are uncomfortable with or
opposed to technology.
The Ziosk system also upgraded customer
satisfaction surveys with the
questionnaire prompt on the tablet. Previously,
the process relied on enticing
customers with coupons or freebies to
call in or visit a website to offer feedback.
Although Abuelo’s offers no customer
incentives with the new tablet-based surveys,
the response rate has been higher.
Plus, the system delivers granular results,
down to a specific employee or a recurring
issue.
“If an employee’s consistently getting
low marks in a particular area, then we
can counsel the employee,” Lin says. “Or,
if an employee is getting superior ratings
at every interaction, then there are
things we can do to reward the employee.
It’s very actionable data that we’re getting.”
As technology continues to reshape
the industry—with transformational
tools ranging from employee-schedul-
FOOdneWSFeed.cOm April 2018 75

Service
ing systems to inventory management
programs to digital ordering devices—
full-service restaurants are increasingly
rolling out customer-facing innovations
that mirror those sweeping across their
limited-service counterparts.
But technology can sometimes go
too far. TouchBistro founder and CEO
Alex Barrotti pointed to a restaurant
that invested deeply in table-top hologram
technology that projected a virtual
server in front of diners. The gizmo had
little utilitarian purpose and, he says,
that restaurant ultimately failed.
“If you implement technology for the
sake of technology, I think it’s always
the wrong approach,” he says. “Technology
should solve a problem or an issue.”
TouchBistro offers its POS system on
iPads, which can be used like traditional
mounted systems. Or, servers can take
the devices tableside—an option that
about 10 percent of customers choose.
Some restaurants are still wary of
customers balking at the iPads on the
table. Others worry that servers will
struggle to make eye contact, thus compromising
their service. But Barrotti says
most fears are unwarranted.
“I never see that,” Barrotti says. “It
takes less time to tap on one item than
to write down ‘chicken primavera’ or
‘chicken parmesan.’ … A lot of these are
misconceptions or stigmas that aren’t
really happening in the real world.”
On the iPad, TouchBistro’s app portrays
each diner as a different colored
chair around the table. Servers enter
orders directly by tapping the chair
images, which simplifies the bill-splitting
process. It also speeds up service
since orders for drinks or appetizers are
transmitted instantly to the kitchen or
bar, even as the server is still moving
around a table. The system can decrease
errors by avoiding penmanship issues.
And it automatically prompts questions
about side dishes or meat temperatures,
avoiding those awkward trips back to
the table.
“There are less errors. There’s no transcribing
at all. You’re taking the order
right from the customer’s mouth and
putting it into the computer,” says Brian
Firenze, co-owner of Baltimore’s Ristorante
Firenze. The upscale Italian restaurant
has used TouchBistro’s tableside
option since it opened three years ago.
“To most of the public now, the presence
of an iPad is not that bizarre. Everybody
has them. In fact, just about every child
that comes in has one.”
He adds that his only concern was the
longevity of the devices. After all, tablets
were not designed to be commercialgrade,
which could make them vulnerable
in foodservice environments.
Durable cases and a few replacement
tablets over the years have assuaged
those fears. While Firenze believes the
tablets make the operation more efficient,
they are no replacement for great
customer service. All the basics—smiling,
eye contact, and treating customers
well—still apply.
“This certainly does not replace
human interaction,” he says. “The fact
that they have a tablet in their hand versus
a piece of paper in their hand, to me,
is trivial.”
The digital solution, though, did come
with one drawback, Firenze says. The restaurant
has avoided the pay-at-the-table
option. Instead, it delivers checks in the
traditional fashion; they’re printed at a
station and left at a table, rather than
swiped on the iPad at the table.
The reason? Firenze says the tipping
process becomes awkward when the
server is standing right there.
Still, on the whole Firenze says staff
and customers alike have adapted to the
technology well. So well that he can’t
understand why so few sit-down restaurants
have made similar moves.
“I think it’s still fairly rare, and I’m surprised
by that,” he says. “I think the concerns
are overblown. And our experience
is that we basically get zero pushback.”
ziosk devices prove helpful for larger groups as guests can order drinks and appetizers without flagging down a
server. the tablet’s questionnaire also provides feedback for brand leaders like chef luis sanchez at abuelo’s (right).
Abuelo’s
76 April 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.cOm

Finance By Jessie szAlAy
The F&B Bookkeepers
Accountants specializing
in restaurants can
help solve the financial
equation.
Simon BateS
Compared to the more glamorous
aspects of running a restaurant—
experimenting with new dishes, cultivating
the perfect ambiance, recruiting
top talent—bookkeeping is perhaps the
duty restaurateurs are most loath to do.
But seeking professional expertise in the
form of an accountant who specializes
in the restaurant industry can make all
the difference.
At least that was the case for Codi
Bates, a Lawrence, Kansas–based restaurateur
who owns Bon Bon, a bistro that
serves dishes based on her world travels,
and a two-unit fast casual with her husband,
Simon, called The Burger Stand.
Bates works with Mize Houser &
Company, a multi-location Kansas
accounting firm with a specialized restaurant
group. Without them, her concepts
wouldn’t be the successes they
are today, she says. “They’ve helped us
grow from one restaurant to three. They
understand our industry, which is such
a wonderful one, but it changes often
and you have to constantly adapt, and
our accounting partnership is constantly
adapting,” she adds.
While working with a specialized
accountant is important for restaurants
of all sizes and types, it is especially
essential for independent restaurants
and small regional chains that are less
likely to have in-house accounting teams.
“The small restaurant really doesn’t
For restaurateur Codi Bates (aBove) and her husBand, simon, working with an
aCCounting Firm that speCializes in F&B has Been key to their suCCess.
have time for the accounting function,”
says Sean Dawson, CPA and tax shareholder
at Mize Houser. “They’re more
worried about staffing and food costs
and the menu so the last thing they have
time for is accounting.”
If operators run the numbers in a
distracted state, problems with cash
flow and taxes can arise, says Kristin
Wing, marketing program manager at
Mize Houser. Depending on a client’s
needs, restaurant accountants can handle
financials like accounts payable and
payroll, or they can double-check the
numbers that the staff inputs. Either
way, potentially mistakes can be averted.
Big chains often have more resources
provided by corporate. Smaller operators
have to find their own service providers,
like banks, investors, and lawyers, Dawson
says. They also have to determine
the correct legal structure for their restaurants.
Helping source these professionals
and answering these questions
are services restaurant accountants provide
that operators may not be aware of,
he adds.
Bates particularly loves how her restaurant
accountants can find specific
numbers and create projections that illuminate
how the business is doing and
how different situations could affect it.
Nine years ago, she and Simon started
The Burger Stand in the back of a bar
and attempted to run the financials on
their own, relying on QuickBooks. After
a year, they realized an accountant was
in order and, when they began working
with Mize Houser, saw a huge difference.
The accountants found numbers
FOODNe WsFeeD.cOm april 2018 77

Finance
that helped them understand their food
costs, labor costs, and other expenses,
as well as how to become more efficient
or save money. The Bateses began to
understand not only what was and was
not working, but why.
“We didn’t really have all the information
or the accounting background to be
able to pick out the numbers that were
the most valuable,” Bates says. “Doing a
scan through QuickBooks didn’t work
for us. Our accountants go above and
beyond. They find numbers we didn’t
even ask for but they think will be useful
to us.”
Most recently, the Bateses have
moved toward providing a living wage
and health insurance to all of their
150-plus employees. Their accountants
helped make the shift a reality,
Bates says. They ran numbers for various
scenarios, showing Bates what the
financial costs and benefits of providing
higher wages and insurance would
be. They looked at how paying insurance
costs would work if the restaurants had
a bad few months. They saw which areas
of the business would be relatively safe
and which would be at a higher risk if
the owners made the changes.
Being informed enabled the Bateses
to feel secure in making a decision. “We
wanted to do it, but it’s hard to figure
out how,” she says. “That obstacle is ‘I
want to do this, but how do I do it? Is it
going to cost me the business?’ Having
the numbers helped us approach those
questions in a neutral way.”
Sometimes operators are nervous
or forget to tell their accountants about
changes they make, especially expensive
ones. But Dawson emphasizes the
importance of having honest conversations
and asking questions. When restaurant
accountants are involved early
in a change, they can help determine
the right course, whether it’s for financing
new equipment, setting up payroll
and POS systems, dealing with everchanging
tax and payroll laws, planning
for new locations, and more. Staying in
touch with an accountant about these
topics can help make it easier for restaurants
to save money and have a painless
Advertising Index
Blount Fine Foods........... 51-53
800-274-2526
www.blountfinefoods.com
Conagra Foodservice........... 9
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Great Southern Farms .........60
970-506-7442
www.greatsouthernfarms.com.au
Haliburton Int’l. Foods . ...... 29, 67
877-980-4295 www.haliburton.net
Idaho Potato Commission ....... 7
www.idahopotato.com/fspro
Lactalis American Group Inc. .... 13
1-877-LACTALIS
www.GalbaniPro.com
Land ‘O Lakes . ............ insert
www.landolakesfoodservice.com/
trynow
Libbey ........... inside front, 20
www.insights.libbey.com
National Restaurant
Association ................62, 69
www.Restaurant.org/Show
Polar King ................... 73
877-711-0828 www.polarking.com
Polar Leasing..................71
877-631-1728 www.polarleasing.com
Red Gold . ................... 23
sacramentotomatojuice.com/
skewdats
Robot Coupe................. 65
800-824-1646
www.robotcoupeusa.com
Russet House..........back cover
908-375-8566 www.russethouse.com
Saltworks.....................21
800-353-7258 www.seasalt.com
Saputo . .............. inside back
800-824-3373
www.saputousafoodservice.com
Simplot.......................3
800-572-7783
www.simplotfoods.com
SmartBrew................... 19
800-273-9907
www.smartbrew.com/thefuture
Texas Pete . .................. 10
www.TexasPeteFoodservice.com/
Dust
Tropics . ..................... 45
800-628-6449
www.Tropics-beverages.com
TwoWay Radio Gear ........... 15
888-550-3216
www.twowayradiogear.com
Tyson JD Bacon . ............... 5
www.tysonfoodservice.com
Ultrafryer Systems..............31
830-642-1502 www.ultrafryer.com
SPONSORED CONTENT
Hatco Corporation .............27
888-814-0028
www.hatcocorp.com/en/equipment/
induction
National Restaurant
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Advertising Inquiries
Phone: 800-662-4834
Eugene Drezner
NatioNal SaleS Director
ext. 126, Eugene@FSRmagazine.com
Amber Dobsovic
NatioNal SaleS MaNager
ext. 141, Amber@FSRmagazine.com
John Krueger
NatioNal SaleS MaNager
ext. 148, John@FSRmagazine.com
78 APRil 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COm

What Do All
These Highly
Successful
Chefs and
Restaurateurs
Have in
Common?
Simon BateS
The baTeses say Mize houser has helped TheM grow To Two burger sTand
locaTions and one bon bon, which serves a Mix of european and asian biTes.
tax season, Dawson says.
Dawson understands, however, that
restaurants’ needs vary. Some operators
want to have monthly talks or quarterly
talks, and others want to be in contact
primarily at tax season. Early conversations
with an accountant should determine
the kind of partnership you want
to have, Dawson says.
Restaurant accountants should
also be flexible with a client’s choice
of accounting software. The right software
can allow restaurants to more easily
collaborate with accountants, says
Lauren Maffeo, a senior content analyst
at GetApp, an online resource for
information on business software. Contrary
to popular belief, software does not
effectively enable restaurants to handle
accounting by themselves. Rather, it can
provide tools to help operators manage
and organize their numbers, which
accountants can then analyze.
Maffeo recommends that restaurants
pick software that allows them to easily
track inventory and purchasing so they
can better manage their relationships
with suppliers. “Accounts payable and
receivable, global tax and compliance
management, multi-currency support,
and customized invoices are additional
features that software shoppers should
consider,” she says.
Picking the right accounting software
is another area in which specialized restaurant
accountants can help, Maffeo
says. It’s common for accountants to
guide clients through the process. They
might even be able to provide special
pricing, Dawson adds.
From software choice to meeting frequency,
the restaurant-accountant relationship
should be tailored to individual
and industry-specific needs. It’s important
for restaurateurs to advocate for
their businesses and not try to fit into
the molds of other business accounting,
Bates says. “When your accountant
understands the crazy business and can
drive the numbers, it will take a lot of
pressure off you. It makes the partnership
invaluable.”
You should know—you’re one of
them. You’re all what we at FSR like
to call “tablesetters.”
You make things happen in
the restaurant industry.
You’re an innovator on your menu
and in your operation.
You’re watched and emulated
by other restaurateurs.
You lead the markets you
operate in.
These are characteristics that make
a tablesetter. And FSR is the trusted
source of information for these most
influential chefs and restaurateurs
in the industry. Request your free
subscription today by visiting
FSRmagazine.com/subscribe
Full-Service Restaurants:
Setting America’s Table
FOODNEWSFEED.cOm april 2018 79

Where Chefs Eat
Danny Mena { BUSHWICK, NYC }
Where the La Loncheria
co-owner dines when he’s not
serving contemporary Mexican
cuisine to Brooklynites .
MOMINETTE
I love stopping in for breakfast, or
just a glass of wine to wind down
and hang out. They have a wonderful
oyster selection.
ARCHIE’S BAR & PIZZA
Archie’s is always so solid. Their
pizza and quality of service are
consistently good. The cozy, nofrills
atmosphere is right up my
alley.
983
983 is an awesome hybrid of
diner, bar and café. They have
really good burgers and strong
coffee. 983’s Classic Cob is one
of my all-time favorites.
CEVICHE (TOP)
AND THE MEZCAL
MARGARITA (RIGHT)
ARE EXAMPLES OF
HOW DANNY MENA
(LEFT) BRINGS A
NEW TWIST TO
THE TRADITIONAL
LONCHERIA STYLE
AT HIS NEW CAFÉ.
FARO
As far as nice restaurants in Bushwick
go, Faro is my top pick. I
love to go with my wife—it’s a
great date spot. They offer classic,
well-made Italian food. Pastas
are spot-on!
Danny Mena spent time in the
kitchens of Blue Hill and The
Modern before opening his
traditional Mexican restaurant,
Hecho en Dumbo in 2007.
He and his team quickly outgrew
the space and relocated to lower
Manhattan in 2010. Continuing to
grow, Mena opened a 40-seat contemporary
Mexican café in Brooklyn called La
Loncheria in 2017 with co-owner Oscar
León Bernal. Based on the traditional
luncheonettes of Mexico, the café’s menu
houses staples like tortas with marinated
porchetta, tacos with grilled ribeye, and
stuffed chile relleno.
SALLY ROOTS
This is a fun little haunt with awesome
rum drinks and a smoked
and grilled jerk chicken I keep
coming back for. The place just
calls to you and is always really
hard to leave. I have spent many a
late night here.
KATIE BURTON
80 APRIL 2018 FOODNEWSFEED.COM

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