Restaurant Forum - Flat Creek Dairy

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OperationsRoundtable
I
I
Adapting
in Today's
Economy
By DoraBurke
RestaurantForum recently sat down with some of Georgia's top
operators to gain a perspective on how to savemoney and maintain
businessin today's economic climate. Guests included Kevin Burke,
Chief Financial Officer lor Concentrics Restaurants; Bret Eldridge,
PresidentoflPlanetSmoothie; ChefJohn Metz, co-founder of Marlow's
Tavern; Christian Favalli, partner, La Grotta Ristorante; Caroline
Harless, principal of Flat Creek Lodge; and SiaMoshk, owner of Sia's
and Mitra restaurants.Thank you to Concentrics Restaurantsfor hosting this interview at Lobby at Twelve Restaurant.
Favalli: We are relving more on our database,too, for direct mail
pieces and e-mail blasts. In order to see more frequency out of our
existing Buckhead clientele, u'e are going on loot to residents and
concierges to encourage diners to r.isit us. It has been interesting to
see who takes advantageof the incentiles s.e have put out there. We
have seena direct result from these elforts.
Harless: Becausew.e are in rural Georgia (Su'ainsboro), we have
had to be more creative to reach our constituents
u.e look at what
we produce to get our brand out. We har-cto promote the uniquenessof
our location and educatepeople on our restaurant, cheesesand berries.
RF: What are you doing
within
your current
to maintain
or grovy revenue
customer base?
Metz: Last year, we started a program to really target and focus
our marketing and varied the messagesto each restaurant's customers. We worked hard on building our databaseand we are seeingthat
pay off.
Guestsdiscusstopicsrangingfrom financeto marketingto staffing.
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16 | GE o R G I AR E S T A U RATF{ T
0 RUM M ARCH2 0 0 9
Our customers come mosth'from the area in the "triangle" between
Jacksonville,FL, to Charlcston, SC, to .\tlanta, GA. As people are
stayingcloserto home and becoming morc price sensitir.e,we haveto
look to build valuc through grcat serviccand entertainment.
Moshk: lt is hard lbr us to discount at Sia'sbecauseof our
high qualitv, so rvc havc focused on incentives and getting to
RF: What turnover
Eldridge:
have you seen?
Thcrc is a lot of talcnt out therc to<lar'.Wc havt'
l o u n d p c o p l c a r c r v i l l i n g t o <l r o p b a c k a n c l h o l r l a va r i e tv o f
"roles" n'ithin ()ur compan\'. As manpou'er is ()ur biggcst cost,
s'c look for multitalcnted peoplc bccauseour managersarc cloing
morc u'ith less.
Metz: We havc bccn able to upgradc our pcoplc. We openctl a
rcstaurantin Dcccmber of 2008 anclu e 'w'erefullv staflcd with grcat
pcople beforc Christmas.Wc n'crc thrilled.
Favalli: I am in a <lifferentboat, as se havenot ha<lto hire sen icc
stafTfbrthe last 20 r'cars.I think nos'is the time to re'structurcan<l
changcu'ith somc nc\l blood to rcjuvcnateour group.
RF: How
h a l 'e y o u b e e n a b l e t o m a n a g e e xp e n se s
to cut cost?
Metz: Wc havc'scena changcu ith our ven<lors
thcv are nos'
coming to us w ith solutionson how't() savemonc\' or changeplans
to kccn us as cust()mcrs.We havc also scalerltlonn our mcnu to
just a fin'kev items s'ith a lis scasonalspecialst() sale on labor
anclfboclcost.
S i a M o s h ki s t h e o w n e ro f S i a 'sr e s t a u r a n itn D u l u t ha n d M i tr a
r e s t a u r a n ti n m i d t o w nA t l a n t a .
C aroline H a r l e s s i s t h e p r i n cip a l o f F la t Cr e e k L o d g e in Swa in sboro,
GA . Flat C r e e k L o d g e o p e r ate s a n e co - fr ie n d ly h u n tin g a n d fishi ng
l odge, reso r t , r e s t a u r a n t a n d sp a . T h e p r im a r y m issio n o f F la t Creek
L odge is t o c r e a t e a d e s t i n a tio n in e a st Ge o r g ia wh e r e th e tr a d iti ons
o f f ine hun t i n g a n d f i s h i n g f lo u r ish in a n e co - fr ie n d ly e n vir o n m ent.
rcallv rrork.lirr
k nou's hat
o u r ( ' u st( ) n r ( ' r s. \\' e h a vc llce n tl oi ng
" lt so ul d bc
' a lin q ,
good t o s( ' e \ ' o u a g a i n . " \ \' e h .u r a lso q o n t' < le e p cr in t, b u i l <l i ng
h and-s 'rit t c n
c a r d s s i t h .r I i' r o o f f q ilt t a r r l
tr ue rt 'lat i o n s h i p s r v i t h o u r cxistir .r g < lin cr s, littlt' th in q s
fr t -e bot t lt ' o f
l i ke a
n ' i n e o n t h cir b ir th r la v o r .r th a n k- r ' o u n o tt'l i rr
a
c orP orat (' q r ( ) L l l ) .
RF: Ha v c v o u m o d i f i c d
o r a d v c r t i s in g
promot ion s
th e w' a y yo u h a n d le
to
in cr e a se
th e
m a r ke t i ng,
fr e q u ency
o f dinc rs ?
B urk c :
\ \ ' , ' . r r c u t i l i z i r r q r n o r t' \\tb
b a sr ' <nl r a r kctin g to b c crcati l e
i n ollr l)r( ) n l ( ) l i o n s . r n t l f i r cr r s o r r la lu t' b .r st' < l l) r ( ) g r a m s. At nrost of
our rc s t ar l r J l r t s , r r c ' o l l t ' r ' t h r t' t' to u r sc fixcr l- p r icc m e n u s a n < lpr<x'i de
rlis t rrt t t t l: t . t t l r i t r t l r , r r , , k.
Mos hk :
\ \ ' t ' l i a r e s t . r r t tr l .r skin q ( ) u r ( u st( ) n r cr s u ' h a t th cv soul d
l ik et os t 't 'o r r t h e
r . r - r c r . r\u\ '.t h a r t' b ccn ;r r o u n < l.r lo n g tin r t' .r n r l pcopl e
r c m t -rnlr. ' r t c r t a i n d i s h e : t h r o u q li th e vc.r r s. Wc h a ve sta r lc< l <l t'si gni ng our nr t ' n u s b a s c t l o n t n l (' ( u :t( ) n r ( ' r li' t' r llr a tk. Yo u th in k vo u knos'
\ '()ur (Lls t( ) n r ( ' r ,b u t r r t r r t ' .r llr r r .' .' r lto lr k th t' n r s' h a t th cv n .rnt and
c ont inut ' t o g r ' t t h e r . ui n v o l r t' tl.
M et z :
. a sctl o tr lh t' r ari ous
\ \ ' c a r c c u s t o t r r izin g ( ) L u ' n r ( ' 5 s.1 { ,' b
p c rs onrlit i c s o f c a c h t a v t ' r n . Wt' a r t- a lkr u in q o u r g e n t' r .r l r n rnagers
to mak c r r r o r c l c . , c asl t o r t ' n r a r kctin g r lt' r ' isio n s.
R E S TA U R A NFOR
T U M l l l A R C H2OO9l l 7
GEOR GIA
ll
K evinBu rkeis the Ch iefFinanc ial
0f f ic erf or Conc ent r icRe
s staurants,
w hichin clu deche f-driven
r es t aur antc onc ept s uc has 0NE. m i d t o w n
kitchen TWO
,
u rba nlick s ,Tr ois ,TAP,STATS,Lobbyat Twel v eR
, oom
at T welve,Murp hy's,Par is handLum aon Par k .
18
G E O R GIA R E S T A U R ANT FORUM
IVARCH 2OO9
I
,s
B r e t E l d r i d g ei s t h e P r e s i d e not f P l a n e tS m o o t h i ea, j u i ce a n d
s m o o t h i ec h a i nw i t h I 2 8 l o c a t i o n sn a t i o n a l l yT. h e P l a n e tSm o o th i e
c o n c e p t( w i t h S h a n e 'sR i b S h a c k )w a sr e c e n t l ys o l df r o m R a vi n g
B r a n d st o E d m u n d sC a p i t a l 'ss u b s i d i a r yP, e t r u sB r a n d s,In c.
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John Metz is the ExecutiveChefand co-founderof Marlow'sTavern,
A quaBluea nd Hi Life Ki t c henand Coc k t ails .
ChristianFavalliis a partnerat La Grotta RistoranteItaliano,a
fine diningltalian restaurantthat recentlycelebratedits 30th
anniyersaryfor their Buckheadlocation.They havea second
locationin Dunwoody,GA.
Moshk: I havc seenthat, too
mv vcndorsarc coming together
and talking and bringing me solutionsrhat art.gorxl lor all of us. Their
future is asimportant as our future.
location and they arc willing to fund the project and bypass the
traditional banking institution altogether. Restaurants will drive
Eldridge: We are going back to cvcrr. lancllordat our 84 Shane's
Rib Shacklocations and 128 Planct Smoothiesand renegotiating ar
cach sitc. Most of the landlords are willing to u'ork u-ith us bccause
they do not u'ant to look for a new tcnant.
Burke:
Our biggcst change in 2009 is the way we handle our
beveragcpr()gram. In the past, we have ordered from a variety of
purveyors. Nou', we have paired our wine buying down to six to
eight vendors instead of l2 to 14 and consolidatedour purchasing.
We n-ent to cach of thcm and askedto build a u'in-u.in relationship
where wc would incrcasctheir businessif thcy hclpcd us increase
ours. Wc still allorv our chefs lecrvav to be crcativc, but wc have
more leveragedcaling s ith just a fe'u vendors.
RF: Some of you are expanding; what challenges have
you gotten from financial providers to secure funding and
how have you overcome them?
Eldridge: Our main lenderhasgonc undcr, so u.c arc now' having
to rcbuild a ncw relationship rvith s()mconeclsc. It is vcrr. difficult
becauseno matter hou'good vour crc<lit is, the monev is r.en. tight.
Burke: C)ur biggestassethasbccn finding a bankcr that bclicr.cs
in not onlv the company, but [alsol us personallr..We have also
bccn approachedbv landlords and dcvclopcrs that u.ant us in their
tralfic to thcir site.
RF: How have local, organic and sustainable products,
equipment and food played into your business perceptions, marketing and operations?
customer
Harless: At Flat Crcck sustainability is a way of life for us. We
producc a variety oflocal berries and cheesesthat we sell to chcfs.
Consumers are now more than ever interested in what thev eat and
where it comes from.
Burke: We have overcome some challengesto make "organic"
work and not passthe cost to our customers, but u.e har.cseenbettcr successwith locally produced, seasonalitcms.
RF: What advice do you have for a new operator opening at this time?
Moshk: Do your homeu.ork. lf vou havc not bccn in this industrv before, go u'ash dishes befbre \-ou start. There is nothing
luxurv about it.
Harless: This is thc most dif ficult industn to be in. You have
got to lovc people. It is not about thc lbod, but the people. People
lrrrget about thc food thcv cat, but thcl ner.erforget how thev are
trcated. Grcat service can make up for mediocre food.
Eldridge:
M a k c s u r e y o u h a v e a t l e a s t s i x m o n th s o f
opcratingcapital.I
GE OR GIA
R ES TA U R A NFOR
T U M MA R C H2OO919