Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/654717
How do you maintain your company culture? The key is the deep roots that you plant culturally. The deeper the roots, the more powerful the culture. Danny is the big oak tree—his roots go deep. We're very clear in understanding who we are and how we do business, and that never changes. The types of business we do and the people who we do business with can change, but how we do things never does. Leadership's job is to make sure that the culture is never misinterpreted, which is job security for people like me. How do you find the balance between familiarity and innova- tion in your restaurants' menus? The more people have to think about how to decipher a menu, the harder it is to push the envelope. As we would say, you need a few hugs in there. If you see something familiar—that's a hug. If you can't figure out what to get you always go for the hug because you know it will make you feel good. When starting a new venture, where do you begin: With the food, with the clientele, or with the price point? The first question we always ask is, "How passionate are we about what we want to do?" If we're not passionate, we wouldn't open anything to begin with. The second thing we ask is, "What are we trying to solve in the community?" And once we figure that out, we ask ourselves, "If we were to open this type of business, what do we think the neighborhood would say?" Our dream is for people to go, "Well, of course they opened that." If you've seen the Wizard of Oz, you don't want to be the restaurant that lands on the good community. Let's talk sourcing. What is the relationship like between the Union Square Greenmarket and Union Square Cafe? It's the most artisanal grocery store in New York City. Each farmer is basically his or her own grocer. If you go to places like Campo de' Fiori in Rome, you see local markets in piazzas where people go to get their produce. That's just where they shop. The markets are places for locals. And because we're hyper local with the way we run our restaurants, it's the place we should be shopping. Because we're supporting the community and it's the best grocery store in New York. You were a big proponent of bringing artisanal coffee into your restaurants and cafes several years before roasters started popping up on the East Coast. Why was it so important to you? Having been in California for many years, San Francisco, for me, was always the benchmark for artisanal coffee, so it made sense to bring those beans into our restaurants. But now it's much easier because there's a presence of local roasters, and we always choose to do local whenever possible. The peanuts at your restaurant, Blue Smoke, came from a men's club in a First Methodist church in North Carolina. How did that come about? Danny [Meyer] and I were driving through North Carolina. I think we had eaten at 11 barbecue restaurants in two hours. We had just come upon a roadside fruit stand that had baskets of peaches. Our goal was to get some of the peaches as a break between the q&a "We always look for a way to honor ingredients that have a story and integrity." PHOTO: DANIEL KRIEGER PHOTO: MELISSA HOM 50 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com