After only three days of planning, I’ve just had to call all my cooks and tell them the re-launch is off. It seemed like we were moving forward at a clip until the owner called me yesterday to say that he had decided to sell instead of re-launch. It’s really too bad. He had a beautiful space, and a well equipped kitchen, and we were all looking forward to working there. I’m sorry, I can’t help but think he’s missing out on a real opportunity to make a success of his business. If there were a perfect time for him to re-open and launch his restaurant it would have been now.
Why? Because everyone in the the industry in New York City has been saying the same thing: The biggest challenge restaurants are facing right now is staffing. And restaurant I left had just closed unexpectedly, leaving an entire staff of super talented kitchen and floor staff looking for work. We were a tight knit family that had worked together for years and knew the formula for running a busy successful restaurant. All I had to do was make a few calls and he would have had a fully staffed restaurant of seasoned professionals.
Guess I’ll have to take my food and concept elsewhere. He didn’t like the name anyway.
ouch! I’m sure you’ll fall on your feet though. Please let us know what’s in store next. Best of luck!
It’s all good. Looks like I might have some consultant work lined up, which would be a good change of pace, to be doing a variety of things instead of dealing with the day to day.