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.