A Day in the Life of a Family Run Restaurant

Long overdue

2009-01-30T12:43:00.004-05:00

A Sugo update is long overdue, and now that the craziness of the holiday season is over I have a few moments to breathe. Since my last post, my family has been hard at work building our relationships with our customers and it has proven successful. Since the beginning of 2006 we had some unfortunate setbacks to our business because we let others in who didn't have our best interest in mind. In the end we disappointed some previously loyal guests, and found ourselves in an extremely difficult position. Since then we began the process of eliminating these distractions, and re-building our customer relationships. It has not been easy, and it did not happen quickly; however, we have re-built our business dramatically over the past year.
In December of 2008, we brought in the New Year with record monthly sales in each of our company owned stores. It came as a surprise when I realized that the last time that we accomplished this feat was over 20 years ago in a large steakhouse my father owned in Providence, Rhode Island. This transformation during a very unlikely time was a product of extremely hard work and dedication on the part of every member of my family. We worked long hours, many times 7 days a week. We made sure that each one of us interacted with every single one of our customers, every single night. It was this effort that has enabled us to continue our building process throughout this very difficult economic time. It is critical that we continue to be the number 1 option for our customers when they decide where they are going to spend their hard earned cash. As this winter continues, I fear for our competitors and our colleagues. This year may be the most challenging of my entire life thus far. It is time to be humble, work hard, enjoy your time with your family, and get ready for a long winter.

Octopus!

2008-02-26T15:19:00.004-05:00

It has been far too long since my last posting, but in large part that has been due to some of the great progress that we have been making on many different fronts. One of the areas in which we have made some of our greatest strides is culinary innovation. After a recent trip to New York City to check out some of the new foodie hot spots that I read so much about through different trade magazines and dining reviews, I was inspired to try one spot that had been hailed as the best spot in the city for Octopus by the New York Times food critic, Frank Bruni. After tasting this large, extremely tender tentacle of the octopus, I couldn't help but think that there was something missing. Although the octopus was definitely the star of the show, from a flavor perspective it came across a bit bland. I knew that there was room to improve here, and that we could take this ingredient to another level.

After returning home from my trip, I sat down with my father to discuss the new item. As it happens so many times, once his mind starts racing with an ingredient or preparation, his passion for food takes the dish to another level. In this particular case, we discussed the idea of bringing something familiar to an ingredient that is very unfamiliar to the suburbs of Atlanta. In a short period of time the dish was complete, and I have to say that it definitely exceeded my expectations.

The dish, grilled Barbecue Octopus, is lightly charred and dressed with a unique barbecue sauce recipe that according to many of our customers, "should be bottled." We serve it atop caramelized fennel and shallots with crunchy potatoes that are dressed with a touch of Pecorino Romano cheese. Since we created this dish, I have to say that we were a bit skeptical that people would be averse to trying it. However, in the few short weeks that we have been offering the special, it sells out almost every night and we have trouble keeping it in stock.

This particular dish has renewed my faith that Atlanta is becoming a foodie city where people are not afraid to try some the delicacies that are so popular around the world. Octopus is an ingredient that is almost ubiquitous in countries like Italy, Greece, Spain, and Japan. There is no reason that we should not be enjoying this fantastic ingredient like so many others around the world.

In preparation of New Year's Eve

2007-12-26T11:22:00.001-05:00

It is about that time of year now, where the holiday parties have come and gone, and in our business we begin to prepare for New Year's eve. For most of us in the restaurant business, New Year's eve is our super bowl. It is one of the busiest days of the year, and with that unusually high demand comes the onslaught of price gouging restaurants with their expensive pre-fixe menus featuring their same old food. What is particularly bothering about these menus is that much of the time, the kitchen par-cooks everything because they know exactly what the guest is going to order. The result is essentially airplane food in a somewhat more enjoyable atmosphere.

In my opinion, if the kitchen cannot handle a busy night where your restaurant is filled to capacity, you have more things to worry about than just New Year's eve. Therefore, we have decided to run our normal menu with the addition of some carefully designed specials for the night.

I also believe that the guests going out on New Year's Eve want to visit their favorite restaurant, and enjoy a meal as they normally do without having to worry about astronomical prices and fewer choices. After taking many reservations already for New Year's Eve, I have found that many of our customers are relieved to hear that we will not be doing an over-priced pre fixe menu. Again, the formula in our business still hasn't changed; if you offer the customer a great food and service experience at the right price, you will be successful.

It has been quite a ride

2007-10-19T14:08:00.000-05:00

It has been too long since my last post, and I have a few things to reflect on after the past two months of insanity. First, much of my hard work is beginning to pay off in our Duluth location. It is getting busier by the day, and the customers seem to be connecting with the brand and concept more than ever before in this location. It has been a long and grueling road to get here, and I believe that the difficulties are not yet over, but there is much to be proud of. The great thing about being a restaurateur is that you have an idea of how well you are doing simply by the reaction of the customers. By being in contact and building relationships with the people who enjoy my restaurant, I get a greater sense of our overall execution level. On a daily basis we hear comments such as, "this is the best Italian restaurant we have ever been to" or "this is as good as anything we have had in Italy." And although these comments give you perspective as well as an ego boost, you can never become too comfortable with your current position. I think that this is a trait of great restaurateurs. It is a blessing, but it is also a curse. You can never be happy, but you will always being inching towards greatness, something that is only achievable in the minds of others. You as the restaurateur and creator will never believe that you have finished the race, because the race is never over. You can always get better, and you can always challenge yourself to do things that you never thought were possible.

Why it is all worth it...

2007-08-16T15:27:00.001-05:00

I have copied below an excerpt from a recent customer email. This was written by a father from Detroit, whose son lives in Alpharetta and celebrated his 30th birthday with us last night.

Here is the email:

"Thanks to you and Sugo, my son Jason's birthday dinner was an absolute triumph. He was blown away by the wine, the food, the service and the friendliness. He could not get over the fantastic finish of the CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino. He is relatively new to the world of wine - about the last five years - but both he and Cas were exclaiming that it was the best wine they had ever tasted. But aside from the wine, he will always remember the overall experience - a triumph of true Italian hospitality. I was dismayed to read in your blog that the Johns Creek location was presenting you with a challenge. I sincerely hope that you succeed in turning it around. Your philosophy is right on. Earlier in my newspaper career (like 35 years ago), I used to review top level restaurants, and, unfortunately, only a few had chefs de cuisine with your passion. It is an emotion very much missing in most of today's restaurant scene. It may be a year or so before I get back to Atlanta, but the first place we'll head for is the Johns Creek Sugo. Feel free to excerpt and share this message any way you want. And again, thank you for taking a personal interest and making my son feel special and treating him like a guest rather than a customer. Considering that we have never met, it was an incredibly generous gesture for you to take such a personal interest -- mille grazie -- Matt Fiorito"

When you work morning till night, six days a week in your business, these are the kind of comments that keep you going, and give you renewed energy to continue the pursuit of excellence.

The Beauty of Brunello

2007-08-01T11:21:00.000-05:00

Last week I had a customer of ours, Jim Curnyn stop into the restaurant with his wife and order my favorite wine on the menu, the 2002 CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino. As we began talking about Brunello, where it comes from, and my upcoming trip to Montalcino (the small commune in Tuscany where the wine is created), he started talking about his daughter's most recent trip to Italy. He mentioned that she couldn't stop talking about Brunello, which is ultimately why he purchased the bottle of wine that night. His wife chided him on purchasing the expensive bottle of wine, but he retorted, "if its good enough for our daughter, then it's good enough for me." My sentiments exactly! Everyone should be able to enjoy a good Brunello at least one time in his or her life.

Realizing that it was Jim's first time enjoying a bottle of Brunello, I had to figure out a way to augment the experience for him. Great Sangiovese wines like Brunello di Montalcino are created for food. Missing out on the fantastic experience of pairing the wine with a great Italian cheese is almost a crime. Therefore, I went back to the kitchen and made up a small plate of Ragusano cheese, a hard cow's milk cheese from Sicily, dressed with an amazing Qaratum estate bottled extra virgin olive oil. The pairing of hard cheese and Sangiovese wine is a classic. As I approached the table with the small plate, I instructed him to first taste the wine, then taste the cheese and olive oil, and finally wash the cheese down with a sip of Brunello. Following the little experiment, Jim was blown away. He exclaimed, "This is Italy! I feel like I am sitting in a Trattoria in Tuscany." It also didn't hurt that his server had a European accent as well.

The beauty of Sangiovese wines, and especially Brunello is that the tannins and natural acidity of the grape make for such a pleasurable experience when paired with hard cheeses and olive oil. The natural oils in the cheeses interact with the wine's acidity to cleanse your palate, making the wine feel softer and less acidic while still accentuating the flavors of the wine. This, in my opinion is the essence of food and wine pairing.

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have been working tirelessly in our Johns Creek location to build customer satisfaction and loyalty. Although, all signs are pointing up, which is good. I guess there is no substitute for hard work; however, something tells me that this is not breaking news.

The Art of Food and Wine Pairing

2007-07-02T14:42:00.000-05:00

I have always wondered why so few restaurants or restaurant servers attempt to make wine pairing suggestions for their guests. The only times I have seen this done is in convoluted menus where the wine pairing is listed just below the dish. This effort, in my opinion is always a failure. For one, rarely does anyone sit down at a restaurant and decide what they are going to order for dinner and then choose a bottle of wine. This is counter intuitive. Furthermore, no one wants to sift through the entire menu of food and wine pairings trying to find a wine that they like. To complicate matters more, these lists usually do not have any varietal or region categorization.

There are also other issues that limit the ability of restaurants to offer legitimate wine pairings. Overall wine knowledge is a big one. Many servers and even restaurateurs have little knowledge of how to pair food with wine. Usually the only person in the restaurant that has any food and wine pairing knowledge is the chef. This puts another wrench in the mix because there is usually little communication between that occurs between the chef and the servers, and when it does occur it is very brief and rushed.

In addition, there are many restaurateurs that see their wine list as an afterthought. The resulting list is a perplexing mixture of wines that you could easily find at the end cap in a super market. Furthermore, little thought is given to how these wines will pair with the food.

Ultimately, my major initiative with my wine program as a young restaurateur is to create a place where interesting, reasonably priced wines can be enjoyed with our dishes, and our guests can learn something about food and wine in the process. The truly fantastic thing about food and wine pairing is that the combination of the two forces when done correctly is always better than the two elements individually.

For me, my epiphany with food and wine pairing occurred while I was at Cornell taking of all things, a food and wine pairing class. On my plate, I had two things: a beef tenderloin cooked medium rare and the same tenderloin cooked well done. In front of me, I also had seven different Cabernet Sauvignons from all different regions of the world. After pairing the beef tenderloin with each of these wines, I was astounded by the ability of the wine to pair so differently with the same food cooked in two different ways. Effectively, I was opened up to a whole new world of complexity and intricacy within a subject matter where I had previously felt comfortable. I also realized that when executed well, food and wine together can create a sublime and eye opening experience. My goal is to be able to provide my customers with that moment of epiphany on a nightly basis. Now the only challenge is to figure out ways to do that. And I can tell you now, I am already thinking about it.

A Unique Approach

2007-06-21T14:41:00.000-05:00

The other day I was discussing the concept of service and hospitality with a friend of mine. Inevitably we started comparing the different brands of service that existed in the marketplace, whether it be chain restaurants or independents. I was then reminded of a recent dinner meeting that I had with the head of one of the top chain restaurant companies in the country. I think it is also important to note that this chain is renowned for their service standards and overall excellence. When I was talking with this gentleman, we started discussing what he felt was one of their major keys to service success: execution. As we talked about their style of execution, we ultimately began discussing their mystery shop system that allows them to test their servers on their ability to meet the company's very high standards. Following our dinner, I was able to see a copy of this mystery shop, and I can tell you that I was definitely not prepared for what I was about to see.

This company's mystery shop focused almost only on the timing of service throughout the meal. For instance, if the appetizers were not on the table within six minutes, points would be deducted. There was a timing standard for every single part of the dining experience. Ultimately, I was impressed but found the system limiting. For instance, if you were served your entree in exactly 12 minutes, but the server was rude there is no way of communicating this information.

In my opinion that is the difference between quantitative and qualitative service. As I see our brand of service, we definitely focus on the more qualitative tenets of service. What I mean by this is that we exert a tremendous effort to try to make the guest feel more important, valued, and happy while they are with us, and doing so through personal touches. I believe that an owner of a great restaurant should be constantly developing personal relationships with his or her customers. I think that the bond that a customer builds with a restaurant is much stronger if there is a personal connection that develops as opposed to mechanical execution of service. To me, this is difference between great independent restaurants and great chain restaurants.

Providing Hospitality

2007-06-14T12:40:00.000-05:00

One of the most fulfilling things that I do as a restaurateur is providing the guest with just a little something extra that sends them away from our restaurant with a feeling of happiness and renewal. In my mind, this is delivering what we call sincere hospitality. Connecting with one another is something that is innately human. For almost all of us, we go through life looking for, establishing, and maintaining these connections. If we can make a lasting connection with at least one customer everyday, then I feel as though I have succeeded, regardless of the night's sales.

A great example of this kind of sincere hospitality occurred last night with one of our newest server's, Whitney. Noticing that there was a woman in the dining room who was having trouble seeing her way to the bathroom, she quickly approached the woman and conscientiously escorted her to the ladies room. Not only did she help this woman get there, but she also waited for her to ensure that she was alright. Finally, she helped the woman back to her table. The woman and her husband were extremely grateful and were astonished by the interest that Whitney took in something that had become a routine issue for this woman.

This small interaction is the kind of thing that sets great restaurants apart from the flashy, expensive, come and go style restaurants of today. Restaurants that become institutions within their communities are the kind of restaurants that take the time and effort to connect with the members of their community day in and day out.

One day at a time

2007-06-05T17:13:00.000-05:00

It is interesting knowing that the day you thought would never come has actually come and gone. Graduation instills some of the most complex and contradicting emotions in an individual, which at times leave you empowered and other times leave you helpless. Looking back on my college days at Cornell with only one week of perspective, I find myself reminiscing, remembering, smiling, and hoping that I haven't reached the end of my fun, carefree, and reckless days. Most of my colleagues at Cornell will be going on to take positions as investment bankers or consultants making three times the average American's salary. Other's are piggy backing their parents fortunes to prestigious law and medical schools, where they will move on to become wealthy individuals just like their parents.

Few, if any, are heading back home to run a small, family owned restaurant company. So here I find myself back in Atlanta trying to turn around our least successful restaurant in one of the most difficult locations in Duluth. I guess it is a trait that I inherited from my Spartan and Roman ancestors, to take on the most challenging of tasks that no sane minded restaurateur would do. This restaurant space has now been witness to four failed restaurants, while disappointing customers all along the way. I know that it will only get more difficult before it becomes better; however, I gain inspiration from E.M. Statler, founder of the hospitality school at Cornell, as he said "life is service." And to me, if I can deliver an amazing service experience to every guest teemed with our exceptional product, I know that we will be successful. So until then, I will continue to have restless nights thinking of what I can do to make things just a little bit better for every person that either visits or works at a Sugo.

Sorry for the delay...

2007-02-25T22:55:00.000-05:00

“Restaurateur” is an identity I’m used to; after so many years in this business, I think I’m at least beginning understand that one and act the part. “Blogger,” however, is something I’m still learning, as evidenced by this 2-month long lapse in posting. Obviously, I need to grow into that one a bit more.

But please don’t interpret my digital silence as any sort of lack of activity in the restaurants. With all the commotion of fine-tuning the Dunwoody location and tweaking the restaurants’ wine lists, I’ve had more than enough tasks to fill the days.
You’d be surprised how work intensive it is to implement a full bar. I know it certainly caught me off guard. Just as with our menu items, I had to perform quite a bit of market research rather than just throw some bottles on the shelf. As I shuttle back and forth between the restaurants in Roswell and college in upstate New York, I’ll admit that I was perhaps a bit overconfident of my knowledge of liquors and spirits. (Don’t worry; it’s way too cold in Ithaca for me to be drinking much of anything that’s not hot and steaming. Stephanie and I are ecstatic about the opening of a Starbuck’s Coffee not two blocks from my house. Of course, Mr. C is relieved that he can indulge his fanatic addiction to espresso when he comes up for graduation.)

Anyway, there’s a lot to get excited about at Sugo these days. I’m really proud of the new specials my dad and I have put together. Two of our new additions are perfect for meat lovers. The Sugo Arista is a slice of our pork tenderloin braciole and tender chicken breast parmesan served with a red pepper pappardelle and tomato basil sauce. My little brother’s new dinner favorite may well be the Sugo Solo, an Australian lamb shank marinated with a lamb a jus and served with basil, black pepper pappardelle and tomato basil sauce. Believe me, my dad’s outdone himself once again.

Thanks for sticking with the blog. As we say in the kitchens on a Saturday night, I’m officially “out of the weeds,” and I hope to be a bit more consistent in my culinary commentary. But don’t just sit here and read about the new items; stop by a Sugo sometime soon to taste them yourself!

Back to the Real World

2006-12-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

As I hop on a plane to head back to Atlanta the reality of what lies ahead begins to set in as it always does. The days of classes, friends, attractive girls, and parties will inevitably turn into twelve to sixteen hour days of grueling restaurant work. This reality becomes immediately apparent as I am informed on the ride home from my flight that I will be cooking a luncheon for fifty-five guests. When you own a dinner-only restaurant, the majority of your kitchen crew has day jobs. Thus, when a lunch party of this magnitude is booked, the owners, or in my case, the son of the owner, must handle the cooking responsibilities. And just like that the world of academia and the relief of finishing finals disintegrates from my mind as more important restaurant matters start to clutter my thoughts.

Many times my classmates at Cornell ask me if I really want to return home to run the family business, and my response is always the same. You can never be truly successful at any endeavor without passion. If I wasn't passionate about the people, the food, and the wine that come together to make this business great, I wouldn't do it. Running a high quality restaurant is not for the faint of heart. There are a thousand moving pieces at all times, many of which you can control, but there are many of which you cannot. There are always new players entering the market, there are always people with more resources than you, and there are always external factors that can threaten your business and sense of self. At the end of the day only the most knowledgeable, innovative, and aggressive survive. If you don't have the passion or the ability to pull it off, my suggestion is to find something else to do. As for me, you can't fight what has been in your blood for four generations. Its just too exhausting.

More Like the Odyssey than Gone in 60 Seconds

2006-11-27T16:21:00.000-05:00

Somewhere between Olive Garden Italian and carrot foam in Spain is a place in my mind for dishes like Lamb Saltimbocca.

I want dishes that are pleasant and not extreme in any one flavor. Interesting, but not ridiculous. More like Robert Frost than James Joyce. More like Dante's Inferno than ee cumming's poetry. I don't want food that looks like a chef's vision -- I want "simple black dress always fashionable" kind of food. And that is what I try to create.