Press

Robert and Corey are the principals of The Nyman Group a Scottsdale, (Arizona based management – concept development – consulting agency) who inherited an unopened restaurant space in Minnesota. The restaurant came with a collection of Wood Stone solid-fuel equipment including the Fire Deck oven already mentioned and a rotisserie/ broiler.I spent two days with them and their staff before opening night on Saturday, Jan 30th. A family atmosphere filled the entire restaurant during my time there. Robert and Corey are seasoned operators who assembled a skilled and enthusiastic staff to open a restaurant in this challenging economy. They inherited the only completely wood-fired Fire Deck 9660 that Wood Stone has ever built. Talk about intimidating. I had no idea how this piece of equipment would respond but I should have known, its a Wood Stone and an amazing piece of equipment to stand in front of.The oven held a consistent temperature of around 575 degrees with a medium sized fire on one side of the oven. Consistent 3-4 min pizzas, artisan breads, whole Asian snapper, salt crusted bass, it was an awesome display of diversity in the oven. The chefs were excited to use the oven and their creative juices started flowing as the day went on. It was really neat to see someone be excited about cooking with wood. The restaurant was built and outfitted by another group and the Nyman group came in to get it open and operating. They inherited a lot of challenges and rose to the occasion. Check them out!

By PAUL FRUMKIN - (April 27, 2009) In their difficult journey to uncover growth opportunities in this lending-challenged marketplace, restaurateurs are finding there is still plenty of room for them at the inn. Operators ranging from chain brands Dunkin’ Donuts and Beef ‘O’ Brady’s to fine-dining specialists Emeril Lagasse, Danny Meyer and Piero Selvaggio are targeting expansion in 2009 by partnering with hotel owners across the country. While restaurateurs long have been mindful of the benefits of working with hoteliers—Las Vegas provides numerous examples—the scarcity of growth capital is propelling more foodservice operators into the arms of deep-pocketed hotel companies. “This kind of partnership is a lot more prevalent than in the last couple of years,” said John Fox, senior vice president of PKF Consulting, a hotel advisory firm based in New York. “It provides a restaurant operator with an opportunity to open an outlet without putting up a lot of capital to do it.” David Mansbach, co-president of HVS Executive Search in Mineola, N.Y., agreed, saying the typical restaurant franchisee is having trouble finding proper financing in the current market environment. “As a result,” he said, “a lot of franchisors are considering hybrid strategies where a restaurant concept is aligned with a hotel brand.” Mansbach said HVS is working with a number of foodservice brands, notably Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, the 263-outlet “family sports pub” concept based in Tampa, Fla. So far the chain has opened locations at the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort in St. Pete Beach, Fla., and in the Best Western Hotel and Conference Center in Brandon, Fla. “Hotel food and beverage is a headache for [hotel] operators and in most cases is unprofitable,” Mansbach said. “Bringing in a branded foodservice operation often increases revenues by attracting customers who already know the [brand]. At the same time, it gives the restaurant operator the ability to grow from a franchise perspective when many franchisees are having trouble getting financing.” But Mansbach also advises restaurant franchisors to be flexible when it comes to partnering with hotel owners. “Some larger restaurant chains have very specific standards about design and square footage that make it hard for a hotel owner to work with,” he said. “That has forced us to create a toolbox of restaurant concepts that allow for more flexibility. Beef ‘O’ Brady’s can go into a hotel and convert a space for as little as $110,000, as compared to $1 million for some major dinnerhouse chains.” Dunkin’ Donuts, which is owned by Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Brands, also has several store models—including full retail shops, kiosks and self-serve hot-coffee stations—to help with its planned expansion into the hospitality sector. The brand’s first hotel outlet just opened in the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, N.C., one of the biggest indoor water park resorts on the continent. The outlet serves Dunkin’s full menu of foods and beverages, including baked goods, oven-toasted breakfast sandwiches, and selections from its DDSmart menu. To add to the hotel units’ flexibility, Dunkin’ officials say bakery products also can be prepared in a hotel’s kitchen that has been outfitted with a few pieces of specialized equipment. Dunkin’ plans to grow first in larger airport hotels and resorts in the East, Midwest and Southwest. Rival Starbucks already has a number of locations open in hotels across the country. But while chain operators are taking a more serious look at hotel partnerships, the longstanding romance between celebrity chef-restaurateurs and hoteliers continues unabated with new pairings. In January Michelin-starred Parisian chef Guy Martin opened his first U.S. location in the Fairmont Battery Wharf in Boston. Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group agreed to create a restaurant for Ian Schrager’s Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, and run all of the property’s food and beverage operations. Celebrity chef-restaurateur Emeril Lagasse will debut Emeril’s Chop House at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania in May. In addition, Piero Selvaggio, the owner of the award-winning Valentino in Santa Monica, Calif., and Las Vegas, plans to open a new generation of his Italian fine-dining concept in the Hotel Derek in Houston in September. The partnership between Selvaggio and the Derek’s owners was arranged by Robert Nyman, founder of The Nyman Group Ltd., a foodservice and hospitality consultant based in Scottsdale, Ariz., and an early advocate of chef-hotelier pairings. But Nyman, whose company has worked with a number of hotel operators and also was instrumental in organizing several high-profile partnerships at The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, cautions that not all pairings are destined to hit the jackpot. Recently, for example, Thompson Hotels and Todd English—the Boston-based chef-restaurateur who has several high-end restaurants in hotel properties—agreed to discontinue their partnership in The Libertine in New York. “You have to marry the [chef-restaurateur] to the property,” Nyman said. “Anybody can lease a space, but a lot of places don’t work out. If you make the wrong move, you can end up with a vacant space in the hotel.” To facilitate what Nyman calls “a new kind of niche marketing,” his company weighs several factors, including demographics of the local market, the property’s corporate business and social catering potential, and the type of cuisine. “You have to look at it all and then match it to an operator who can perform and bring credence to the hotel and attract a certain kind of guest,” he said. In turn, because the development costs often are wrapped into the overall hotel project, the chef-restaurateur gets to open a restaurant in a prime location that might otherwise have been out of his financial reach, he said. Nyman said Selvaggio’s vision for the new Valentino offered a good fit with the Derek, which previously had housed an underperforming restaurant. Selvaggio said the restaurant—to be called P.S. Valentino and VinBar—will feature several components. In the front will be a regular bar with many wines by the glass together with a raw bar that will feature small-plate selections like crudo, salumi and antipasti. The area will seat about 100. The restaurant also will house a 90-seat dining room reflecting Selvaggio’s more contemporary interpretation of his high-end Santa Monica restaurant. According to the management contract with the property, Selvaggio will provide breakfast, lunch, dinner, private catering and room service. In addition to defraying the costs of opening a new restaurant, Selvaggio said he likes being in a hotel for other reasons. “You have a built-in audience,” he said. “Also, the Derek is right in the heart of one of the busiest areas in Houston.” He said that he anticipates opening additional P.S. Valentino and VinBar concepts around the country, but each will be tweaked to the local market.

When Daniel O'Brien, sous chef, said they had no fish pliers or tweezers, Puck began pulling bones from the center of the fish with miniature tweezers from a Swiss Army Knife. A half-dozen kitchen workers kept walking back and forth as Puck and Robert Nyman, a friend, worked, speaking in culinary shorthand, to prepare hors d'oeuvres for 150 people ready in 40 minutes. Chef O'Brien already had cut russet potatoes into '/4-inch slices and arranged them on baking sheets. When Puck gave the word, they would be brushed with olive oil and baked in a 400° oven until crisply browned on top and soft in the center. Otherwise, it was up to Puck and Nyman to get salmon canapes, potatoes with caviar and pizza ready. "Don't slice them too thick," Puck warned Nyman, who was sawing through four baguettes of French bread. "Don't slice them too thin either," Nyman shot back holding up a '/4-inch thick bread slice that looked like a miniature doughnut. "He's my father, so I have to be nice to him,' he winked at the kitchen staff gathered around. spiritual father." "I'm not sure if he adopted me or I adopted him." We haven't figured that out yet." The staff looked very puzzled. Nyman finished slicing and passed the croutons on to a kitchen worker to be toasted. He put several bunches of fresh herbs on a cutting board. Chopped fresh thyme, basil "Wolf, you want the basil with this or separate?" Nyman asked as he used the kitchen's only chef's knife to chop fresh thyme. "With it, minced." In ten minutes Puck had finished pulling the bones from the fish. He drizzled it with olive oil and rubbed the oil in. Puck checked the oven temperature and put the two huge pans of potato slices in. He realized that the kitchen workers were staring at them. "OK students, come around," Puck said genially. "We're in class." "So you're the big chef?" one woman said. "I'm not that big," he said and flashed her one of his disarming grins. "Does that sauce go on the fish?" another worker asked, pointing to the herb? And a few flakes of crushed dried red pepper Nyman was beating with a wire whisk into Ligurian unfiltered extra-virgin olive oil. "We gonna brush the pizza with it before we send them out," Puck answered over his shoulder as he turned to check on the potatoes. "If you could get me a few lemons, please, like 10, and some fresh parsley," Puck said to the sous chef . . . "Minced or sprigs?" O'Brien asked. "Sprigs, and what about some kosher salt?" Puck continued. 'We have to take care of the senators' "We don't use salt here or butter or cream or any of that good stuff. We have to take care of the senators," O'Brien said. Eventually, someone found a box of salt. "Wolf, you want a little salt in this?" Nyman asked pointing to the herb oil. "You don't need salt," Puck said matter-of-factly. He walked over to the oven where the potatoes were baking. "Thanks," Puck said as the cook who was watching them opened the oven door. "Keep watching, don't let them get too brown." Puck started rearranging slices of Italian plum tomatoes, rings of red onions and bits of sausage on the tops of pizzas. He stuck his arm in the oven to check the temperature. Hot enough. By the time he turned around, several pizzas were neatly arranged on a huge baking sheet. Without saying a word, he took three off and put them directly on the oven rack and rearranged ingredients on other pizzas. When the first six 12-inch pizzas were done, Puck took them from the oven and blotted moisture off each one with a clean kitchen towel, brushed them with seasoned oil, cut them into 12 sample-size slices and shoved them onto platters. The salmon canapes and caviar potatoes already were upstairs on the reception table. Certain that the kitchen staff would keep the pizzas coming, Puck jumped on a service elevator, went upstairs and walked into The Mansfield Room for the reception.

It's a tailored, wainscoted room with sponged gold walls that wraps around the store's west and north sides, opening up to a bird's-eye view of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the roof-top gardens that float like a mini-Versailles around Rockefeller Center, the skaters and the Christmas tree. It's a quiet room with a view and the cooking doesn't detract from the experience. By offering nearly half a dozen different salads as well as carrot dill soup with half of a shrimp and vegetable sandwich or a warm chicken, tomato and spinach sandwich, the menu is sensitive to the needs of those trying to preserve their girlish figures. The Thai chicken, crab cakes, fettuccine with ginger, broccoli and ginger, or the hefty roast-ed-duck salad and Oriental chicken salad set new epicurean standards. All seem a long way from crustless cucumber sandwiches. Nevertheless, the spirit of ladies who dressed to shop and lunched in cloche hats and kid gloves seems to linger in the room. They might raise a penciled brow over the Cruvinet that is stocked with eight well-chosen wines, or about the lunch or tea tab that is much closer to $25 than it is to 25 cents. I thought it was reasonable rent, and the deftly run, 154-seat dining room is such a well-placed oasis that I didn't miss chicken dressing and gravy at all.