YouSaid · the spoken record

Ralph Scamardella

lines on the record: 93
first: 2018-11-20
most recent: 2018-11-20
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“The perception of people, I didn't actually do it for the money. I did it because I just loved it and wanted to do it I didn't take the approach of hey, I'm going to do this and I'm going to make a million dollars. I'm going to make $5 million. I'm going to make $10. I just did it because it's what I wanted to do. And I took that approach of going in and just working and working and working figure that if I could just work hard, the opportunities will come. And I don't know. I would have studied harder in school. That's for sure. I would have paid more attention in college.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Takes time. They all think it's, I mean, everybody wants instant gratification. Oh, I went to school, I worked for this chef a year, I worked for that chef for a year. I'm ready to be a chef. Just not the case. It's a long process.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's just that for some reason it just happens that way. I don't know why. That part of it's in front of a bus stop. It was like all crazy little things that was successful.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I failed like you know, restaurants we learned, you know, we had a restaurant up on the upper east side, Arlington Club, that the food was great, but it was just bad location. We learned a lot to really be more careful about the locations that we picked and just to... Sometimes you have to know when to get out, right? I think that we let that. That's one of the most important things Listen, any business is risk, right So something's worked, something's don't work. But if it's not working, you've tried everything, let it go and move on.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You can go where we went to Fenway Park a couple years ago and a steakhouse in there was great. It was a great experience. And those are the different things where you can get great meals anywhere now.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“From where it was. Yankee Stadium or City Field. I don't know if anybody goes to City Field, I don't know. I love the Mets. It may be the”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's dynamic, it's ever changing. I've maybe said it a couple times, but the way to make money and the way to get your point across and get your dish across has changed so much. And it's just you could come up with something that's the greatest baobun and make a fortune. And people who have, the food truck revolution, I think changed the way a lot of people think about restaurants. So you can go to a truck and have a great meal. You can go down the road. And it's everywhere, right? You go to Madison Square Garden and the food stands are great.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think it's way, way better today, people who respect each other, respect. Hate to use that term diversity, but women in the workplace and just different people in the workplace and the way you treat people and treat people with respect and treat yourself with respect so you can treat other people with respect.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Every single thing has changed, like now getting rid of plastic straws. I think a lot of it is for the better. Sure, especially the way employees are treated. I think back in the day, you could yell at, smacked, hit, and all of it was wrong. It's almost like the trail of an abusive parent. You abuse the kid, the kid grows up to be an abusive parent, and that was really what was learned yelling and screaming. Cycle will be happy.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fig in the breast cancer research and breast cancer walks. We do a lot of that. I'm actually my charity in the part of Talcares. I'm the chairman of the board of Eden 2, which is a school and a facility for people on the autism spectrum. So I do that work and we have another charity called Pop Earth works with people on the autism spectrum. So I do a lot of that work.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, now it's the summer, so I like to hang out in the backyard and have a nice glass of wine and go in the pool. But I enjoy playing with my kids and do a lot of charity work and helping others. It really gives me a good sense.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In the early 80s, I worked with when there was a restaurant, hotel on the east side, the Westbury Hotel. Was a restaurant called a polo. And Roger Verger was the consulting chef, but Daniel Ballu and his crew came from Lyon. And those guys, that team was one of the really first people who exposed me to a different world of how French food was and the seasonality of it. French restaurants were always like, this is it. These are the dishes, duck all orange in the middle of the summer. In the middle of the winter, they were more seasonal food and really taking a farm approach way, way back when.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know if he's still alive. He was an old Sicilian guy, but I worked in a restaurant called Lacine. Many years ago, Chef named Jean Yves Piquet, an old French guy who was really, back in the day that was one of the few four-star restaurants in New York from the New York Times when it really, really was something. And he was a strict disciplinarian. He was the guy who really made me understand what running the kitchen was and how everyone should look and behave and perform. And it was all about. Dressing and looking right and yet wear the white hat and the neckerchief and stand there and just those were the days where you got screamed at from the minute you opened the door to the minute you went home man you were just like hammered every minute of every day”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is the speed Thing that I don't know about my background. It's a loaded question that, you know, I was just a regular guy born and raised in Brooklyn and just worked my way up and worked hard that I think that when people see success or you're working in a restaurant, always got this, always does that. And no one gets anywhere without working hard and paying your dues. And I definitely paid my dues over and over, overpaid my dues. I'm waiting for that check to come back to the refund check.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Calories off. First, you got to exercise. You got to make. Smart decisions about what to eat and when to eat, when we would work on dishes or work on menus, we're opening Tao Chicago very soon. That's coming in September. And right now we're working on dishes. I would take four or five bites, six bytes, seven bites, eat half the dish, and that only. Now it's one of two bites”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People think that because when you eat with a bunch of people, everybody's looking at you like, what does he say? What does he think? I was like, no, I just tried to eat. Yeah, just eat, man. I really, really enjoy eating. And you're there on trick.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It'll be at a good meal. It'll be a safe experience. But if I'm going out for a dining experience, it's totally different. We're going out with friends and we're hanging out. We're partying. It's always a safe experience.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As a diner, unless it's really, really bad, it depends on if we're with the crew of people. Send stuff back if it's not right. If I'm with my family, it's pretty older stuff that I know is safe. Like when you go out to eat, people say if you go. You go somewhere. What do you order? My first instinct is always to order something safe, especially with a big group of people, because you don't know.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Send it back. If something is up in the past and it's not right, it doesn't look right to send it right back to the cook and send it. The first thing I'll send it back and then turn around and yell at De Zushef and make them to go back there and make it with them.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What I'm born and raised in Brooklyn, and when I do go back to Brooklyn at the 7th Avenue, 8th Avenue in Brooklyn has a great Chinatown. Used to go to Queens to see the Mets play, but since they're so bad, I don't go out to Queens anymore. What do they owe for 18? It's not terrible. I think they finally won. But Brooklyn has great Chinese food, and so does Staten Island. There's some really good Chinese restaurants. So I'll go to Brooklyn, and when I want to get my Chinatown fix.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They did some good job. I don't like knocking anybody because we get knocked all the time, but I know what it takes to get it done. So I always go out for the experience”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A place on New Door Plane, Pizza Giovanni, that the pizza is great, the Italian food is great, two guys from Italy in a small place, but they do a great job.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Always cook at home. You know, there's some really good cook at home, but there's some really, I live on Staten Island and some really good restaurants on Staten Island. Just Italian, Italian-American.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We went to Neta, but I like to sushi by Gary. He's always good, man. He always does a good job. Simple. It's fast. It's clean. Masushi on 23rd is very good also.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Food in a restaurant business on any level from the guy who sells the halal guy in the street outside to per se. It's all hard work getting people to come in, guests to buy the stuff For me, I don't like sitting there for four hours and eating, and I drinking and it's, you know, seven courses paired with a wine. If I get a good one cocktail and a really good bottle of wine with dinner, I'll always pick a wine that'll go well with an appetizer and an entree. Seven different wines by the time you're on your seventh course with the seven. To me, it doesn't make any sense”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I look at food and I say to myself, what? Some of those long Meals where you go to those tasting dinners. I don't have the patience to sit through one of those. I don't knock anybody's food.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so they weren't really saying anything. I went down a block. I bought a case of beer. I brought into the kitchen, gave each guy like four or five beers, and they taught me how to make this dish right there. I was like, that was a great experience.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Nobody said anything. I don't know. Nobody ever stopped. You look like you belong in there. I don't like I belong, right? You could put on a chef coat and pretty much go anywhere. Nobody stops. Nobody stops yet. Well, right into the White House if you want”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, one of the players, Hong Kong is one of the dishes that we have on a towel is a snapper in the sand. And we had it in a place in Hong Kong. And this guy, the server was unbelievable. He had like these big... Fishing boots on, white fishing boots, and we went over, picked the fish out. He was like dancing in the food. And the dish was like unbelievable. So I went into the kitchen and there were three cooks on a walk and I just was trying to talk to them and letting me come.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I try not to go anywhere else. You know, I try to conserve as many of my favorite place in LA is Republik. I don't know if you've been there It's the old Abrea Bakery. The food is really good. The chef is great and it's seasonal and it's fresh and it's non-threatening. I like where people don't have to think so much when they're eating and just order something and it's the food is good, the service is good, and the ingredients are really fresh and well made.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Black tap. I mean, Instagram made them Really? Those shakes and Instagramming those shakes, and they're great. I mean, it's unbelievable. They do a great product, but they were struggling in the beginning and they hooked on to Instagram and Instagram helped promote their business.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's great. But that's one thing about the restaurant business now. There is no one path to success, right? A guy can come up with something, Instagram and Instagram like...”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I like Instagram. I think for me, it saves me probably five, six thousand calories a day. You don't have to go out and eat. You can look at a picture of it and kind of figure out what's in it. You can pick up an idea and a description of the dishes there. I personally like Instagram. I just think that. For it to what the average person likes on Instagram. Doesn't really translate to what a good meal would be.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The photograph, everything is the Instagram moment. Everything. I mean, a lot of some of what we do is... geared towards the Instagram moment, but I always say if people would take pictures of something that's great and Instagram it, that's great. But a lot of the stuff you see on Instagram is almost inedible, right? The giant towers makes no sense, man. What are you going to eat like something that's got 5,000 ingredients with cheese poured over it? Who eats that? Nobody. Nobody.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Hammer us, but if you went and said something bad about Some small Italian restaurant or some small Asian restaurant. Would anybody care? No, but if you say something bad about Tower, say something good about Tao, it drives traffic. That's what it's about”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Took the power out of them. Google is looking to drive advertising centers, right? Can't say something bad about somebody who could possibly advertise with you. And that's what Yelp does it, you know, gets there. To me, a lot of those outrageous reviews are just trying to drive traffic to the site, right? So you get on eater and those guys, and they just ham they hammer us to no end. And it is impossible to get some bad meals? Yes. Is it possible that everybody does a great job but us? Impossible. We wouldn't be where we are and who we are and with the reputation.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, not when Mimi Sheridan or Brian Miller or one of those big reviewers and John Marini, when they would come in, that would make or break it. Now, you take the subway and there's 500 reviewers. Everybody's a Yelp guy. Everybody's a something. Well, Yelp is 10.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The thing about reviewers will come in and if they do it over a two week span or a month span, that's different. Coming in on one time when the place is busy and maybe just getting a bad experience, how do you judge any business? It's not like it's a movie where it's been seen 150 times and everyone's vetted it. You're having somebody make the meal. You don't know what happens in a kitchen. There are bad experiences. Absolutely, but you have to, that's one of those things where you have to give it three or four tries before you actually or go to a couple dinners and say, you know, it really from beginning to end is a bad experience or from beginning to end. It's a good experience.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Profitability. And I think once you start doing that, the guests will notice that, especially if you go there three times a week or once a month and all of a sudden you're eating the same thing and you know it's different. Let's say maybe it's an off night. The next time you go and it's bad, that's it. Everybody has an off night. Silly Mays had an off day.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Most places when they're in trouble instead of buying a prime steak that's, I mean, we pay $21 a pound for prime steak. We pay. So what does that translate to?”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In this day and Asia, I think one of the things is not only the location and the rent, which kind of squeezes things down, but...”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, piece of fish or the quality of the produce, and you're saying, here, they built this restaurant, it's great, and they're using crummy tomatoes, and they're using really poor fish, and the steak quality isn't good. You know that they're cutting back on the most important thing. I think that's one thing that we never do. You may like or not like, but we buy the best ingredients and let them speak for themselves because people will always be able to tell that apart. Give him a restaurant two or three times before I write it off.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People coming in and saying, I think sometimes it could take three months depending upon how far they're reaching, what kind of cuisine it is. Is it real simple cuisine and they're executing it poorly? Is it real simple cuisine and they're buying poor ingredients? I mean, if you go out a lot and you're somebody like you who knows the difference, you can tell the difference between a really good steak and a real bad steak for sure.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If the service is really, really good and the food's okay, people will give it a second chance. If the service is really bad and the food is okay, people won't give the restaurant a second chance. Really? I think you got to.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My wife is like, we're done with that. We don't have to go back there. I'm like, I think you got to give it a couple of times. People will say. Six months.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Everyone's going there, and it's a completely immersive experience, right? It looks great. The food is good. The service is great. But the feel and the vibe of the place, it's all about going out and having the experience.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely, yeah. I'm having a great time doing a show also, and it's great. You not only look for the food experience, but you always look for the business experience of what's going on, what are they doing, why aren't they busy, why are they busy? It's lots of people will look at Tao and say, Oh my God, they're so busy. Let's open up right next door. And they don't. Is it the business in the areas? I think Tao, it is definitely a destination, right? It's a special experience.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And see where they're investing the money in, right? Did they spend money on $500 in flowers and no money on linen? Is that really where you want to go?”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What they're doing, first seeing what ideas I could steal and make our own because you always look at improve yourself. Anyone who says we do everything perfect and we do everything great and we do the best food, the best guest experience is just fooling themselves. You're always looking where I'm always looking for that edge and seeing what people are doing. Is there any innovation and to see kind of business they're doing in a location is it sustainable? Is it Is it going to be a thread? Is it going to be something or part of that concept that maybe there is something there and they can make something of it? You're always thinking when you're looking and seeing what's going on.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We do lava, which is an Italian steakhouse. We have one in New York, one in Las Vegas, one in Singapore. New York neighborhood food with steak. And we have Legacy, which is a seafood restaurant in Amoxie Hotel. Beauty and Essex Vandal. So it's lots of different concepts, but Tao is definitely our biggest. Concept that we have, and it's the most famous”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source