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

“One of the things the concept, what the concept is, and what it's driven by. Is it driven by a steakhouse? Is it a concept that goes across all different genres? Is it a businessman restaurant? Or is it specific to a ethnic cuisine? What's the location? And what does the P&L say? What are the multiples say? Do they have the right scale? Are you charging enough? So if it's only 60 seats and people say, well, we can do 3 million a year. 3 million a year, 60 seats. How much money are you going to make off that investment if you leave you if you took that half a million dollars and left it in the bank and made 2% on a CD, you would make more money and it's safer. You have to have. The right size restaurant with the right concept and the right location and enough scale to make that investment worth it.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Have other people Some people, I mean, because no, nobody ever says. I try to be as incognito as possible, not that anybody would know me. But, you know, the restaurant business is very incestuous in the city, so service could have, there was a bartender there and a server that worked for us in town. So they Automatically. Does that”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What we're trying to do and what we're trying to accomplish. We'll go out as a team and we went to that Korean steakhouse cult. And so 10 of us went out. We ordered everything on the menu. We tried everything. Literally everything on the menu.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I have different. If we go out to eat as a team, we go to look to see an experience who's doing something in Asian food, who's doing something in Italian food, are the dishes interesting. If I'm going out with my family, it's someplace where my kids can destroy and have a good time and I don't have to worry about them and just have a nice glass of wine and relax. So it's all about.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Seems to be gaining steam. It's difficult Tipping in upstate New York or smaller counties where It's super valuable to the employee when an employee or waiter gets, survey gets stiffed in one of those, they're not making any money. In New York, it's different. The scale of people coming in, the amount of business that we do, so paying a server $13,000, $14 an hour is very tough on the restaurants in New York. And I believe in the end, it's... Changing the face of the restaurant business in New York City, insert restaurants with servers will be elite kind of high-end restaurants because most people won't be able to afford it. Do you think”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The person who received those goods, did they take care of them? Did they put them away the right way? So the food doesn't spoil every single. Every single thing matters, everything.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because half And it takes away from the experience. Is the bus boy important? Yeah, sure. That person is very important from the same way you walk in and the Maitre D or the host greets you and says hello and then the server comes over and takes you order and the chef and the”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know, I always say that every single person in that restaurant matters from the person who sweeps outside and receives the delivery and puts it away. I think that every single person in that chain has a A very important part to play in a guest experience coming in coming up to a restaurant that's dirty on the outside. You want it clean. You want it sharp. Every single job in a restaurant is important.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's it. Oh my god, they charge you $27 for a chicken. I go to the store and it's $5. How is that possible? The rest is all profit. That's so not true. But that's what people think.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Don't go that far. We're looking for my horse. Broadway shows and movies are worse than, well, I mean, it's super sexy, right? And it's action and it's people and it's... The Afrodesiac of opening a restaurant is great, man. People come in, they see you, and people who understand it for the business are smart about investing. And I don't know. It looks easy to everybody. I guess the restaurant. And it's done. Profit machine.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Less risk. There's always risk of getting employees not making money, signing to a deal that may not be as lucrative as you want and doing all this work and then finding out 3% of the net is nothing”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Each one is individual, but I think you find more and more now that the individual operator puts up very little of their own cash and the base build or the hotel will finance the whole project. They'll be a partner. And you'll get less of a percentage on the front end and less of a percentage on the back end, but they'll finance the whole project for you.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But in Sydney and in Singapore, we're in a hotel. So we're in the star Sydney and Marina Bay Sands. So we do have rent deals, but the hotel are our partners. So it's a base rent and a percentage rent. So it's manageable.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's it. And I think one of the things, that's one of the biggest misconceptions. That's why going to school and understanding the business end of it is super important. Understanding projecting out hey, I can do $40,000 a week in business. My rent factor is 6%. If I do $40,000 a week and I dip to 20 and my rent is 78%, I can still make money. But if my rent is double that and it's 9, 10% and my rent factor goes up to 20%. You're going to have to make. You're in trouble.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One of the things that just because you make the greatest souffle or the greatest steak. You have to me for us anyway, the real estate is the most important part of the deal, right? You have to have the right space in the right location at the right rent. And once all those, if you're paying exorbitant rent and you have a snowstorm, something happens, business, you know, like, so you have to plan for those things. You have to plan for when the business ebbs and flows. And the rent is constant.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think for us, it starts with finding the right employees, our people. teaching them hospitality. I think that you can, you have to find good people. You can teach anybody how to cook. You can teach anybody how to do any of the basic skills that you need for the restaurant business, but finding the right people, finding the good people who are into the hospitality business, who really want to give the best guest experiences, the most important thing that we do, finding the right people.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The bulk of the menu is kind of static because there's hits, those big famous hits that everybody loves. It's like going to a Def Leopard concert. You've got to hear those 10 songs. That's all that people want to hear. And then there's about a certain percentage that we swap in and out every year. But there's always special. So once a year we change the menu and it's probably 10% of it that goes on and goes off based on seasonality and something's working some things don't work. But specials are always ever changing. We run four or five specials a day.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I'll make something, or the chef will make something. And then we have a couple of corporate chefs who'll come in and then everybody will collaborate on that dish and add a seasoning or take something away and really try to maximize not only the flavors, but the execution of that dish. Where are we going to pick it up from? How is it going to get and taste exactly the same way we just made it? So that goes a lot into the thought of how to make a dish. Like, is it coming out of this station? Where are we holding the measuras? What do we have to make ahead of time? What can we make at the moment? And how can we get that same experience over and over and over again to each guest that orders it?”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So usually one of us will come up with an idea. All I have an idea, or the chef will have an idea. And then we kind of collaborate on it for if it's seasonal now, summer and spring is great. Lots of different products come in and we'll test those out.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Never ask. I wanted a big misconception that the chef is actually cooking every dish. Oh my God, what did he do? No. And it's impossible, especially in a restaurant of our size that the chef is cooking every dish, but he's creating every dish. He's coming up with it, and he's monitoring and working with the team as they produce it. And for us, someone came in one day and we had the lobster delivery came in and there were probably 400 pieces of lobster. And somebody said, oh my God, I thought you used frozen. Why would you think that we use frozen? We get it delivered twice a week from Maine. Know we take it, we break it down, we cook it and we get it ready for that service and we do it fresh every single day. So there's a lot of misconceptions about how those things get done.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's Gourmay pastry in town would be dim sum grill. In the kitchen, and then there's a sushi station, which is a freestanding.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, if you compartmentalize all the food, it's not like you'll go there and make the salad, then run to the other side and make the noodles, then run to the other side and make the fish. Every single person has a set of responsibilities. The Mesum Plus list and things that they have to be ready, and we monitor and check those things before service, enduring service. Everything in its place sliced, an order comes in for pai. You're not slicing the radishes. You're not slicing the chicken. Everything is ready to go and it's assembled when the order comes.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It is a military type operation, but we definitely take that same focus that you said, it's a small mom and pop, and we take every station and we break it down. So if there are seven stations in the kitchen, each station is responsible for nine dishes or eight dishes. So you can really focus in on a sous chef will walk around and make sure they taste and monitor those. So as the food comes up, it's a huge pass. The line is about 25 feet. And everyone is putting up the dishes that they're responsible for that part of the menu.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, it's tough, but one of the things that we do is that unless there's some big circumstance where people have to work six days a week or work a double shift, we really focus and emphasize that everybody takes their two days off, everybody takes their vacation. When you take your vacation, you make sure you leave your phone home. Don't answer emails. Don't reply to email if you are answering those emails. So that downtime and off time is super important. I'm a strong believer in it, and I make sure all that the whole team follows that rule.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Hours are brutal, but I think that anybody who's in any profession has brutal hours. I don't talk to a lawyer or an electrician or somebody. They're always working lots of hours. They're working hard. The one thing about the restaurant is that it never closes, right? Even if you close for dinner or service ends at 11 o'clock, there's always somebody there that's cleaning, that's putting stuff away, getting ready for the next day, checking mesumplas for the next day. The chef is... Always forecasting for tomorrow, looking at what he needs, what they need for tomorrow, who's coming in, this day and age, employees, employees calling out is always a big thing. So we're always jumping in and helping out on the line and moving.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Peeling potatoes, nothing like that at home. Not always. But I, you know, again, my wife and I eat this and then my son will only eat certain dishes. My daughter, who's 13, will only eat certain dishes. So I try to make a little bit of everything for everybody. But now the summer is great. So it's all about barbecue. It's a salad. One vegetable and then grilled meat and grilled fish. So that's why I like the”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Different Well, first, I have to do all the work myself. When I'm at the restaurant, there's always somebody who can say get this, get that, clean this, do that. I picture you with like.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Different graphics, different level of salt, different level of pepper. And then you go to Los Angeles and it's different again. Everybody had all their McDonald's does the same thing. Big corporations will see what people like to eat and how they like dishes seasoned or levels of seasoning and they'll play up to that.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think salt and pepper, and you really see it. We have restaurants in New York where the food is seasoned here and people go out to Las Vegas and have the same dish. Oh, it didn't taste the same. It didn't. The taste of that clientele in Vegas is totally different.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's definitely a little bit of both. I'll answer the first question. When you get a recipe at home, you look at a recipe and it's a cup of this, a teaspoon of that. One of the things we try to do is really measure everything out. So someone's on a line and it's a spoon of this, a spoon of that, it'll always be the four ounce ladle.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That used to be when I was a sous chef, I made sure the chef had very little to do. I mean, the chef, the executive chef has final say over the menu. He's the ultimate, they are the ultimate end of what the food quality is, what the dish looks like. It tastes like when it's executed, and the viability of running that business. They're responsible for food costs. They're responsible for labor costs. We also make all our chefs responsible for the facility. So it's taking care of the equipment, managing that equipment because buying a blender, a Vitamix is $1,200, $1,300. Ovens of $40,000, $50,000 these days. It's not like you buy an oven for $600, put it in, and it works. Everything's so expensive.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, you're a great cook. You do a great job on your station. You've really done a lot of these things. Now let's teach you how to be a chef. Because I always say to guys, if you're a great whatever saute guy or great grill guy, you can only make so much money. You're not going to pay the saute man the same way you would pay the sous chef or the executive chef. So for you to grow into not only make more money for yourself, but grow the business and educate yourself and maybe do whatever you want. On your own, you have to overcome these challenges.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Talent, you know, that is a tough one because there are people, like I said, who can cook, and then when you put them in a role of responsibility, just the mere fact of the anxiety of having to watch over other people, be responsible for other people takes a lot for employees and people to get over. One of the things is you'll see somebody who's working, he's a hardworking, they're a hardworking person, they're consistent, they cook good, they come up with specials, they come to you, they interact with you, you see how they move, how they just, you know, there's a lot like watching a great basketball player, a great baseball player, they have a feel and a style and lots of moves, and you pick up on that. And a lot of these people can, once they get to the next level, just dealing with the anxiety of stuff on them. And I think we try to teach them little by little of”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“On Tuesday, you want to come back at 11:30 on Friday and have the same exact experience. That takes a chef, somebody with skill, who knows how to teach, who knows how to set that kitchen up correctly and make those techniques and set up the Mesam Plus correctly.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Cooking and being a chef to me are two completely different things. Chef has to be a good cook But a great cook can't always be a great chef. A chef is a person who runs the business, who runs the back of the house, runs the kitchen, has to know what all the other employees are doing in the kitchen, has to know if you're on a saute station, everything that's in that saute station, what your measum plus is, what your recipes are, you're executing those recipes correctly over and over again. At home, when I cook at home, I make grilled chicken. I'm making it for me and the kids and the family, and that's it. When you're in a restaurant, you may be making hundreds of them. So if you come in at 1130.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“First, you got to have passion for it. You got to want to do it and struggle through learning, self-learning. Taking instruction, taking a lot of criticisms. But you also have to, like any artist or artist in, I like to say I forget about artists, but you have to learn all the techniques of proper roasting, proper grilling, proper sauteing, proper cutting, and a lot of, I think that's some of the things that get lost is really understanding all the basic techniques and knowing how to use those techniques and combine them.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But some of those like souve techniques, I think some of that is come and gone. I think that in the beginning when it came in, it was a cool idea and a lot of chefs used it. But I think it's gotten to the point where it's overused. I don't really like using it for red meats or heavy meats. Chicken and certain vegetables, it makes them great, but you got to use some of those techniques or you have to really understand how to use those and what the outcome is going to be, not just to say, oh, it's souveed and that's going to make it great. That's just not the case”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, it does help out a lot, especially the combi ovens where they heat, they hold. You can use less employees in the product. You don't really lose anything in a product. If it was years ago, you would have to have a whole crew prepping and then putting in an oven, taking it out, cooling it, then reheating it. There's technology now where you make items, you cook them to a certain temperature, you hold them at that temperature, and then you reheat them and serve them out. So especially for big bankots, we do a lot of banquets in Vegas. It's been a big, huge help for us.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A little bit easier to run it from the computer systems that help you control inventory, watch purchasing to just managing the kitchen, managing employees. Payroll now. It used to be when I started at the Plaza Hotel, my daily rate was $2.36 an hour. It's like $15 an hour. So you're really managing people on the half hour now. So technology of punching in, punching out, managing those people. But also the cooking techniqu”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, because the government is on top of you. But New York is pretty, very restrictive. It really comes from lots of people for years taking advantage of the system, like people not finally building permits correctly. These people that stole the gas downtown and like...”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, when we went to school, was you had to take hotel accounting, accounting, beverage and inventory control stuff. Why do I need this? Like my kids would say to me, oh, what do I need algebra in high school? You're never going to use it. But you do use it. And learning those skills, those mathematical skills and understanding business. Is super important to be successful.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think most of them go to school. There's no one, that's the one thing that's great about the restaurant business now. There is no one path to success, right? When I was growing up and you wanted to be a chef and you wanted to be an accomplished chef, you had to do your internship and then you had to do a Comey in a French restaurant. You had to work for a big hotel. You had to work for a great chef. And you had to go through this long arduous path. Now you could develop the greatest hot dog, the greatest burger, and you can be recognized for so many things, different things. Not only is a chef, but become a successful business person doing it. So I think that to be the most successful school and education helps you not only with knowing how to roast a chicken. Just using that, but understanding the business, what to look for in the business, how to make the money, how to hold on to the money, how to spend the money correctly.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I grew up in an Italian American home, so my parents were always, my father worked, my mother was always home cooking, and I got a job working in a restaurant when I was very young. And a chef in that restaurant took a liking to me and just would let me help out in the kitchen while I was doing bus play work. I was doing waiter work. And he encouraged me to go to school for it and really saw that I had a knack for it. And he really guided me to go to New York City Community College. And then when I graduated in high school, I went to Grady High School in Brooklyn. It's a tech vocational school. I wanted to be an electrical electrician, electrical engineer. I wasn't sure. But he encouraged me to go to New York City hotel and restaurant. And when I graduated high school, his good friend of his was the chef at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, and he got me a job working at the Plaza Hotel. So it was like from being in a small restaurant in Brooklyn to the biggest.”
2018-11-20 · Masters in Business · Ralph Scamardella on the High-End Food Business (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source