Wendy Lewis Only!

Chef  Allen  Interview  

Question:  What  types  of  businesses  have  you  been  involved  in  as  an  owner,  partner,  proprietor  or   entrepreneur.  

Answer:  Primarily,  the  business  that  I’ve  been  involved  with  the  longest  was  Chef  Allen’s.  It  was  a     S  corporation,  and  was  a  restaurant.  It  was  an  S  corporation  for  tax  purposes,  which  is  what  my   accountant  recommended.  For  any  business,  you  have  to  analyze  where  the  product  and  funds  are   going,  and  have  a  conversation  with  your  lawyer  and  accountant  about  which  type  of  business  to  set  up.   We  set  up  Chef  Allen’s  as  a  company  as  a  S  corporation  from  day  one,  which  made  the  taxes  for  the   business  my  responsibility  as  the  owner  of  the  company.    

I’ve  also  been  a  part  of  some  LLCs  which  have  different  implications  for  all  parties  involved,  but  these   were  primarily  consultancies  and  not  restaurants  I  ran.  All  of  the  types  of  businesses  are  viable,  it  really   depends  on  corporate  laws,  who  lends  money  and  legal  and  accounting  advice.  I’ve  had  loans  where  the   lender  was  demanding  what  type  of  business  I  opened  with  their  money.  

Question:  How  were  the  locations  chosen  for  the  sites  that  you  have  run?  

Answer:  Let’s  talk  about  Chef  Allen’s  again.  Generally  with  restaurants,  the  first  thing  people  talk  about   is  location,  location,  location.  It  has  many  implications.  What  people  does  the  location  give  you  access   to?  Does  the  location  give  you  access  to  employees?  Does  the  location  have  proper  access  for   deliveries?  Does  the  location  have  notoriety,  especially  if  it  is  part  of  the  concept?  If  you  are  putting  a   restaurant  at  the  top  of  the  Empire  State  Building,  it  has  notoriety.  Everyone  knows  it.  It’s  an  address   and  you  are  going  to  pay  for  it.  If  you  open  a  restaurant  on  the  corner  of  Biscayne  Boulevard,  people  are   generally  going  to  know  where  it  is  and  be  able  to  find  it.    

When  I  opened  Chef  Allen’s,  I  was  looking  at  location  proximity.  By  this,  I  mean  that  Miami  was  a   different  environment  25  years  ago  when  I  opened.  Most  people  here  were  very  transient.  I  was  looking   for  an  established  restaurant  area.  Ft.  Lauderdale  and  Coral  Gables  were  established,  but  I  wanted  to   choose  a  middle-­‐ground.  In  1986,  I  was  the  chef  at  Turnberry  Resort  so  I  knew  the  area.  I  knew  the   customers.  I  knew  their  likes  and  dislikes.  During  this  time,  I  also  saw  similar  concepts  to  Turnberry  open   up.  Because  of  this,  I  knew  what  the  neighborhood  would  support  in  food.  I  chose  a  location  in  between   these  concepts.  

When  I  opened  Chef  Allen’s,  I  used  this  information  and  calculated  that  if  the  customers  from  those  two   concepts  would  eat  at  my  establishment  once  a  week,  I’d  have  enough  to  make  the  restaurant  work.   Looking  at  where  the  customers  would  come  from  was  very  much  a  part  of  my  “location”  decision.  

When  I  came  up  with  the  concept  for  Chef  Allen’s,  I  wanted  to  do  two  things:  a)  come  up  with  a  cuisine   that  was  identifiable  and  (b)  not  have  anything  else  that  anyone  around  me  had.  I  wanted  to  have  a   unique  environment  with  unique  cuisine,  especially  because  it  was  a  chef-­‐run  restaurant.  

The  restaurant  was  in  a  strip  mall,  and  took  over  a  spot  that  was  vacant.  We  had  to  look  at  gas  and   sewer  and  zoning  issues  before  moving  in.  I  had  to  take  parking  spots  into  consideration  when   developing  the  concept.  I  would  have  rather  had  a  cute  old  Florida  home  to  convert  into  a  restaurant,   but  too  many  zoning  issues  and  no  parking  would  have  made  it  impossible  when  I  opened  Chef  Allen’s.  

Question:  As  a  consultant,  have  you  been  involved  in  opening  a  business  in  a  location  that  has   previously  failed?  

Answer:  Yes,  this  has  been  my  main  mission  as  a  consultant.  It’s  been  an  interesting  approach  as   opposed  to  my  Chef  Allen’s  work.  I’ve  been  involved  in  both  remaking  a  concept,  and  taking  over  a   location  as  a  consultant.  

First,  you  have  to  look  at  who  the  business  is  serving.  Restaurants  need  cash  flow,  and  you  don’t  want  to   scare  off  customers.  I’ve  been  involved  in  businesses  that  have  closed  and  rebuilt  and  changed  the   concept.  

Let’s  talk  about  Burger  Bar  by  Chef  Allen’s.  It’s  in  a  strip  mall  across  from  two  Spring  Training  ballparks   for  the  Miami  Marlins  and  St.  Louis  Cardinals.    It’s  a  family-­‐style  strip  mall  with  family  style  restaurants,   and  no  signature  tenant  like  Macy’s  or  Publix.  I  did  a  customer  count  in  the  restaurants  in  the  mall,  and  a   customer  count  in  the  area  pre-­‐opening.  I  looked  at  parking  and  demographics.  I  looked  at  schools  in  the   area.  When  I  couldn’t  get  answers,  I  hired  people  to  get  the  answers.  

After  that,  then  you  analyze  the  answers  and  come  up  with  the  food  style  to  offer.  The  cuisine  doesn’t   really  matter,  but  to  come  up  with  the  concept,  you  have  to  come  up  with  what  exactly  the   demographic  wants  and  will  support.  These  Spring  Training  camps  bring  traffic  to  the  restaurant  with   other  restaurants  are  dead.  They  are  also  a  few  research  centers  nearby  which  bring  year-­‐round  traffic.  

Question:  How  have  your  businesses  analyzed  competition?  How  have  these  analyses  changed  your   operating  principles?  

Answer:  You  have  to  look  at  competition  in  a  number  of  ways.  You  have  to  look  at  competition  as  who   feeds  people.  People  go  out  to  eat  because  they  are  hungry,  or  because  they  want  to  enjoy  their  food.   Many  restaurants  satisfy  the  people  who  want  to  quench  their  hunger,  and  do  it  fast.  Others  create  an   atmosphere  and  encourage  customers  to  dine.  You  have  to  look  at  restaurants  that  have  similar  price   points,  types  of  service  and  food  to  you.  Just  because  a  restaurant  is  next  door  to  yours,  doesn’t  mean   that  it  is  your  direct  competition.  

To  analyze  competition,  I  go  into  the  restaurant  and  see  what  they  are  doing  right,  and  what  they  are   doing  wrong.  You  have  to  eat  in  the  restaurants.  Are  people  eating  there  happy?  

At  one  point,  I  started  a  promotion  at  Chef  Allen’s  called  “Chow  Now.”  I  would  pay  the  bill  for  anyone  on   my  staff  to  go  eat  at  a  competitor,  and  then  present  their  experience  to  my  staff  both  verbally,  and   written.  This  helped  us  to  see  what  competitors  were  doing  different  than  us,  better  than  us,  worse  than   us.  It  helped  us  see  some  things  that  we  were  doing  that  were  wrong,  and  some  things  we  needed  to  be  

better  at.  I  wanted  my  staff  to  see  where  I  customers  were.  It  was  a  big  success,  a  reward,  and  a   teambuilding  experience.  

Beyond  this,  sending  my  staff  out  to  our  competition  helped  them  to  see  how  we  were  different.  I  never   served  salmon  at  Chef  Allen’s  because  everyone  else  did.  I  made  breadsticks  and  not  bread  because   everyone  did  bread.  I  wanted  people  to  see  that  we  were  different  and  unique,  and  wanted  my  staff  to   know  this.  

Question:  Chef  Allen’s  had  a  huge  concept  change  in  its  25  year  tenure.  What  brought  that  about?  

Answer:  Chef  Allen’s  existed  for  25  years.  It  always  evolved  and  changed.  It  started  off  with  daily  menu   changes.  Then  it  became  seasonal.  We  always  tried  to  set  the  trends,  not  obey  them.  Little  by  little  we   made  small  concept  changes  and  did  our  best  to  keep  our  customers  coming  back  for  new  and  exciting   things  on  the  plate,  in  the  dining  room,  on  the  walls  and  more.  

I  came  up  with  the  trend  to  use  big  spices,  local  flavors  and  ingredients,  Latin  influence  and  the   customers  loved  it  and  I  got  some  other  local  chefs  to  join  me  in  this  trend.  This  helped  Miami  to   become  an  overall  destination  for  this  type  of  cuisine  and  food.  Miami  is  still  in  the  top  10  for  food  cities   in  the  world.  

One  of  the  last  concept  changes  that  Chef  Allen’s  underwent  was  the  most  drastic.  I  had  always  moved   into  high-­‐end  and  high-­‐quality  ingredients.  I  realized  I  was  serving  the  second  generation  of  customers.   Because  of  this,  I  chose  to  change  the  concept  to  serving  sustainable  seafood,  which  is  really  important   to  me.  This  helped  me  to  bring  down  the  price  point,  and  appeal  to  more  customers.  The  trends  in  the   last  few  years  with  both  seafood  and  media  pushed  me  to  this  change.  I  wanted  to  give  customers  what   they  wanted,  and  it  fit  into  my  location  of  South  Florida  with  its  rich  seafood  bounty.  I  had  been  very   successful,  as  a  destination  restaurant,  in  taking  advantage  of  the  local  products  and  turning  them  into  a   brand.  Look  at  mangos.  I  knew  how  many  people  in  South  Florida  had  mango  trees  in  their  back  yards,   and  knew  that  if  I  appealed  to  them  as  their  mango  chef,  I’d  have  another  signature  item.  Being  a   mango  destination  was  unique.  It  was  brilliant  marketing.  

Question:  How  have  business  plans  played  a  role  in  the  business  ventures  you’ve  been  involved  in?  

Answer:  The  first  thing  about  a  business  plan  is  that  it’s  paramount  to  have  a  vision.  So  a  mission   statement  is  first.  It’s  the  strongest  thing  you  can  do.  The  rest  of  the  plan  proves  where  your  mission  is   going  to  go.  The  mission  –  even  if  it’s  hotdogs  on  the  corner  –  is  more  than  two  words.  The  business  plan   analyzes  what  the  business  will  need  to  be  successful.  Being  able  to  put  the  vision  down  into  words  and   verbalize  it  to  investors  and  staff  paves  the  road  to  success.  It  has  done  so  for  me.