We Want to Create an Intimate Experience: Eugene Remm

Bloomberg

Watch We Want to Create an Intimate Experience: Eugene Remm - Bloomberg on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Romain Bostic and I recently met with Eugene Rem. He is the co-founder and partner of Catch

00:04Hospitality Group, the entrepreneur discussing his latest restaurant, the 86, and his partnership

00:10with Tilman Fertitta and his outlook on the hospitality sector. Here's part of that conversation.

00:18It's the heart in hospitality. So everything we do is to create authentic, community-driven

00:22experiences, and that's kind of what we do here. So we think of this like theater,

00:26and the food is just one aspect of theater, just like reading the lines is just one aspect of

00:31theater. So we think about food as one element, but you have to put it all together, and everyone

00:37is a part in your play. So you have your servers, which may be your lead actors, and then you may

00:42have some other folks that are involved in it. So that's what creates the experience.

00:46Well, what else stuck out to me when we walked in, in addition to the decor, was that it's not a very

00:52big space. The physical footprint of this restaurant is pretty small. We're at this gorgeous

00:56table, but there aren't very many of them, and I wonder how you thought through that.

01:01Well, I think where New York is going, and I think actually where the markets are going,

01:05is a simple situation of supply and demand. So limit supply, increase demand, people want to come.

01:11As people start eating and changing their styles of eating, and they're only eating between 7 and 8.30,

01:16and the shoulder times, the first seating and the third seating, have become so limited. The only way,

01:21in my opinion, moving forward, is to shrink the supply to increase the demand, and that's why

01:26we thought about these places. So when we look at restaurants in New York now, we look for iconic

01:30locations that are small in size so that we can create that intimate experience. That kitchen is

01:36about 15 feet from here, so this is almost like having dinner in a house. Hearing you talk about

01:42the idea, again, that scarcity creates value, you want this to feel intimate, like you're eating

01:48at home, for example. Has your thinking on that changed when you think about the recipe,

01:53if you want to call it that, for creating a restaurant? And like you said, it has to happen

01:57organically at some level. But, I mean, has your thinking evolved when it comes to that?

02:02So, Ketch is 15 years old. It was the original one in the meatpacking district. It was 400 seats,

02:07three different floors, and it was packed wall-to-wall. And you had people coming at 5 o'clock,

02:12you had people coming at 7 o'clock, you had people coming post-concerts at 11 o'clock,

02:16and midnight even, to come and dine with us. And that was one model. And we rode that model

02:21really well between New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Aspen, and some of these other markets.

02:26As the times have shifted, number one, people are drinking way less. Number two,

02:31people are much more health-conscious. Number three, Ozepic is real, and people are not eating

02:35as much. So these are all things to take into account. So when you can't win,

02:39and the supply has been restrained, and people do not have the budgets to eat out as often as they

02:45used to, the only thing you can do is shrink your footprint. And even at Ketch, the original,

02:51which is 14 years old, that's what we're doing now. So next year, we're pivoting the three floors,

02:55where we're doing two floors as an event space. When you open a place like this, or the corner store,

03:01which has become wildly popular, what's the general timeframe that you expect to actually break even

03:06to start turning a profit off of your investment? Oh, it's a while. I mean, what most restaurateurs

03:12forget is they think when they open the door, the money starts coming back in. But the reality is,

03:18it takes a lot of time to get the systems and process into place. It takes a lot of time to

03:22get to full scale. For us, it probably takes four to six months to get to our full scale. But we're

03:26also very conservative. We overstaff in the kitchen. We overstaff in the operations. And that comes at a

03:32tremendous cost, which are things that most restaurateurs do not put into their budget

03:36when they open. So what I think happens is a lot of places open, they really need the capital,

03:42so they press. They press for more covers. They press for less staff. And that is when the quality

03:47suffers. And when the quality suffers in those first few months, that is like the birth of a

03:52child is the same as the birth of a restaurant. And how you treat that restaurant in those first few

03:57months defines the product for the next 30 years. So people do not invest. So I would say it probably

04:04takes about 18 months from signing of lease to first dollar down to when you start to see dollars

04:12come back, which is a challenge. So do you get nervous? So in those first few weeks, I mean,

04:15this place has only been open a month and a half or so, a couple months, I believe. I mean,

04:19do you get nervous in those first few weeks of, you know, if because if something goes wrong,

04:23then everybody's going to go and tell their friends, oh, I went to this place and I had a bad experience.

04:27Anyone who tells you they don't get nervous is an absolute liar. So yes, we get nervous,

04:33but I will say it's a healthy nervous. Now in the past, it was much more catastrophic. So this

04:39is my 20th, 21st opening of a restaurant in my professional career. So the team that we have,

04:45the layers of structure and corporate overhead and the backing from Tillman Fertitta and the

04:49Landry's portfolio that has created us. If I'm on a tightrope, I know I have a net and that makes for

04:56an easier walk on the tightrope. So yes, it's still nerve wracking. It gets less and less. And

05:00when you have a team, you are, it's easier because you know, the people are going to do their job. So

05:06this has been the best opening I've ever been a part of the corner store was more nerve wracking

05:12because it was a fully new concept at a foot with a fully new team. Now we've taken team members

05:16from there and brought them over here. So there's a much greater rhythm, which is why people scale

05:21because you have great people who do great things and they continue to do it.

05:24This might be a good opportunity for folks who aren't familiar with you to just kind of explain

05:27where you came from. I mean, you basically started your career more or less in nightclubs,

05:32transitioned into restaurants. You and Mark Birnbaum went out on your own doing your own thing.

05:37At some point, I think it was in 2017 or so, you teamed up with Tillman Fertitta.

05:41Obviously that had to have been a big help, at least financially, I would assume.

05:44Now, none of this is possible without the partnership with Tillman Fertitta. His ability to scale

05:51to grow and have the structures and systems and process in place to create these things.

05:55That's the reason most restaurant groups fail because they actually don't have the systems

05:59and process on top of these amazing ideas to do that. So that partnership with him and having him

06:04now as a mentor, a partner and a friend and just a resource and him, his entire organization

06:11has been one of the reasons that has catapulted us to grow the way we have.

06:16And our thanks to Eugene Rem, co-founder and partner of Ketch Hospitality Group, speaking

06:22to Romain and I at his new restaurant, The 86th.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended