business

Craig Giesecke: Going with your gut

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One of the main issues faced by any budding restaurant operation can be the most challenging, controversial and oft-criticized or loved aspect of the entire business. It is the pride or bane of the place, often within the same day, and it is the post on which the entire hat of the business rests. It is, of course, The Menu. Even places that declare themselves to be, say, an Italian place or a Thai restaurant have the same issues as those with less ethnic fare, albeit in a tighter realm. Food from Northern or Southern Italy?

business

Craig Giesecke: The small, small town of the New Orleans service industry

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Any of us who have lived in a really small town are usually the first to speak up when some urban type starts talking about how they’d like to try the bucolic experience of small-town life.  “Oh, I think it would be so wonderful to really get to know my neighbors,” they say. “It’s so quiet and peaceful – away from the rat race,” they conjecture. Those of us who have been there know how much unfair judging and rumor there is, as well as how much it’s a hassle to have someone up in your grill all the time. You can’t hide anything.

business

Craig Giesecke: Can that homemade feeling be mass produced?

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As we get ready to open a new venture, we’re loading up the place with all the groceries and various other supplies needed to begin operations. We’re also hiring staff, assembling furniture, arranging shelves and working with various placements of things to make them as ergonomic as possible. At least we think so. But you can be sure we’re also forgetting plenty, and whatever it is will come quickly into sharp focus once paying customers start walking in the door. Of course, this type of activity means lots of deliveries of various items from dry goods to produce to liquor to stainless steel tables.

business

Craig Giesecke: Making groceries, by the ton

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We’ve been doing a little grocery shopping over the past week or so, getting product samples from some suppliers and putting them through the various tests in the kitchen and comparing prices and quality like anyone would at home. Except it’s on a larger scale. I’m in a unique position these days, working at a major regional grocery operation while also setting up a commercial kitchen. Really, except for the tonnage of things being ordered, it’s no different than what any of us do when it’s time to make groceries. You have in mind the amount you want to spend and you try to squeeze the most you can out of it, while keeping in mind various limitations of available equipment and how long everything has to last until you can make another trip.

business

Craig Giesecke: Happiness is a new kitchen

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Though much work remains to be done, we’re finally getting to that happiest of all points in restaurant operations – the arrival of the new toys. Grand openings, or even soft openings, come with pressure. But before that, there is the day (or days) when new stuff you’ve ordered actually arrives. Kitchen equipment, gadgets, machines, tables, chairs, product samples, etc. New inventory either never show up or all arrives at once.

business

Craig Giesecke: Playing the waiting game, New Orleans-style

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If you’ve ever built a house or otherwise been involved in construction or extensive remodeling of a building, you know any contractor’s standard answer is “two weeks.” You also know only too well how, particularly in this city, the wheels of the public utilities and their regulatory minions in city government grind v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y –- unless, of course, you’re late paying a bill. For some inspection-related reason, a week ago, an Entergy crew arrived at our new project and drove off with the gas meter. A week later, we’re still waiting to get it back. Seems the latest holdup is the address in the application is two digits off from the actual location. You’d think, since they are merely supposed to put a gas meter back where it was, this would be non-issue.

business

Craig Giesecke: The creators and the doers

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One of the things I enjoy so much about where I’m working these days is the fair amount of freedom I get to produce what I want instead of being held to a list of prescribed recipes and procedures. Once a chef has spent a certain amount of time in self-employment, it is extremely difficult to go into someone else’s kitchen and do their thing their way – just as it would be for anyone in any industry to similarly adapt. During the Great Job Searches of that dismal year 2012, I purposely avoided applying for employment in any kitchen run by, say, John Besh, Emeril Lagasse or any of the Brennans (among others). There were several reasons, but the chief among them was respect. These folks have excellent reputations and proven track records, and it would be an insult for me to try to “improve” on what they do.

events

Craig Giesecke: Life inside the parade box

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We live inside the parade “box,” meaning we’re pretty much confined to our neighborhood at parade time. I think it’s absolutely glorious. It’s the most sublime time of the year for this household, made even better by the arrival of family and friends who have returned for a few days from out of town.

business

Craig Giesecke: How to write a menu in New Orleans

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As mentioned last week, I’m these days helping some friends do the groundwork for a new bar and restaurant in the Warehouse District. With most of the heavy lifting accomplished, we’re now in the dusty work of arranging things in certain locations while the workers around us install wiring, do the plumbing, put up insulation and do a lot of sanding. LOTS of sanding. A simple walk through the kitchen can sometimes leave one looking somewhat Mt. St.

business

Craig Giesecke: The long road to a new restaurant

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These days I’ve been helping some friends put together a new restaurant/bar operation in the Warehouse District. The principals involved are veterans of the local restaurant/bar scene, so there aren’t a whole lot of surprises being thrown at any of us. But, as with any new operation, there’s a lot of “one step forward, two steps back” thing when you’re waiting on construction crews to assemble the plumbing, electrical stuff and hand-mill a new bar on-site. The most frustrating thing about putting together such a new business is all the hurry-up-and-wait stuff involved in licensing and permitting. Things are particularly messy this time of year, as health inspectors want to make sure they’re gotten around to as many places as possible before the big Carnival crowds arrive.  Throw the Super Bowl on top of it and you’ve got, well, a task more difficult than a left turn off Tulane Avenue.