For restaurateur Peter Herrero, 2010 has been a Dickens of a year ”“ the best of times and the worst of times.
“In my 30-year career, it”™s the roughest I”™ve ever seen,” says Herrero, president/proprietor of Sam”™s of Gedney Way in White Plains. “Everything was going up, and people didn”™t have disposable income. There”™s a new reality now. I saw it in September. A lot of (life) is about perception, isn”™t it?”
It certainly is. Armed with this insight, Herrero retooled his menu and prices and found the public had an appetite for fine tuning ”“ as well as salmon burgers.
In this, he”™s been helped by the need to downsize waistlines, along with everything else.
“People are looking for a good portion of vegetables, a good portion of starches and eight ounces of a good-quality protein,” he says, reminding us that a meat entrée should be no larger than the size of a closed fist.
Leaner offerings ”“ which feature more organic but still affordable produce ”“ have been accompanied by leaner prices. At Sam”™s, Herrero has instituted a $25 prix-fixe meal that includes a good-sized salad, an entrée and a smaller dessert.
“It”™s doing very well,” he says.
He”™s also re-priced his inventory of wines, introducing a list of vintages at $25 a bottle or less. Ten percent of the wines now come from New York state as do 50 percent of the beers. What Herrero would really like to see is incoming Gov. Andrew Cuomo reinvigorate the “I Love NY” campaign, focusing on locally produced foods and beverages.
To hear Steve Sackman tell it, 2010 has been “a welcome surprise” for the hotel industry, after “travel almost seemed to be a dirty word in 2009.”
“But 2010 has been a pleasant surprise,” says Sackman, regional director of sales and marketing for Destination Hotels & Resorts, whose properties include the Tarrytown House Estate & Conference Center. “There”™s a lot of pent-up demand for meetings and training sessions.”
But this doesn”™t mean that companies feel the urge to splurge.
“There has to be a return on investment in any meeting,” Sackman says.
Instead of a four- or five-day conference, it might be a one- or two-night stay, he says. And instead of individual meals at dinner, companies are taking advantage of the family-style “Pass the Platter” feature at Tarrytown House, which stimulates ideas as well as the appetite.
Tarrytown House also has a program with Columbia University to customize training sessions for its corporate clientele.
Sackman thinks it will take a while for the economy to return to the heady days of Dow 14,000 in October 2007.
“I think economists are saying it won”™t happen until 2012, ”™13.”
But Herrero thinks it will never happen.
“This is the new reality,” he says. “The sooner we realize it, the better.”
In the meantime, sweet-potato fries anyone?
