Restaurant conference

by David Klemt David Klemt No Comments

Cheers to the Flyover Conference!

Cheers to the Flyover Conference and Cincy!

by David Klemt

The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River, heading toward Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, Ohio

Just pretend the temporary SkyStar Wheel isn’t in this picture.

The successful and exciting launch of the Flyover Conference makes it clear that co-founders Sarah Engstrand and Greg Newman are onto something big.

Big, yet intimate. There’s a real feeling of community when a small-but-driven group gathers with purpose. That’s exactly what Flyover embodies.

Now, I know some people who live between the east and west coasts in the US find the term “flyover” irritating, if not outright offensive. As someone born and raised in the Midwest, I understand the frustration. However, I can assure anyone raising a skeptical eyebrow or frowning at the name of the conference that it isn’t meant as a pejorative.

Rather, Engstrand and Newman are giving a cheeky middle finger (likely two, really) to those who dismiss “secondary” and “tertiary” markets. In fact, their intention is to shine a spotlight onand servecities that don’t receive the same attention as “primary” markets.

By primary, I think you know main culprits: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Miami. In contrast, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Cincinnati, and Detroit carry the “secondary” label (as do many other cities).

So, a core element of the conference is featuring speakers who have, up until now, mostly spoken at highly visible trade shows that take place in major host cities. For example, the National Restaurant Association in Chicago.

For the inaugural Flyover, the co-founders put in the work to provide Cincinnati with a powerhouse lineup of hospitality industry speakers. Additionally, this year’s F&B sponsors delivered an awesome array of sips and bites.

Killer Kickoff Keynote

Truly, Flyover’s mission is to deliver maximum impact over the course of just two days. The 2024 speaker lineup serves as a testament to their dedication.

So, too, is how the 2024 show utilized the two speaker stages, provided by Rhinegeist Brewery. Flyover attendees and speakers were close to one another, not separated by the vast expanse of a ballroom or elevation of a platform.

David Kaplan, CEO of Gin & Luck, the parent company of the world’s first cocktail bar chain (for lack of a better term, really) kicked off the event. Perhaps multi-location craft concept is a better phrase to explain Death & Co. in five words or less.

During his informative and inspiring keynote, he detailed he and his team’s approach to entrepreneurship. As Kaplan explains, when someone understands their purpose (why), they come to an understanding that helps develop their process (how). In turn, that gives an entrepreneur an understanding of the outcome they’re working toward, or their “what.”

I’ll dive much deeper into his keynote in a future article, because Kaplan’s approach goes much further than why, how, and what. In fact, in keeping with his status as one of the most transparent people in hospitality, Kaplan shares his personal core values, along with those of Death & Co.

Engaging Education

Bartender-cum-licensed psychotherapist (and soon-to-be organizational psychologist) Laura Louise Green took on a topic afflicting all of hospitality: burnout. The founder of Healthy Pour, Green explained that burnout is not only different than stress, it’s certainly not a sign of weakness to take the time to address it.

One of my favorites, Chef Brian Duffy, took a different approach to the topic of menus. Instead of reviewing a handful of submissions, Duffy took questions and addressed issues with food purveyors directly in a frank and open discussion.

Encouraging operators to take greater risks, Michael Tipps, co-founder of Maverick Theory, drove home a compelling point. Oftentimes, operators are fearless when developing their concepts. However, something curious often happens when it’s time to welcome the public into the space: second guessing, and blunting the sharpness of the original vision.

Oh, and I shared the KRG Hospitality approach to systems, starting, stabilizing, and scaling, my second time every presenting at a conference. Most people assume that because I host a podcast I’m comfortable talking to anyone, anywhere. That’s mostly true. However, I, like millions of other people, find public speaking anxiety-inducing. So, a huge thanks to the Flyover team, fellow speakers, and mostly the attendees for setting me at ease.

The above are but a handful of the education sessions that Flyover provided for attendees. Other topics ranged from the need for fully realized non-alcohol bar programs, building events in house, and operators handling their own PR campaigns, to leadership skills and leveraging the power of an effective door team.

Bang for Buck

Anyone who has attended one of the big hospitality industry conferences has probably been subjected to the experience below.

You file into a session featuring a topic of particular interest to you and your business. Even better, the speaker is someone you’re excited to see and hear. The presentation ends and…awkward silence. Almost everyone is too afraid to ask a question that they feel may make them look “stupid,” or like they’re not a good operator. Finally, someone asks a question, and that leads to a few more questions.

Unfortunately, the presentation was 45 to 50 minutes long, and with the awkward pause after its conclusion, there are barely ten minutes left for the speaker to answer questions. When they’re shooed off the stage, they’re swarmed in the hallway. You think they may be overwhelmed, you don’t want to add to that or inconvenience someone you admire, and you never get to meet them, ask them an important question, and exchange business cards.

That’s not an indictment of the large, more mainstream conferences. It’s just how it is when you pack dozens upon dozens of speakers, and thousands of attendees, into a conference hall. Further, schedules tend to be so loaded in order to attract attendees and boost ticket sales that people are forced to make difficult choices and miss out on some awesome sessions.

In contrast, Flyover intends to limit their ticket sales. And while there will always be a choice to make at a conference, they seek to mitigate that prevalent issue. Was this year’s show perfect? No, there were growing pains, as expected. Will this team learn and improve the show to maximize the impact for attendees? I have every confidence that the answer is a resounding “yes.”

Future Flyovers

I have to say, I’m deeply interested in the future of Flyover Conference. In fact, schedule permitting, I would attend even if I weren’t asked to speak at future shows.

It was an honor to be part of something of so impactful.

The entire point of this industryhospitalitycan sometimes fall to the wayside at conferences, trade shows, and expos. Another way of saying that is that while we all speak the same language, we often forget to take the time to connect with one another.

While there’s work to do, Flyover addresses this issue. The show is set up so that attendees, speakers, and sponsors are sharing the same spaces; there’s an actual sense of community. When it comes the host city, there’s a real sense of place, and that’s important.

Speaking of the host city…the next Flyover will take place in a city I mentioned at the top of this article. The most populous city in Michigan, DetroitMotor City itself—will host the second Flyover Conference. Looking forward to it, Hockeytown.

Be sure to connect with Flyover for updates and announcements.

Cheers!

Image: Jake Blucker on Unsplash

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Chef Duffy x NRA Show: Balance

Chef Duffy x NRA Show: Balance

by David Klemt

Street art-style, AI-generated image of a chef holding a color-coded recipe sheet

Those would be some pretty rad sleeves in real life.

I’m not done with the invaluable menu tips and tricks shared by Chef Brian Duffy during his 2024 National Restaurant Association Show live menu reads.

The KRG Hospitality team attends and speaks at multiple hospitality industry trade shows, conferences, and expos each year. When reviewing the education on offer, I always search for Chef Duffy’s name to see if he’s doing live menu reads.

And why have I developed this habit? Simple: The amount of insights one can take back to their business and implement immediately. Consider the impact one of Chef Duffy’s asides can have just on the guest experience.

As an example, when addressing the burger section of an anonymous operator’s menu, he casually mentioned that he always adds two slices of cheese to a cheeseburger to fill the top out more.

There’s also his tip for housemade, signature seasoning blends. Don’t make a quart, make ten pounds and store the blend in a flat tray, labeled clearly. Chef Duffy’s reads aren’t a breakdown of tips that only the operator who submitted the menu will find beneficial; everyone who pays attention will walk away with valuable advice.

At this year’s NRA Show, Chef Duffy had only enough time to get through three menu reads. However, he still packed his session with helpful advice. So, after reviewing all the notes I took, I decided I’d need to write two articles.

Let’s go!

Achieving Balance: Food Costs

In yesterday’s article, available here, I touched on one of Chef Duffy’s key points: achieving balance.

He made this point in response to a sports bar menu that had a couple pricing issues. One involved add-ons, with two slices of bacon costing $3.50 while a chicken breast was six dollars. And then there were the daily specials: two Chicago-style hotdogs cost more than a burger.

However, there’s more to balancing a menuand the kitchenthan ensuring pricing makes sense to guests.

By now, we’ve all heard and read ad nauseam that costs are rising. In fact, we’ve all experienced these increases. Streamlining the menu, including production, can help mitigate this issue.

As Chef Duffy said during his menu reads, he’d rather execute 25 items perfectly than produce 50 items that suck. I can say that we wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment.

In part, we agree because we favor smaller menus. Offering fewer menu items made perfectlyconsistently so—with cross-utilized ingredients as often as possible reduces food costs. There’s also that pesky paradox of choice inherent to a bloated menu.

But there’s another benefit: kitchen team satisfaction and retention. An overwhelmed kitchen team is an unhappy kitchen team, and an unhappy kitchen team will look for the exits. Losing a single team member costs an operator thousands of dollars, let alone an entire team.

Achieving Balance: Labor Costs

This is probably my favorite tip from this round of live menu reads: Chef Duffy color codes his recipes and menus in the development stage.

An operator can realize multiple benefits from this approach to menu programming. Among these is a visual representation of how many dishes are being prepped and produced by each station.

Color-coding the recipes and menu allows an operator, their leadership team, and kitchen team to avoid, as Chef Duffy put it, hammering a specific station. I’ll also opine that this technique can help identify any labor or skill gaps (or redundancies).

Chef Duffy’s method of menu development also helps operators balance their menus before they ever reach their guests’ hands. Case in point: One menu Chef Duffy reviewed in Chicago listed a single item underneath its own menu section. That’s not great balance.

I think every restaurant and bar operator can benefit from this tip, whether a visual, auditory, reading, or kinesthetic learner.

Achieving Balance: All Hands

A restaurant or bar doesn’t achieve success due to the efforts of a single person. So, why do so many concepts maintain silos?

When Chef Duffy prices a menu, he doesn’t do so alone. Rather, he involves the owner (or owners) of the business, the kitchen manager, and the head chef.

The word “culture” is thrown around a lot these days, nearly to the point that the word has lost its meaning. An operator who truly wants to build a positive work and brand culture needs buy-in from their team. A great way to not achieve that is to avoid transparency.

So, share numbers with the appropriate parties. A head chef needs to know the kitchen’s numbers if they ever hope to achieve the title “executive chef.” The leader who oversees the kitchen team can’t do their job effectively if they don’t know what the kitchen costs the business and what revenue it generates.

And a team that doesn’t feel trusted or appreciatedand that there’s no opportunity to develop as a hospitality professional to grow in this industry—is one that won’t hesitate to leave for better employment.

To that end, Chef Duffy strongly recommends that operators spend an hour per week with each kitchen team member. After all, as Chef Duffy pointed out, if an operator’s vision isn’t being executed, they have only themselves to blame.

An operator can’t expect to achieve consistency without working to achieve balance. Without consistency, a sustainable, scalable business is unachievable.

Image: Shutterstock. Disclaimer: This image was generated by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system.

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Chef Duffy x NRA Show: Live Menu Read

Chef Duffy x NRA Show: Live Menu Read

by David Klemt

Graffiti of crossed chef's knives underneath a baseball cap that reads, "D.E.G."

Chef Brian Duffy crushed it in Chicago at the 2024 National Restaurant Association Show.

We’re sharing tips from Chef Brian Duffy‘s live menu reads at this year’s National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago.

These informative sessions are always standouts at industry trade shows and conferences. Both the operator who submits their menu anonymously and the audience gain valuable insight into menu programming and development.

In ten minutes or less, the Chef Duffy shares wisdom that’ll boost guest engagement; streamline and energize the kitchen; and help save on labor and food costs. And he won’t even Bar Rescue anyone who submits a menu. That is to say, no, he doesn’t yell at anyone while giving them tips for fixing their menu.

As Chef Duffy pointed out during his latest live menu reads, an operator’s menu has the potential to create generational wealth. However, it must be programmed properly for it to reach that potential.

So, ask yourself a question right now about your menu: Would you be proud for your menu, in its current state, to be plastered across a billboard? If not, I have another question for you: Why aren’t you taking the time to rectify that situation?

Your menu is your concept’s billboard. Treat it as such.

Oh, and one note for the NRA Show before we dive in: These sessions deserve at least two hours. One hour just isn’t enough given how impactful Chef Duffy’s live menu reads are for operators.

Menu Programming 101

There’s a logical reason why Chef Duffy is never short on menus to review. In fact, he addressed the situation directly at the 2024 NRA Show.

“Everybody has the same shit on their menu,” he stated frankly.

One explanation for why menus seem so similar makes a lot of sense.

“We’ve been told what to put on our menu buy our purveyors,” said Chef Duffy during his live menu read.

For the most part, operators are given the same product catalogs. These are circulated nationally, not regionally. So, everyone is ordering the same items. Clearly, Chef Duffy is fed up with this situation.

“We’re not here to do the same things that everyone else is,” declared Chef Duffy. “I don’t want to see that anymore.”

Menu #1: Sports Bar

This first menu featured a vibrant design that instilled a sense of patriotism. Chef Duffy theorized that he’d feel good spending time in this space, based on the menu’s appearance.

However, he wasn’t a fan of the layout of the menu. Taking up valuable real estate was a large catering ad, placed directly in the center.

In the top left were salads. “‘Add chicken to any salad,'” read Chef Duffy. “No shit. Why are we stopping at chicken? We can add anything to a salad.”

Based on his knowledge of food costs and the menu’s pricing, Chef Duffy deduced that the operator’s food costs were too high. In fact, he estimated that food costs were more than 31 percent. The burgers, he surmised, were running a 35-percent cost.

By the way, Chef Duffy always puts two slices of cheese on his burgers to fill the top out more. This delivers a more visually appealing experience, and a better bite.

On the topic of pricing, operators must maintain balance. For example, this first menu priced the addition of two slices of bacon at $3.50, but a chicken breast was six dollars. Two Chicago hotdogs cost more than a burger.

Menu #2: Breakfast Spot

Unfortunately, the operator committed one of Chef Duffy’s deadliest menu sins. There was a photo of the restaurant’s steak and eggs.

Worse, the image showed a rather large steak paired with a commodity egg. If this dish doesn’t leave the kitchen looking exactly like the picture, guests are going to be underwhelmed and unimpressed. Further, why are operators still trying to save money by buying commodity eggs?

However, there was a second deadly menu sin committed by the operator. Given the overall perception this menu delivered, the claim that at least one dish featured “wild-caught crab” didn’t ring true to Chef Duffy.

I’m confident in saying that I think lying on a menu may provoke Chef Duffy’s wrath more than a photo.

“If you lie to me on your menu, I will tear you apart,” he stated quite strongly.

That said, he did like the menu’s design (minus the photos). Even better, he recognized that there were several inventive spins on breakfast classics. Remember, “We’re not here to do the same things that everyone else is.”

Menu #3: Sports Bar

To be honest, I was expecting this type of menu. In fact, I thought it would be the first menu design encountered during this session.

Essentially, it was a collection of what everyone else has on their menus.

As an example, there were wings on the menu, and the sauces were anything but creative. Chef Duffy didn’t address it but they were also listed without commas, so they appeared to be one long, run-on sentence of a sauce.

The most glaring issues, however, were the pasta and the dessert. Both sections contained just a single item. That’s rightthere was an entire section dedicated to one pasta dish. Moreover, it’s not like there were a number of modifiers one could select to personalize their pasta.

This was the item description underneath the dessert section (designated as “Closers”): “Dessert of the week – $8 Please ask your server for details.” There’s a significant issue with that description and placement, as identified by Chef Duffy.

If a menu includes desserts, the guest is likely going to forget about them after they’ve ordered their starter and entree. It’s far more effective to have a dessert tray or cart and train your servers to suggest dessert when they touch the table toward the end of the meal.

Takeaways

Chef Duffy throws in more tips during a single menu read than most people would expect.

Below are some of the takeaways that make his live menu reads so insightful:

  • Only list name brands if they come from a local farm. This approach shows that an operator cares about supporting local producers and is part of the community.
  • Use the best ingredients for the specific concept.
  • If a restaurant features housemade buns for burgers and/or bread for sandwiches, they should offer a version as an appetizer. Really make this idea shine by also offering housemade specialty butters.
  • Operators that have chips on their menus should use the crumbles and “dust” to make breading for other items. After all, the chips have been paid for alreadyuse all of them.
  • It’s better and more impactful to have 25 items on a menu that are executed perfectly than 50 items that are executed poorly.
  • Chef Duffy doesn’t agree with omitting prices from menus. “Why? Are we negotiating? Are we negotiating before I place my order?”

Connect with Chef Duffy on Instagram, and learn more about him on the Duffified Experience Group website.

Image: Shutterstock. Disclaimer: This image was generated by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system.

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