We’ve often been asked why Incanto is not listed on OpenTable.com. For those of you not familiar with the service, OpenTable is the most successful online restaurant reservation portal on Earth; a place on the Web where diners can search for and make reservations at leading restaurants, via a browser or smartphone. Restaurants like Incanto that chose not to offer their seats through OpenTable find themselves in a shrinking minority.
Let me start by stating the obvious: the convenience and immediacy of booking a table online anytime day or night is beneficial to both diners and to restaurants. This was my belief nine years ago, when we first approached OpenTable to inquire about becoming one of its early customers. It’s also why we have found a way to offer Web-based reservations, through our own website, since we opened and why we’ve kept current and revisited OpenTable’s offerings each year, to re-visit our decision.
It’s possible, however, for convenience to come at too dear a price. I don’t mean that only as it relates to the short-term economic price, but also in the sense that sometimes, what may at first seem like a straightforward benefit can in fact require the sacrifice of something much more precious over the long run. That judgment has always been at the core of our concerns about OpenTable, which has to its credit done such a masterful job building its business that it now holds the dominant position here in the U.S. among providers of online reservation services, with a market share estimated at greater than 90%. Whether or not your restaurant is an OpenTable customer, it’s impossible not to feel its impact.
But the question isn’t about whether or not online reservations are themselves a good idea; OpenTable’s many accomplishments are proof enough that they are a great idea. OpenTable is a hugely successful multinational corporation, constructed over 12 challenging years, during which its management has skillfully out-executed and out-maneuvered its competitors to create a valuable business. How valuable, you ask? Well, OpenTable went public in 2009 (NASDAQ: OPEN) and as of September 30, 2010 it was priced at more than $1.5 billion. That translates to more than $100,000 for each contract it holds with the approximately 14,000 restaurants listed on OpenTable.com. Sadly, many small neighborhood restaurants may themselves not be worth as much as the value that has been placed on their future business with OpenTable.
The more important question is whether OpenTable’s role, as the Web’s nearly exclusive gatekeeper to this country’s restaurant seats, is a good thing for restaurants and their customers. Have the ascent of OpenTable and its astronomical market value resulted from delivering $1.5 billion in value to its paying clients, or by cunningly diverting that value from them? What does the hegemony of OpenTable mean both for restaurants and for the dining public in the long run?
Not being entirely sure of my own hypothesis – a few months ago I took an informal survey of several other restaurateurs here in San Francisco and in New York, all of whom offer seats through OpenTable, asking them about the value of OpenTable from the restaurateur’s perspective.
Only one of the dozen or so I spoke with said he felt that OpenTable increased the value of his restaurant and that he wouldn’t imagine opening a new project without it. The rest were less than happy. The recurring themes were the opinion that OpenTable took home a disproportionate (relative to other vendors) chunk of the restaurants’ revenues each month and the feeling of being trapped in the service, it was too expensive to keep, but letting it go could be harmful. The GM of one very well known New York restaurant group, which spends thousands of dollars on OpenTable each month, put it to me this way, “OpenTable is out for itself, the worst business partner I have ever worked with in all my years in restaurants. If I could find a way to eliminate it from my restaurants I would.” Another high-profile, 3.5-star San Francisco restaurateur told me he feels held hostage by OpenTable. For the past several years, his payments to them have been substantially more than he has himself earned from 80-hour workweeks at his restaurant. But he believes that if he stops offering it, his customers will revolt and many would stop coming to his restaurant. So he keeps paying, but carries a grudge and wishes for something better.
What are the actual economics of using OpenTable? First and most importantly, the restaurant pays all the fees. Diners not only don’t pay any fees directly, they earn rewards for showing loyalty to OpenTable. This is the crux – and brilliance – of OpenTable’s business model: OpenTable has convinced restaurants to pay it substantial fees while it takes the customer relationship out of the hands of the restaurant and places control into OpenTable’s hands. Then, after having lent their names to the service, enabled OpenTable to attract online diners, and funded the construction of a powerful database of customers loyal to OpenTable, restaurants find that they themselves no longer own the customer relationship. Restaurants that want continued access to those diners now have to pay OpenTable for the privilege. This may be at the core of why many restaurateurs quietly resent OpenTable.
The access fees can be substantial, particularly for restaurants operating on thin margins. One independent study estimates that OpenTable’s fees (comprised of startup fees, fixed monthly fees, and per-person reservation fees) translate to a cost of roughly $10.40 for each “incremental” 4-top booked through OpenTable.com. To put that in perspective, consider that the average profit margin, before taxes, for a U.S. restaurant is roughly 5%. This means that a table of 4 spending $200 on dinner would generate a $10 profit. In this example, all of that profit would then go to OpenTable fees for having delivered the reservation, leaving the restaurant with nothing other than the hope that that customer would come back (and hopefully book by telephone the next time).
In truth, the actual fees incurred for an “incremental” table may be higher than the $10.40 figure, which assumes that every reservation booked via OpenTable.com is an incremental reservation, i.e. composed of guests who would not have otherwise visited the restaurant and were seated on a table that would otherwise have sat empty for the evening. It’s easy to imagine that, had a restaurant not been listed there, at least some of those booking on OpenTable.com would have otherwise gone to the trouble to find that restaurant some other way.
OpenTable’s pitch to restaurateurs is that the 5% average restaurant profit margin applies only to schmucks who don’t offer reservations through their service. If you sign on with OpenTable, goes the pitch, you will fill more of those empty tables and see an increase in business, the marginal profits of which will more than justify OpenTable’s fees. Your restaurant will be more profitable than the measly 5% to which you have grown accustomed. This pitch is perfectly tuned to the psyche of the independent restaurateur; we always believe we can find a competitive advantage that will enable us to do it a just a little bit better than the guy across the street.
However, once everyone’s restaurant is listed on OpenTable.com, does it still provide that leg up over the guy across the street? Under the old conventional wisdom, restaurateurs considered OpenTable a competitive advantage, in which OpenTable would pay for itself by tapping into a new source of business. Under the new conventional wisdom, however, OpenTable is now considered a gateway to a desirable set of customers (you savvy online diners know who you are). Anyone wanting access to these customers must now pay this new per-customer tax, or risk failure. This is the hard-edged reality of the role OpenTable now plays within fine dining. By controlling access to a growing population of diners, it’s increasingly rare when an ambitious new restaurant decides it can forgo being a part of the service.
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We live in the Golden Age of Google, in which Web-based services have transformed many consumer and business functions by making them easier, more accessible, and drastically less expensive. That’s ultimately the most perplexing thing about OpenTable: unlike so many other Web services, this one has actually driven up operating costs, not reduced them.
I am not yet convinced the current approach is healthy either for restaurants or for diners as a whole, over the long term. It is simply not credible to argue, on an industry-wide basis, that a solution that materially increases the operating costs of every restaurant (and therefore the cost of dining out) will also stimulate customers to eat out more frequently, on the whole. My suspicion is that it will actually have the opposite effect. OpenTable’s hefty fee structure (and resulting billion-plus-dollar market capitalization) may have something to do with its dominant market share in online restaurant reservations; there is not yet a strong, fully viable competitor to challenge its grip on its 14,000 customers. On the other hand, perhaps the high cost of doing business with OpenTable merely reflects a harsh reality for which restaurateurs have no one to blame but themselves: the truth that by permitting a third party to own and control access to the customer database, restaurants have unwittingly paid while giving away one of the crown jewels of their business, their customers.
In a perfect world, this situation would matter to you, the diner. It’s yet one more thing adding a hidden, substantial, and not-entirely-necessary cost to the act of dining out. If my unscientific survey is any indication, restaurants are starting to care deeply about this, because as costs beyond our control continue to rise, it means that that our guests’ annual dining budget purchases less value and affords fewer and fewer visits to our establishments. As guests dine out less frequently – for whatever reason – more restaurants will fall victim to what will be blamed on the “economy.” And being listed on OpenTable.com alone is not itself any guarantee that your restaurant won’t be the next to go under.
In the meantime, the next time you’re planning to dine out, consider picking up that 19th-century device, the telephone, and calling. I know I speak for many restaurateurs when I say that we’d love to hear your voice.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Birthday Weekend
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| Mag 7's! |
It was great to see everyone, especially my good friend Matt Magura who is wearing the black shirt and scarf in these pictures. Thanks for a wonderful birthday weekend.
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| TJ, Ida, Mat, Dave |
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| Mag 7's: Ship and Anchor, October 17th 2010 |
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| October 18th/2010 |
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| Nose hill, October 18th/2010 |
Friday, October 15, 2010
Vintage Hand-cranked Meat Slicers Popular Among ‘Green’ Chefs and Restaurants
Vintage Hand-cranked Meat Slicers Popular Among ‘Green’ Chefs and Restaurants
A couple of years ago Emilio Mitidieri was quoted in the SF Chronicle, in an article about Salumi and antique Berkel obsessions that truly captures the aesthetic appeal of these rare machines:
At Quince in San Francisco, chef-owner Michael Tusk was inspired to buy a Berkel after visiting a restaurant in Florence, where three or four women steadily sliced meats for the customers in their midst. “It was so beautiful,” Tusk says.He found his red Berkel — a reproduction of a model made 70 or 80 years ago — in Florence, and bought it on the spot using all the cash he’d brought to pay for his hotel room.Vintage style Berkels have become popular especially among Slow Food-influenced chefs and restauranteurs whose mantra is “local”. Emilio Mitidieri is quoted in a press release today and we’ve reproduced it here:
San Francisco (December 17, 2007) — With the rise in popularity of local, sustainably produced and prepared foods, antique and vintage style food slicers have become popular among “green”-minded restauranteurs. Emilio Mitidieri, owner of Emiliomiti LLC (www.Emiliomiti.com) and a leading expert in specialty restaurant equipment, was recently interviewed for The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels: Cold Cuts”, where he demonstrated the precision cuts of hand-cranked Berkel slicers, and discussed the revival of these artisan constructed machines.
He intended to install it right in his dining room, and imagined standing there slicing for his guests. The reality of running a smash-hit restaurant intervened with that dream, the Berkel resides downstairs in the kitchen, next to an antique Berkel scale, also red.
The pursuit of the Berkel can lead to long hours on eBay. Others have stories of complicated deals with friends who know people in Italy who are friends of New York’s Mario Batali, who has eight Berkels, according to Emilio Mitidieri of San Francisco.
Mitidieri sells antique and reproduction Berkels through his BerkelBiz Web site, and has seen business pick up — even more in New York than in the Bay Area.
His theory about the salumi trend is simple: “Someone saw a picture of Lupa (one of Batali’s restaurants) and the slicer, and they wanted it.”
Now, he says, even “guys opening pizzerias, they’re buying Berkels. Chefs love tools — they have to have it.”
“Along with the popularity of sustainable food items like local, organic, cruelty free, grass fed, and free range,” says Mr. Mitidieri, “we are seeing tremendous demand for reproduction vintage style slicers, from the most conscious US restaurants to the likes of Whole Foods.”
Restored antique slicers aren’t easy to find, as Berkel stopped manufacturing them long ago, and they now draw a premium. Their virtues include: the ability to cut paper thin slices, which is almost impossible with standard electric machines; manual execution, which saves energy and is noise free; and custom refurbishment in Italy, which adds esthetic artisan appeal. Although electric slicers may be faster many culinary aficionados claim the heat caused by the high speed blades “cooks” the meticulously
produced meats.
“The Berkel is the Ferrari of meat slicers,” says Chris Cosentino, chef-owner of Incanto in Noe Valley. “It’s an elegant, beautiful, precision machine, simply the best thing there is to slice meat.”
In an effort to meet this need, Emiliomiti LLC (www.Emiliomiti.com) has partnered with a small Italian manufacturer that specializes in metal casting to create a new vintage style slicer with old Berkel appeal. Using original master moulds, cast iron or aluminum and hand polished chrome, the quality and craftsmanship of the classic Berkel slicers has been reincarnated, recalling the early 1900s through the late 1960s. Emiliomiti LLC is the only showroom in North America featuring reproduction slicers alongside antique Berkel machines, which are also showcased in their online catalog (www.BerkelBiz.com).
With a background in industrial pasta manufacturing, Mr. Mitidieri has become an international consultant and supplier of meat slicers, pasta machines, brick ovens, espresso machines, and sausage makers. His clients include well known restaurants on both coasts including; The French Laundry, A16, Oliveto, Incanto, Lupa, Bar Jamon, Otto, and MoMA Cafe 2.
The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels: Cold Cuts”, is set to air on December 17 at 8 PM PT. Mr. Mitidieri discusses and demos assorted antique and vintage style slicers from the Emiliomiti LLC showroom located in San Francisco’s Mission District.
At Quince in San Francisco, chef-owner Michael Tusk was inspired to buy a Berkel after visiting a restaurant in Florence, where three or four women steadily sliced meats for the customers in their midst. “It was so beautiful,” Tusk says.He found his red Berkel — a reproduction of a model made 70 or 80 years ago — in Florence, and bought it on the spot using all the cash he’d brought to pay for his hotel room.Vintage style Berkels have become popular especially among Slow Food-influenced chefs and restauranteurs whose mantra is “local”. Emilio Mitidieri is quoted in a press release today and we’ve reproduced it here:
San Francisco (December 17, 2007) — With the rise in popularity of local, sustainably produced and prepared foods, antique and vintage style food slicers have become popular among “green”-minded restauranteurs. Emilio Mitidieri, owner of Emiliomiti LLC (www.Emiliomiti.com) and a leading expert in specialty restaurant equipment, was recently interviewed for The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels: Cold Cuts”, where he demonstrated the precision cuts of hand-cranked Berkel slicers, and discussed the revival of these artisan constructed machines.
He intended to install it right in his dining room, and imagined standing there slicing for his guests. The reality of running a smash-hit restaurant intervened with that dream, the Berkel resides downstairs in the kitchen, next to an antique Berkel scale, also red.
The pursuit of the Berkel can lead to long hours on eBay. Others have stories of complicated deals with friends who know people in Italy who are friends of New York’s Mario Batali, who has eight Berkels, according to Emilio Mitidieri of San Francisco.
Mitidieri sells antique and reproduction Berkels through his BerkelBiz Web site, and has seen business pick up — even more in New York than in the Bay Area.
His theory about the salumi trend is simple: “Someone saw a picture of Lupa (one of Batali’s restaurants) and the slicer, and they wanted it.”
Now, he says, even “guys opening pizzerias, they’re buying Berkels. Chefs love tools — they have to have it.”
“Along with the popularity of sustainable food items like local, organic, cruelty free, grass fed, and free range,” says Mr. Mitidieri, “we are seeing tremendous demand for reproduction vintage style slicers, from the most conscious US restaurants to the likes of Whole Foods.”
Restored antique slicers aren’t easy to find, as Berkel stopped manufacturing them long ago, and they now draw a premium. Their virtues include: the ability to cut paper thin slices, which is almost impossible with standard electric machines; manual execution, which saves energy and is noise free; and custom refurbishment in Italy, which adds esthetic artisan appeal. Although electric slicers may be faster many culinary aficionados claim the heat caused by the high speed blades “cooks” the meticulously
produced meats.
“The Berkel is the Ferrari of meat slicers,” says Chris Cosentino, chef-owner of Incanto in Noe Valley. “It’s an elegant, beautiful, precision machine, simply the best thing there is to slice meat.”
In an effort to meet this need, Emiliomiti LLC (www.Emiliomiti.com) has partnered with a small Italian manufacturer that specializes in metal casting to create a new vintage style slicer with old Berkel appeal. Using original master moulds, cast iron or aluminum and hand polished chrome, the quality and craftsmanship of the classic Berkel slicers has been reincarnated, recalling the early 1900s through the late 1960s. Emiliomiti LLC is the only showroom in North America featuring reproduction slicers alongside antique Berkel machines, which are also showcased in their online catalog (www.BerkelBiz.com).
With a background in industrial pasta manufacturing, Mr. Mitidieri has become an international consultant and supplier of meat slicers, pasta machines, brick ovens, espresso machines, and sausage makers. His clients include well known restaurants on both coasts including; The French Laundry, A16, Oliveto, Incanto, Lupa, Bar Jamon, Otto, and MoMA Cafe 2.
The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels: Cold Cuts”, is set to air on December 17 at 8 PM PT. Mr. Mitidieri discusses and demos assorted antique and vintage style slicers from the Emiliomiti LLC showroom located in San Francisco’s Mission District.
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| Hand operated meat slicer |
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| New version: standard issue |
Thursday, October 14, 2010
ZIPP 2001 carbon track bike
2001 zipp - carbon fiber - 1990's
cinelli pista / profile
aero carbon/ king
spinergy
spinergy w/ surly fixxer track converter
fsa / fsa
fizik / N/A
mks track/
48x16
zipp 2001 bikes were nicknamed "fastest bike in the world" in the 90's - limited quantities made- currently illegal for professional racing - very solid ride despite how it looks- beam can be adjusted for suspension or solid - i love this odd looking thing --- sold recently- goin to miss
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
ANCHOR BRIDGESTONE CARBON PHM9 MONSTER in OSAKA
Anchor / Bridgestone PHM9
Nitto TSUBASA ! (death bars)
Shimano Dura Ace NJS , Bridgestone / Anchor fork
Corima 4 spoke tubular
Corima carbon plus + disk tubular
Sugino 75 NJS , Dura Ace sealed BB
Kashimax FG-4P NJS , Corima carbon seat pillar
Mikashimax Royal Nuevo NJS, MKS Alumi NJS clips, Toshi NJS straps - Izumi V Super Tougness NJS chain
52 Sugino Gigas, titanium NJS kerin ring, 16T shimano Dura Ace NJS cog
Friday, October 8, 2010
oh you can't always get what you waaaaa-nnt
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| Bus Stop on 14th and 13th? |
Take that, all you professional photographers... I can do the same thing with my stupid iphone camera
Thursday, October 7, 2010
My little secret: I dumpster dive like an idiot
today i was bored so i walked along the alleyways behind 17th ave. i found:
2 Lbs fresh Rhubarb
1 pack coffee filters
3 5 pack mach 5 turbo razorblades (sealed) hell yah
1 white chevron oil t-shirt size m
1 black v neck t-shirt size m
1 onion and cheddar cheese chiabata loaf, good until october 12th ( I already ate it)
4 packs of sealed nyquil liquid gel caps
1 black and read blank 7 3/8 baseball hat (hell yah)
There was this weirdass keg (Grolsch) sitting by a dumpster and i asked the people at a nearby restaurant door if it was theirs; it was, but it was two years old and needed a really obscure tap to get into it. they didnt have the tap so it was out to the trash.
thats just from one afternoon and me being bored. I also took some pictures of random things
2 Lbs fresh Rhubarb
1 pack coffee filters
3 5 pack mach 5 turbo razorblades (sealed) hell yah
1 white chevron oil t-shirt size m
1 black v neck t-shirt size m
1 onion and cheddar cheese chiabata loaf, good until october 12th ( I already ate it)
4 packs of sealed nyquil liquid gel caps
1 black and read blank 7 3/8 baseball hat (hell yah)
There was this weirdass keg (Grolsch) sitting by a dumpster and i asked the people at a nearby restaurant door if it was theirs; it was, but it was two years old and needed a really obscure tap to get into it. they didnt have the tap so it was out to the trash.
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| Wrong side of the tracks |
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| Bus Stop |
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| Dead Bird in the Median |
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| Stuffed to the tits with garbage finds |
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