Instead of having one manager for each concept, Morehead Foundry has one general manager who oversees the entire operation. Other high-cost equipment, such as walk-in coolers and the hood ventilation system in the kitchen, are also shared among the different concepts.Ĭomer is also able to save on management salaries. Dishes, glassware and utensils are collected in color-coded bus tubs and racks to separate them for washing. We put in a massive dish room to service all the concepts, so we were able to get better and faster equipment.”Ī single employee can handle dishwashing for the entire facility, Comer said. “We were able to put a commercial-grade laundry facility in there, which in theory is going to save us a lot of money instead of outsourcing,” she said. The fourth business sharing the location is called Hush, a members-only speakeasy cocktail lounge.Ĭombining the concepts in a single location allowed Comer to invest in better equipment, she said. The restaurants and scratch bakery, dubbed The Baker & the Bean, also help drive awareness for Comer’s catering company, she said. Parents might prefer to dine at Four Flocks and Larder, the more upscale Southern restaurant, while the kids go to Revolution Burger. Having multiple concepts allows guests to choose from multiple experiences, or even to split up and enjoy multiple experiences separately. The venue includes a bakery, a contemporary Southern restaurant, a speakeasy and a fast-casual burger concept. “The reason we did it was to share our resources in every way - to share staff, to share our equipment, and to cross-utilize staff when there’s downtime in one area and they are needed somewhere else,” Comer said.Įach of the concepts at Morehead Foundry has its own entrance and seating, but storage, dishwashing, laundry, restrooms, the office and some kitchen space are all shared. food group, operates the Morehead Foundry in Greensboro, N.C., which includes four concepts in a single venue. Other operators who have combined multiple concepts within a single venue cited management and labor savings key benefits of the multi-restaurant arrangement. “All of the back of the house will be connected and shared,” Feng said. The steakhouse and butcher shop are expected to share the most operational synergies, including the meat inventory. The udon restaurant will have its own kitchen, but the office, restroom and other common areas will be shared with the steakhouse and butcher shop. Now Feng is planning to take the multi-concept approach to another venue, with the planned opening of an udon noodle shop, a Japanese steakhouse and Japanese Wagyu butcher shop in a shared space within the planned One Henry Adams condo development in San Francisco. “I cross-train the managers, so whenever there’s a problem, there’s one person who knows it all,” Feng said. Still, the managers of each concept are capable of filling in for each other. “It’s really about creating additional outlets for revenue.” “In the end, it’s not about saving labor,” he said. In addition to sharing the occupancy costs that otherwise would have been borne by a single restaurant, Omakase and Okane are able to make common use of some back-of-the-house facilities, including the office, product storage, dishwasher and employee restroom.Īll employees are cross-trained at Omakase and Okane so that they can fill in for each other in emergencies, but Feng said the co-location arrangement doesn’t really provide opportunities for labor efficiencies because of the differences between the two concepts. “It allowed us to take our time and think of another concept.” “The fact that Omakase was successful allowed us to do that,” Feng said. So, after three months he replaced it with Okane, a Japanese gastropub serving what it describes as traditional and refined Japanese comfort food and contemporary sushi. Although he received positive feedback on Origami Market, Feng decided it was priced too high for the market he was trying to reach. Before Feng decided to pair the high-end Omakase restaurant with the casual Okane, he tried pairing Omakase with a healthy, fast-casual Asian concept called Origami Market.
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