WEBVTT - Le Bernardin Chef Says More People Going Out 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.920 These sees Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:08.200 Stanovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, our next guest is an author, 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:12.400 a television host, a philanthropist, James Baird Award and Michelin 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:17.160 Star decorated chef that again just also earning a four 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:19.560 star rating from The New York Times. We'll talk about 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.319 that in just a moment. He is definitely in a 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.360 class all his own. We're talking about Eric Repair, executive 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:28.520 chef and co owner of La Bernadin, now celebrating its 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:32.320 fiftieth anniversary. Libernadan, one of the rare New York City 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.120 restaurants to be awarded the maximum three Michelin stars for 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:39.680 excellent and cuzine cuisine. If there is like a benchmark 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.960 and award, he has certainly won it. He's also vice 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.680 chairman of the board of City Harvest. He joins this 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:47.720 via zoom in New York City. Eric, thank you so much, 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.600 Thank you for coming on Bloomberg again. How are you. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:55.080 I'm doing great. Thank you for adding me to do congratulations. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:59.080 Um uh, We're not quite sure where to start, um, 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:01.360 but let's start. For first of all, because you were 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.640 kind enough in the midst of the deep depths of 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:06.960 the pandemic to come on and talk with us about 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.600 the industry. Um, tell us where we are today and 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.320 how much we've come back, how much we have to go. 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:19.880 So the industry came back very quickly. Um, people right 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:24.959 after the pandemic uh decided that they wanted to splurt 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:30.280 and a great experience and live life and be happy. 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:35.560 And therefore restaurants and the hospitality in general are benefiting 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:42.840 from that shift of thinking. And despite the fact that 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.280 last year we we started the year with the omni 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.560 chron and it was a bit of fear attached to that, 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:54.840 restaurant did extremely well in general in New York City 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:59.240 and all over the US. And no signs of stopping. No, 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:03.240 I don't see the stops of stopping. The big difference 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:06.320 in between last year and this year is that more 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.560 people are going out, but spending is a bit less 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:16.400 than two thousand twenty two. Where are you seeing that? Well, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.600 the spending is at least le bernard and the spending 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.480 is less in the wine consumption or in the in 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.080 the cocktails. People have the tendency to be saving a 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.160 bit more. There Um, we have a prefixed menu or 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:38.760 testing menu, so people cannot um eat something less expensive 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:43.920 because again it's it's already decided. But for the one consumption, 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.360 for sure, we see a huge difference. And when I 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:50.480 talk to my friends in the industry, they observe exactly 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.880 the same phenomenon. So I wondered, too, how much ERIC 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:58.320 is because of still the inflationary and price pressures. How 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.600 that is playing into kind of your dynamic. So we 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.720 have seen a lot of inflation in two thousand twenty two. 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.840 We still see some inflation right as we speak right now. Uh, 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:17.080 it's difficult to to really quantify the effect. But we 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.440 had to raise our prices by twenty percent in the 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:26.280 period of time of eighteen months and right now, depending 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:31.400 on the weather and depending of many components, the price 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:35.800 of many products and produces varies. And I know during 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.920 the pandemic from the New York Times Rave review, which 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.080 will get to But you had seven people working with 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:44.400 you in the kitchen. Is that is that correct? So 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.200 I imagine you've got a lot more now. But talk 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:49.400 to me about what that transition kind of back to 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.240 quote unquote normal has looked like for you, and how 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:56.360 have labor labor costs changed for you. So it was 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:00.040 very difficult to reopen the restaurants because a lot of 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:04.160 people that we're working in our industry went back to 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.440 other states that were open to business, like Florida, for instance, 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:14.000 or young students that are usually learning in in the 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:18.160 kitchen of fine dining restaurants went back to their families 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.720 and never came back to New York. So when we 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.040 reopened the restaurant, the manager and management was here. They 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.719 were employees that work at Lebernard and for a long time, 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:32.200 and we were short in staff. But we reopened, as 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.920 you remember, at capacity in New York City, and then 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:38.640 it increased to fifty and then we closed again, and 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:44.440 then we reopened finally at percent today from seven people 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.799 in in the kitchen that we had, we have sixty cooks. 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.680 We should be about seventy five cooks or chefs, and 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:57.280 we are a little bit short. The salaries are in 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.800 general much better than what they were have pre COVID, 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.720 because again it's a shortage of labor, labor in the 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:08.040 kitchen and in the dining room as well. Uh and 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.279 therefore it has a huge impact on the budget of 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.800 the of the restaurants and um some of the inflation 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.080 is passed to the consumer, and some of it is 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:20.320 absorbed by the owners of restaurants. And I know that 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:25.560 you differ from Noma and Copenhagen, which is a restaurant 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.159 that does not they have unpaid interns, and I know 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.920 that you pay everyone on your staff. Uh, talk to 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.719 me about where you're able to increase costs the most 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:38.800 easily for customers in order to maintain the profits that 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:46.160 you need to run the business. Well, Um, the prefix 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:53.280 that was pre COVID was twenty percent less than than 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.680 today we had. We had to raise the price of 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:02.120 the food. People didn't really mind and understood. The lunch 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:08.200 price has also increased drastically because we were very inexpensive 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.520 for lunch. But to get people understand again that the 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.520 price of goods has changed, and um, we do not 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:20.960 have people questioning our the price of our menus. Um, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.080 the price of the wine is basically the same and 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.080 people have a lot of choice. We have about thousand 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:31.839 bottles uh different wines at Lebanon there and people can 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:38.039 choose inexpensive fare or or exceptional price. Of course, Hey, 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.640 you know, Eric, we had Danielle Blue on back in December, 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:43.640 and you know I do recall you I want to 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:45.400 go back to what you said about workers and some 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.440 of them leaving and they went to Florida, and that 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.359 was one of the things he said. I think labor 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:51.919 was a really tough issue for him as well. And 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.440 just this whole idea that workers who were in the 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:57.640 industry have left, they haven't come back, and they found 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.440 jobs elsewhere, um, And so that that continues to be 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:06.000 a real chronic problem. It is a big problem, especially 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:11.360 for fine dining restaurants because usually we again have a 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.520 lot of students who come from culinary schools or people 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.280 who are starting their career and they want to go 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.920 into find dining because it's where they learn the basics 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:27.440 and give them huge opportunities in their future. Those young 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.280 people make a big sacrifice to live in New York City. 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:37.200 Usually they have roommates, um, they live not necessarily in Manhattan, 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.840 and when COVID happened, they left and and they didn't 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:45.560 come back to New York because the lifestyle is too expensive, 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.680 and they find those other jobs in other places. Do 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.280 you ever think about or do you and you and 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.000 the industry at home, you know, think about It's something 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:56.920 that's come up with FED speakers it's come up with 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.760 certainly politicians, this whole idea of immigration and opening up 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:02.440 the borders more a little bit, and just got about 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:04.880 thirty seconds, and then we'll come back and continue the conversation. 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.200 We we will love that. Of course, we would love 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:12.920 to have more immigrants, legal immigrants coming and helping us 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.720 in the kitchens because they stay with us for a 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.640 long time. All Right, we're going to continue the conversation. 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.080 Delighted to have with us, Eric repair of course of 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.400 Le Bernadine, as we said, celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.440 just again earned a four star rating from the New 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.360 York Times. Uh, the review is pretty incredible, and we're 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:33.560 gonna talk about it with Eric in just a moment. 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:38.160 So let me read you something. A great restaurant can 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:40.640 be a sort of cultural preserve, a place where rare 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:42.920 skills are passed on from one pair of hands to 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.800 the next. Even formal restaurants services built on careful study 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.840 of human behavior. If it's done right. A restaurant like 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.600 Liberta Dan is run by people who know things that 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.559 others haven't learned yet. This is part of what ran 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.320 through my head too when I tasted those scallops and 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.520 their cream sauce, and thought they kept it alive. Now 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.680 this is, of course a New York Times review that 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:09.040 gave Labernardin four stars again and I believe it's the 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.160 fifth consecutive time that they have gotten this with us. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.680 Of course, as you know, is Eric Repair, executive chef 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:19.400 co owner of Labernardin with us on the phone here 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.240 were actually via zoom in New York City. Eric, to 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.959 hear that and to get this distinction again, how does 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:32.440 it feel? Well? It feels good because the New York 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:37.840 Time is an institution and pitt Welles is a tough 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.480 food critic to have four staff since the opening of 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:48.280 Legnard and which is since uh, it's exceptional. We are 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:53.120 the only restaurant in New York to have that that record. 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:58.320 And we celebrated for a few days the review. And 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.720 now we are back to work and uh trying to 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.280 create an amazing experience for the clients that come to 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:09.760 leban are there. We um, we are living the passion, 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.560 We are living the dream. I'm glad to hear that 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.160 you celebrated at least a little bit, though you you 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:18.080 deserve that and much more. I have to wonder there's 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.840 been a lot of bad press lately for these incredible restaurants. 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:23.240 Right it feels like, I don't know if you've seen 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.880 the movie The Menu. There's TV shows about being a 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.240 Michelin chef and just how challenging it is. What do 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:35.679 you think maybe is getting misunderstood about what hard work 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:40.400 you do and the the challenge and beauty of these 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:49.280 Michelin star restaurants. Well, fine dining restaurants are are meant 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:56.520 to create exceptional experiences for for the clients, and people 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:01.040 who work in those restaurants are very passionate and love 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:06.240 the hospitality industry. Of course, in the kitchen is about craftsmanship, 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:11.600 artistry in the dining room is about loving to interact 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.760 with clients. And we have a team of somebody year 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.080 that have a lot of expertise with the wines and 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:22.000 they have passion for discovering and testing grid wines and 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.200 sharing their passion for the clients. So this is what 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:33.000 fine dining restaurants are meant for now. It's some restaurants 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:37.000 that have good practices like Lebernard and where every employee 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:43.880 is paid um with UH fair prices, fair salaries, where 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.720 we pay also the overtimes and we have benefits for 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:51.720 our employees and where we tweet all the employees with 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.280 tremendous respect. And you have some other restaurants that are 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.160 getting a bit of uh but press lately because they 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.720 don't have the same standards as Lebanard. Yeah, it speaks 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.440 to culture, right, we talked about it's got to be 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.240 from the bottom up, the top down. Um, I want 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.560 to ask you something, how does this process work? In 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.440 other words, do you know and Pete Wells is going 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:14.480 to come in? Does he walk in? And are you 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.520 all surprised? Walkers there? We've all seen it in movies, 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.160 you know, when the critic comes into a restaurant. How 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:25.000 does it actually work? So Pete Wells, Um, it's pretty 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.640 well recognized in New York because it's the food critique 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.400 of the New York time for many many years. I 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:34.120 think it's there for twelve or fourteen years. But you 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:35.880 never know when he's going to show up. But what 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:40.640 it does is send some friends first ah and and 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:45.160 they have a fake name, and you see them where 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:50.240 wherever you decide to to see his friends. Usually they're 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:54.559 not necessarily the most well dressed people in the dinning room, 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:58.480 and they're not necessarily well known by the by the team. Uh. 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.240 So sometimes they end up um in in in the 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.760 back of the restaurant and not in the front. But 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:08.320 then he shows up, and then they choose at the 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:12.679 very last minute whatever they want to experience from the menu, 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.680 and they have interaction with the staff and with so 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.080 many years again for the wines. So when Pete Whales 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:23.680 arrives and he's with his friends and decided to eat 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.920 many dishes, it's basically too late because if your fish 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.520 is not fresh, your thoughts are not good, it's nothing 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.280 you can do. It's too late. You can't reado everything, 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:37.679 do you. Carol mentioned some of these movies, and one 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:41.480 of them they say that the cretic comes and drops 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.920 a fork on the ground to see how the staff reacts. 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:45.880 And that's to tell that it's a it's a critic 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:49.480 in the restaurant. Is any of that true? I have 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:54.520 seen that with few critics. Yes, yes, it's it's uh. 0:13:54.640 --> 0:14:00.600 Sometimes they drop the napkin on purpose or furk or 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.240 something like that, or they make a mistake and uh 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:07.840 or sometimes like those a day, for instance, um pitt 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:12.120 Wells wanted to have the desserts and when we were 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.720 about to serve the desserts, they decided to have cheese 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:20.040 at the same time, so we had to coordinate bringing 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:23.600 the cheese cart, cutting the cheese and serving it at 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.240 the same time as the desserts that were coming the pastry. 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.040 So that's the way they do to to basically test 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:35.240 the quality of the service. All right, Eric, just got 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.280 about thirty seconds. What are you having for dinner tonight? 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.920 Tonight for dinner, I'm gonna test the sauce. I'm gonna 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:46.040 test the food without double dipping, and that will be 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:48.680 dinner because I eat only once a day for lunch. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:53.360 All right. That's so interesting, all of it, and um, 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:55.280 just such a joy to spend this time with you. 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:59.480 And congratulations because the distinction, as we said, getting that 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:03.120 four star rating from the New York Times again is 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.360 just and subsequently getting it for several years here, uh, 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.120 is just really remarkable. Um, Eric, thank you so much. 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.560 Be well. Eric repair executive chef co owner of Lebrona 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.240 Dan as we mentioned, celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. I believe 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.040 the first time he got a four star rating was 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:22.360 back when he was twenty nine years old. But again, 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.520 getting it for the fifth consecutive time, So really remarkable, right, 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.600 huge accomplishment and story you know, so good, such a 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.760 good chat. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week, Carol Master, 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:34.840 Madison Mills. This is Bloomberg Radio.