Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly and I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week Extra. It's our weekly podcast bringing you an in
Speaker 1: depth interview you will not hear anywhere else. And this
Speaker 1: person really a friend of the show. He absolutely is.
Speaker 1: We love catching up with chef and restaurant tour Danielle Bulu.
Speaker 1: His restaurant Danielle one of the best and most famous
Speaker 1: in New York City. He was able this week to
Speaker 1: open up his terraces and provide a little bit of
Speaker 1: a different menu. It's a pivot for him, clearly, Carol,
Speaker 1: but a lot of people looking to him for leadership.
Speaker 1: Every day is a big day because I think every
Speaker 1: day we tried to really bring a little bit more
Speaker 1: improvement and also a little bit more hope to our businesses.
Speaker 1: And today we are putting a sidewalk cafe at restaurant Danielle.
Speaker 1: Which restaurant Danielle is twenty eight years old. When he
Speaker 1: was on s Street, he used to have sideboll cafe.
Speaker 1: When I moved to sixty five and never really put
Speaker 1: a sideboak cafe because we had enough room whinning inside
Speaker 1: and and tonight we are doing um because I've started
Speaker 1: the business of delivery and to go daniel Bury Kitchen,
Speaker 1: So we are serving the menu of daniel Bury Kitchen
Speaker 1: on the terrace of Danielle, So more casual and more approachable,
Speaker 1: but fun and and and and really it's an opportunity
Speaker 1: because I think we have a beautiful uh facade, We
Speaker 1: have a beautiful space, and that's the only place we
Speaker 1: can really serve our guests. And we felt that it
Speaker 1: would be good to bring more staff and to bring
Speaker 1: new to bring guests back. I have to imagine, Danielle,
Speaker 1: that your clientele, many of whom are our listeners uh
Speaker 1: so well known across Manhattan and the world. They must
Speaker 1: have been clamoring for this, right, I mean, have you
Speaker 1: been getting a lot of calls people saying I want
Speaker 1: to come, I can some former fashion come cook for me? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the absolutely, So we do that. We have the come
Speaker 1: cook for me by by sending them meal home, of course,
Speaker 1: and we also do package for destination the Emptons or
Speaker 1: other places. People drive miles from the strive state to
Speaker 1: come and pick up a box with all kind of
Speaker 1: meals prepared for them to take home, But I mean
Speaker 1: having them at the restaurant and being able to again welcome,
Speaker 1: serve them, pamper them and offer them something we feel. Uh,
Speaker 1: it makes us very happy and I think it will
Speaker 1: make them very happy. Our guest. Yes, well, you know
Speaker 1: it's interesting, Danielle, like we have been talking to a
Speaker 1: lot of folks, especially within your industry, that you've got
Speaker 1: to figure out how to pivot here, right because it's
Speaker 1: not like you can flip a switch and go back
Speaker 1: to the way it was pre COVID, And so it
Speaker 1: sounds like that's what you guys are doing. Yeah, very much.
Speaker 1: And we also opened the West Side. I have a
Speaker 1: restaurant at sixty Broadway by Buller and Episode Buller open
Speaker 1: yesterday or this morning. Actually this morning we opened a
Speaker 1: Pie three Bullie. So it's a retail store where it's
Speaker 1: opened all day from breakfast to early evening and people
Speaker 1: can have salads and sandwiches and things who are old,
Speaker 1: home baked and homemade. And then we babu as a
Speaker 1: huge theras on sixty four Broadway, so that's very very
Speaker 1: convenient as well. And we took Cafe Bullou up in
Speaker 1: the Berkshire and we did a pop up there in
Speaker 1: a wonderful lleg schateau called the Bland Tyre. So it
Speaker 1: really we find I mean, it's all this opportunity to
Speaker 1: try to bring back staff. I mean we were more
Speaker 1: than seven hundred and fifty staff and we went down
Speaker 1: to seven people and now we're back up two hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty total around the different businesses we have reopened,
Speaker 1: and we are pushing up and bringing more people. So wow,
Speaker 1: that that's big moves. Yea. And in terms of pacity,
Speaker 1: danielle Um, what is the I mean, what can you
Speaker 1: do at at what you're opening tonight versus what you
Speaker 1: would be able to do inside? I think I think
Speaker 1: the terra us is only I will say for right now,
Speaker 1: it's and and because you know, if it's if it's
Speaker 1: beautiful weather, we might be able to extend more tables,
Speaker 1: but if it's a little bit greasily like tonight, we
Speaker 1: want to stander the canopy and we have a limitation
Speaker 1: of about thirty five to forty feets, but that's pretty good.
Speaker 1: And then if it's a nice weather, we might be
Speaker 1: able to double that size. But that's nothing compared to
Speaker 1: the size on the inside, where normally we have private
Speaker 1: dining rooms, we have the barnd nouns, we have the
Speaker 1: dining room, which could almost bring hundred and eighty seats
Speaker 1: or more. So it's a very different business model, and
Speaker 1: it's definitely not um a profitable model, but it's very
Speaker 1: It motivates us so much to do something with the
Speaker 1: whole concept of outdoor dining. I'm sure you've knew about
Speaker 1: it before, but you've probably learned more than you ever
Speaker 1: thought you would about outdoor dining, given that that's how
Speaker 1: we're all eating out these days. How do you view it?
Speaker 1: What have you learned about it in terms of what
Speaker 1: you can and can't do, and maybe what the future
Speaker 1: is given that we're going to be in this for
Speaker 1: some time, I know, and and and thanks God, I mean,
Speaker 1: we're in it in the summer right now, and the
Speaker 1: fall should be mellow until at least November. But the
Speaker 1: the Mayor of New York has really opened up and
Speaker 1: I think many cities all over the country. I've opened
Speaker 1: up the opportunity for restaurate or to be able to
Speaker 1: put table outside in places we will have never been
Speaker 1: authorized before. And they are really helpful, um meaningful, I
Speaker 1: mean mindful of of course the security for the guests,
Speaker 1: but also um, really give the chance for the restaurator
Speaker 1: to have a meaningful business outdoor for the time being,
Speaker 1: for the time being, let's say. And of course the
Speaker 1: fine dining restaurant is more complicated, but not too many
Speaker 1: restaurants as outdoors there. As for cafe the small bestrow,
Speaker 1: we have like four or five table outside. I've seen
Speaker 1: them taking half a block and going around the block
Speaker 1: with tables, so it seemed like they have more tables
Speaker 1: outside and inside now. But but it's good, thank god. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: and that there is that opportunity to do it. You know, um,
Speaker 1: we were talking without Kate Crater, who covers UM. I think,
Speaker 1: as you know, we love we love talking with Kate,
Speaker 1: and you know, we were wondering, you know, you were
Speaker 1: going I thought to talk to Lincoln Center about doing
Speaker 1: maybe big screens for events like the US Open so
Speaker 1: that maybe diners could watch from barbarous. Are you doing that?
Speaker 1: Are you moving ahead with that? Well? Uh, I am
Speaker 1: still convinced that we can do something, and I am
Speaker 1: looking at sponsor. It's it's all about trying to find
Speaker 1: sponsoring to be able to create something for the moment.
Speaker 1: A little bit of a spontaneous things and for a
Speaker 1: short lived but at least we can do things to
Speaker 1: entertain guests. But I think, um, it is important that
Speaker 1: because the open is happening, that we are able to
Speaker 1: show it all over town. Um it's uh, it will
Speaker 1: be fantastic. I mean, I would love to be able
Speaker 1: to show it. That daniel is needed. But at Lincoln
Speaker 1: Center there is the huge esplanade where I'm sure people
Speaker 1: don't have to crowd, and they have the entire War
Speaker 1: of the buildings where they could project the games and
Speaker 1: put some speakers. So I hope there will be you know,
Speaker 1: interested to do that of course. And no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I didn't mean to cut you off. And I have
Speaker 1: the and you know now with the to go business
Speaker 1: or the three, people can grab their little snack or
Speaker 1: sandwich or meal or lunch or dinner and sit down
Speaker 1: and and watch the game during the day. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure than the city can plan uh enough social spacing.
Speaker 1: So there's really safety first, of course, very important. So Danielle,
Speaker 1: you know, the last time we talked to you, um,
Speaker 1: you know, the the pandemic was very much on in
Speaker 1: in New York City. Unfortunately, a very different time, um,
Speaker 1: but obviously not much, not too much has changed, although
Speaker 1: you know, little baby steps for it that we're taking
Speaker 1: in terms of outdoor dining. I do wonder for you
Speaker 1: because at the time you were rightly concerned. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you remain concerned about the future of your business and
Speaker 1: maybe more importantly, the future of fine dining all across
Speaker 1: the country. Where do we stand now? What do you
Speaker 1: think about now when it comes to the future of
Speaker 1: fine dining. Well, for a while, he would have to
Speaker 1: be slightly recaliber I mean slightly or strongly recaliber uh
Speaker 1: in in his um ambition of offering, I would say,
Speaker 1: in his size. Uh. You know, we find dining when
Speaker 1: we think of fine danning, that means we're going to
Speaker 1: reopen our restaurant inside and um in its price. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe more option to be able to have choice of
Speaker 1: not having to go for tasting manu only, but maybe
Speaker 1: some sampler option, maybe some hours of operation. We might
Speaker 1: be shrunk down a little bit because of the cost
Speaker 1: of doing business, and so you know, less less days
Speaker 1: of operation will mean more control in in the cost
Speaker 1: of doing business and uh and and slowly get back
Speaker 1: to where it belonged because I think fine dining will
Speaker 1: not go away. But I'm opening to restaurant, Danielle. I
Speaker 1: can do a pop up for the months to come
Speaker 1: where I create something very casual, very disrupting, and very
Speaker 1: different than Uh. I'm basically covering the skin of fine
Speaker 1: dining and putting a skin of a casual place and
Speaker 1: and but something a little bit of a It's like
Speaker 1: a movie set where you are somewhere else for a
Speaker 1: minute for a time and and and I do that
Speaker 1: with sponsor, and we have some wonderful sponsor. We want
Speaker 1: to support my idea and and help the restart of
Speaker 1: fine dining. And I think everybody's gonna have to figure
Speaker 1: it out how to restop, not to become who they were,
Speaker 1: but to restart something. And so that's an opportunity to
Speaker 1: do that. So I'm thinking of people who are listening
Speaker 1: and saying I want in um, is it going to
Speaker 1: be all reservations or reservations and walk ins? So right
Speaker 1: now for the Sidebook Cafe, Danielle, it's going to be
Speaker 1: a reservation some day starting at three o'clock in the
Speaker 1: afternoon until six o'clock. And oh, but it's at three o'clock.
Speaker 1: We opened the reservation, so we know exactly the weather,
Speaker 1: we know a mini table to put and all that,
Speaker 1: because there's nothing worse than coming to a restaurant and
Speaker 1: there is no table. But we will always keep tables
Speaker 1: up and with no reservation as well, so a portion
Speaker 1: of it will be a reservation portion no reservation, so
Speaker 1: there's always an opportunity that a table could get available.
Speaker 1: And that was Chef in Restaurant toward Danielle Bowlue. I
Speaker 1: love what he said, Jason about every day being a
Speaker 1: big day, bringing a little bit of hope, a little
Speaker 1: bit of improvement. You know what they're doing right now.
Speaker 1: It's not profitable, but again he's hopeful and he's really
Speaker 1: just trying to bring back his workers and bring back
Speaker 1: his customers. You've been listening to Bloomberg Business Week Extra.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure all answer, and I'm Jason Kelly. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg