In the News / Student Concept Presenations

We began with in the news. After seeing a few documentaries about prohibition, it was pretty funny to see an article in the New York Times about the recent trend in new bars to be stylized after Prohibition-era speak-easies. The problem? Since the supply was illegal the quality of the booze was low and a lot of drinks had to be mixed with strong, sweet stuff to mask the flavor. I think this new trend should involve poor-quality bathtub gin, a total lack of licensing, and incorporate other illegal activities -- drugs, prostitution, and dancing without a cabaret license! Now THAT would be authentic.

Time Out New York had a pretty typical spread hyping a handful of new pizzerias in NYC, but more interesting was the recent article in Newsweek, which questioned the viability of all these new trendy pizzerias -- what about the old school slice joints that are getting squeezed out? I think the argument is specious -- the old school places have never had it so good, and the new places are riding their coattails. At some point the new places will shake out, but the places that have been around for years and years will survive.

The Times had a pretty ridiculous opinion piece about the U.K. judiciary that just ruled that Pringles are, for tax purposes, potato chips, unlike what Proctor & Gamble were calling them, "savory snacks," to get out of paying millions of pounds in VAT taxes.

Most of the day was dedicated to Jenni, Guytano, and Niko giving presentations on their concept menus. Both Jenni and Guytano's concepts were expansions to the restaurants where they are currently working. Jenni's restaurant owners are opening up a cafe and gelato shop, where they will roast their own beans and make their own ice creams, out in the North Fork of Long Island. Guytano's pizzeria is opening an attached wine bar with a small trattoria-style menu, out in Long Island. Niko gave a long and rambling talk about a Georgian wine & jazz bar, but with his thickly accented low monotone, he literally made me fall asleep.

Class concluded with a short P&L statement, working out the variance and variance percentages between years by costs and profits.

No class Monday, talk to ya Wednesday!