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Everybody wants to get into the act...
American's love the restaurant business and while most translate that love into just dining in them, there is still an unending list of those searching for enough money to actually own one. They come and they go, and a mere handful finds a way to make it work. It doesn't matter, everybody wants to own a restaurant and for the uninitiated, it looks relatively easy. Keep in mind that success is a relative term because not all owners have to be financially successful - there can be other reasons to own a restaurant and certainly the ego factor is one of them.
He was smart enough to seek help from a notable New York figure and partnered with chef and restaurateur Paolo Lattanzi to develop a concept with a menu that Mitchell describes as "a tour of Italy." For a guy who loved the business but knew little about the nuances of running a restaurant, he quickly realized that Lattanzi was an extremely busy chef. Mitchell was going to have to learn the business right on the firing line and mostly by himself.
Jay Mitchell, like so many others made a quick discovery - "Owning a restaurant was more challenging than I ever imagined. I honestly thought it would be much easier, and if I had to make immediate money from this venture, Gente would have been gone a long time ago." In this business, the thought of breaking even can become an enormous victory.
When it comes to working a room, Jay is in the Sirio Maccioni league. He has accumulated the necessary knowledge to help match his outgoing and passionate personality and that's a good thing. He calls himself the executive chef, but his real time is spent in the dining room and his enthusiasm is a critical factor in building a loyal customer base.
His basic concept is simplicity, authenticity, and affordability. Gente has a great bar with a long list of Italian wines by the glass along with an owner who loves Italy (he has made some 90 trips and claims he picks up valuable pointers on each occasion). He is also blessed with a genuine passion and a perfect personality for this business.
Try one of his desserts and Jay will insist that it was baked yesterday in Italy and flown overnight to his restaurant. He will brag about his homemade biscotti made fresh in his restaurant on a daily basis, and he can talk endlessly about his favorite subject - authentic Italian food. The man appears as though he's actually having fun.
Gente is still a small, 55-seat restaurant situated in a category where an unexpected rent increase can change everything. The really good news is that it's located in a city like New York. The bad news is that approximately 25,000 other restaurants made the same decision. You need marketing, but how can any small restaurant compete in the world of all those slick glossy (and expensive) magazines? You come to realize that "word of mouth" advertising can work for you and against you at the same time. Your Risotto Milanese can sell for $13.95 and you can make your menu extremely affordable, but it means you have to fill those barstools and those tables constantly to make it all happen.
Gente has been cooking for some six years but has yet to make the Zagat line-up, and the New York Times hasn't even included them in their basic database of New York restaurants. They have discovered the Internet and that a restaurant can deliver meals to people in an 8 to 10 block radius and it can account for some 20% of their volume. You do what it takes to make it.
You have to root for the Jay Mitchell's of the world because there are amazing people out there who find a way to beat the odds. The passion hopefully gets it done for them. The man just did a luncheon at the James Beard House, so he's not exactly waving any white flags. Most importantly if you visit Gente on 45th Street, the food will be very good and very affordable, and Jay Mitchell will undoubtedly be smiling and working the room.
Gente Ristorante Italiano |
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In 1999, Jay Mitchell opened Gente Ristorante in New York City. It made all the sense in the world because for some thirty years he was the executive vice-president of a successful fashion business and he traveled in all kinds of neat places and dined in all kinds of great restaurants. If you experience enough meals in places like Milan, Florence and Rome, it becomes logical to begin planning an Italian concept in a distant city like New York. The man couldn't get this idea out of his head, and when he stopped selling clothes, it was a natural leap to take his interpretation of the great cuisine of Milan to East 45th Street.