Many define the F&B trend of casual luxury by what it’s not: no white tablecloths, no stuffy pretention and definitely no jacket required. What it has come to represent, no matter where in the world a guest pulls up a chair or bar stool, is this: an unfettered celebration of just about any type of cuisine that can be prepared inventively, served beautifully and enjoyed enthusiastically.
HOTELS found six examples of restaurants globally interpreting the trend in their own unique way, whether perched on an elegant aerie overlooking bustling Bangkok, a deck with breathtaking views of Lake Lucerne or a table close to the urban energy of downtown Detroit. Look for our profiles over the coming weeks. Today, HOTELS looks at the Apparatus Room in the Detroit Foundation Hotel, Detroit, Michigan. Stay tuned next week for Atrio at the Conrad Hilton Downtown in New York City.
Contributed by Jeanette Hurt
Apparatus Room, Detroit Foundation Hotel, Detroit, Michigan
Chef: Thomas Lents
Cuisine: New American rooted in Midwestern ingredients
Signature dish: Pici with coney style Bolognese, beef heart and fresh horseradish. The Bolognese sauce is made with beef heart, the traditional meat in coney style chili for coney dogs, a Detroit dish.
Average check: US$70
Opened: May 2017
Local market positioning: The iconic location in the old Detroit Fire Headquarters and the amazing design physically place us apart, but we hope the way we inspire our team to grow and develop, while giving back the best we can to our guest, will be what in the long run makes the restaurant a future Detroit icon. We were the first boutique hotel to hit the market that had a top-notch food and beverage program attached to it.
What’s been tweaked since opening: We have been much busier than projected, and our adjustments to equipment, staffing and operations infrastructure have been substantial. When we built the hotel, we thought we’d do about half of what we’re doing in food and beverage revenue. We were just exceeding expectations so greatly out of the gate, and when you go into a building that has an adaptive, re-use style concept, you’re limited to square footage. Working in the constraints of a historic building while growing to meet our customer demand has been challenging. For example, later this year, we are adding additional refrigeration to meet demand.
Most successful promotion: Jazz Brunch is the second Sunday of every month and is gaining steam. It provides us with an opportunity to support local jazz musicians in a historical venue that brings people together as a place of community. We consistently bring in over 200 covers each Jazz Brunch Sunday, so the cost of the band is more than covered.
Biggest operations challenges: Managing expenses and especially labor is most difficult when there is a lack of historical trends and metrics to lean on. It is now easier as we enter our third year of operation and better understand the impact of citywide conventions and other demand generators. We also calculate and manage each line item down to a cost per occupied room number on the hotel side and a percentage of revenue in the restaurant. We also scrutinize purchases and run all orders through a purchase order approval process.
Biggest operations challenges: Staffing and training has been our biggest challenge (and) working with the team to reach the level of service and hospitality on a daily basis and instill a higher level of passion and professionalism. It’s about training, getting buy-in and developing the team we have to reach new heights.
Future plans: We want to continue to guide the restaurant from its successful opening to maturing in the market to be one of the pillars of great hospitality in the Detroit area. We will continue to develop our concept with the inclusion of an in-house butcher shop, as we are getting approvals for it right now so we can process our meats in-house, and the development of our Chef Table incubator space, but our focus will be on continuing to develop our culture of hospitality in our staff and with our guest and strengthen our collaborations with partners in the city. Very early on, we realized that we’re a busy joint, and we right away started strategizing about what our future would look like. We are constantly trying to evolve to keep ourselves relevant, and we need to stay relevant as a Detroit restaurant. On a Saturday night, we will do well over 300 covers, and 90 percent of the people in the restaurant are Detroiters, not hotel guests.
Source of inspiration: We find our inspiration from our community, guests and co-workers. It’s a great time to be in Detroit and be a part of a very vibrant and progressive community, coming together to build a future for this city. Our inspiration walks in our front door every day.
Where casual luxury is going: Casual luxury guests are looking for unique and personalized experiences and are willing to pay for them. It’s important to devote the required resources to establish local partnerships and collaborations so programming is unique to the place of business.
Advice for hoteliers: We look at our space very much as a restaurant with hotels rooms built on top. This turns the traditional hotel format on its head a bit, but it has really centered us as a place in the community, a place in Detroit. The F&B component our our hotel is our connection to our community and makes us able to welcome in visitors as a true ambassador of our city and community.