NEW YORK--Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC brand is plotting a deeper move into France, hoping that the Colonel's recipe will strike the taste of a broader swath of French consumers.
This week, KFC launched its first round of national television advertisements in France as it gets set to open its 100th store there, giving it the scale needed for a broad marketing push. KFC plans to have 300 stores in France by 2015, and sees a possible tenfold increase over time. "One day I'd like to have over 1,000 stores here, though we're going to take it 100 by 100" at a time, Ivan Schofield, general manager of KFC France, said in an interview. Yum, the world's largest restaurant operator with more than 37,000 locations, is one of the largest retail developers in the world, a key strategy underpinning its growth. With the U.S. fast-food market mature, China has become by far Yum's most crucial growth market, and the company is also starting a major expansion in India to open 1,000 stores. Even though these two fast-growing markets dwarf France in terms of population, Yum executives see KFC's France business as an anchor for what could be a broader expansion in continental Europe. KFC's European footprint is under 800 restaurants, lagging behind burger chain McDonald's Corp., with about 5,600. "It's their most important market in Europe," Stifel Nicolaus restaurant analyst Steve West said. "Obviously, China's the most important market, but there's a lot of growth opportunity for Yum in France." Fast-food competition remains less intense in France, where McDonald's and local operator Quick dominate the market. McDonald's, which was seen as an American invasion when the first store opened in 1979, worked hard to woo French diners by tailoring its menu to local tastes. The company sells beer as well as soft drinks, and it recently introduced a version of the macaroon, a national culinary institution. Last year, it opened a restaurant in the food court of the Carrousel du Louvre, the shopping center under the famous Parisian museum, raising some eyebrows. The chain has grown to about 1,100 stores in France. Other American companies have had less success or moved more cautiously. Burger KingStarbucks Inc., the U.S. coffee chain, opened its first outlet in France in 2004 and today has about 50 locations—a number dwarfed by its 650 in the U.K. In addition to relatively tame competition, France has another major appeal: It is one of the largest dining-out markets in Europe. Many French consumers still frequent locally owned, corner restaurants, but fast food has made headway as diners cut their lunchtime down to 30 minutes or so, Mr. Schofield said. France's fast-food customers also tend to prefer full meals with desserts, rather than just sandwiches, which bring the average sale to between €6 and €8 (about $8 to $10.50) at KFC. As a result, KFCs in France make more money than anywhere else in the world. Stores on average reach sales of $4 million a year, about three times that of the average KFC elsewhere in the world. KFC initially got off to a meek start in France. Its former parent PepsiCo Inc. opened just seven locations 1992 before abandoning the effort to expand elsewhere. Yum came back to France in 2001, as McDonald's started investing in its stores there. KFC found itself an underdog, and positioned itself as a challenger brand. KFC tailored its menu to local preferences, introducing items like the Boxmaster, chicken and other fillings wrapped in a tortilla, and Brazer, a grilled line of products. Yum has invested more than $300 million in its France business since 2001, and is now profitable, although Mr. Schofield wouldn't say when it tilted into the black. Though Yum owns and runs most of the stores here, by 2015 it wants to shift more of the development burden to franchisees. By that time, Yum thinks annual profits in France will reach $100 million. Corp., which challenges McDonald's in many global markets, withdrew from France in 1997. It said at the time that its 39 restaurants didn't give it a strong enough presence and that it wasn't sufficiently profitable. —By PAUL ZIOBRO: Javier Espinoza in London contributed to this article.
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BY this point, nearly everyone agrees that dining out has replaced going to the theater and that chefs are rock stars. So why don’t restaurants sell tickets?
Grant Achatz, the highly praised chef of Alinea in Chicago, has asked himself the same question. Now, he says that with his next restaurant (called, naturally, Next Restaurant), that’s just what he’ll do. Anyone wishing to eat at Next after its scheduled opening in the fall will pay in advance on its Web site. Like airlines, Next will offer cheaper tickets for off-peak hours. A table at 9:30 on a Tuesday night, say, would cost less than one for Saturday at 8. Ticket prices will also vary based on the menu, but will run from $45 to $75 for a five- or six-course meal, according to the site, nextrestaurant.com. (Wine and beverage pairings, bought with the ticket, will begin at $25.) The menu will change four times a year, with each new edition featuring the cuisine of a particular place and time. When the restaurant opens, Mr. Achatz said, the theme will be Paris in 1912, with painstakingly researched evocations of Escoffier-era cuisine. Three months later, the kitchen will turn out a fresh set of recipes — evoking, say, postwar Sicily, or Hong Kong 25 years from now, with modern techniques employed to imagine the future of Chinese cuisine. Subscriptions to a year’s worth of space-and-time coordinates will also be sold. “We now pay three or four reservationists all day long to basically tell people they can’t come to the restaurant,” Mr. Achatz said of Alinea. With Next, he intends to strip away those and other hidden costs of dining out. “It allows us to give an experience that is actually great value,” he said. “That’s the theory.” But the plan would also have value for Mr. Achatz and his main partner in Next and Alinea, Nick Kokonas. By law, restaurants may distribute tips only to those employees who work in service. But the service charge included in the ticket price “gives him control over the money,” said Bill Guilfoyle, an associate professor of business management at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. “He can give it to whomever he sees fit.” Mr. Achatz could pay cooks more than members of the wait staff, a reversal of the usual pecking order that could allow him to recruit shining kitchen talent. Mr. Guilfoyle also said that the 150 or so tickets that Next sells each night could mean a cash-flow bonanza like the one Starbucks enjoys on its cash cards. Starbucks had a multimillion-dollar “float of products the customers had paid for but hadn’t collected yet,” he said. “If Achatz is smart, he’ll invest this in the futures market.” Much of the work of taking reservations has already migrated to the Internet. Customers who book seatings at unpopular hours on Open Table earn points that add up to cash vouchers accepted by all restaurants that the service represents. The restaurateur David Chang has an online reservation system at his Momofuku Ko, although checks are settled at meal’s end. He said that the savings in payroll and staff time have been tremendous. He had considered off-peak pricing, too, but was afraid it would turn off customers. “It’s going to irritate very many people,” Mr. Chang said of the ticket plan. “But I think it’s liberating, and a lot of restaurants are going to follow suit.” But Mr. Achatz, who is also working on concurrent plans to open a bar called Aviary, hopes that people won’t be irritated once they enjoy the convenience of a meal with no decisions to be made and no check to be signed. “There’s no transactions in the restaurant at all,” he said. “So you can literally come in, sit down, start your experience, and when you’re done, you just get up and leave.” By PETE WELLS Restaurant and Chef Awards:
BEST NEW RESTAURANT Marea NYC Chef/Partner: Michael White Partner: Chris Cannon OUTSTANDING CHEF AWARD Tom Colicchio Craft NYC OUTSTANDING PASTRY CHEF AWARD Nicole Plue Redd Yountville, CA OUTSTANDING RESTAURANT AWARD Daniel NYC Chef/Owner: Daniel Boulud Owner: Joel Smilow OUTSTANDING RESTAURATEUR AWARD Keith McNally Balthazar, Lucky Strike, Minetta Tavern, Morandi, Pastis, Pravda, and Schiller’s Liquor Bar NYC OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARD Alinea Chicago Chef/Owner: Grant Achatz OUTSTANDING WINE AND SPIRITS PROFESSIONAL AWARD John Shafer and Doug Shafer Shafer Vineyards Napa, CA OUTSTANDING WINE SERVICE AWARD Jean Georges NYC Wine Director: Bernard Sun Restaurant Gary Danko San Francisco Wine Director: Jeff Anderson RISING STAR CHEF OF THE YEAR AWARD Timothy Hollingsworth The French Laundry Yountville, CA BEST CHEFS IN AMERICA: Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH) Koren Grieveson Avec Chicago Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (D.C., DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA) Jeff Michaud Osteria Philadelphia Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI) Alexander Roberts Restaurant Alma Minneapolis Best Chef: New York City (Five Boroughs) Daniel Humm Eleven Madison Park Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY STATE, RI, VT) Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier Arrows Ogunquit, ME Best Chef: Northwest (AK, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY) Jason Wilson Crush Seattle Best Chef: Pacific (CA, HI) David Kinch Manresa Los Gatos, CA Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS) Michael Schwartz Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink Miami Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV) Sean Brock McCrady’s Charleston, SC Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, CO, NM, NV, OK, TX, UT) Claude Le Tohic Joël Robuchon at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino Las Vegas Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America Inductees Leah Chase Chef/Owner, Dooky Chase Restaurant, New Orleans Leah Chase has lived in Louisiana her entire life, moving to New Orleans when she was 14 years old. Her first job out of school was at the Oriental Laundry in the French Quarter. A week later, Chase was hired by the Colonial Restaurant on Chartres Street and she has been in the restaurant industry ever since. Chase married a musician whose family owned the Dooky Chase Restaurant. Once her children were old enough to attend school, Chase began to work at the restaurant three days a week. She started out as a hostess, but she was soon redecorating the restaurant and working as its chef. She eventually revamped the menu to reflect her Creole background. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of Dooky Chase’s 5th Ward location in 2005, the restaurant community got together to host a benefit in 82-year-old Chase’s honor. The guests raised $40,000, and Dooky Chase reopened in 2007 mostly for take-out food and special events. Chase is also a cooking show host and cookbook author. Jessica B. Harris Author and Historian, NYC Jessica B. Harris is the author of eight critically acclaimed cookbooks documenting the foods and foodways of the African diaspora. A culinary historian and tenured professor, she has lectured on the subject at numerous institutions and colleges throughout the United States and abroad. As a journalist Harris served as a restaurant reviewer for The Village Voice and has written extensively about the culture of Africa in the Americas, particularly the foodways, for publications ranging from Essence (where she was travel editor from 1977-1980) to German Vogue. She has also written for many major food magazines including Gourmet and Food & Wine. Harris has been a national board member of the American Institute of Wine & Food, a founding member and board member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and a board member of the Caribbean Culinary Federation. Paul C. P. McIlhenny President and CEO, McIlhenny Company, Avery Island, LA Paul C. P. McIlhenny is the fourth generation of McIlhennys to produce Tabasco® pepper sauce, an American staple found in countless kitchens and restaurants throughout the United States and abroad. As were his forebears, he is directly involved in overseeing and maintaining the high quality of all products under the 142-year-old Tabasco® brand. McIlhenny grew up in New Orleans and has lived and cooked on Avery Island for more than 40 years. He is an accomplished fish and wild game cook and counts as friends such food-world luminaries as Emeril Lagasse, Jacques Pépin, Ella Brennan, Pierre Franey, Paul Prudhomme, Mimi Sheraton, William Rice, and the late R.W. Apple, Jr. McIlhenny is the co-author of The 125th Anniversary Tabasco® Cookbook and a contributor to Eula Mae’s Cajun Kitchen and Tabasco®: An Illustrated History. He is also a member of the Société des Escargots Orléanais of New Orleans and the New Orleans Chapitre of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, and serves on the Louisiana Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection, Restoration and Conservation, as well as on the board of the America's WETLAND Foundation. David Rockwell Founder and CEO, Rockwell Group, NYC David Rockwell grew up in Chicago, Deal, New Jersey, and Guadalajara, Mexico. When he was a child, his mother, a dancer and choreographer, would cast him in community repertory productions. He brought his passion for theater, eye for color, and the spectacle of Mexico to his architecture studies at Syracuse University and, later, to his firm, Rockwell Group. Based in New York City, the group specializes in culture, hospitality, retail, theater, and film design. Recent restaurant projects include Nobu and Nobu 57 (New York and worldwide), Pod (Philadelphia), Roppongi Hills (Tokyo), and Maze (London). Rockwell is Chairman of the Board at the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) and is on the boards of the Public Theater and Citymeals-on-Wheels. He received a Presidential Design Award for his Grand Central Terminal renovation in 2000. L. Timothy Ryan President, Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY Tim Ryan graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1977 and was the first alumnus and faculty member to rise through the ranks to become the institution’s president. As the CIA’s fifth president, Ryan has been an integral part in the American food movement, launching several new programs including the world’s first bachelor's degrees in culinary arts and baking & pastry arts management, a highly successful publishing program, and award-winning videos and television shows. He has also dramatically expanded the college's continuing education programs. Susan Spicer Chef/Owner, Bayona, New Orleans Susan Spicer began her cooking career at the Louis XVI Restaurant in New Orleans in 1979. After a four-month stint at the restaurant, Spicer lived in Paris and California, but eventually came back to New Orleans, where she opened Bistro at Maison deVille at the Hotel Maison deVille in 1986. In the spring of 1990, Spicer and Regina Keever opened Bayona in a 200-year-old cottage in the French Quarter. From 1997 to 1999, Spicer owned and operated Spice, Inc, a specialty market with take-out food, cooking classes, and a bakery. In 2000, Spicer and three partners opened Herbsaint, a casual restaurant in the Warehouse district of New Orleans. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including the 1993 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast. Spicer is also a cookbook author and an occasional judge on Iron Chef America. America’s Classics Awards Presented by The Coca-Cola Company Restaurants with timeless appeal, beloved in their regions for quality food that reflects the character of their community. Establishments must have been in existence at least 10 years and be locally owned. Al’s French Frys 1251 Williston Road, South Burlington, VT Owners: Bill Bissonette and Lee Bissonette Founded by Al and Genevieve Rusterholz in the late 1940s, Al's French Frys was originally housed in a small hut, open to the elements. Many Chittenden Countians encountered Al’s French Frys stand at the Champlain Valley Fair, where they earned a reputation that has endured for more than a half-century. Al’s is now owned by the Bissonette family, headed by Bill Bissonette, who revealed part of the restaurant’s secret when he told a local paper that he starts with Idaho or California russets and fries them twice in a combination of beef tallow and soy bean oil at between 300 and 400 degrees for a total of about seven minutes. There are always lines at Al’s, night and day. You can order a pint, or the vastly more popular quart size. The pleasure of uttering the words “And a quart of fries with that,” is one of the chief charms of Al’s. The fries boast a dark and crackly exterior. Creamy white potato fluff lurks within. Al’s fries are a benchmark and a bulwark against devolution, in a world where chefs who should know better resort to frozen, cotton-flannel fries, or moan about what a pain and torment it is to cook French fries from scratch. —Alison Cook, Restaurant Critic, Houston Chronicle The Bright Star 304 19th St. North, Bessemer, AL Owners: Jimmy Koikos and Nicky Koikos A clump of feta, tucked in a salad of iceberg and cucumbers. A stipple of oregano on a broiled snapper fillet. At the Bright Star in Bessemer, Alabama, an old steel town southwest of Birmingham, the vestiges of Greece are few. Greek immigrants built the Bright Star, a vintage dining hall of intricately patterned tile floors, nicotine-patinaed woodwork, WPA-era murals of the old country, and brass chandeliers. The Bright Star opened in 1907. Descendants of Bright Star founding fathers—Tom Bonduris and his cousin Bill Koikos, natives of the farming village of Peleta in the mountainous Peloponnesus region —still work the floor. Jimmy Koikos, a septuagenarian, and brother Nicky, seven years his junior, are in charge now. The menu is an honest—and very old—fusion, Greek meets Southern, as interpreted by African American cooks: fried red snapper throats, house-cut from whole Gulf fish, are on the menu. Okra in a cornmeal crust, too. And field peas with snaps. In the Birmingham area, many of the best barbecue and meat-and-three restaurants are Greek owned. And the Bright Star is the oldest and most storied of the bunch. —John T. Edge, Director, Southern Foodways Alliance Calumet Fisheries 3259 E 95th Street, Chicago Owners: The Kotlick and Toll Families Chicago’s 95th Street Bridge, which spans the Calumet River on the city’s South Side, is known for two things: One, in the movie The Blues Brothers, Elwood demonstrated the capabilities of his new car by jumping the bridge. Two, it’s the home of Calumet Fisheries, a stand-alone hutch that has been frying and smoking seafood since 1948, when brothers-in-law Sid Kotlick and Len Toll opened the place. To this day, the Kotlick and Toll families run the joint. It’s strictly carryout. No seating, no bathroom, no credit cards. And, if you believe the ominous street sign, no parking. The place draws a working-class, melting-pot crowd, and a fair number of amateur fishermen. (The murky Calumet is a good place to find bluegill.) Fried perch, smelts, and frogs’ legs are big here, but they also bring in scallops, crab, catfish, and oysters. The fried stuff is very good, but what you really want is the smoked fish, smoldering in the bunker-like smokehouse around back. Salmon steaks, shrimp, chubs, and trout, all kissed with wood and cooked with care. —Phil Vettel, Restaurant Critic, Chicago Tribune Gustavus Inn PO Box 60, Gustavus, AK Owners: JoAnn and David Lesh Three generations of the Lesh family have welcomed guests to this farmhouse at the edge of a meadow overlooking Alaska's Icy Strait. Jack and Sally Lesh started the inn in 1965, operating it as a drop-in restaurant, grocery store, and hotel. For many years it was also the town’s weather station, airline counter, and radio and telephone contact. From 1976-79 their daughter Sal and husband Tom McLaughlin continued these services, supporting the crew building nearby Glacier Bay Lodge. Dave and JoAnn Lesh took over as innkeepers in 1980 and raised their three sons and daughter there. Over the years, the town has acquired power, phones, and city status allowing the Gustavus Inn to rely more on serving tourists to Glacier Bay National Park during the summer months. Supper is served family style and usually features local catches like Dungeness crab, salmon, halibut, and sablefish, as well as produce from the Inn’s munificent garden. Despite the challenges of a short growing season, that garden produces berries, potatoes, rhubarb, myriad greens, and edible flowers. In addition to just-caught seafood, the Inn is known for sourdough pancakes with homemade spruce tip syrup and Halibut Caddy Ganty, often called Halibut Olympia, a rich mix of fish cooked with onions, sour cream, and mayonnaise. —Providence Cicero, Restaurant Critic and Food Writer, Seattle Times Mary & Tito’s Cafe 2711 Fourth St. N.W., Albuquerque, NM Owners: Mary Gonzales and Antoinette Knight Carne adovada—long-braised pork in red chile sauce—might be the most characteristic of New Mexico’s robust and deceptively simple dishes. New Mexicans argue the merits of various carne adovada preparations statewide, but aficionados nearly always rank Mary & Tito’s tops. The Gonzales family serves the fork-tender meat as the centerpiece of a plate, in overstuffed burritos, and also as a filling for enchiladas and empanadas. Native New Mexicans and husband and wife team Mary and Tito Gonzales started their adobe cafe just north of downtown Albuquerque in 1963. Tito was the original cook and creator of the recipes. When he passed away, Mary hired more cooks and continued to run the front of the house, oversee the business, and raise their family. From the worn but clean booths, tables, and a handful of counter stools, diners gaze over family and patron photos, the kids’ and grandkids’ sports trophies, and other mementos of family accomplishments. Now past 80, Mary still comes in daily to greet old friends and new, while her daughter Antoinette manages the cafe. Other daughters help out too, and various grandchildren wait tables when they’re not in school. —Cheryl Jamison, Cookbook Author and Food Writer Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients: Ariane and Michael Batterberry Legendary leaders in their field, Ariane and Michael Batterberry have founded two milestone national food magazines: Food Arts, the influential, award-winning publication for the restaurant and hotel trades that has won a number of the coveted Folio Gold “Eddie” B2B awards, and Food & Wine, a leading consumer publication. Pioneers in electronic food publishing as well, they created the top rated computerized “magazine” Dining In for Time Inc. in the early 1980s. Singly or together, they are the authors of 18 books on food, art, and social history, and they have contributed a quarterly food trends column to U.S.A. Today. The Batterberrys’ awards and citations include both the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who in Food & Beverage in America and Editors of the Year, the International Food & Beverage Forum’s Hall of Fame, Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNA) Honorary Hall of Fame, the Culinary Institute of America’s Masters of Hospitality award, and the Madrid Fusión award, presented by the mayor of Madrid, for having propelled the course of the American food revolution. Michael has appeared often on national and international TV as a commentator on culinary and restaurant business trends and has performed as introductory host to the Public Television series Rising Star Chefs. Humanitarian of the Year: Wayne Kostroski Presented by Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism Wayne Kostroski founded the Taste of the NFL in 1992 in an effort to create a national platform that addresses the needs of the hungry and homeless by raising awareness and money through special events and programs. Through the hard work and dedication of hundreds of volunteers, the Taste of the NFL’s Party With A Purpose event takes place each year on the eve of the Super Bowl. At the ticketed Party With A Purpose, thirty-two of the finest chefs from around the country (one from each NFL city) serve up their signature specialties alongside a current, Hall of Fame, or alumni player from each of the NFL teams, with 100 percent of the event’s proceeds going to support local and national hunger organizations. Since its inception, the Taste of the NFL has distributed in excess of $9 million. The organization has also drafted a dozen NFL teams to create and execute events in their own cities to benefit local food banks; these events have generated more than $4 million to date. 1) Is Your Kitchen Ventilation System Balanced?
HVAC Systems account for 28% of the total energy usage of the average commercial kitchen. More often than not, the way your kitchen ventilation system was designed and how it was actually installed vary tremendously. Differences in static pressure and system effect can result in actual exhaust and supply airflow rates that exceed or drastically fall short of what they were initially designed. This can lead to a very uncomfortable kitchen/dining area, a smokey kitchen, and most definitely, unseen energy losses from an added strain placed on your regular building HVAC System. A simple visit by a KAI certified technician can determine whether or not your system is within 10% of design. 2) Is each of your cooking appliances pushed back as far as possible to the wall? This is the simplest yet most overseen item that can drastically improve the capture and containment performance of your exhaust hood. Increased Overhang = Increased Capture. 3) Are you currently using full or partial end-panels on your hood? Adding Full or Quarter end-panels to either side of your hood can decrease your exhaust airflow rates subsequently saving you money in utility costs. This is a very inexpensive way to cut costs. 4) Is your system running at maximum efficiency? Are there any leaks or uninsulated portions of your supply air duct work? If you are paying money to heat or cool Make-Up-Air, you want to make sure that that this air is not being subject to thermal losses or gains between when it is heated/cooled and when it is distributed to the kitchen. 5) Have you considered installing a demand-based exhaust control? Advances to Energy Management Systems that operate automatically off of cooking exhaust temperatures have increased dramatically over the past few years. Initial investment costs of these energy saving systems have dropped substantially and government incentive tax rebates have decreased the pay-back periods as low as 1 to 2 years. In addition, Energy Management Systems are able to be installed to existing systems in addition to new construction projects making them available to all users. This is the best time to call and inquire about a system that will save you money today. For more information pertaining to the operation and a free quotation of these systems, contact us today. Tel #: 1.267.987.8855 Brought to you from Kitchen Air Inc. |
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