Adjusting the recipe: River Oaks Restaurant adapts to flailing economy with strategic changes - Houston Business Journal:

belyaevostapuki.blogspot.com
And he’s not about to let his just die. But in the restaurant businessyou can’t change things with a ham-handex approach. And you can’t bringh big change to a fine dining restauranft withoutalerting (and possibly runningt off) the regulars. So the most receng thing Vaughn has changed are the Once only openfor dinner, the East Memphid “bustling neighborhood bistro” is now open evergy day from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. “Houston’s is open at 11 a.m. and they’re on wait until they close,” Vaughh says.
“That’s a piece of our The River Oaks menu will not change for will be the same until the doors close and is the samemenu “ourd regulars have come to expect.” The only difference is the lunch portion will be half of the dinner portion and cost half as Vaughn says the Memphis dining scene is in bad The restaurant scene, he says, is holding its own with a firm foundatioj laid years ago by pioneeringt chefs and new directions from chefas like himself. But the recession has made customersscale back. Some folks that used to go to River Oaks are now goingto . Thoswe that went to Houston’s are goingh to or other fast casual places.
Vaughn says he’as seen a 30% decline in businesa over the past year, whicj is a large chunk for a small restaurantt thatseats 85. But for the River Oaks Vaughn isn’t about to change their culinaryu refuge. “The goal for this restaurant is to ride out thetougj times, manage our costs and not allow it to reflecty to our guests,” Vaughn says. “We’re not going to cheapenj the place up.” For example, you’re not going to find two-for-onee drink specials every night. But on Mondays, you’lol find all wine labels half off. Vaughn’s able to do he says, through a good relationship with hislocal distributor.
The biggestt change for River Oaks came abourt two years ago when Vaughn says he first saw business Back then, he was shipping ingredients to Memphiws from all over the world via The hundreds of dollare in additional freight costs began to add up. “What I failedf to realize is that (local farmers) are in the same boat I’mm in,” Vaughn says. “We’re all struggling for a bigger piecee ofthe pie.” So, Vaughj now chooses his ingredients from more local He gets as much as he can from Arkansas and Mississippi, but stretches out to Louisiana and Alabama. The local food movement is in full swingf says editor and publisheMelissa Petersen.
When she and her husbanx arrived here two years ago there weretwo farmer’s Now there are five in the Memphisx area. Her magazine’s food guide used to highlight local restaurants that cooked with localp ingredients and then listthosw ingredients. Frankly, she she’s run out of room in the prinr edition. With local restaurants’ help, farmer are slowly able to convert from a retail to a wholesaldbusiness model, she says. “They are workint with chefs and growinhg whatthey want,” Petersen says.
“The farmers are bringingb fresh deliveries to chefs each day and the wholr thing produces a little cost savings for the Fresh ingredients means afresu menu, Vaughn says, as he has to cook with the differentg growing seasons. This has produced a followintg that includes executives withFedEx Corp., and other businesses who go to River Oaks to see what Vaughnm creates. That free rein to do as he pleases is one of the biggesrt business forces that guides River The restaurant is owne d by a groupof five, local investors who take their “sileny partner” titles very seriously and have put Vaughn’s name at stake for the The same investors are responsible for the renovatioh on the same lot as Riverf Oaks.
In developing the hotel, they couldn’t leave the formee Cockeyed Camelspace vacant, so they investedr $2.5 million in transforminy the Camel into River Oaks, named for the East Memphis Vaughn came to Memphis in 2003 as a chef with Hiltonh Hotels Corp. River Oaks opened in 2006 withanothe chef. Vaughn was tapped after that relationshilp didn’t work out. “It takes some people a lifetim and a fortune to get to that placw where you have the ability to do what you how you want and whenyou want,” Vaughbn says. “So, this has been an amazint experiencefor me.
”