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

afukakuja.wordpress.com
And he’s not about to let his just die. But in the restauranyt businessyou can’t change things with a ham-handedd approach. And you can’t bring big change to a fine dining restauran withoutalerting (and possiblg running off) the So the most recent thing Vaughj has changed are the hours. Once only open for the East Memphis “bustling neighborhood bistro” is now open ever y day from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. “Houston’s is open at 11 a.m.
and they’rd on wait until they close,” Vaughn “That’s a piece of our The River Oaks menu will not change for will be the same until the doors closr and is the samemenu “oufr regulars have come to expect.” The only difference is the lunchy portion will be half of the dinner portion and cost half as Vaughn says the Memphis dining scenwe is in bad The restaurant scene, he says, is holdin g its own with a firm foundation laid years ago by pioneeringy chefs and new directionw from chefs like himself. But the recession has made customerxsscale back. Some folks that used to go to River Oaks are now gointto .
Those that went to Houston’sx are going to or other fast casual Vaughnsays he’s seen a 30% decline in businessw over the past year, which is a largew chunk for a small restaurant that seats 85. But for the Rive Oaks loyals, Vaughn isn’t about to changee their culinary refuge. “The goal for this restaurangt is to ride out thetougyh times, manage our costs and not allowa it to reflect to our guests,” Vaugh n says. “We’re not going to cheapen the placw up.” For example, you’re not going to find two-for-one drink specials every night. But on Mondays, you’lk find all wine labels half off.
Vaughn’s able to do he says, through a good relationship with his local The biggest change for Rivetr Oaks came about two years ago when Vaughnh says he first sawbusiness decline. Back he was shipping ingredients to Memphis from all over the worle via The hundreds of dollars in additionak freight costs began toadd up. “What I failed to realizre is that (local farmers) are in the same boat I’km in,” Vaughn says. “We’re all strugglinhg for a bigger piece ofthe pie.” So, Vaughb now chooses his ingredients from more localk farms. He gets as much as he can from Tennessee, Arkansazs and Mississippi, but stretches out to Louisianaand Alabama.
The local food movement is in full swinh says editor and publisherMelissa Petersen. When she and her husbane arrived here two years ago there weretwo farmer’z markets. Now there are five in the Memphia area. Her magazine’s food guide used to highlight loca l restaurants that cooked with local ingredientes and then listthose ingredients. Frankly, she she’s run out of room in the pring edition. With local restaurants’ farmers are slowly able to convert from a retail to a wholesalebusiness model, she says. “They are working with chefs and growin whatthey want,” Petersen says.
“The farmers are bringing fresh deliveriess to chefs each day and the whole thingt produces a little cost savinga forthe restaurants.” Fresh ingredients meansd a fresh menu, Vaughnj says, as he has to cook with the different growing This has produced a following that includes executivesd with FedEx Corp., and other businesses who go to Rivere Oaks to see what Vaughn creates. That free rein to do as he please s is one of the biggesty business forces that guidesRiver Oaks.
The restauranty is owned by a groupof five, local investores who take their “silent partner” titles very seriously and have put Vaughn’es name at stake for the The same investors are responsible for the renovatiomn on the same lot as River Oaks. In developinvg the hotel, they couldn’t leave the former Cockeyecd Camelspace vacant, so they invested $2.5 million in transforming the Camel into River named for the East Memphis Vaughn came to Memphis in 2003 as a chef with Hiltoh Hotels Corp. River Oaks opened in 2006 with another Vaughn was tapped after thatrelationship didn’t work out.
“It takes some peopl a lifetime and a fortun e to get to that place where you have the abilitu to do what you how you want and when you Vaughn says. “So, this has been an amazinbg experiencefor me.”