Emerging Neighborhood Location Strategy

“I scoured the city, sometimes with brokers, but more often just hunting on my own for unlisted places—seeking the right place in the right location. I had two nonnegotiable needs: I wanted to open in an emerging neighborhood; and I wanted to have the right to assign my lease to someone else if my restaurant should go out of business.”

“Despite all the uninspiring spaces I was seeing, I continued to reject the prevailing maxim: “Location, location, location.” This is the idea that you somehow need an upscale address to be considered a great restaurant. But to afford an acceptably swank location, restaurants had to pass on their huge overhead to the guests, charging way too much money for lunch and dinner. Back then, an excellent restaurant was too often confused with an expensive restaurant.”