"The Hustle" and "The Game"

Jared of Rivera PR emailed me to pick my brain about vendor recommendations and general advice for eager new restauranteurs. I quickly reply back places to buy cheap places, designers to work with, etc.

2 hours later it hits me during bikram yoga that it's really about The Hustle and The Game. Consultations from my guru Kitchenstink and late night jamo sessions with Tim Luym mixed with a hiphop soundtrack have made me see the industry in 2 distinct ways. As "The Hustle" (execution) and "The Game" (strategy). Like yin-yang, right and left, the constant push and pull of these polar ideas, and the balance of duality ultimately drive the restaurant industry.  These 6 books have influenced me greatly and have given me guiding principles that no MBA, certificate program, or bachelor degree ever will.

The Hustle:
Tips on efficiency, process, promotion, and legalities of partnerships gone bad.






















[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="By Roger Fields. Here lies secret Excel formulas."][/caption]























[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="Word of mouth is not bought, but is an epidemic. Malcom Gladwell coined the term "Stickiness.""][/caption]



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="408" caption="When the shit hits the fan--have your ass covered."][/caption]

The Game:
See the industry in more holistic and interconnected way.



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="332" caption="Mastermind behindf NYC's Shake Shake, Blue Smoke, The Modern, Tabla, Gramacy Park "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="378" caption="Founder/CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality - California's largest boutique hotel breaks down the Game."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="322" caption="Go beyond the brand and create a community thru the theory of 3rd Spaces."][/caption]

furniture finds

[caption id="attachment_214" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="i plan on crashing here once a day"]this blog will be of little words. i will let the unspoken language of design speak for itself.

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[caption id="attachment_217" align="aligncenter" width="574" caption="i bow down to mid-century design. i just wish there were 2 of them."][/caption]

logo design

ive been silent for awhile.

blogging about legal and numbers is just not sexy (and highly confidential). but lately, i found myself exercising another skill set of mine. art and design.

i found my way to the bay area during the 1st.com boom as a graphic designer. it was my calling at the time and helped sustain me while being a "nitelife curator" just wasn't paying the bills. being caught-up in the resto game has left me little time to exercise the right half of my brain, until now.

the book, "how to run and start a commercial gallery"  has got me thinking deeply about what kind of gallery the summit is gonna be. i know it's a hybrid model converging food and art, kinda of like what i created with poleng intrms of food and music. i sometimes describe the summit as "111 minna meets tartine bakery." thoughts on the space have also lead me to spend more time on the development of the logo. below is a styling mood board i've asked my designers to focus their work on:

[caption id="attachment_200" align="aligncenter" width="195" caption="directions in design"][/caption]

so far, progress has been slow with my rag-tag team of designers. when you're getting design as a homie hook-up, expect homie time. so to help jump start the process in the right direction, i've created some logos i'd like to share with you.

[caption id="attachment_201" align="aligncenter" width="194" caption="the wonders of rotate and repeat in illustrator"][/caption]

as you can see, i'm obsessed with spirograph and i can't quite execute a design that involves negative space and double meaning. i can't wait to see what the others churn out... if you wanna submit something, hit me up!

a look inside the secret bat cave

while the press searches for clues on the identity of our masked crusader, the interior design is ready to be revealed. below is an ariel view of the space defining the different usage zones. you'll notice that the lounge, has moved towards the front to accommodate semi-private presentations for the start-ups we share the space with.

[caption id="attachment_182" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="looking down on top of the summit"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_185" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="if he were steve jobs, this place would be packed. so use your imagination to see an eager audience listening to him making an exciting presentation"][/caption]

 

the long communal tables are designed to separate and re-combine in a multitude of combinations to make the space modular. in the example below the re-congfigured table can act as a display space for a bunch of computer terminals, iPhone, or iPad apps that will surely launch from our the summit.

[caption id="attachment_183" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="gather around, i got an app for that!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="taking a bite from the apple store"][/caption]

 

it's not all business at the summit. every month the space will transform into an art gallery. the first show, thenightlifeistherightlife: the art of promotional flyers and posters. this would be a perfect tie-in with poleng's nightlife base.

[caption id="attachment_187" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="where's the art? wait we are the art?! genius..."][/caption]

 

 while the party is in the back, here's the view from the front window. we'll have a high-top live edge tables for singles and deuces. note the magazine rack. this was one of my favorite features from atlas cafe. it's probably a bad idea from a business stand point (turn times), but we'll worry about that when we cross that road.

[caption id="attachment_190" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="looking into the space from valencia st."][/caption]

 

walk a bit further and you'll notice we also got a recessed patio we're sharing with our fellow start-ups. no tables in this area because we don't want to clutter the main entrance into I/O ventures.

[caption id="attachment_191" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="no need to step outside to have a smoke. sit on one of these reclaimed wood blocks that will glow at night."][/caption]

 

so there you have it. as you can see, there's no way this space is 777 valencia, but right across the street.

The cat is out of the bag..

the sfweekly broke this week that timbo is consulting on a new project called the attic. i've been asked a million times if tim was gonna be the exec chef at the summit or if i'll be carrying on the tradition of pushing Filipino food to new heights. my answer has been, "no comment." one prominent blogger actually asked me if there was a falling out between us! au contraire mon frére...

for the past few months tim and I have met constantly about the summit, but unfortunately timing has prevented us from collaborating once more. as a trusted confidant and homie for life, i had tim sit in on the first tasting of the menu and he gave me the following feedback:

[caption id="attachment_172" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="kiss my grits: the hands down favorite of the tasting. 4505 chicken apple sausage and ramp onion grits. bomb!"][/caption]

 

"i really honestly liked the food that [he] put out and i could see that style of food working well with that community... i knw you originally have had other thoughts about the direction of where you imagined some of the dishes etc... but based on what we tasted and what i know about him as a person and [as a] cook, he will thrive the most and the best if he is given more freedom/creative control. his strength and passion definitely lies within that style of cooking... he's a bostonian by heart! i don't know what that means but it seems to translate into his personality on the plate."

tim speaks the truth, the exec chef of the summit has a strong personal style and passion that exudes on the plate, but i'm at a lost on  how to describe his food in a way that doesn't get stuck in the drone of "sustainable, organic, seasonal Californian cuisine." his food is much more sexy and primal than that. until i can pin-point, i'll have to keep his identity under wraps.

[caption id="attachment_174" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="tim luym and the mysterious new exec chef of the summit mind melding over cook books."][/caption]

Fine Print

 

[caption id="attachment_161" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="the tangled web of contracts leading up to the summit"][/caption]

 

i've been mired in legal mumbo jumbo for the past week looking over contracts making revisions, emailing my lawyer, revising spreadsheets--basically doing all the unglamorous tasks that go into making a project of this complexity happen. i spend hours mulling over the meaning of California Civil Codes that read like high school shakespearian english. but it must be done. american business is about the letter of the law and the potential minefield of contractual clauses that can make you stumble and sputter along the way.

for example, if you apply for health permits and decide to change equipment specs before closing out the permit--then its time to resubmit the permits!

the state budget crisis doesn't help either. government regulatory agencies are closing local offices statewide. the end result--i spent a day in sacramento filing paperwork. i could've just mailed, but with the current state of government i'm looking at 20+ day turnaround!

but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. tomorrow, i get my first tasting of the potential menu!

Design Progress

the past few days have shown rapid development of the brand identity and the design of the bar. below are new mood boards exploring typefaces. the inspiration is leaning towards olympic design aesthetics. in particular is the design work of otl aicher for the 72 olympics in munich.

my favorite of fonts choosen is the bauhaus font highlighted in blue. it's got clean lines and beautiful curves in the U and M letter forms that complement the space nicely, yet with an air of modernity to it (imagine me swirling a glass of wine while i say that).



on the interior design front, brent has redesigned the coffee counter of the bar to be a swooping curve. in the previous mock-up, the coffee counter / order stand was a hard diagonal line. this version is much better because the bags of coffee and tea are now centered with pastry displays on either-end. the 3 guys in the back simulate 2 cashiers and a barista setting when there's high demand for coffee.