“ We do like to see our local neighborhood restaurants become featured names … and encourage them to grow into a brand themselves .”
“ We do like to see our local neighborhood restaurants become featured names … and encourage them to grow into a brand themselves .”
— Austin Gerber , Senior Associate , SOSH Architects
According to Ruiz , the success of celebrity chef-branded venues starts with all parties involved sitting down and negotiating the details , down to the menu items and design elements , to ensure limited friction throughout the construction process and afterwards as well .
Usually , Ruiz says , “ the bigger the reputation the chef has , the more knowledge and experience they have ,” which allows them to “ go into a deal like this because they tend to be very busy people .”
Working with celebrities is never easy , especially for complex operations like casinos and restaurants . Ruiz chuckles when recounting deals from years past that “ just imploded ” over the most trivial disagreements —“ these things happen .” Among other projects , R2A has collaborated with Guy Fieri , the spiky-haired Mayor of FlavorTown himself , on three sponsored eateries : Guy ’ s Sammich Joint at Harrah ’ s Atlantic City , Guy ’ s Bar-B-Que Joint at Wild West Atlantic City , and Guy Fieri ’ s Philly Kitchen & Bar at Harrah ’ s Philadelphia .
Letting Grass Roots Rise
Despite all the benefits that brand recognition may have for F & B offerings in casinos , rinse-and-repeat franchises can lack certain non-quantifiable elements that ground-up venues can create ; simply put , there ’ s no soul , no creativity .
Choosing to open an original venue may not bring the same immediate returns as a big-box chain , but if executed correctly , the upside can be higher , and the best designers and contractors can fully showcase their talents free from pre-packaged presentations .
“ When you ’ re doing your own venue , you ’ re free of all those parameters that exist with a branded venue ,” says Elena Gonova , senior associate , interior design at Cuningham Group Architecture . “ If you can create a unique experience , that ’ s an amazing opportunity . It ’ s looking at context , it ’ s looking at the market , it ’ s looking at the clientele and what ’ s missing .”
Choosing the ground-up approach means shouldering more of the responsibility , and operators must also have a sense of what their particular patrons want . Branded options come with a “ pre-set expectation for design and quality of space ,” says Gonova , whereas the best original ideas are often the result of “ identifying what ’ s needed , the niche ( operators ) want to fill ” for their location .
Cuningham Principal and Director of New York Gregory Houck adds that the market itself plays a big role when it comes to the F & B process . Large urban markets like the Las Vegas Strip tend to elicit high-class , one-off experiences that chains simply may not be able to match .
“ A lot of times , urban centers around the country may be the business
Whiskey Prime , Angel of the Winds Casino
center or the downtown of a city ,” says Houck . “ A lot of times that ’ s not the right place for a branded , more cookie-cutter type restaurant , even if it ’ s really high-end . There are certain situations where you really want a brand that ’ s unique to the market . And that can become a draw if it ’ s a one-of-a-kind type thing .”
The Stillaguamish Tribe ’ s Angel of the Winds casino in Washington state , a Cuningham project , features the luxurious Whiskey Prime steakhouse , a stunning example of a well-executed , ground-up venue .
Of course , that ’ s not to say that smaller , regional casinos should completely shy away from creating their own identity as well . After all , most of the biggest chains in the U . S . began in some of the smallest towns , as hometown favorites .
For Austin Gerber , senior associate at SOSH Architects , there ’ s nothing wrong with the grass-roots approach . “ We do like to see some of our local neighborhood restaurants become featured names within these larger casino venues , and it ’ s always nice to be able to support them and encourage them to grow into a brand themselves .”
Gerber also notes that some casinos may not even have the choice to go with a branded venue due to various constraints . Before the process even starts , there has to be a “ test fit ” to see if a space “ even complies to meet specific size requirements that a brand may have .”
Original venues , of course , have no such restrictions , which can be seen as both an opportunity and a challenge . Celebrity chefs may be difficult to work with in some situations , but seeing an idea through from start to finish takes
24 CASINO STYLE 2023