NEW ORLEANS— In this town where the air is almost good enough to eat, a start-up restaurant, let alone one connected to a new hotel, needs a strong pair of legs if it’s going to stand the taste test by sophisticated tourists and locals alike. Apparently on the right track is 160-seat Cobalt, an endeavor from San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group in partnership with New Orleans veteran chef Susan Spicer. Located at 333 St. Charles Ave., Cobalt is adjacent to Kimpton’s new Hotel Monaco, and both are housed in the former Masonic Temple Building, a $34 million adaptive reuse of a 1926 structure in the central business district. The contemporary-style restaurant derives its name from the blue design elements in the room, such as the original building’s columns, which are covered in deep blue tile. The eclectic boutique hotel group has incorporated food and beverage concepts within its properties since debuting in 1981. The strategy with Cobalt and other such venues is to make an impact with local clientele first, then hotel guests, thus driving a more consistent and predictable business venture. “We try to create a concept and environment that the local community will want to come to. If it appeals to them, the hotel guests will come,” said Kimpton executive vp Niki Leondakis. “But hotel guests inrestaurants do not necessarily make a successful business.” While the hotel and three-meal restaurant are treated as separate profit generators with their own P&Ls within Kimpton’s hotel and restaurant divisions, there are synergies. Cobalt serves as the hotel’s F&B outlet, handling room service and catering meetings, banquets and social functions. “Obviously, it’s our first recommendation to our concierge staff,” said Joseph Schwingler, Hotel Monaco’s GM. “While we operate separately, we do work with each other. We do key-packet stuffers, elevator signage, promotional pieces in the rooms.” Room service, which runs 24/7, is a collaborative effort. “Hotel employees take the order, restaurant employees cook the order, then hotel employees deliver the order,” said Schwingler. Costs and revenues split according to function, dropping to both operations’ bottom lines. “We take some revenue to cover the labor, and the restaurant takes revenue to cover the food costs,” he said. The process is transparent to the hotel guest. “The synergies work straight through, including charging privileges, and our computers are interfaced.” Functions, such as those that can be held in either of two 2,200-square-foot hotel ballrooms, are treated as on-premise catering by Cobalt and handled on a back line, resulting in minimal impact on the restaurant. There isn’t a hotel F&B director; however, Cobalt’s GM Bernard Stolberg ostensibly closes the gap. He said Spicer was a strategic key for the restaurant’s viability. “She has a very strong local following— (she co-owns Big Easy restaurants Bayona and Herbsaint)— who want to come in and see how she’s interpreting American regional cuisine,” he said. “The New Orleans market is very much convention business. It’s also a culinary destination. So it draws people in for the whole experience.” Leondakis agreed. “As we looked at the location, we said, ‘There are so many fantastic restaurants in New Orleans. How are we going to bring something that’s going to attract the community?’ That was a really tough question for us. The simplest answer was: find a great person who’s locally respected and well known. That was Susan Spicer.” Guests “absolutely love it,” said Schwingler. “A lot of people have tried to get into Bayona, which is a smaller restaurant, and they’ve finally been able to eat in a Susan Spicer restaurant.” Food-wise, Cobalt ranges from Farmer’s Market chicken soup, crabmeat salad with avocado, tomato and herb vinaigrette or grilled sausage platter with fingerling potato salad to the more adventurous rabbit pie with cream cheese crust and Texas axis venison with ancho chile-berry sauce
Previous ArticleHyatt Kicks Off Leisure-Location Initiatives
Next Article Choice Spends To Restructure Franchise Services