34
Q&A
13 SEPTEMBER 2012
REGIONSBUSINESS.COM
RICHIE FURINO’S
HOSPITALITY BUSINESS
He may be the general manager of Del Frisco’s Steakhouse, but make no mistake, he’s NOT in the restaurant business. This is the hospitality business and it’s all about one thing: People.
Richie Furino knows the restaurant business from the inside out. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say he knows it from the bottom up. He started as a waiter 14 years ago and though he hasn’t left the company, he’s worked his way up to become general manager of Del Frisco’s Steakhouse on Chestnut Street. What’s the elevator pitch for Del Frisco’s? We’re hospitality-driven. We’re not in the food business, we just use food and drink to deliver hospitality. We’re all about people. When you step into Del Frisco’s, there’s a “wow!” factor. It’s 25,000 square feet with a 60-foot ceiling ... there’s not a more physically beautiful building anywhere. The restaurant business is a tough business. How do you stay ahead of it? It’s all about the people. I go back to the restaurant I started at 14 years ago and a lot of the same people are still there. And 14 years? That’s like dog years - every year counts for seven, so it’s a really long time. We have very low turnover. People are the key to what we do. Television seems to be featuring a lot of restaruants these days. Is what we see on TV what happens in your restaurant? [Laughs] ... Not at all. We’re very organized, there’s no screaming or hollering. In our culture, we pride ourselves on how we treat our people. We praise in public and redirect in private, but there’s no Gordon Ramsey stuff. How do you handle the mix of celebrities with the general public? It’s a great place to meet, so we get
a lot of superstars. (Phllies first baseman) Ryan Howard called after the game the other night and said, “I’m starving. Could you stay open a little later?” Of course, we did. But it’s so cool. I was looking down on the bar the other night and saw a group of good-looking guys in their Armani suits. Right next to them were a bunch of athletes, including Juan Samuel and some of the Phillies coaches. Next to them were some hipsters with their beards and tattoos and then there were a bunch of guys in Phillies and Flyers jerseys. We’re really a melting pot and we treat everyone the same. What questions should business people ask when booking a business event? For us, it’s easy. You call our private coordinator, Jessica Kiefer, who’s the best in the city. We have a huge building and seven or eight different options. We have state-of-the-art AV equipment so people can just plug in their laptop and go. About 30 percent of our business is private bookings and that’s the number we were looking for. There’s a big demand for that. But for us, it’s the same as dining room service for four. We staff it so we can execute like that.. How has the economic downturn hit you? We’ve had unbelievable growth. We actually opened in 2008 when others were closing. We didn’t stray from our identity. We didn’t change our portions, we didn’t raise our prices, even though we were getting hit extra charges. We state consistent and weathered the storm. We stuck to our core values and I think customers appreciate that. For more information, check out DelFriscos.com