Alicart Restaurant Group CEO on restaurants’ recovery amid the pandemic
Jeffrey Bank, Alicart Restaurant Group CEO, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the restaurant’s reopening amid the pandemic, the labor shortage, and outlook on the restaurant industry.
Video Transcript
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- From Louisville, Kentucky.
- We both live in LA right now, but our hearts live here.
- I'm actually from Montreal, Canada. And I woke up at 5:00 in the morning and left my house at 6:00. I did border crossing and made it here. It took me, like, eight hours to get to New York. But I'm here.
- My friends and I were trying to see every first performance possible because it's so exciting. So we saw "Passover." We're seeing "Hadestown." We've got tickets to see "Waitress," "FLS," "Hamilton." You name it, we'll be there.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: There you have it, excited folks ready to be back in the theater. We are live here in Times Square. And, you know, dinner and a show, that's the formula that restaurants in New York City have long relied on until the pandemic, of course, shut down theaters and those restaurant doors.
Tonight, though, one of the stars of the Broadway area restaurant scene is coming back. Carmine's family style Italian restaurant is going to start filling its 480 seats starting tonight. With me now is Jeffrey Bank, CEO of Alicart, the restaurant group that oversees Carmine's and, also, nearby, Virgil's Barbecue. Jeffrey, it's great to see you. Tell me about reservations. I'm curious. What does a reservation book look like tonight and in the weeks ahead?
JEFFREY BANK: It's been great. We've been closed over, you know, 18 months, almost 557 days. So there's been a little bit of a backlog of people want to come out and celebrate at Carmine's. Everybody had a birthday. Everybody had an anniversary during this pandemic. And the reservations have been fantastic. You can go to carminesnyc.com. You can walk in. We have almost 500 seats, so it's plenty of room at Carmine's or Virgil's. But probably try to have about 30% of the reservations are birthdays. So you can sing it here, a lot of happy birthdays tonight.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Wow. So talk to me about COVID protocols, though, which you have to be dealing with-- they're city stipulated. Tell me about what a diner needs to do before they walk into one of your restaurants.
JEFFREY BANK: What a diner needs to do is to be happy. Times Square Carmine's, Virgil's, probably some of the safest places in the country to eat right now. New York State has the highest vaccination rate. New York City has a high vaccination rate. If you're coming to Carmine's or Virgil's, all our employees are vaccinated, and so will you. So when you come in, we'll ask you to see your vaccination card and your ID.
And then you'll come inside, and you'll experience the world at Carmine's, just like it was before COVID. You'll either sit down and comfortably eat and enjoy Carmine's in a safe atmosphere, knowing everyone there has been vaccinated. And in New York City, everyone has been vaccinated. This is the safest place you could eat in the country right now.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Now you have restaurants, so your restaurant group has restaurants in other major cities, including Las Vegas, Washington, DC. Give me a feel for what demand is like in those places.
JEFFREY BANK: So it's been an up and down roller coaster, I'm sure like everyone notices. Carmine's in Las Vegas, Virgil's in Las Vegas has been phenomenal. Everyone has been going out to Vegas for their three-day trip to have fun to get away from their tough life that we've all been going through.
So Carmine's and the Forum Shops at Caesars, Virgil's at the Link Promenade have been incredible. Carmine's in DC has been doing great. Lots of business, even though the government's really not open, but the Smithsonians are. So the Carmine's there has been great. Carmine's in Atlantic City at the Tropicana off the charts. Packed, thank God, very-- Atlantic City Las Vegas higher numbers than before COVID.
On the Upper West Side, we never closed. We were just doing takeout during COVID in the beginning. And now we're at full dining. And it's another safe place because you're vaccinated. Those sales have been fantastic, too. So, as a company, we're very happy because I think what happens with Carmine's is, it's a good value. You're in a scratch kitchen. You're getting quality food. You're getting a fun, exciting atmosphere. And people are just happy to get their lives back.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Yeah, and it's that family style. I've eaten there plenty of times. So talk to me about worker shortages. Because we keep hearing from the restaurant industry that it's really hard to find workers in the kitchen, out in front of the house. What has it been like for you and your restaurant group?
JEFFREY BANK: It's, again, same thing, been up and down. The extended benefits just ended last week. So the phone's been ringing a little more about people who now want to come back to work. So it's getting a little easier for sure. The government needs to step up and replenish the restaurant recovery fund. They put out a fund there. 300,000 restaurants applied for relief. Only 100,000 got funded. 200,000 restaurants are waiting for their relief from Congress.
It's needed. Restaurants stepped up and did their part during the pandemic. People were allowed to stay home and quarantine and be safe. And restaurant workers went out there and cooked every day to provide for people who stayed at home. And now the government needs to step in right now. I know Chuck Schumer has been working on this. It needs to fund the restaurant recovery fund.
It's ridiculous that people should have to beg. It's like going through open heart surgery and it's a good surgery, and then the next day, everyone thinking you're fine. You're not. It's a slow recovery. Restaurants are busy at dinnertime. Of course, they are. People are dining out. But a whole day, we need to make back 18 months of during this pandemic? Congress has to step in.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Did Alicart Group get some of that money from the government?
JEFFREY BANK: Some of our stores did, and some of our stores didn't. And it's very unfortunate. It was a randomness, and it was not-- it wasn't even need space. It was just-- it needs-- really needs to be stepped up. People need relief and they need help.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Talk to me also about this double whammy the restaurant industry is going through. Not only the pandemic, but you have higher prices to contend with, supply chain issues. How are those higher prices impacting you? Have you had to raise menu prices?
JEFFREY BANK: We haven't raised our prices. We're kind of fortunate that pasta is a staple item when you eat at Carmine's. And that hasn't really gone up. So we've been able to offset our pricing with some labor savings, unfortunately, because we have tighter controls. Not everyone came back to work. So our labor has gone down a little. Some of our landlords have worked with us. And we've had, you know, fair rents during this pandemic.
But we haven't raised prices. It's just a challenge. You have to stay ahead. Maybe we're a little fortunate because we're a big group, so we have a little buying power. It's very tough. That's why I keep going back to this restaurant recovery fund. Independent restaurants don't stand a chance without government's help. We're not through this pandemic yet. And they need relief.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Tell me what you are most looking forward to tonight when the curtain goes up, not only at the Broadway theater, but for your restaurant, Carmine's.
JEFFREY BANK: What am I looking forward to? 200 of my employees get their jobs back. They have been waiting a long time to work. I'm so happy for them. We're getting people back to work. That's what restaurants do. And we're going to allow people to celebrate at Carmine's all year. They haven't had a chance to celebrate in a safe environment. It's going to be great.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Like you said, 30 birthdays. That's a lot of birthdays. All right, Jeffrey Bank, CEO of Alicart Group, thanks so much. Best of luck to you--
JEFFREY BANK: Thank you.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: --and to your team there.
