This Fine Dining Titan Understands The Power of Hands-On Experience and Diversification
Interview with The Dinex Group CEO Sebastien Silvestri about developing in the restaurant industry, diversification, and true hospitality.
The Dinex Group’s CEO restaurant journey is a testament to the power of hands-on experience and the importance of consistent effort.
Though he received formal education in finance, underwriting, and P&L management, Dinex CEO Sebastian Silvestri attributes his most significant learning to his time in Las Vegas.
The Dinex Group’s CEO restaurant journey is a testament to the power of hands-on experience and the importance of consistent effort.
Though he received formal education in finance, underwriting, and P&L management, Dinex CEO Sebastian Silvestri attributes his most significant learning to his time in Las Vegas.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Restaurant Influencers, presented by Entrepreneur.
00:09I am your host, Sean Walchef.
00:11This is a Cali BBQ Media production.
00:15In life, in the restaurant business, and in the new creator economy, we learn through
00:20lessons and stories.
00:22We are so grateful to Toast, who is the primary technology partner at our barbecue restaurants
00:26in San Diego, because they believed in us.
00:29They believed that a restaurant could also be a media company, that we could also have
00:33incredible conversations all over the globe to impact the industry that we all so deeply
00:39love.
00:40Today, I have the CEO of the Dynex Group.
00:43His name is Sebastian Silvestri.
00:46He has done some incredible work throughout his life.
00:51I am so honored.
00:52I have to pinch myself.
00:54When we started this show, I never thought that I'd be able to interview the greatest
00:58minds, the people that are building the most significant things in our business.
01:03And yet, here he is, coming all the way from the south of France, Sebastian, welcome to
01:09the show.
01:11Thank you so much, Sean.
01:12Thank you for the honor.
01:13And I'm really happy to be with you today.
01:15So give us a high level of the Dynex Group.
01:18Give us some high level, how many employees, how many locations, and how long have you
01:23been doing it?
01:24So I've been with the group for five years as the CEO.
01:28We operate 25 venues, restaurants, the pizzeries, catering company, and then also we run some
01:35amenity space across New York City.
01:38It's about a thousand employees in the United States and about another thousand probably
01:44outside of the United States.
01:47New York is our own base.
01:49It's our hub.
01:50It's where we sit.
01:51Our corporate office is based there.
01:55We have a great pipeline of exciting projects over the next few years.
02:00But everything happens in New York City.
02:03Where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
02:10My favorite stadium in the world?
02:14I can't tell you.
02:15Actually, I've got a good one.
02:17I don't know if it falls into the stadium category.
02:19Probably not.
02:20But yesterday I was in Paris.
02:21I was in Roland Garros for the first time.
02:23It was a dream as a kid to go there.
02:26And let me tell you, it was probably one of the finest experiences of all time.
02:30And it was incredible.
02:32Centre court?
02:33Yes.
02:34For a SENA game last night.
02:37Amazing.
02:38Incredible.
02:39You made hairs come up on my arms because my grandfather, I was a boy and I grew up
02:45playing tennis and I always dreamed that one day I would be able to go to Roland Garros
02:49and I was able to go with him at the end of his life.
02:53Roland Garros has a special place in my heart for sure.
02:55Amazing.
02:56Look, I grew up here in France and I've never had the chance to go and I'm like 48 in a
03:02couple of days.
03:03That was the first time I went to a game.
03:04But he was worth the wait and he was pretty incredible.
03:08But no, the stadium is a great one in Las Vegas too.
03:11I mean, they built something really special also there.
03:13I was there not too long ago and I was really impressed with what they've developed there.
03:17Well, we're going to go to Roland Garros because I think it's a special place to set the stage
03:21for the question that I'd like to ask you.
03:24We believe in storytelling.
03:26We believe in hospitality.
03:27We know how hard the restaurant business is and we're grateful that this show reaches
03:32millions of people thanks to Entrepreneur, gives us the opportunity to connect with so
03:36many incredible leaders all over the globe.
03:39But I want to bring you to CentreCourt.
03:40I'm going to talk to Toast.
03:41I'm going to talk to Entrepreneur, get some sponsors involved.
03:44But we're going to get people that are all running restaurants, that are all masters
03:50of their craft.
03:51I know it's impossible to get out of the four walls of our restaurant, but we're going
03:53to figure out a way to get everyone to Roland Garros and I'm going to put you on CentreCourt
03:58and I'm going to ask you, Sebastian, can you bring me back to when you were a boy and you
04:03had to make the decision to go in the south of France, either in construction with your
04:07father or to go with your uncle into this crazy, crazy business that we call hospitality
04:13and restaurants?
04:14Can you bring us back to that?
04:15And then give us an idea of you getting all the way to 48.
04:20No.
04:21And it's funny you say that because like I told you a moment ago, I am literally in my
04:27parents' home today in the south of France, in a small village called Saint-Jean-du-Pin.
04:32It's just a few hundred people living there.
04:34So it's funny you asked me that question.
04:36I grew up there.
04:37My mom was a schoolteacher.
04:39My dad had a small construction company.
04:44He will basically build a villa from the ground up.
04:48And he moved from immigrated from Italy here to the south of France.
04:52It was a great success story and he came in and he did pretty well.
04:56And for him, he was like, we're going to take over the company.
05:01And I remember when I was a kid, he would take me, especially in the summer, to go walk
05:05with him.
05:06You know, trying to teach us, he did teach me a lot of things, but that was no connection
05:12for me with the construction industry.
05:18This is not what I wanted to do.
05:20And as a kid, I would go often visit his brother in Italy and he had these beautiful restaurants
05:26in Bordighera.
05:27It was called Le Pêche Mignon.
05:29And every time I would go there, you know, it was like all the sparkling, the hospitality.
05:37You know, my uncle is still alive today.
05:40He's 90 years old.
05:41And he was just incredible.
05:43He was always dressed nice, entertaining everybody.
05:47The clientele was insane.
05:50And I was just as a kid, I remember I was like, when I grew up, I want to be like him.
05:53And I was already as a kid going to the kitchen, like I wanted to see what they're doing.
05:58And that's kind of him that inspired me to go in the hospitality industry and then the
06:04restaurant business.
06:05And definitely no regrets since then.
06:07So what I did is I was studying, I was in school and I decided to study hospitality
06:12management.
06:13So I went to Montpellier and I did one of the business school with a focus on hospitality
06:18and restaurants and culinary.
06:20And I studied there for like four years.
06:23And then after that, I decided to, I needed to go to work.
06:27So the South of France is probably the most beautiful place, but to work and start a career
06:32is very challenging unless you're in Cannes or Monte Carlo.
06:35But where I was closer to Provence, there's not too many opportunities.
06:39So I knew I needed to move.
06:41And I wanted to move to Paris, Paris being the capital.
06:45And I was attracted with all the luxury hotel, you know, there's so many amazing brands like,
06:51you know, the Ritz, the Plaza Athene, the George V, it's like the hospitality in Paris
06:56is just such another level.
06:59And I just wanted to work in one of those hotels.
07:01So I think I applied to five different hotels and then one responded and was the Hilton
07:08in Paris. And Hilton in Paris was definitely not as prestigious as the other name I just
07:14gave you. But Hilton at the time was such a big name.
07:17I was still very happy and proud.
07:18And so I moved to Paris and worked there.
07:21I spent four years with Hilton, two in Paris and two in London.
07:27It was such a great experience because they invested a lot in my training.
07:31I didn't speak English at the time.
07:33They transferred me to London.
07:35So it was all great.
07:37It was really fun.
07:38And being in London, I really loved it.
07:40It's such an eclectic city, really fun to be.
07:44And overall, my dream was to move to the US.
07:47I had friends that already moved there before and I know they were having, they really loved
07:52being in the US. That was my dream.
07:53I was like, I want to learn leadership.
07:55I want to learn management.
07:56I want to do, I wanted to move to the US.
08:00I wanted to move to New York.
08:029-11 happens.
08:03I'm not no longer moving to New York, but Rosewood Hotels at the time offered me to go to
08:08Dallas, Texas, where their home base is.
08:11And I moved there and I worked with Chef Gene Faring at the Mansion on Turtle Creek.
08:15That was like one of their flagship property with Rosewood Hotel.
08:21And I worked there for a few years.
08:23It was an amazing experience.
08:27People in Texas were fantastic.
08:29Working for Rosewood was an amazing opportunity.
08:32You know, they have really high standards.
08:35Working at the Lansborough, even in London, and then the Mansion were great.
08:38The attention to details, the focus on the guest experience and trying every day, how do
08:44we make the experience for the guests even better?
08:47And I remember to this day, every morning meeting, we'll go over all the names of the
08:52guests staying in the hotel and how many nights they've spent there.
08:56And then why are they here for?
08:57Why are they celebrating anything special, any things that we can do to make their stay
09:01better? And that was the approach.
09:03What year was that?
09:05It was in 2002.
09:09Yeah. So that was a great, you know, like a really cool foundation and experience and
09:18how to get started in the hospitality.
09:21Then after that, I met my wife.
09:25We had a daughter, Emily, my first daughter.
09:28Then we moved to French Polynesia.
09:29We lived in Bora Bora for a year.
09:32The idea was, you know, now we have a baby.
09:37She could grow up in Bora Bora.
09:38How fun is this? So we lived there for a year.
09:40So that was great. It was also a wonderful experience, a beautiful experience living
09:45there. But I think after a year, we were ready to move back to the US.
09:50And then I was headhunted, a great headhunter from Beverly Hills called me.
09:54They said the Bellagio is looking for someone who would like to fly you over.
09:58And then they flew me to the Bellagio.
10:01And I remember it was a really nice experience.
10:05But Bellagio at the time was really booming, was just opening.
10:07I was opening the new spa tower.
10:10And, you know, Steve Wynn put the finest resort in Vegas at the time, the Bellagio, you
10:16know, had a collection of incredible restaurants.
10:18Jean-Georges had a steakhouse there.
10:20Julian Serrano had a fantastic restaurant.
10:22Picasso, Michael Mina was there.
10:26Yeah, I taught English.
10:27You had, you know, it's just the first insane restaurant F&B program.
10:32So I moved to Las Vegas and I stayed at Bellagio for a few years.
10:37And then I was headhunted again for a bigger job this time to the opening of the Palazzo
10:43as executive director of food and beverage.
10:46And so I went through the interview process.
10:49I got the job, moved there.
10:50That was a pretty intense opening because we opened right before the 2008, you know,
10:57crash. So, you know, I remember the share went from $160 to $0.50, I think, in a matter
11:05of, you know, very quickly.
11:08So that was kind of frightening.
11:10And Sheldon Adelson saved the day and refinanced the company and rejected capital.
11:15And then and then after that, it's been just great things.
11:18They opened some property in Macau.
11:21They opened Marina Basin in Singapore.
11:23So I was the executive director of F&B, opened the Palazzo Casino in Las Vegas.
11:28And then after two years, one day my boss come to me and he said, how would you feel
11:32about being the vice president of food and beverage for the Venetian and Palazzo?
11:36So I was not expecting that.
11:38I think my first question was out of concern was what's what's happening to you?
11:42Where are you going?
11:44And then and then so you offer me the job.
11:48So I took the vice president job and I hold it for like 10 years.
11:52It was an incredible, especially I was 29.
11:55I was 30 years old. I was probably one of the youngest vice president at the time.
11:59You know, we were managing a really large F&B program, you know, an incredible
12:05collection of restaurants, some of the top brands in the restaurant business.
12:10We managed 7,000 suite properties, so a huge room service operation.
12:15The banquet operation was significant in excess of $100 million in banquet.
12:19The beverage business was in excess of $40 million, just the Barcelona.
12:23So it was a large scale F&B operation.
12:26And, you know, in a property that would employ, I don't know, 5,000 plus team members.
12:31So kind of large scale operation.
12:34So it was it was fun.
12:35I was giving this opportunity at a really young age.
12:40It was fabulous. I've learned so much.
12:43And then and I love living in Vegas at the time.
12:46I think Vegas for me was especially you, 30 years old, you know, Vegas, we had access to everything,
12:51you know, working with Emerald, working with Thomas Keller, Daniel and, you know, like all the top guys
12:57where they are working with us, all the festival that we did, all the openings.
13:03So it was really fantastic.
13:04We produced some of the most magnificent event.
13:07We did so much in Vegas and then access to capital was pretty easy.
13:11So the property would always reinvest in the F&B in their program.
13:15And and also when you were not working in Vegas and you're 30 years old, it's a lot of fun on the weekend
13:20because, you know, you have all the concerts and the fights and all the entertainment and access to a lot of this fun stuff.
13:25So I enjoyed it very, very much.
13:28But then my daughter started to get a turn teenagers and then I realized, OK, now it's time.
13:34You know, I have to take them out of Vegas.
13:38I was very disciplined.
13:40I never got caught into anything bad in Vegas because I was very disciplined and I was doing a lot of sports.
13:45And, you know, I was a triathlete.
13:46I was doing marathons. I was very focused between work and outside of work.
13:49But when you have teenagers, I don't think Vegas is necessarily the best place to raise them.
13:56And this is when we kind of moved to we moved to Miami.
14:01I moved to Miami. I took a job, a corporate job with a group in the Lifestyles Fair.
14:06We acquired the Morgan Hotels Group and then we incorporated all the F&B there.
14:10So I did that. And then I was promoted to chief operating officer and I was based in Beverly Hills.
14:15And then the day I moved to Beverly Hills, I'm like, that's it.
14:18I don't want to move anymore. I love it there.
14:20This is heaven. I live in California.
14:22The weather is amazing.
14:24I love cycling. I love running.
14:26The airport is there. I can fly anywhere in any city around the world.
14:29And I told the promoter family, I said, we're never moving again.
14:32This is it. We stay in L.A.
14:36And then I was staying in L.A. for a few years.
14:39Things are going very, very well.
14:42And then I was starting to get tired of the corporate world.
14:47I was like, because I think for me, I'm more of an entrepreneur than a corporate executive, where I never took, you know,
14:55even when I was a VP or CEO for a larger corporation, I always run it almost like it was my own business.
15:02But without the perks of running your own business.
15:06And I was like, I want to do my own thing.
15:09And I want to have my own group and, you know, I want to have a brand.
15:13I want to scale it. And so I had my own dream as to what I wanted to do.
15:19But I was not a chef.
15:21You know, I do a lot of good things.
15:25But I am not a chef and I could not do it alone.
15:30So I went and see my good friend, Chef Danielle Bluth.
15:34And I go to New York. I put a deck together.
15:36And I said, Danielle, I want to show you something.
15:40You know, my uncle had that restaurants.
15:42I would really like to reopen it.
15:43And I want to do it with you.
15:45And so then you look at the deck.
15:46So, yeah, it's kind of great.
15:47It's like, I'm in.
15:49Let's do it.
15:50And so this is amazing.
15:52So we're doing this.
15:53And then he said, but I want you to help me also with Dynex.
15:58And I'm like, OK, let's do that.
16:00And when I came in from the outside, I look at Dynex.
16:04I'm like, oh, you know, it's a small restaurant group.
16:07We, you know, they have a handful of restaurants and it's going to be easy.
16:11I really thought taking that job will be easy.
16:13And I was in Vegas.
16:15I was running one of the largest FMV prime in the world.
16:18In the back of my mind, I was like, Dynex is a small group.
16:21This is going to be really easy.
16:23And I realized very quickly that he was not easy at all, but he was a really,
16:26really, really complex job.
16:29And especially because of the level of standards that Daniel operate and the
16:34level of standard of excellence that he has.
16:38And but I think what needed to happen was kind of clear.
16:43The problem is we got hit by COVID.
16:45And we got hit by COVID like everybody else.
16:49And everything that I wanted to do with Daniel had to, you know.
16:55Go away. And then we had to rethink the whole business.
16:58And how do we going to go through this?
17:00Because we were very vulnerable, like every other restaurant groups or
17:03hospitality company.
17:05How do we going to make it?
17:06How do we going to support our team members during that time?
17:11And so we had to put a new plan, a new strategy and a new business plan.
17:17And that's kind of what we focused during during COVID.
17:19So during COVID, instead of staying home and waiting, we work a lot harder.
17:24I think we work for a morning to night.
17:27Daniel started a couple of foundation for team members because he was extremely
17:32upset that everybody had to stop working.
17:34And he wanted to support the employees that have been with him his whole career.
17:39And he wanted to take care of everybody.
17:41And then I was focused on how the company going to go through this.
17:45And I was focusing on doing deals.
17:47I was like, I don't know how many restaurants we're going to lose because of
17:51it. Do we going to lose business?
17:52Do we going to? So I was really aggressive.
17:55So I remember we flew to Dubai, we flew to the Middle East with Daniel during
17:59COVID. We flew to Europe.
18:00Everywhere we flew around the world was you will land and the airports were
18:06empty. All the towns were dead.
18:07All the major city around.
18:09During COVID, I went to London, Paris, Dubai, Saudi, Singapore.
18:16I mean, we went to so many countries because people there is a few crazy people
18:21like us that were still working.
18:23The government officials were making it really difficult to travel.
18:26I remember we had to get tested three days before, an hour before, when you land,
18:32get retested, etc.
18:35And it was like a logistical nightmare sometimes just to find a place where you
18:38could get tested, get the result on time.
18:41Yeah, it was just like a logistical nightmare.
18:44I have some great video on my phone of some of those times where we are in places
18:48like, you know, you're like, can't believe we're here in a tent in the middle of
18:52nowhere, getting our nerd scrubs.
18:55I remember Daniel had some time I just realized, you know, we're in the way going
18:59with a tub all the way to your brain.
19:02But so during that time, we look at an opportunity in Dubai, we look at a lot of
19:09different opportunities.
19:10And then we, you know, we look at the Bahamas.
19:14I had a wonderful relationship there.
19:16So we signed all of those deals.
19:19And then eventually the restrictions started to phase.
19:23We were able to reopen.
19:24We reopened with outdoor dining.
19:26We were able to bring people in.
19:28We were doing catering and deliveries.
19:30We're able to bring more people and we're doing all of this really to try to get
19:34people back to work, people that needed to work.
19:37We reach out to everybody and say, who wants to go back to work?
19:39We want to get to restart.
19:42And the focus was always the people, the team, and then keeping the company afloat.
19:49And then things started to reopen.
19:51And then things started all of a sudden, you know, going pretty well.
19:55The pavilion was a huge milestone for us when we opened the pavilion three years
19:58ago at one Vanderbilt.
20:01It was probably one of the hardest opening in my life.
20:04Maybe the same for Danielle, because we could not even find people to work also at
20:09the time. People were not at the time ready to come back to work, come back to the
20:13city. A lot of people left the industry and realized how great it is to be home at
20:17night instead of being in a restaurant.
20:20And we really struggled for six months to end the restaurant was extremely
20:24successful. So we were getting killed every day because the restaurants were full.
20:28We had more domains than we could accommodate and we were really struggling with
20:32staff. So we were really hands on when we opened the pavilion.
20:37But pavilion just celebrated three years old.
20:39It's a huge success. It's a one Michelin star restaurant, one Vanderbilt, and it's
20:44beautiful. People love it.
20:46It's a seafood and vegetable focused restaurant that is really phenomenal.
20:49But we opened this and this was a game changer.
20:53For us, we reopened these restaurants, we opened Dubai, we opened the Bahamas, we did
20:57a pop up in the Berkshire, in Raleigh Chateau.
21:02And then and then since then, we've opened, reopened Café Bouloud that closed during
21:06Covid because the hotel went down in the bankruptcy.
21:09So we just reopened Café Bouloud, we opened Maison Barnes, we opened Georgie with
21:14our partner chef, George Wan, we opened the Blue Box Café with Tiffany.
21:18So since then, we've been on a roll.
21:20But look, the focus doesn't change.
21:23And I think I still remember today when Daniel brought me on board, he said, I really
21:30want you to maintain the excellence in the group.
21:33And it's not about growing, it's not about hiding restaurants.
21:35It's about, you know, operating at a certain level.
21:38And I think that's what I think about every day.
21:40Is how do you deliver at a really high level of expense, no matter if it's in a
21:44pizzeria Bouloud or if it's in our flagship restaurant in Paris?
21:48Or if it's in our flagship restaurant, Daniel, I really try and we really focus on
21:53that. How do we improve?
21:56How do we, you know, how do we elevate the experience?
22:00And restaurant Daniel being the flagship, one of the first things when I came in, I
22:04was telling Daniel, I said, we need to reinvest in these restaurants.
22:07It's a restaurant that just celebrated 30 years last year and we're 31 years old.
22:12And how do you keep an institution relevant for the next 30 years?
22:14I think you continue to have to reinvest consistently in it.
22:17And so we did a major renovation two years ago and now we're continuing again to
22:22invest a lot, investing in the facilities, we're investing in talent and bringing
22:27people in, keeping people, bringing new people and continuing elevating the
22:32experience. So that's kind of the focus currently.
22:38And now a quick break from Restaurant Influencers to welcome our newest sponsor to
22:43the show. It's Zach Oates, the founder of Ovation.
22:46Ovation is helping restaurants to improve operations with the human touch.
22:51We are a guest experience platform for multi-unit restaurants like Friendly's,
22:55Muya, PDQ, Tzatziki's and even Cali BBQ with thousands of others that starts with
23:00a two question survey and drives revenue, location level improvement and guest
23:05recovery. So here's how it works.
23:07The guest answers two questions.
23:09The first one is, how is your experience?
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23:14revenue and unhappy guests share privately what went wrong.
23:17So you and your team can resolve that concern in real time.
23:21Our AI will even help you do that.
23:23Then the magic happens. We take all the public reviews.
23:26We take all the Ovation feedback.
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23:39And if you're interested in learning more, visit OvationUp.com forward slash Sean,
23:43because any listener of Sean's is a friend of Ovation's.
23:54It's a magnificent career.
23:55I really appreciate you going through all the details for me.
23:59I've you know, obviously we've done our homework on your background, but to hear it
24:04from you as someone that's been in restaurants my whole life, you know, 16 years we've
24:08been running barbecue restaurants in San Diego.
24:10I have a seven year old boy and a five year old girl.
24:14And I'll share a quick story with you is recently my son wanted to do a lemonade stand.
24:19He wanted to raise some money, so he wanted to have his business plan was to do a
24:24lemonade stand. And he said, Dad, well, there's an orange tree in front of the restaurant,
24:28so maybe we should make it oranges.
24:30I said, OK, so we're going to do an orange orange juice stand.
24:33He's like, well, how are we going to market this orange juice stand?
24:35I'm like, OK, well, we're going to use social media and we're going to do these
24:39things. But how are we going to get the oranges?
24:42And then we go through this costing analysis of how much do the oranges cost?
24:46Well, oranges are expensive.
24:47How much are we going to serve?
24:49But, you know, going through just an orange stand with my son, who's seven years old
24:54and then thinking about restaurants in twenty twenty four, where we are today and the
24:58finances behind it, so many of the general public don't understand until they see
25:04restaurants close the financial realities of what it's like to actually not just
25:09open up a restaurant, but to keep a restaurant open for generations.
25:14Can you share a little bit about what you've learned from back from university when you
25:19were in university and learning about the finances to to now and how you guys build
25:23the Dynex Group?
25:25Yeah, so look, like you said, is, you know, I've learned, I mean, you know, when I went
25:31to college and when I went to university, of course, you learn about finance, you learn
25:35about underwriting, you learn about a P&L, you know, about all those things.
25:38But I think I've learned the most for sure when I was at the Bellagio and in Las Vegas
25:43at the Venetian de Palazzo.
25:44Those were great, definitely where I think I've learned the most in terms of finance and
25:49managing costs and all that, because there's so many processes in those large
25:52organizations. They were really good in teaching their team and their GM, especially
25:56when I was a young GM and a young director and a young vice president.
26:00They had a great program to get you up to speed really quickly.
26:04But the reality about what you say is the restaurant business is a really, really tough
26:09business. I think it's one of the hardest industry at every level.
26:16And to be successful in the restaurant industry, it's not one thing, it's a combination
26:22of things that you have to be able to do every day consistently in order to achieve that.
26:26And then, you know, what also I've learned in this, like every market is very
26:32different. You know, when I first worked in Vegas, I thought that, you know, I was, I
26:39thought, hey, I'm a big shot, I'm in Vegas, I'm a VP, I've got a large program.
26:43But Vegas was probably the easiest place I ever worked because you have so much
26:47infrastructure, really large team, so much support that you don't realize that you
26:53have until you leave.
26:55And then also the thing about Vegas is the destination is so successful by itself.
27:00Like the destination, Sunday through Thursday is full with meetings and all the hotels
27:07have food with super large-scale meetings and corporations and trade shows and all of
27:11that. So automatically all your F&B is busy.
27:14You don't really have to fight that hard in Vegas to fill up your restaurants.
27:17People are there. You have an audience.
27:207,000 property, hotels, 20, 30, 40 restaurants.
27:25Guess what? They're all going to be full.
27:27And it doesn't really take that much effort.
27:30But when you get in markets like Miami, markets like New York, markets like London or
27:36Paris and all of that, they're all market specific.
27:38They all have their own challenges and difficulties.
27:43Some commonality, like right now, I think one of the toughest challenges is finding
27:48people that are qualified and passionate and want to do this as a job, you know, like
27:52working as a server, a busser, a runner, a captain, a maître d', a restaurant manager, a
27:59chef, a cook.
28:00It's very hard to find people that are trained.
28:04What's eye-opening, I'm here, I'm here this week in France and I've been really looking
28:10at the hospitality and the level of service is just impeccable.
28:15Embarrassing thing is just really nice to see.
28:18And I think in the U.S.
28:19it's a huge opportunity.
28:20We're really so far off that, but I think the key to success is delivering the guest
28:25experience and service.
28:27But to go back to the restaurant industry, it's a really tough industry.
28:31You're always under a different type of pressure.
28:33You have to deliver the guest experience.
28:36People come with really high expectations.
28:38Everybody's a critic today.
28:39So if they like it, it's great.
28:41If they don't like it, they'll let you know.
28:42They write about it and tell about it.
28:44So for sure, the guests always, you know, the team is always very difficult finding
28:51people, especially when you want to grow like we are and opening new venues, finding
28:55people, developing people, training people.
28:58It's always a big undertaking.
28:59And then you have the seasonality.
29:01I think markets like New York, I feel like they're becoming more and more seasonal than
29:08they were pre-COVID.
29:09You know, the first quarter is historically always a slow quarter in New York.
29:13But I feel like those months, those few first months are always really rough.
29:17The summers in the city for restaurant industries is rough.
29:21Like in Florida, you know, Florida has been booming during COVID.
29:24But I think now we're starting to see the market normalized.
29:27But Florida is a tough market in the summer.
29:30The cost of living now in Florida is so high that it's really difficult also to find
29:34people that can afford living there.
29:35So it's like every market's got its own challenge.
29:39London, the UK, everyone I talk to is really struggling to find people to work.
29:45So this is kind of the shift that we've seen through COVID.
29:47And then the cost of doing business is higher than it has ever been.
29:53So we've seen in the industry a margin compression in the own business where, you
30:00know, the restaurants operate, you know, on a really thin margin.
30:04It's definitely an industry that is more challenged than others.
30:10I think the key for a company like ours is the diversification of what we're doing.
30:17And I think that is amazing.
30:18You know, we operate a pizzeria, we operate fine dining, we do catering business, we
30:23do, you know, we do a lot of different things that allow us to be very successful.
30:28And I think that's the key.
30:30But for people that own and operate exclusively restaurants, it's really, really
30:35tough and it can be very dangerous.
30:37And for some people, getting a return on the investment can be really challenging.
30:42Opening a restaurant today is a very, very pricey endeavor.
30:45It's a very risky endeavor.
30:49I think that's kind of the reality of the industry we're in.
30:53But look, the top players, they're doing well.
30:57I mean, if you look in the U.S.
31:00or even outside the U.S., the top, top players, they figure it out a way still to run a
31:04great business. But it's definitely a lot more difficult than it's ever been, I would
31:08have to say.
31:11Can you share a little bit about the 30 year anniversary that you recently celebrated on
31:16the New York Stock Exchange?
31:18I saw on your Instagram.
31:20Yes, well, that's all Daniel, you know, he created this restaurant.
31:24Now it's 31 years ago.
31:26And Daniel is so loved by the New Yorker.
31:31But he's a, you know, he's an extraordinary man.
31:34And they wanted to honor him and the restaurant and the New York Stock Exchange reached
31:39out and invited Daniel and the team to go there and ring the bell.
31:42And I have to say, it was one of the most exciting things.
31:46You know, it's like as a young CEO, as a young entrepreneur, your dream is to one day
31:51go there. I really one day want to go there to take the company public.
31:56But it was the greatest honor to go there and ring the bell to celebrate 30 years for
32:02Daniel. And look, what Daniel has accomplished is really not in the
32:09restaurant industry. I don't know a lot of people that have accomplished what Daniel has
32:12accomplished. And I don't think it's over because we still have so many projects that
32:18we're working on. But he's really an incredible man.
32:22And I just see a lot about him.
32:26You talk a little bit, you were mentioning the diversification of revenue streams of
32:30concepts. I think it's something that I'm fascinated with.
32:34Obviously, we're a barbecue business that does media as well.
32:37For us, we're trying to figure out ways for restaurants to increase those profit
32:42margins. Can you talk about any kind of opportunities that you guys have been tapping
32:46into in ways that you're you're thinking about business outside of the outside of
32:51the menu, beyond the menu?
32:52I think a lot of things that you know, it's like, you know, the banquet business in the
32:58restaurant is probably the most profitable piece of the business.
33:00So how do you focus that segment?
33:03I think the catering business is also a great, it's also a great avenue because, you
33:09know, you can you can just plan for those.
33:13You know, it's just it's just a different, but I think it's good to be and it's good, I
33:19think, to have. I think the beauty of the group today is that we have restaurants
33:25pretty much in all over the world.
33:27You know, we're in Montreal, we're in Toronto, we're in Singapore, we're in Dubai.
33:32Some deals are management, some deals are licensing deals, some are operating
33:38restaurants. Now we're also providing a lot of services.
33:42Like, you know, we operate at one vendor, but we also provide all food and beverage for
33:47one vendor. And that's something that we provide and we provide five class.
33:52But, you know, like if we were working for the Ritz-Carlton or for Susan or for Rosewood,
33:56we provide the same level of services for office building.
34:01I think what we've seen is office building trying to bring people back to work.
34:06We're trying to help bring people back to work by providing amazing food and beverage
34:10service and experience for people that are in those offices.
34:15And I think that's something that we've been looking at to expand.
34:17So we did the amazing One Vendable project.
34:21Now we're looking at the new One Madison project that is imminent
34:27to open. I think the first tenant's moving in in July and we're going to run our new
34:33steakhouse. We're going to open a new steakhouse in November this year.
34:37We're also operating a rooftop.
34:39We just opened a rooftop on May 15th, spectacular rooftop and restaurant was designed
34:45by David Rockwell. Spectacular project.
34:47And we also operate the amenity floor for the tenant.
34:49So really trying to provide five star, five diamond service
34:55for the tenant and try to get people back to the office.
34:58Because the key is people come back to the office and they go back to the restaurants and
35:01then the city start to be alive again.
35:03And we've seen, you know, I'm starting to commute from Connecticut to New York, not
35:09every day, but some, you know, and I see the train busier and busier and we see more and
35:12more people in the city. And I think that's very good.
35:15I think it's essential that people come back to work, come back to the office.
35:18And we're trying to help with that movement to get people back to work.
35:22How does the DynX group view technology within the restaurants?
35:27The technology that the guest touches, the technology that the team?
35:29I'm going to be honest with you. I'm so excited because, you know, when I started in
35:33industry, we're taking reservation with a pen and a paper.
35:38And seriously, and then we had people on the phone just taking phone calls and writing
35:42the name and number. And that's how I started in some top notch restaurants in France.
35:47And and for sure that now when you see the capability, you know, on some of the software,
35:55you know, like we use Rezzy for reservations.
35:58I personally love using Rezzy because I probably get 20 or 30 texts a day for reservation.
36:03I'm able to put reservation on the spot.
36:06They're texting you on your personal phone?
36:08People do. Yeah, of course.
36:09And then we wonder, we know so many people that they reach out to us directly and and
36:16people when they text you, they want to see you too.
36:18So it's part of the whole experience.
36:19But so you get an app like Rezzy, it's fantastic.
36:22You know, you know how many covers you have in all your restaurants, you know, your VAPs
36:25are, how many times the guests visited the restaurant.
36:27So it helps. But I think and I was talking to some actually for one of the reservation
36:34platform and I was giving them my feedback about what I want the platform to be able
36:37to do. Right.
36:39And I'm trying to give them tips.
36:40But I think it's so much more intelligence.
36:42Also, AI coming in into play.
36:46I'm really excited about that because what we need from technology is the ability to
36:50help us to fill our restaurants when they're not busy.
36:54Right. But, you know, you always, especially in New York, you always crashed in May and
37:00June and October, November, December and all that.
37:03You know, those months you're getting crashed.
37:05But how do you drive a business in July and August when the time is quiet?
37:08How do you drive business in January when everybody's going to be celebrating the whole
37:12month of December?
37:13How can technology help you drive people during those shorter time?
37:16Or how do you use technology to drive a higher check average?
37:20How do you drive technology to drive rapid business?
37:22You know, so there's so much added value to use technology.
37:27So we're definitely embracing it.
37:29I think a year ago, I created like a technology committee where I really challenged every
37:35department from finance to marketing to operation to I want us to have a big audit on the whole
37:40the system that we use.
37:41How did the best system are we using the best system to do that?
37:44Are we maximizing our performance with the technology system that we have in place?
37:49What is it that we don't have that we shouldn't have, et cetera?
37:52And I'm always looking, interviewing, listening to people.
37:54I had people pitch me new technology software that can help us.
38:00How can we manage our business better?
38:01And, you know, I and for sure, technology is definitely a big player.
38:08When you look at storytelling as a brand, what do you think is the most important thing
38:13as a brand?
38:15I know you obviously lean on Chef Daniel to do most of the storytelling, but how do you
38:20look as a CEO from the Dynex perspective?
38:24Now, I think that was one of the first things that I did when I came to the to the group
38:28is the brand is definitely is Daniel Boulud is the brand is the celebrity is the star
38:33is our MVP is the artist.
38:37And I remember the group was called Dynex.
38:39And I remember everything was branded Dynex.
38:42And I was like, what is Dynex?
38:44Nobody knows about Dynex.
38:46Everybody knows about Daniel Boulud.
38:47And and I think if you go to Daniel Boulud.com, this is what the group is.
38:52This is what Dynex is.
38:53Dynex is Daniel Boulud.
38:55And and the story is, look, his story is remarkable.
38:59When you read his own story, his personal story, how he moved to the United States,
39:02what he accomplished at such a young age, all the awards that he won and all of that.
39:07And for me, he's not telling the story, but he's keeping the story relevant day after
39:11day. And how do you keep the story relevant in 20 years, 30 years, 50 years?
39:15Because when I see a restaurant like Daniel, that's celebrated 31 years old.
39:20I want these restaurants to be like Paul Beaucoup's restaurant is in Lyon, which is an
39:25institution. I want it to be like, you know, for me, what I want for Daniel is that for
39:30his son, Julian, or for the next 50 years, I want these restaurants to continue to be
39:35the flagship creme de la creme restaurant in New York City.
39:39And and that's also in the brand narrative.
39:44It's it's, you know, we are where we are.
39:47We are classic institution.
39:50Sebastian, can you define in your words, if you were explaining it to a child in southern
39:57France, what is hospitality?
40:01Hospitality is taking care of people.
40:03It's giving a lot of love and affection to the people that come visit you.
40:09I think what makes if I look at my career and some of the greatest people that I work
40:17with, where people that have where the most hospitality focus people from my uncle, the
40:22way he was taking care of the guests and the way he inspired me to go into hospitality
40:25to the Metro in Dallas, Texas.
40:27Then you all the guests and that every guest will come in, give them a big hugs to Daniel
40:32every night, touching every single table and speaking to them, you know, giving 20 to 30
40:38minutes to every table and then doing this for a lifelong.
40:42That's what's hospitality.
40:43Hospitality is taking care of people, looking after people, making sure they have an amazing
40:48time and amazing experience and is dedicating your life to others.
40:52I also feel like, you know, because providing service and hospitality has to be genuine.
40:58It's something you cannot fake and it has to come from the heart.
41:03But if I had to explain hospitality to a young child, that's kind of how I would explain
41:08So we believe that we're going through the greatest time ever to be in business.
41:13The fact that you and I, you're in Southern France, I'm all the way in San Diego.
41:16We're having a conversation that's going to get recorded, distributed by entrepreneur.
41:20People can listen to it on Spotify.
41:22They can listen to it on iTunes.
41:23You can watch it on YouTube.
41:24You can read the artwork.
41:25It's just a magical time to be in business because if you have the courage to share your
41:31truth, if you have the courage to use these tools that we have available to us, all the
41:36different social media platforms, internet platforms, you can build a community.
41:40One of the things that we believe in is smartphone storytelling is what we say.
41:44And I would love to hear a little bit about your personal tech stack.
41:48So are you an iPhone or an Android user?
41:51iPhone.
41:52iPhone.
41:53Which version?
41:55I think the most current one.
41:59You prefer taking photos or videos?
42:03Photos.
42:04I love photography.
42:05How many photos do you have on your phone?
42:08Thousands.
42:09Thousands.
42:10Do you prefer emails or text messages?
42:13Text messages.
42:15How many emails do you get a day?
42:17Hundreds.
42:19How many do you enjoy reading?
42:25Well, it's not my favorite part of communication, but I mean, no, but it depends.
42:32I think some are great.
42:33Some are tough.
42:34You know, it's a combination.
42:39Do you prefer phone calls or text messages?
42:41Phone calls.
42:43Phone calls.
42:43Do you leave voicemails?
42:45I do sometimes.
42:47Depends on the person?
42:49It depends on what it is about.
42:53Do you prefer...
42:54How do you structure meetings as a CEO with so many employees?
43:00You have to be organized.
43:02You know, a meeting that is not organized is a waste of time for you and the organization.
43:06So I think...
43:07How long are the meetings?
43:08I love having meetings, but I love people to show up on time.
43:12I love to have an agenda and I love to have goals getting out of the meetings.
43:16And I love people to come prepared.
43:17Like when I go to a meeting, I go prepared.
43:20Because I think it's an embarrassment not to go prepared to a meeting.
43:23And I think the same with the people I work with.
43:26And so that's my take.
43:28But no, I love meeting with people because I'm the type of person that I like to get
43:34everybody's point of view.
43:37I don't go in a meeting and say, this is how we're going to do this.
43:40No.
43:40I'm going to tell them, this is where I like us to get to.
43:43I really like to do this.
43:44How are we going to get there and get everybody's perspective on how to get there
43:47and see who's got the smartest way to get there.
43:49That's kind of my thing.
43:50Which map do you use on your phone?
43:53Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze?
43:55Apple Maps.
43:57Apple Maps.
43:58What do you listen to music on?
44:00Spotify.
44:01Spotify.
44:03What are your favorite apps that you use on a daily basis?
44:07I definitely use Instagram all the time.
44:11And then I love reading the news in like three or four different countries to see
44:15there's commonality amongst the information I'm reading.
44:19That's fantastic.
44:21Well, Sebastian, we truly appreciate it.
44:23If you guys want to connect with me, it's at Sean P. Walcheff.
44:27S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
44:31We also do LinkedIn live calls every single week on Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m.
44:36Pacific time.
44:37So if you're listening to this, if you're watching this, you're part of our digital
44:41hospitality community, please join us and tell us your restaurant story.
44:44We've got an amazing community of people.
44:46You can follow us at Cali BBQ Media on LinkedIn.
44:50And I will send you a link to the room.
44:52Sebastian, what's the best place for people to stay in touch with you on your Instagram,
44:56on your LinkedIn?
44:57Yes, definitely.
44:59Instagram and LinkedIn.
45:00Instagram and LinkedIn.
45:01We will put those into the show notes.
45:03Sebastian, it is truly an honor.
45:05I hope one day that you, if you or Danielle ever make it to San Diego, please come and
45:11enjoy some barbecue on us.
45:13It would be my honor to serve you both.
45:16We love it, Sean.
45:17And the same if you're in New York, please come visit us.
45:20I will, for sure.
45:22Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
45:25If you want to get in touch with me, I am weirdly available at Sean P.
45:29Walshef, S-H-A-W-N, P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
45:34Cali BBQ Media has other shows.
45:37You can check out Digital Hospitality.
45:39We've been doing that show since 2017.
45:41We also just launched a show, Season 2, Family Style, on YouTube with Toast.
45:47And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand and you're looking to launch your own
45:52show, Cali BBQ Media can help you.
45:55Recently, we just launched Room for Seconds with Greg Majewski.
45:59It is an incredible insight into leadership, into hospitality, into enterprise restaurants
46:06and franchise, franchisee relationships.
46:09Take a look at Room for Seconds.
46:11And if you're ready to start a show, reach out to us.
46:14BeTheShow.media.
46:16We can't wait to work with you.