In the past several years, dozens of new restaurants have opened in Lexington — 156 so far in 2017, 123 in 2016 and 91 in 2015, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department — many of them independently owned. What do some of Lexington’s more seasoned restaurateurs think about this pace of change? Do they see it as increased competition or business as usual?
Extended hospitality
“I welcome the growth and competition; it makes Lexington better,” said Jonathan Lundy,
chef/owner of the 10-month-old Corto Lima in downtown Lexington and a longtime proprietor of local restaurants. “We all enjoy the excitement of new dining options.”
Corto Lima co-owner TJ Cox says openings and closings are a natural fluctuation of the restaurant industry. “It’s the nature of the business,” he said. “Lexington has always been a test market for restaurant concepts, and the reality is the current market setting in the metro area is not able to successfully sustain 600-plus eateries.”
On the other hand, “the more quality businesses that open, the better it is for our community,” he said.
Debbie Long, owner of Dudley’s on Short, has 44 years in the business, 36 of them as owner
and operator. “The new restaurants that open today know where the bar is set and come in at that level,” she said. “They know what people here like and expect by looking at what has done well. So the existing restaurants have to maintain their level of food quality and service and even step up their game in order to compete.”
A drain on the labor pool
Deciding where to eat out may be a pleasant problem for patrons given so many options, but not so much when it comes to hiring waitstaff. “If 10 new restaurants open and average 50 employees each, that’s 500 potential employees that we have to share,” Long said, adding that she is proud of the longevity of many of her staff members.
Jeremy Ashby, chef/owner of Azur Food Group, has been a restaurateur for nine years. His
biggest concern right now is the labor pool, which is too low for the restaurant industry.
“We see new restaurants desperate to hire, for they are paying above the average rate,” he said. “I’m all for higher wages, but typically when the initial opening increase in business drops off, the higher-paid staff gets their hours cut or they get laid off.”
That said, Ashby sees an advantage in an independently owned restaurant’s ability to quickly adjust as needed to respond to the local market.
“Lexington is a prime market for [various restaurant concepts] to explore, but most of them won’t necessarily be competitive with independents due to the corporate franchise philosophy,” he said. “Not that they are bad, but too scripted to offer the caliber of personalized hospitality the independents can offer.”
In good service
Ouita Michel has been a chef/owner for 17 years since opening Holly Hill Inn in Midway. Currently there are seven other concepts in Ouita Michel’s Family of Restaurants. One of
Michel’s favorite quotes is one she learned from Debbie Long early on. “She said, ‘Don’t worry about the customers who aren’t coming in, worry about the ones who are.’ If you lose track of the people who are coming in the door, then you lose track of what you’re doing.”
Michel isn’t super-stressed about competition. “We go through these waves in Lexington; the market is dynamic,” she said. “The restaurant market is no different from any other market; it will expand and contract in the same way.”
She sees an influx in locally owned dining choices as “a symbol of how well the Central Kentucky economy is doing” and the restaurant industry in general as “essentially a problem-solving business.”
Brian McCarty is co-owner of Bluegrass Hospitality Group, which operates six concepts,
including Malone’s and Drake’s, in four states. He has been a restaurateur for 21 years.
“Growth in our communities pushes us to continue to raise the bar so that we can exceed our guests’ expectations and remain a market leader,” he said. “In regard to staff, we were concerned that with so many new openings, tip income would go down if sales decreased.
Thankfully, to date, all of our stores are up in sales, which means our tipped employees are making more than ever.”
The bottom line for any business is the bottom line.
“The numbers have to be sustainable,” Michel said. “I’ve learned a lot more about that and how to communicate that to my teams at different restaurants.”
For a different take on trends and challenges impacting Lexington's restaurant scene from industry insiders, click here.