Newsweek Cites Juliette Rossant on Mario Batali

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Newsweek published a special Enterprise insert in this week's issue with an article entitled "Mario Batali Inc.," which according to the magazine is based in part upon readings of Super Chef, the book Super Chef, and the recent article "Tastemakers: Chefs," as well as two telephone interviews with Juliette Rossant. That said, Superchefblog disagrees strongly with Newsweek's assertion (below in Paragraph 2) that the road to becoming a super chef has become a "cliche" formula. Were that the case, scores of courses and self-help books would be sprouting up all over the country offering "just five easy steps" to become a super chef. Underscoring that point are the five profile chapters of Super Chef, which traces very diverse formulas and recipes to become a super chef, based on just a few common ingredients. Next time, Newsweek, be sure to read at least the Introduction of Super Chef all the way to the end, even if deadlines don't give you enough time to read the whole book. And, Newsweek, if you did not understand this from all the sources you used, next time, be sure to ask soon-to-be super chef * Mario Batali himself -- you think he feels there is anything cliche or formulaic about his unique road to superchef-dom? These are super chefs, not something superficial, formulaic, or cliche. In any case, here (marked in red) are out-takes from the article citing or using the above-mentioned sources: Paragraph 2: Celebrity chefs aren't new. The phenomenon may date to a pastry sculptor named—Antonin Careme, who cooked for Napoleon. In the late 1970s, Wolfgang Puck pioneered the modern formula—now more of a cliche—in which a chef opens a hit restaurant, then "diversifies" and "becomes a brand" [see Introduction to Super Chef]. Batali has been a star for only several years, yet he's already performed most steps in the recipe. He has five cookbooks, stars in three Food Network shows and sells Mario-emblazoned pepper mills and sausages. Expanding his portfolio of restaurants nationally, however, requires a more serious investment of capital... Paragraph 5: Even as his empire grows, the restaurants remain the profit engine. Unlike many chefs, Batali and Bastianich are sole owners of most of their restaurants. With margins averaging 15 percent, according to Bastianich, the restaurants produce nearly $10 million in annual profits. Contrast that to the TV work. "I don't make any money at all from TV—maybe 150 grand a year," Batali says. But since he has no restaurants outside Manhattan yet, TV exposure has been crucial to sales of both his cookbooks (an advance for which can hit $1 million) and his merchandise. "The product line has the potential to be a $30 [million] to $40 million business all by itself," says Batali, who collects up to —10 percent of those sales. All told, according to Forbes, Batali earned $4 million last year—less than rivals like Emeril Lagasse ($9 million), Alain Ducasse ($6.5 million) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten ($5 million). But industry watchers say Batali's gaining ground. Paragraph 8: That expected payday assumes Batali won't become overextended, a fate that other celebrity chefs before him have suffered. The industry's most recent significant cautionary tale has been about Todd English, a telegenic Boston-based chef. Between 1997 and 2001, English expanded from five restaurants to 16 eateries around the country (including on a cruise ship). He had cookbooks and a radio show and was a Food Network regular [NB: Todd's Media appearances were mostly on the Martha Stewart Living--see Super Chef, p. 112]. But he then encountered a range of problems—bad press, the loss of a business partner, health-code violations that led to temporary restaurant closures. English has hired new managers and denies he expanded too aggressively. "I'm here and back bigger and stronger than ever," he says. [Todd has a chapter unto himself in Super Chef, pp. 89-129.] Paragraph 10: If Del Latte succeeds, what's next? Some observers—like Juliette Rossant—have suggested a series of less pricey restaurants, like sandwich joints or cafes... FYI, the "Tastemakers: Chefs" article derives from the Forbes Celebrity Chef column in the annual Celebrity 100 issue. * Mario will fulfill the last requirement to become a "super chef" when he expands outside of his sole geographic area of New York City to Los Angeles and Las Vegas -- see definition and discussion in Super Chef's Introduction. Super chefs: Lidia Bastianich Todd English Wolfgang Puck Previous articles: Tastemakers: Chefs [Superchefblog's Citations] Previous Newsweek citations: Jose Andres: Tapas Katrina 1: New Orleans State of Mind American Gulag: Bad Gulash? Newsweek Bets on Mario Batali's Basting Brush Foie Gras War 2: Ban All Poultry? Branding: Todd English, Beer Gourmet All Hail Alfred Portale Chef Don Pintabona Advises Innovation Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, newsweek --> subscribe to superchefblog --> back to superchefblog