Gastronomy Inc. bets on Baci to whet Salt Lake appetites

Nation's Restaurant News, March 5, 1990 by Alan Liddle

Gastronomy Inc. bets on Baci to whet Salt Lake appetites

SALT LAKE CITY - "Gastronomy: the art or science of good eating." Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.

Gastronomy Inc.: a purveyor of good eating that rings up annual sales of $17 million from seven restaurants in historic Salt Lake City buildings.

Owned and operated by John Williams, Thomas Sieg, Tom Guinney and Marco Schlenz, Gastronomy Inc. has combined dynamic design, "comfort foods" and moderate prices to become a high-volume leader of downtown dining.

"We're not trying to make a `statement' or a fickle culinary creation; we're trying to create value, great atmosphere and consistent products," co-owner and corporate chef Schlenz says.

Perhaps best embodying that philosophy is the company's newest creation, the months-old Baci Trattoria, where the per-person average is $7 at lunch and $13 at dinner. The trattoria, along with its sister concept, Club Baci, a private club, is expected to generate first-year sales of about $3.5 million.

Baci Trattoria's decor, with its smooth, white, sculpted walls, pillars, archways, balcony, high ceiling, abstract art and exhibition kitchen, might be described as "a New Wave Tuscan villa."

And while the Baci menu, too, blends new with old, the "new" is never so "cutting edge"' that it startles the guests, Schlenz indicates.

Adventuresome dishes are served at Baci, including deep-fried artichoke leaves stuffed with shrimp and served with garlic mayonnaise, but traditional flavors dominate. Fettuccine Alfredo, veal saltimbocca and lasagna, or poultry-based versions of classic veal specialties, including chicken lemon piccata and chicken Parmesan, are more typical of the fare.

Striving to present "good, solid comfort foods" doesn't limit Gastronomy Inc. to offering just the likes of "peanut butter and jelly," Schlenz says, adding that the company's menus do go beyond the familiar and incorporate "creative things," such as halibut tacos with three salsas.

Gastronomy Inc. runs food costs of 38 percent to 42 percent of sales, numbers that might seem high to some operators. But co-owner Tom Guinney says, "Our philosophy is that we put it [operating money] into the center of the plate instead of into advertising."

Gastronomy Inc. is apparently winning its wager that customers relate better to bigger portions than to clever jingles: Schlenz says he is being "conservative" when he reports that the covers handled monthly by the six properties exceed 170,000.

Guinney, Gastronomy Inc.'s operations specialist, notes that when the company does advertise, it spends about 50 percent of its budget on direct mail. Gastronomy Inc.'s volume and the relatively low cost of air time in the Salt Lake City market mean that it can also afford to utilize some television spots, he adds.

Labor costs, Guinney explains, range from 24 percent of sales at the American restaurants to 26 percent at the Italian and Mexican concepts. Expenses are higher at the ethnic restaurants, he indicates, because they sell a greater number of labor-intensive appetizers.

Besides the Baci twins, Gastronomy Inc. also operates the 12-year-old New Yorker, one of Utah's top-rated fine-dining establishments, with average tickets of $12 at lunch and $30 at dinner. New Yorker specialties include pecan-coated trout fillets with lemon-butter-scallion sauce and grilled lamb chops with potato pancake.

According to co-owner John Williams, the company's Market Street Grill and Oyster Bar, which are separate but adjacent entities that share a kitchen, pay tribute to "classic" fish houses, such as San Francisco's Tadich Grill.

Guinney reports that average tickets at the Market Street Grill run about $9 at lunch and $18 at dinner, while the Oyster Bar produces a day-long per-person average of $9.

The New Yorker, Market Street Grill and Oyster Bar are all located in the New York Building, which was built as a hotel in 1906 from a design by Richard Kletting, who later went on to create the state Capitol. Gastronomy Inc. officials say the three concepts in the New York Building generate combined annual sales of about $8.2 million.

Sharing space and a prep kitchen with Baci in Gastronomy Inc.'s nearby Pierpont Building is Cafe Pierpont, a flashy Tex-Mex and California Cuisine hybrid trimmed in wood, tile and tin. Open since 1986, Cafe Pierpont grosses about $2.5 million annually by way of per-person averages of $8 at dinner and $6 at lunch.

Sonora-style items, including fancy fajitas, tacos and chimichangas, make up the largest part of the Mexican restaurant's menu, but there are also some decidedly different tastes. Among Cafe Pierpont's unique offerings are a Mexican egg roll filled with chicken, bacon, chilies and cheese and accompanied by tomatillo salsa.

The Pierpont building was configured for offices when it was constructed in the late 1800s but later served as Salt Lake City's first high school.

Rounding out the Gastronomy Inc. stable is the Market Street Broiler, a 7-year-old seafood restaurant specializing in mesquite-grilled foods. Situated in historic Fire Station No. 8 near the University of Utah, the Market Street Broiler has an annual take of approximately $2.7 million. Its day-long average ticket is about $13.