PRS Newsletter – Volume 5

PRS Client Partner Spotlight – Café Monte
Client Partner Café Monte now benefiting from property and liability insurance, workers compensation, payroll and health benefits

"Thanks to Preferred Restaurant Services I am geared up for success and have opened the doors to Café Monte", says owner Monte Smith. PRS is dedicated to supporting our needs and providing a Single Source Solution.

Dean McSherry recently paid a visit to do an on-site review. "Thank you for the personalized and hands-on service", says Smith. While visiting Café Monte, PRS provided risk management training, operational and accounting analysis, and business planning review as well as helped to develop strategies for revenue growth.

Monte (a thirty-year veteran of food and beverage) says the café and bakery is a concept developed with Charlotte in mind. For breakfast and lunch it has the casualness of a European-style Jason’s featuring simply prepared French dishes for dinner a more full-service approach. "It’s gourmet food that is fast and casual. You can either order your breakfast, lunch or dinner at the counter or you can enjoy full service in a classy, casual atmosphere. Either way you get consistently good French cooking made with fresh ingredients." Smith, who was raised in Bolivia, has been in the restaurant business for thrity years in Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Peru, and Mexico. He, his wife and three children arrived in Charlotte 10 years ago when he opened The Palm in Phillps Place.

Large hand-written chalk boards serve as menus and daily specials. A rich wood servicing bar is filled with breads, pastries, fruit and salads at one end, a full espresso bar with a variety of coffees at the other end. Wine, beer and some liquor will also be served.

Congratulations Café Monte!

What’s Preferred and Not Preferred

Delivering measurable increases in food and beverage revenues can be achieved simply with takeout!
Takeout sales are projected to grow at three times the rate of on-premise dining and at seven times the rate of the rest of the total food industry, according to the National Restaurant Association. To compete for a strong share of the takeout market, restaurants must understand how to adapt their current products and systems for successful takeout.

• The entire process should be easy for customers, from ordering to pickup to reheating, serving, and storing.
• Customers turn to restaurants for takeout because they like the menu items, but not all dishes are transportable. Be selective in the ones you offer for takeout or develop dishes with takeout in mind that retain heat, moisture, and texture and/or can be reheated.
• Take into consideration the importance of food safety and extended shelf-life in finished form when developing takeout items.
• Invest in packaging that ensures food travels well. Packaging should be adaptable to reheating and storage of food. Packaging is also a branding opportunity - be sure it looks good and reflects well on the restaurant.
• Informed personnel are essential. Make sure staff is up to speed, from those who take orders to those who package them.

Preferred Restaurant Services in now offering Marketing Services and we would love to help you tell "your unique story". Please call Eva Mangas, Vice President of Marketing at 972-764-2727 for more information.

Testimonial - The Greek Olive
Anna and Tony's best Italian and Greek recipes

"Preferred Restaurant Services was able to assist our growing business with all of our insurance, employment, and accounting needs, says owners Anna and Tony Antonakis. PRS has implemented systems to help us meet compliance with our employees and is also assisting us with our day-to-day accounting. We realized throughout the process of becoming a New Client of PRS that they are not insurance agents but specialists in our industry. Thank you Preferred Restaurant Services for taking work off our plates and allowing us additional time to grow our business!"
~ The Greek Olive, Connecticut

Client Case Study
Jimmies On Savin Rock - Sysco, CT

Preferred Restaurant Services has provided Jimmies on Savin Rock a 40% reduction in annual premium in their property and liability insurance. This client experienced an overall financial improvement of over $20,000, while PRS enhanced their existing coverages.

The Greek Olive - Sysco, CT
In addition to insurance and payroll services, Preferred Restaurant Services also provides accounting services to The Greek Olive. This service provides full-service bookkeeping and reporting, and will reduce annual accounting costs 40% for the Greek Olive.

More News from Restaurateurs for Restaurateurs

Formed by Restaurateurs for Restaurateurs
Our value proposition is simple. We can better serve you and provide you with a single-source solution because we specialize in and understand the restaurant industry.

Preferred Restaurant Services continues to provide superior and specialized services in third-party management, marketing, restaurant specific accounting, insurance programs and employee benefits to our shared clients. PRS is a single source provider - we identify needs that are unique to restaurateurs and tailor our services to meet each need.

Healthwise
Hilda Carpitche, director of benefits, invites you to check this section out each month with tips and information you can use to enhance your health benefits program and promote healthier lifestyles for you and your restaurant employees. We will also provide resources like Healthwise, an online library filled with thousands of health topics that may help you in designing new menu items for your guests. This month Hilda invites you to focus on Preventative Health.

Preventive Health is best described as "warding off disease". It is a process of making small, regular decisions and taking positive action on health, diet, exercise and lifestyle. These actions give your body the best chance of remaining free from disease.

Why is preventive health care so important?
About half of all deaths from heart disease are sudden and unexpected, so there's little opportunity for treatment. For people at risk of sudden death, prevention is the key.

If all heart attack-prone people were treated surgically, the cost would be prohibitive. Technological treatments for heart disease such as balloon angioplasty, thrombolytic therapy (clot-busting drugs), antiarrhythmic drugs and pacemakers aren't cures. More importantly, such procedures can't slow the buildup of fatty deposits in arteries (atherosclerosis), which causes most heart disease. And because of supply problems and other issues, heart transplants aren't a realistic option for everyone with severe heart disease.

That's why more effort must be focused on prevention. Atherosclerosis often begins in childhood, but it may be decades before clinical disease shows up. We don't fully understand all the causes of heart disease, but many population studies have identified major risk factors and strategies to reduce the risk. These are the risk factors we can modify, treat or control:

• tobacco smoke
• high blood cholesterol
• high blood pressure
• physical inactivity
• obesity and overweight
• diabetes mellitus

By focusing on prevention, we can have a major impact on people's health. The American Heart Association wants all people to know their risk factors for heart disease and stroke and the goals for both prevention and treatment. This approach includes people knowing how to effectively use the many strategies available to achieve these goals. Prevention costs less than expensive medical interventions, and in the long run brings more benefits.

Continue to look here each month as we will guide you to other credible resources including books, medical reports, new health professionals and authors, quality health websites and much more.

PRS Client Partner Spotlight

Denis Wilson, Jimmy Wilson's Seafood and Chop House - Houston, TX
Jimmy Wilson's Seafood and Chop House makes sharing great food with friends and family their top priority. Offering the finest Creole-Cajun dishes, the freshest of fish, as well as steaks and chops.

The history of Jimmy Wilson's actually began in the late 70s when, in Houston, oil was king and two childhood friends from Louisiana had a dream. Denis Wilson's and Billy Landry's memories of black iron skillets, deep brown rouxs, thick Creole gravies and spicy Cajun dishes inspired them to open Willie G's and Landry's. Together, these restaurant mavericks would influence and help create the dining scene still known today. Dishes found on our menu, including crawfish etouffee, shrimp creole and seafood gumbo, are recipes passed down from those early days in the kitchen.

When Denis opened Denis' on Westheimer in 1988, he continued to serve his famous gumbo - the essence of soul satisfying Cajun cooking, spicy crabs cooked to perfection and fresh, filleted fish of numerous varieties. Denis insured his diners that "nobody does it fresher" by having grouper, red snapper and angel fish made available.

Once again a great friendship would influence Houston's restaurant scene, when Jim Jard and Denis Wilson teamed up to open Babin's, named after Denis' mother. Jim, a native Houstonian, and Denis, with his southern Louisiana heritage, delighted in serving their diners only the finest and freshest seafood found in the area. Babin's quickly became a highly acclaimed dining establishment for friends and families to gather as they enjoyed "home cooking", Louisiana style.

Denis took a short sabbatical from the restaurant business until Jim convinced him to return to the kitchen with the creation of Jimmy Wilson's Seafood and Chop House. Once again, the partners opened their doors so diners could enjoy fresh seafood as well as juicy steaks and chops.

Over the years, customers had grown to be loyal dining friends and they encouraged Jim and Denis to return to the Galleria area with their restaurant.

And so today, 30 years after it all began on Post Oak Drive, Jimmy Wilson's Seafood and Chop House – the 2nd location - is proud to be serving Houston diners with only the freshest fish, the tenderest of steaks and it's famous gumbo.

"Thanks ya'll for your continued support and for appreciating the difference. From both of us, we wish you the definitive dining experience, from your first step in the door to your very last bite".

Employees in the Spotlight

Meet Chef Frain Salazar
Please join us in welcoming our newest employee to the Preferred Restaurant Services Team, Chef Frain Salazar. Salazar arrives at work at ungodly hours… he starts blending delicious sauces and other concoctions at the crack of dawn. He cooks for a unique clientele and delivers home-cooking with a creative twist. Stay tuned for more about where to find Chef Frain Salazar's Tortilla Soup (recipe below) and "Whisky Rivers" New York Strip.

The Art of Cooking is a primal instinct for some. But not everyone has the knack. Salazar does! You can see it in his kitchen and taste it in his food. In this business we all have our story of how we began and why we stay so loyal. Chef Frain shares his reasons: "Everybody eats. I eat, you eat - every day. People are always coming and going and eating. I'm going to keep on being a chef."

Salazar began working as a dishwasher in a friend's kitchen. He quickly rose up the ranks to become the executive chef at the five-star establishment, Dakotas. Food has always been a part of his life. He grew up in Allende, Mexico with nine brothers and four sisters. "We had a big family - my mom was always cooking," he says. "We always wanted to help out, but my mother would shoo us out. My mother was a fabulous cook from scratch. And for 13 kids, that's a lot of work."

"I consider myself mostly an American and Southwestern-style chef. I like Cajun food as well. I like making traditional comfort food as well as unique dishes" Salazar says. "Working for Preferred Restaurant Management Group is exciting and challenging. I enjoy diversity and new experiences which makes PRS and Preferred Restaurant Management Group a great fit for me. I look forward to sharing more of my recipes with you in the future."

Chef Frain Salazar's Tortilla Soup

• 18 oz. fresh tortilla strips
• 1 medium diced white onion
• 1 diced poblano pepper
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 16 oz. tomato sauce
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
• 2 oz. salt
• 1 oz. cumin
• 1 oz. chile powder
• 2 oz. ground red pepper
• 64 oz. chicken stock
• 6 oz. olive oil

In a medium-size pot at medium temperature, heat oil and sauté pepper, onions, and garlic until golden brown. Put into food processor and make a puree. Set aside. Fry tortillas in a fryer at 350-degrees until crispy. In a medium-sized pot at medium-high heat, pout chicken stock and let it cook about 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer about 15 minutes, and turn off heat.

Welcome New Client Partners

• Willies Place, Carl's Corner, TX
• Dallas Country Club, Dallas, TX
• Tuscany Art in Dining, Grapevine, TX
• Casa Manana , Lake Charles, LA
• Que Pasa, Lake Charles, LA
• New Ruby Tuesday Location, Katy, TX
• Mother Kelly’s, Cedarhurst, NY
• The Venice Plaza, Berlin, NJ
• The Cuba Restaurant, Chesnut Hill, PA
• Dali Wine Cellar, Dallas,