As the Executive Chef & Director of Culinary Operations at The Benson Hotel, I've been charged with creating a new design and concept for the London Grill restaurant. There is so much to decide and to share! The Benson Team thought it might be a great opportunity to open the conversation to our guests, food-lovers community and start sharing about the process. Shall we do a re-model? If so, how extensive? Do we change the name of the restaurant - or change it completely? If we change the name - what do we change it to? Who decides?
In terms of concept what is most viable? How do we afford it? How do we get buy-in from the public? What should the restaurant look like? What should be serve? What should the bar be like? What should guest experience look like -- how do we take venerable brand like London Grill and re-invent it? How far should we think outside the box?
Well this is where we start. With a conversation that embraces our staff, our marketing team, our management and our guests. Together we engage in a conversation that I am sure will have ups and downs - and lots of interesting discussion points. We will work hard. We will be transparent -- half the fun to making this concept is hearing what other people think (what colors? uniforms? casual or traditional? Upscale?) We encourage you to comment, engage and offer your opinions. We will post pictures, concepts and show our progress over the next few months.
Thanks for reading -- and thanks for making this transition part of an on-going dialogue with the Portland Food Community. We're looking forward to the results!
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