Ep. 166 - Let's Build a Restaurant in New York City with Kenny Lao, Principal at Culinary Task Force

This episode is with Kenny Lao, who worked with the masterminds behind Nobu, created his own restaurant empire Rickshaw Dumplings, and now brings it all together in his new project, Culinary Task Force, a consulting service to help bring new restaurant concepts to life.

We have a couple of episodes on My Food Job Rocks that deal with building restaurants so I asked Kenny advice on how to build one. Especially in the New York scene. Kenny did not disappoint telling me the intricate and honest details on creating a restaurant in the city. We go over a lot of things in what you might not actually realize goes into a successful restaurant including the importance of foot traffic, to finding an architecture, to having (what Kenny calls) a full bench.

Kenny and I also talk about some soft skills like how to improve your stress levels, or how to persistent in getting a call with someone important. We also, of course, talk about Chinese food in great detail, especially how to make a good dumpling.

As the Principal of Culinary Task Force Kenny’s culinary insights work is informed by his active involvement in creating forward thinking, sustainable F+B Concepts.

Prior to Culinary Task Force, Kenny was the Founder and Managing Operator of New York based Rickshaw Dumplings, an Asian fast-casual restaurant group with 3 stores, one shipping container in Times Square, a fleet of 4 mobile trucks and a retail grocery product range for over a decade winning awards and recognitions in publications such as Nations Restaurant News, New York Magazine, New York Times, Monocle and Restaurant Hospitality Magazine.

Before opening Rickshaw, Kenny gained vast restaurant industry experience providing consulting services to various well-known clients first as Special Projects Director for Drew Nieporent’s Myriad Restaurant Group as well as through independent consulting.   At Myriad, Kenny oversaw the opening of multiple new restaurant establishments for clients such as Starwood’s W Hotel Brand, Marriott, Sports Club/LA and Neiman Marcus.   Additionally, he has worked with store designers, brand consultants and chefs, as well as with opening teams of management and with managers and staff on day-to-day operations pre and post-opening. 

Kenny has taught at the Brooklyn Kitchen and has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Fast Company Summit, Inc. Magazine, French Culinary, ICE, Johnson + Wales Culinary, Brown University and NYU Stern School of Business.  Honors include: UBS Clinton Foundation Fellow, Crain’s 40 Under 40, Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30.  Kenny holds an MBA from NYU Stern and a BA in International Relations from Brown University.  He loves riding his bike, mangoes, watermelon, bacon and seltzer.

Did you know: Kenny Lao is Google-able
Did you also know: Food Network actually helps only retail or consumer-facing brands
Foot Traffic for restaurants: sitting at your potential restaurant and count people going in and all ALL DAY. This indicates traffic is good.
What do you do now?: I’m a hospitality consultant, The principal of Culinary Taskforce
Culinary Taskforce is a collection of all of the services and skills to run a new concept and grow a successful one
The landscape today is now about the client’s concept and finds the chef that fits that concept. In the past, that wasn’t the case
How did you start in the restaurant business?: My parents loved dining out. My father used to ask me to order from the adult’s menu. I studied international relations. After a few non-restaurant stints, I found out about this new restaurant group at Nobu and I was very very aggressive trying to get Drew (the owner) to call.
411: ask for people’s numbers. I got Drew’s mother instead. Drew’s mother told Kenny that her mother wanted to him, and that’s how the relationship started
Became their pro-bono project manager
I was doing 3 unique concepts every year
Starwood
During that time, I got an MBA (you can work while getting your MBA by the way)
I was priced out after getting an MBA. So I started Rickshaw Dumplings, a fast-casual dumpling place
We grew the brand to 4 locations and 4 food trucks in a decade
Anita Lo
Any advice from starting a restaurant?: Get referrals, get referrals, get referrals. Get an architect and engineer who is on board with this. You never want to pay rent on a property you’re not opened on yet
Would you pay for a premium price to build a restaurant?: I wouldn’t hire the same architect twice. You need to figure out what’s a good fit with your architecture
What’s the indicator of starting another restaurant?: Has to be profitable. I mean really has money. You also need a deep bench. It’s ok to have one restaurant, but people are super important. People are very hard to scale and you need to scale things before you start another restaurant
Deep bench: a foundational leadership team
How much is a restaurant in New York?: I’ve seen $90k restaurant and I;ve seen $5 million restaurants.
Typical buildout: $400-$500 square foot
Why did you decide to go into consulting?: My husband forced me to. The restaurant industry was taking a toll of my personal life.
What’s an important skillset that you need in the restaurant business?: You need to improve your stress tolerance.
What do you find unique about New York’s food scene?: I’m excited to see a lot of new ethnic foods. I think it will be a marketplace for experimentation. I’m excited to see what’s coming in from out of the country. I think large conglomerates, families, and entrepreneurs are starting things.
Los Angeles is actually is a really exciting a food city. LA and New York is different because LA takes time to plan, New York is easy access so the reward is greater than LA.
Omakase
What’s one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: I want to see what Gen Z is eating.
What do you know now about it?: Gen Z grew up snacking. I predict that Bodegas will expand
Spiderman Homecoming
Bodega Vending machines
Café X
What’s your favorite quote?: There’s no good decisions, there’s only ways to make decisions good
Favorite Kitchen Item: Fish Spatula. I use it for everything. Fried dumplings, omelets, pancakes
My Book: Hey There Dumplings. Has Anita’s dumpling recipe
Dumpling tips: Ratio of dough to meat filling. Some people like thin skins and thick skins. You need a very well-feel dumpling. It’s the balance of flavor from the dipping sauce to the filling. It’s a balance between those two flavors. There’s nothing as good as a home made handwrapped dumpling
Dim Sum is southern
Northern Chinese is steamed, bready and wheaty
Southern: more egg yolks, spices, gravy sauces (Cantonese)
Hand pulled noodle: You don’t add anything, but you need the right temperature
Any advice for anyone who wants to start a restaurant?: Work at a restaurant. The more you work at a restaurant, the more you’re familiar about it. I think it should be a year. It’s not hard because of what you have to do, but it’s hard because the repetition. I can wash dishes, but can you wash for 4 years straight?
Where can we find you for advice?: Culinary Task Force.com [email protected]. I like to talk to people. Even if they’re not ready