BOSTON —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
After more than a decade of steady growth in Boston’s trendy South End neighborhood, the group is going through a notable growth spurt. In recent weeks the company, which previously operated four restaurants, has unveiled two new operations: the full-service Gaslight, Brasserie du Coin and Green Light, an adjoining eco-friendly quick-service concept. Prime 128, a steakhouse concept, is scheduled to open sometime around the New Year, and two more restaurants are in the works for 2008. The group’s other restaurants include Aquitaine, Metropolis Café and Union Bar & Grille, all in Boston’s South End, and Aquitaine Bis in nearby Chestnut Hill. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
The expansion is being funded “organically,” said Seth Woods, the group’s executive chef and partner, and a founder of the group along with Jeffrey Gates, general manager and partner, and Matthew Burns, partner. Woods explained that growth is “self-financed” by the partners. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“This gives us the control,” he said. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
The new restaurant, Gaslight, Brasserie du Coin in Boston’s SoWa neighborhood, a once dicey area now undergoing gentrification, follows in the company’s tradition of creating approachable, affordable concepts geared to neighborhood residents. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“Your business is only viable if you’re busy Monday night,” Burns said. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
The 219-seat Gaslight is moving quickly toward that goal, company officials say. Opening-day bar sales exceeded projections three times over, said beverage manager Nick Daddona. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“If you fill a need, you can, at the least, come close to your projections,” Woods said. “Making money in this industry can be difficult. We wait for deals and emerging neighborhoods.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
The partners, who initially met at Armani Café on Boston’s Newbury Street in 1993, seek to offer “impeccable quality and improbable value.” A rule of thumb is that appetizers must be under $10 and entrées under $20. At the new Gaslight, entrées start at $8, and $2 draft beers are available. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Companywide, the average dinner check with alcohol is around $45. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Woods observed, Boston had many high-end restaurants. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“We wanted to serve the guests in the mid-range,” he said, “people who need a place to eat on the way home and can’t afford to spend too much.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
The company’s restaurants range in size from around 1,000 square feet at Metropolis to close to 4,000 square feet at Gaslight. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
From 2002 until this fall, the group also managed the recently closed Armani Café in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Average unit volume is in the range of $3 million, a number “we’re looking to increase,” Woods said. Sales at Gaslight are expected to run around $5 million, as are sales at the two new Aquitaine restaurants planned for 2008. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“They’re one of the better restaurant groups because they’re not afraid to step outside their comfort zone in terms of the concepts they’ll try,” said long-time industry consultant David Shinney of DCS Associates LLC in Boston. “[The group] is careful about how they measure expansion opportunities. They get it, and that’s important. They’re successful, smart guys.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Like the first Aquitaine restaurant, Gaslight draws on Parisian brasseries and bistros for its inspiration. It boasts a long zinc bar, distressed mirrors, and two large antique communal dining tables as well as booths, banquettes and tables. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Located in a space that formerly housed a Rebecca’s Café, the restaurant was originally intended to offer breakfast and lunch, serving tenants of the building and others in the neighborhood. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“As we got the feel of the neighborhood and saw what was possible, we realized we could and should do a full-service restaurant,” Woods said. “But we needed to fulfill that need for breakfast and lunch, too, so we came up with Green Light, which shares the Gaslight kitchen.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Behind Gaslight, adjacent to the patio, Green Light is designed for quick service, Woods said, describing it as a spot to pick up fresh sandwiches and salads made from largely organic and artisanal ingredients. It’s a concept “slated to be expanded,” Woods added, noting that a model also exists on paper with its own small kitchen. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“It’s fresh food quick,” he said. “The menu is predominantly organic, healthy, wholesome, natural food.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Because raw ingredients and biodegradable utensils are more expensive than those at the typical quick-service cafe, the questions remain how fiscally sound Green Light will be, whether customers will pay higher prices, and whether delivery is practical, Woods said. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
The group’s customers use the various concepts in the neighborhood on a regular basis, Burns noted. They come three or more times a week and often eat lunch at one option and dinner at another on the same day, he said. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“We look to be an active participant in the neighborhoods we go into,” Woods said. “You need a lot of client bases: residents, office workers, tourists, suburbanites.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
In suburban Newton, where the chain will open Prime 128, a 250-seat steakhouse, as early as later this year in the new 191-room Hotel Indigo, the group sees a need in the area for good restaurants. Prime 128 will be located in 3,500 square feet of what was banquet space before Indigo’s predecessor, a 42-year-old Holiday Inn, was rebuilt. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“The market is enormous, and people are less willing to travel if there are options at home,” Burns said. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
CHAIN FACTS NAME: The Aquitaine GroupHEADQUARTERS: BostonMARKET SEGMENT: Upscale casualMENU: bistro-brasserie-trattoriaTOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS: 5AVERAGE UNIT VOLUME: $3 millionAVERAGE DINNER CHECK: $45LEADERSHIP: Seth Woods, executive chef and partner; Jeffrey Gates, general manager and partner; Matthew Burns, partnerYEAR FOUNDED: 1994 —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Prime 128 will also include private dining rooms and banquet space, bringing the total capacity to close to 350. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“People see value in being close to home, and there’s a need out there,” Woods said. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Aquitaine Group, he said, “made the decision to diversify into the suburbs after 9/11 as a protective measure.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
In addition, Gates said, with the “graying of the baby boomers, there’s a huge unexplored market out there that has the disposable income to go out to eat.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
The menu will be modern steakhouse fare, explained Woods, who has been cooking since age 15 and is a Culinary Institute of America graduate. He estimates a check average in the mid-$50s. In addition to steaks, there will be seafood and composed plates. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
“We’ll be using a natural beef,” Woods added. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
The biggest challenge continues to be labor, the partners say. Although they have found it easy to fill managerial positions, “the challenge is finding cooks and waitstaff,” Burns said. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
Woods agreed, saying, “It’s become harder to find people who don’t require a lot of training.” —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.
A lease has been signed for the new Aquitaine slated for the Legacy Place lifestyle center in Dedham, a south suburb, and lease negotiations are going on for yet another Aquitaine north of Boston next year, the partners disclosed. —Mix a classically trained chef and partners skilled in front-of-the-house operations with neighborhoods in need of attractively priced dining options, and you’re likely to come up with this city’s Aquitaine Group.