A Destination Spot
An Interview with Stratis Morfogen,Partner, Philippe Restaurant Group Inc.
EDITORS’ NOTE Stratis Morfogen is a thirdgeneration entrepreneur and business leader,
who grew up in his father’s seafood restaurant
business. He was formerly the Principal for The
Grand Night Club and Au bar Night Club; wasthe CEO of Rouge Night Club from 1993 to 1998;
and founded and was the CEO of Gotham City
Diner, Captains Choice Catering Company,
FultonStreet.com, and Sea Grill of the Aegean
Restaurant. Morfogen was a finalist for Ernst& Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in2000. In the past four years, he and his partners,
Michael Reda and David Lee, have designed andcreated the Philippe Chow Restaurant Group
with his chef/partner Philippe.
COMPANY BRIEF In 2005, Philippe RestaurantGroup opened its New York flagship, introducing traditional Chinese cuisine with a modernflair. Philippe expanded into its second restaurant in Mexico City in November 2006. Their
third restaurant opened in Miami, Florida atthe Gansevoort South Hotel in May 2008, alongwith Philippe Express in Greenwich Village.
During the summer of 2009 in East Hampton,the Philippe Chow Restaurant Group opened at
the former home of the Kobe Club. Philippe’s latest venture was Philippe Los Angeles, opening
doors in late September of 2009.
What did you see in the market that madeyou feel there was a need for the Philippe
Restaurant Group, and that you would be
able to differentiate?
I was a customer of Philippe Chow’s cuisine for 12 years and I enjoyed the food, andI wanted to put my interpretation of the guest
experience in that location. I come from a hospitality background in a very traditional Greek
family where the customer is first. The food at
Philippe is great but food, service, and atmosphere have to go hand in hand, and if you
lose one of those elements, you fail. I havealso lived in the area the past 20 years, and I
knew that was the right location for something
like this.
What made you feel that the location
would be successful?
I was sure it would work, but no one
wanted to invest in it, because for the past 30years, there were seven restaurants there, andmany restaurants didn’t make it more than ayear. It was said there is no energy on 60thStreet. It’s amazing how it’s been proven wrong.
92 LEADERS

Philippe and Stratis Morfogen in the Philippe Chow Miami kitchen(above); Philippe Chow Miami (upper right)

I knew it would be a destination spot, and thatis what we achieved.
You’ve been able to offer a great dining
experience along with tremendous value.
Was that important to you early on?
Yes. What is great about our menu is thateverything is served for two, and half portions
are available. You will see four ladies who arehaving dinner order one plate for two thatserves two to three people, a few appetizers,
and a couple of glasses of wine, and get out
with under $50 per person. We encourage that.
When you enter into the restaurant,
there are a lot of people to greet you, andmake you feel comfortable, even if you’rewaiting. It looks easy when you see it inpractice, but it doesn’t happen everywhere.
How do you implement that in terms oftraining?
The people that we hire I have known foryears and they are all seasoned concierges ornightclub hosts. They have great smiles andthey’re friendly – you can’t train personality andcharisma, and they have that. A lot of times,
people hire based on experience. In Miami, ofthe hiring we did for wait staff and bartenders, 80 percent had no experience but they had
great communication skills. Today, POS systemtakes the order for the customer, and the runners bring out the drinks, food, and desserts in
our restaurants. The waiter’s job is to be charming, friendly, efficient, and close enough to thetable where he can even hear a fork drop.
Was it your plan to expand as much as
you have early on?
Our plan was a lot deeper than that, but
it stems from this: hotel owners are finally understanding that food and beverage should beoutsourced. They realize that it’s very cheap
marketing for them to invest $300 to $600 per
foot to build a restaurant and that the marketing and the PR that comes from having a celebrity chef adds tremendous value to the hotel
operation and to the guest experience. They
can make more money and get better returnon investment by offering a percentage leaseand building restaurants out for great chefs. We
had literally 30 such deals on the table from2006 through 2008, and we only took two ofthem, because of the economy. But I think wewere still the only ones that, including those
two, opened a total of four restaurants in those
22 months.
Do you foresee taking on additional
properties in New York or elsewhere?
We have a couple of tabletop restaurants
in the works, probably Atlanta, maybe North
Shore Long Island, and after that, we are focusing solely on Philippe Chow Express. With
that, we have a couple of deals with big shopping mall developers, and an airline – which
we haven’t signed yet – to roll out Philippe
Chow Express in airports and shopping malls.
We want to deliver a high-end version of Panda
Express, but using the chicken satays as ourMcDonald’s French fries.
With the success of the brand, has thefocus been more on obtaining those investment partnerships, and what do you lookfor in a potential partner?
Our investors in Miami include seven basketball players and a football player. What attracted me to Alonzo Mourning was that hisroots are in Miami, his wife and himself arevery charitable within the community, and he’svery well-respected in social circles there. Thatis the kind of partner I want, because the ballplaying thing is great, but at the end of theday, being partners with a guy like Alonzo
Mourning can go on for 20 years. Originally,
we owned the restaurant in Mexico City with
Tommy Mottola and Thalia. But we’ve now created a license agreement with them, because
they’re a pretty good operation group down
there. Our licensing deals are like joint ventures. We set up the kitchen, we’re responsible
for the food, and how it comes out; we train
staff and service the kitchen. Our operating
partner has to know how to run a restaurant
and we train the front of the house in making
sure the experience is seamless. You have tobe very concerned about that, because a guy
having dinner in Mexico City could be texting
or e-mailing his friend in New York saying thatthe experience where he’s eating is subpar. So
licensing is not about opening as many of themas we like and not worrying about them being
like the one in New York – they have to be
exactly like New York.

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•VOLUME 33, NUMBER 3