![]() ![]() Wolf is adamant about one thing: Tao Downtown is not technically in the Meatpacking District, where the official northern boundary is 14th Street. How are they hitting their mark? The sheer volume helps-these are crowd-pleasing, guzzler-style beverages-as do club sales: Drinks are closer to $20 there, and bottle service ranges from about $250 to $290 a person. I dream about a number like 32 percent." Drinks in Tao’s bar and restaurant, like the best-selling vodka-based Ruby Red Dragon or the Tao-tini, cost $17-not an outrageous price, at least by the standards of New York cocktail lounges. At our places, I’m happy when I see alcohol percentage in the mid-20s. They’re the stuff of legend in the restaurant world. Ryan Arnold, wine director of the Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, puts it into perspective: “Tao’s drinks numbers are insane. “People come in to celebrate, but they spend less money."Īlcohol makes up a little more than 50 percent of Tao’s sales, a huge number compared with percentages in the 20s at most other places. “That’s the bridge-and-tunnel crowd," says chef Scamardella. “As it gets later, the suits and ties disappear." The biggest spending days are Wednesday and Thursday Saturdays and Sundays are the lightest. Mondays and Tuesdays, the Tao Downtown crowd can comprise up to 80 percent people with corporate cards, according to Wolf. The Tao Group knows its audience, and it knows their schedules. “If one of the big conventions is in town-the construction and concrete guys spend a lot of money-I know we’ll be having some big-ticket specials, and I order accordingly." “In January they release the convention schedule," Scamardella says. Conventions have a big effect on his calendars of specials. Rather, he orders ingredients such as Japanese beef way ahead to run as an off-the-menu. “We don’t do specials based on what’s at the market or what we have left over," he says. You won’t find a daily changing special at Tao instead, Scamardella plans his menus ahead. Chef Scamardella estimates Tao Downtown sells 700 orders a night and goes through about 2,500 pounds of sea bass per week. “It’s the dish that built the empire," says Wolf. The one dish you’ll find on almost every table is the $23 miso-glazed Chilean sea bass satay. (He adds barbecue duck and lobster with kimchi to his.) Scamardella calls his food “as chopstick-friendly as possible," which makes diners more inclined to share and invariably pushes up check averages. “People don’t come here for basic fried rice," the chef says. Scamardella makes regular trips to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo in search of inspiration. One fact that doubters overlook: The food at Tao is good. ![]() They sell for $150 each, and the restaurant usually processes 25 orders of the dish per night. Still, there’s an audience for pricier entrees, like a recent surf-and-turf special of Japanese wagyu with African prawns the size of lobsters. Most people don’t order that live crab: The average check is $75. “The beauty of Tao is that you can order two sushi rolls or go all out and have an $800 live crab," says Oswain. And stay in the hotel if you don’t feel like going home." You can take an Uber over in the afternoon, then roll from the pool to the restaurant to the club. Here’s how Wolf sees it: “We’ve built several concepts on one block-two restaurants, plus the Highlight Room on the roof with a club and a pool. The Dream Hotel will include Tao Asian Bistro, Beauty & Essex (another of its empire builders), and a brand-new concept, Luchini Pizzeria & Bar. The group will stay true to the formula at its coming Los Angeles home. It’s easier to gain entrance if you’re coming from dinner, the team confirms. Then they can move to the perennially packed club, where the roster of acts includes Tiësto, Lorde, Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, and the ubiquitous Questlove. Most people will spend at least a drink’s worth of time at the softly lit, brick-walled Ink Bar in what’s called the Eastern Mezzanine before heading down the grand staircase to a dining room, where a DJ spins in the background. 1 at Tao: Don’t give guests a reason to leave. He was joined by Tao Downtown’s general manager, Tony Oswain, and chef/partner Ralph Scamardella. How does Tao stay ahead of the game and keep making money? Rich Wolf, one of Tao Group’s co-founders (along with Marc Packer, and partners Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss), gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of the place. Meanwhile, Tao itself is expanding: In April it will open its first locations in Los Angeles, a complex adjacent to the Dream Hotel in Hollywood. that housed Frederick Lesort’s restaurant lounge Opia. This month, industry insiders say Tao will also be taking over the space on the second floor of 130 E. In February, Tao Group announced a partnership with the Madison Square Garden Co., which acquired a 62.5 percent stake in the company for $181 million. ![]()
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