Ralph Scamardella began at the bottom of the restaurant industry, working his way up from dishwasher to assistant to head chef. He chefed (is that a word?) at legendary rooms like Plaza Hotel’s French restaurant and at Polo under legendary chef Daniel Boulud. But his focus was on the business side of the “back of the house.”
He now is head chef and partner at Tao Group, one of the biggest fine dining restaurant groups in the country. According to Restaurant Business, the Tao Group has seven restaurants ranked in the top 100, including #1 Tao Asian Bistro in Las Vegas ($42,470,345) plus two other in the top 10, including Tao Downtown in New York City (No. 3 at $33,401,819) and Lavo New York (No. 7 with $26,822,655).
Every great chef has to not only be a very good chef, but understand the needs of ingredients, recipes, equipment, managing staff, understanding budgeting & costs, staffing, logistics, hospitality, and more. Its far more complex than most people realize. More important than being a great cook is having an excellent eye for spotting talent.
The transcript of our conversation is posted here.
You can stream/download the full conversation, including the podcast extras on iTunes, Bloomberg, Overcast, and Stitcher. Our earlier podcasts can all be found at iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, and Bloomberg.
Next week, we speak with Rick Wilson, the conservative Republican Campaign Consultant, and author of Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President.
