2 December 2009
Hawaii’s Culinary Icon Returns in the New Economic Climate
Posted by Crystal under: News .
No matter how successful your restaurant is, restaurant owners often have to deal with change; some change is welcome, some is not, such as the economic down-turn times. Here is the story of how one prominent restaurateur deals with current economic crisis.
David Paul Johnson is a star Hawaiian chef who started his famous restaurant David Paul’s Lahaina Grill in 1990 and turned it into an award winning place. Under Chef David Paul’s 10-year flagship, the restaurant has received numerous accolades from magazines like Gourmet, Bon Appétit, Conde Nast Traveler; it was touted as the Best Maui Restaurant, one of America’s Top Tables and Restaurant of the Month. The chef appeared on NBC’s Today show, and the Great Chefs series on the Discovery Channel.
10 years later, in 2000, it was time for a change. Johnson sold his famous restaurant in order to do two things he confesses he loves most – spend time with his family and further develop his culinary skills in a catering capacity serving exclusive resident community of Maui.
Fast forward 10 years, in 2009, it is time for yet another change. After spending 10 years cooking for the upscale community on the island of Maui and enjoying the more relaxed lifestyle with his family, Chef David Paul returned to Maui’s competitive restaurant scene by opening a brand new restaurant David Paul’s Island Grill in 2009.
On his restaurant’s website, Johnson is very candid about how economy has changed since he was gone from the restaurant business, how the new economy affects his business, and what challenges it presents for his new venture. Being the most well known Maui’s chef and having owned the most famous Maui’s restaurant, Chef David Paul shares that it’s time to make some changes and run business differently in a down-turn economic climate.
How is he doing it? At his newly opened restaurant, David Paul’s Island Grill, Johnson’s objective is to offer menu items and wine choices priced well below those at most fine dining restaurants on Maui to match the current economic climate and thinning wallets of Maui tourists, and make his food affordable for locals.
Johnson explains that it is time to make fine dining more affordable in Maui, where in the last 10 years the restaurant prices skyrocketed. To keep his costs down, Chef David Paul sources most of his ingredients locally, focusing on organic and sustainable products. He prices his food so that not only the tourists, but the locals can afford to eat at his place. He has variety (over 50 bottles) of wine priced under $40 a bottle, and any of these wine bottles can be served by glass, all priced at $10 or less. He offers all of his menu items in half portions. David Paul also features a 9-item tasting menu every night for only $40 – an excellent deal for any restaurant anywhere, let alone Maui. Another differentiating factor for David Paul’s new restaurant is that it has a walk-in wine cellar, and the guests are welcomed to step in and make their own wine selections.
In the last 10 years that he worked as the Executive Chef and Culinary Director of an exclusive residential community on Maui, Johnson invented a new approach to cooking. To cater to the needs of his private clients, he learned to create courses that he calls “high-end comfort food”. What that means is that you take a basic dish, such as macaroni & cheese, and make it using the best ingredients, such as high quality cheeses, or make burgers from the highest grade meat. It makes dish both sophisticated and affordable due to its simplicity. Johnson is confident that this new approach is going to work perfectly in his new restaurant in the new economic climate.
To the envy of his competitors, Chef David Paul he has been successful so far: while being cost-effective with his food ingredients and wines, he continues to provide the culinary creativity and high standards of his early career.
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