Fusion Cuisine: Conde Nast Sells Magazine Names to Branded Restaurants
Publishing is dead, so let's get into a less risky business: restaurants! Sound ridiculous? Condé Nast doesn't think so.
While the magazine publishing powerhouse that's cultivated such iconic titles as Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, The New Yorker is definitely struggling -- 2009 saw the demise of Cookie, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride, and the venerable Gourmet, in a move to cut its overall budget by a quarter -- Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Condé Nast International, says the company's still willing to be experimental. More likely, it's a calculated move to snag secure revenue from licensees in a time of uncertainty for the entire industry.
Family-owned Advance Publications, parent company of Condé Nast, isn't venturing into unknown territory. It's already placed the imprimatur of its mags on Moscow restaurants: Vogue Café and GQ Bar. These came through a deal with Arkady Novikov who's built a portfolio of 30 restaurants in the past 18 years, including several themed eateries including Mister Lee (Asian) and Macho Grill (Brazilian).
Indeed, Vogue Café's already earned props from the culinary world, taking the Restaurant of the Year prize in the Lavrovy List awards. And its full complement of simple Russian comfort food (think kolbasa sausage and cheese sandwiches, kefir, and buckwheat) draws hordes of diners that could easily afford to eat caviar and drink Cristalle daily. All good indicators Novikov will be able to keep paying Condé Nast a percentage for the privilege of continuing to keep the Vogue and GQ flags flying over these establishments.
Yet while the company is happy to peddle the names of its rags overseas -- its next ventures will be in Dubai and Hong Kong -- Condé Nast is studiously avoiding such branding stateside. Which is curious when you consider that its own cafeteria is an haute affair that is likely turning a handsome profit.
Called simply the Cafeteria inside Condé, the space within its headquarters at 4 Times Square was designed by Frank Gehry and is reported to have cost $35 million. A decade ago, a person could get a dish for $6 (the company doesn't subsidize employees' meals), generating average revenues of $9,000 a day.
Perhaps Condé Nast is reluctant to draw more criticism for the cafeteria's clear separation of executives and their minions. A Vogue-branded restaurant in NYC would practically dictate the presence of the notorious Anna Wintour, yet it seems unlikely the illustrious editor would deign to be gawked at (by tourists no less!) while chatting up fashion's hoi polloi.
No matter. The new Hong Kong-based Condé Nast Restaurants helmed by Stuart Nielsen, a regional director of food and beverages for Intercontinental Hotels Group, will undoubtedly cash in on the brands' glamorous -- and thoroughly American -- cachet. Who cares if they plan to serve ethnic comfort food to the locals as they did in Moscow? Everything has to look better under the fierce gazes of the Vogue models' photos lining the walls.
Image via Novikov Group
Related: