Chenmark - Weekly Thoughts - Le Relais de L’Entrecôte

One menu, perfected over time We were recently introduced to Le Relais de L’Entrecôte, a popular Parisian restaurant. A delightful old-school acquisition story, the restaurant started in 1959 when Paul Gineste de Saurs, a struggling wine-grower from the southwest of France, purchased an Italian restaurant called Le Relais de Venise in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Seeing no reason to change a perfectly good neon sign, de Saurs added “L’Entrecôte” underneath it and was in business. The restaurant, now widely referred to as L’Entrecôte, has a simple concept. From the website: Rare, medium, or well done? This is the only choice you need to make. A fresh green salad with walnuts, delicately dressed in our mustard vinaigrette, followed by tender sirloin steak and golden French fries, generously coated in our famous secret sauce. One menu, perfected over time, served with consistency, simplicity, and authentic French character. To be clear, there is no menu. The meal is the meal. The restaurant does not take reservations. This is sophistication through simplicity. One of de Saurs’ daughters, Mme Godillot, provided some insight: “My father knew nothing about restaurants or cooking. But he was faced with a situation where he had to do something to save the family vineyard. He had the idea to do something very simple, something that would offer just one dish. Everyone told him that he was crazy and that it could not succeed. This was long before anyone in Paris had heard of fast food or steak restaurants. Anyway… here we still are.” This approach worked out quite well. First, 67 years later, the restaurant still exists, which is rare. Second, it remains extremely popular with both tourists and Parisians, who routinely wait up to an hour for a table. Third, it has scaled. Today, the third generation of the controlling family has expanded the concept globally. Across three branches of the family, there are now more than 30 locations, ranging from New York to Dubai. Pretty impressive for a restaurant with no menu. So what can we learn? We know first-hand that running a business is full of distractions. There is always an urge to offer more variety, especially if things are not going according to plan. Sometimes diversification is the right strategy. Often, it’s a distraction. L’Entrecôte is a reminder that doing one thing, exceptionally well, can be enough, even if conventional wisdom says you need something for everyone. Vegetarians, people who don’t like sauce, people who don’t want fries – those people should go somewhere else. It’s also a good reminder that success takes time. When de Saurs added “L’Entrecôte” to his signage, he probably wasn’t thinking about his Middle East expansion plans. The strategy was making the first location work. It’s unclear when the second location opened, but it likely wasn’t in###-###-#### Expansion can be a solid strategy with attractive financial returns. It can also be a siren song if the foundation isn’t there. L’Entrecôte is a reminder that doing one thing, exceptionally well, is a growth strategy. In our world, there is no shortage of opportunity. We routinely get inbound from startups seeking funding, distressed opportunities, real estate investments, or investors seeking to allocate capital. These are distractions. A visit to L’Entrecôte is a good reminder that we too are trying to do one thing, over a long period of time, as well as we possibly can. Turns out, the hard part isn’t doing more. It’s doing less. Have a great week, Your Chenmark Team Subscribe to Weekly Thoughts Also, we’re hiring.