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of seven tenths of one percent. West Texas Intermediate crued up three point four percent to forty dollars and cents. I'm Charlie Pallot. That's a Bloomberg business flash. This is taking stock with Gadlin Hayes and Gim Fox on Bloomberg Radio. We are broadcasting live from Boston's Atlantic Wharf site of Smith and will Lensky's, and we're gonna be talking about
hospitality in the restaurant industry. Do you know that the restaurant industry in the United States is worth and estimated seven hundred and eighty billion dollars a year and employees more than one and a half million people. Here to tell us more about the hospitality business is Kim Lapine. She is the senior vice president of marketing for Smith and Bolensky's. Kim, thank you very much for having us
here and welcome to the program. Welcome. Tell people about a recent transaction having to do with a Bunker Hill Capital, which was previously the owner of Smith and Wilensky and what is happening to this iconic branch. Sure well, UM, as many people know here in Boston, on Bunker Hill Capital, private equity firm located here in Boston, they took ownership of Smith Lensky back in oh seven, UM, pre recession
and then of course the recession. UM, their focus really was to kind of right the ship and position the company and UM very turbulent times. UM very difficult economy. UM luxury brands like Smith Lensky of course had to take a hard look at themselves and how to survive
in that atmosphere. And we really just stayed true to our our brand, the the integrity, the quality of the product in the service hospitality of course was a number one focus, and just UM making investments in our procedures and our tools to operate the business and kind of right the ship and make sure that the equity remained and that the company remained solid for future purchase UM which of course this past spring, UM dan new partners based in Dublin. Longtime fans of the brand, customers of
the brand UM. They like to get around about how they UM cut many deals cutting into Smith Valensky, staying over the past cup of decades, so huge admirers of the brand UM. They had known some of the key players both at Bunker Hill and in our operations and even in New York City, and UM really approached us to UM franchise the brand over in the UK and open the first international location, which they did back in two thousand fifteen. So what does this portend? More international expansion,
more US expansion. What's the business model like now for Smith and Olinsky, well, clearly they saw some value in the brand, enough so that they invested quite a bit of money to open in the UK with the intent of eventually buying the company outright. UM. If that went well and if the relationship remained and and everything um UM remained as positive as it was, they purchased the
brand back UM this this past spring. So now they own all the locations here in the US except New York City UM and then of course the London location, with the intent of first investing UM new capital and much needed funding and the locations that we have here in the US UM, then maybe exploring some new domestic opportunities in some major cities like we were talking about earlier here in the US, and then of course looking internationally, and just to look at the US footprint right now,
you've got Miami Beach, Chicago, Las Vegas, Columbus, Houston, and two in Boston. Is any of the funds. Are any of the funds going to be used to do renovation or build outs of existing location? Yes, as a matter of fact, we're beginning renovation plans for Miami Beach as we speak. UM. Construction should begin sometime very soon as
well as Columbus is next on the docket. We've also UM recently invested a great deal of funds in the Chicago location, both in renovations of the Smith Wilensky brand proper and then downstairs the launch of a new sort
of FETO concept. We call it Lensky's Grow. So, you know, it seems to be one of things Smith and Wolensky has that you know, you established the nineteen seventy and I think that's almost what forty years the whole Uh, the foodies in this country, so many people, so much more fine dying around the whole country, not just in a few major cities. So you have, it seems more demand, a bigger market potentially, but there's also so much competition.
How do you stay on top? How do you keep a brand premier and a brand that a company in Ireland would want to buy exactly exactly? And you know, and that's what we really faced during the post recession. You know, how how are we going to remain competitive?
There's so many new players in the marketplace, especially in the cities that we were in UM, and we took a hard look at ourselves and said, you know, what do we learn over that recessionary period, what do we learn about Smith and Lensky that remained a constant, remained a driver for the core customers that we were able to maintain. And it, you know, came down to a
few UM what I call brand pillars. It's about the quality of the product, the commitment to U s D A dry aging, hand butchering and dry aging on site, which a lot of steakhouse brands don't do. UM. We have a strategic partnership with a facility and i AA where we secure and procure the only the very best USDA Prime beef, m Black Angus beef. These folks are committed to family farm feeder UM relationships, so a network
of family farms located right outside of Iowa. So again committing to the product, the sustainability of it, the the quality of it, the hospitality itself, and then the integrity of the brand and and just committing you know, all of our resources and our attention around those brand pillars and not trying to be something that we're not UM and remaining true to our heritage and our brand that that's really sustained us and it's I think what Dan new saw in in our brand and the um growth
and potential in the future. Just quickly, just want to know. One of the other things that's changed in nineteen seventy seven are the prices. What does a what does a Smith of Olansky top tier state go for now? Um depends on the stake that you're talking about, but you know we're somewhere in their forty two range depending on the steak um. And again we are again still one of the only steakhouse friends that dry ages and hand butcher's on site. There's obviously an added expense to that process.
We believe it's something that differentiate to product and it's it's something that our customer appreciates. So it's something that we're willing to continue to invest in. Gets outside, stay on top and brow. You hold onto all the great traditions of the past. You upgrade the facilities more modern. Were beautiful. Chimlippine, thank you so much for joining you. Okay, thanks for joining us. Kicking off our live broadcast here Smith and Malensky, where she is senior vice president of marketing.
We're in Boston, down Atlantic work. Could you hear the seagulls in the background for a minute. Boy, oh boy, what a beautiful spot. I'm Kathleen Hayes along with pim Fox. This is Bloomberg coming up on taking Stock. Our conversation about behavioral finance, also new technology and the spending patterns of millennials. Can we look at the future of the financial services industry that's next