i-SPY hospitality interviews Melissa Scully of Garces Restaurant Group

Melissa Scully has been a professional in the restaurant industry for 15 years. After managing a number of Stephen Starr’s restaurants she assisted James Beard Award-winning chef Jose Garces open Amada. Today, Melissa is Vice President of Operations for Jose’s burgeoning restaurant empire, Garces Restaurant Group.

Marc Kravitz: What was it that attracted you to a career in the restaurant industry?

Melissa: I was passionate about food from a very young age. It just sort of clicked for me. I haven’t thought about a career in anything else. I wouldn’t even know what i would be doing if I wasn’t in the restaurant business. My mother’s family is Italian so food was always a big part of our home life. I was so curious when we went out to a restaurant. “What was everyone going to order? What did their food taste like?” I kind of stumbled upon this as a career, realizing I could make a career out of this, and I loved food maybe more than most people.

MK: You went from managing a number of Stephen Starr’s restaurants to Jose Garces. What is it like for you, as Vice President of Operations, working for one of the most successful and influential restaurateurs in the country?

Melissa:  I am very lucky to have fallen along the path I have gone, going from working for Stephen. I have been really fortunate. I was at the right place at the right time. Being a hard worker didn’t hurt. Both experiences were very gratifying. Working for Jose is unique and a little more satisfying for me because i know that i have more autonomy. Our managers have more autonomy working for Jose. They have been hired to do a job that they are considered to be professionals at and are trusted to do their jobs. Processes move a little quicker when there’s a little bit less tape and more autonomy and I think that’s how we’ve been able to grow so quickly and so successfully is because we are relying on many, many of our employees and not just a few key people to keep it moving. So it’s gratifying for me, and I would say for all of our managers. They have a voice. It’s pretty motivating. 

MK: What is typical day in the life for someone in your position, if there is such a thing?

Melissa: I am always working in some capacity or another, whether I am physically in a restaurant or in the office, I am always working and always available. Our operators are very independent so its not as stressful as it might seem. I work five or six days every week, and spend most of my mornings in the office orchestrating admin work I have, and I spend my nights every night in one restaurant. I try to spend one full night of service in each restaurant each week.

MK: So you are always keeping yourself in the heat of the battle.

Melissa: I am always in operations. I can’t imagine being able to function without physically being in the restaurants and seeing what’s happening. Our managers need support, they need advice, they need to be given direction all the time. We have another director so our network of support is growing. Right now, we are spending, in terms of administrative stuff, a ton of time strengthening the infrastructure, trying to implement solid systems and training manuals and handbooks in an effort to prepare ourselves for when we move into other markets hopefully. So right now as a company we are spending a ton of time together trying to build a foundation to keep us going for the growth that’s to come. I just find a way to be in the restaurants every day to watch service and keep operations running.

MK: It lets the rest of the staff know, although you are the head person in charge you are there in the restaurants and know what’s going on.

Melissa: As we get bigger you want to remember what you were when you started. When it was just Amada, it was a pretty small restaurant. Everybody gets a real sense of what Jose’s about, of what the culture of the company is. And over the course of time, if they don’t see those of us that maybe started it they may lose a sense of what it really means. So for me, its about being there and making sure that the culture is identified and the people really know who they’re working for and what they’re working for and they feel like there’s a face to it all.

MK: You are one of the most respected managers in your field. What advice would you give someone aspiring to reach your success? What’s your philosophy?

Melissa: One of the keys for me has been to be humble, to get in there and try to do the right thing all of the time. I try to set a good example for everyone, I hope that people understand the standards that they’re being held to are standards we are all holding ourselves to and you have to be able to admit when you need help and when you don’t always know the right answer. It’s hospitality, it’s a humbling business, and the sooner you grasp that the better you become and for me that is what has kept me grounded and helps make me valuable, which is my goal, i want to be valuable to my employer and I try to do the right thing all the time. That’s what I would recommend to anybody.

MK: When you go out to eat what is the number one mistake that you see restaurant operators make?

Melissa: I think customers tend to be taken for granted, sometimes I think that level of hospitality is something that is really taken for granted. There are so many pressures for operators to maintain and achieve profitability and just recover from one service to the next as far as staffing and product and all those things, in the shuffle I think the customers get lost. I think there’s probably not as great interpersonal relationships between the operators and the customers, and that’s kind of key.

MK: What projects are in the near future for Garces Restaurant Group?

Melissa: We’re getting ready to roll-out Guapos Tacos which will be a taco truck that moves around the city, probably more late-night hours. We’re trying to host special events, people that want to book the truck to come to parties and things like that. Eventually, it will be a full-time operation with lunch hours and dinner hours. That’s the next big project for us. Beyond that we’re still working towards Froman’s Wurst House in the late spring and then after that we’re looking to venture into other markets.

MK: Will the taco truck be a random Tweet announcing locations?

Melissa: It’s going to start that way. It’s going to start on a lean, occasional late-night operation where we say, we’re gonna be here tonight, and we’re gonna try to hook up with other good bars and popular areas for late night. We’re trying to be a little stationary but a little satellite at the same time. We’re kind of hoping to put ourselves on a lunch schedule where every Monday we’re somewhere downtown and every Tuesday we’re somewhere. But late nights we’ll be like, check us out, here’s where we’ll be tonight and it will be a huge social media reach-out, Twitter and all that stuff.

MK: And when you’re not eating at one of Jose’s restaurants, what are some of your favorite places to eat lately?

Melissa: I always love Osteria. We love Barclay Prime. And I think my favorite new BYOB is Fond. I live down there, that neighborhood is awesome.

Marc Kravitz is the founder of i-SPY hospitality. i-SPY is a quality assurance mystery shop partner with preeminent Award-winning restaurant organizations, including Stephen Starr’s Starr Restaurant Organization, Jose Andres’ Think Food Group and Jose Garces’ Garces Restaurant Group.

Contact Marc at marc@ispy4u.net or 215.779.0529