Case Study
Ethan Stowell Restaurant Group Case Study
Seattle, WA
About the Project
The Gilkey team and owner Ethan Stowell previously worked together on projects in 2014 and 2015. More recently Ethan Stowell Restaurants opened a restaurant larger than a typical Stowell Restaurant thus engaging the Gilkey team in assisting in opening Cortina, a 200-seat Seattle restaurant.
The Challenge
In addition to training a larger staff and coordinating a larger opening, Cortina is at the base of an office tower, which enjoys an impressive happy hour business. The Gilkey team assisted the bar manager in developing a plan to handle the volume in a timely manner.
Our Solution
The Gilkey team began with a kickoff meeting with the ESR executive team and Cortina restaurant management team determining ideal outcomes and planning activities that would achieve these desired outcomes. Over the next 3 months the Gilkey team lead bi-weekly meetings with the ESR executive team and Cortina management team, guiding them through the development of enhanced operating procedures, new store opening training materials, daily training objectives and new restaurant launch. In addition, the Gilkey team worked with the bar manager to streamline bar operations without sacrificing quality standards, resulting in a cocktail list that could be produced quickly and meet their extensive happy hour program.
Services Provided
Service provided by the Gilkey group included management team training and organization, corporate operations manual updates, new store opening training materials, leading and directing new store training, high volume bar operating procedures.