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Savannah Favorites Unphased By Growth

There might be a number of professions in this world where 11:00am is considered early. Owning and running a restaurant is definitely one of them. While half of the population is scrolling through Twitter trying to figure out what they are doing for lunch, Donald Lubowicki and Jeffery Downey are many times just pulling back the curtain, if you will, on their popular spot on Whitaker Street, Circa 1875. It’s not at all uncommon to see them standing out front watering their plants, signing invoices for product or just generally keeping everything around their space tidy. Clearly, they take a ton of pride in what they are doing now in year five running a French Bistro. Eight years in the adjacent Gastropub before that. They are watching the food scene in Savannah blossom. Creating more competition for the entertainment dollar. But they, like a good number of others operating restaurants in Savannah’s Historic District, aren’t really phased by it.

Every week we open up the newspaper, or flip open a magazine, and read about Savannah’s popularity. New development, new construction, new retail, and new restaurant. With every new restaurant, the battle for your food dollar becomes less like a friendly game of checkers and more like the Daytona 500. Readers of Food and Wine Magazine might hop a flight on Jet Blue to come down for a weekend to eat at The Grey, given their nod as one of America’s 5 Best New Restaurants. Someone in Atlanta may decide to drive down here for a weekend just to try The Florence and see what Celebrity Chef Hugh Acheson is doing with Italian food. The restaurant owners I’ve spoken to over the last six to nine months all tell me they are excited about it. They welcome the competition and essentially agree that a “high tide raises all ships”.

“We met our goal this year, which was to open our wine cellar every single night”, Lubowicki says. “We are up this year about 35%.” No surprise there. Circa 1875 has a significant following in Savannah. I’ve always included them in the dialogue with the places I refer to as the “Mount Rushmore” of restaurants in this city. Elizabeth on 37th, The Olde Pink House, Garibaldi, Sapphire Grill, Vic’s on the River, Local 11ten and others have been delivering excellence in this city roughly since the day they opened their doors. They are mainstays on any visitor’s culinary agenda. There is an expectation with these restaurants. They all know it, but none put any extra pressure on themselves.

Overall, one would think that with so many new places to eat, traffic would be slowing down. That these fixtures on Savannah’s “foodscape” would be losing market share. Those I spoke to said that isn’t the case at all.  If anything the demand for better food is on the rise. “The caliber of tourist has improved dramatically”, Lubowicki says. His chef agrees “On my way into work every day, I see the tour buses are full”, says Executive Chef David Landrigan. “You are seeing foot traffic on Liberty Street that you didn’t see before”, he adds. Which is definitely true. More people are visiting the city. Official numbers hover around 13 million last year, but are their habits changing?

“I do know that people are staying longer”, says Jason Restivo, Food and Beverage Manager at Garibaldi, another long standing Savannah establishment. Restivo has the benefit of operating some vacation rentals with his wife downtown, so he has a front row seat. He says the average stay according to data he has seen is just over four days. “They say we can’t go to Savannah for two days anymore because there are more places we have to go”, Restivo says. “They are still going to go to The Grey, but no one is coming to Savannah for a day. It doesn’t scare me”. Most would agree, do what you do, do it well and you will be fine. The other side of the coin is we are seeing some restaurants put a few more dollars into marketing and advertising, just to try to keep themselves on the radar.

“The pie isn’t getting any smaller”, says Willie Tuten, owner of Tondee’s Tavern on Bay Street. “The more restaurants that open, the smaller our share of the pie we get”, he says. As a result, Tuten has begun operating a food booth on River Street during First Saturday festivals and holidays like the 4th of July. Not only is it a decent source of revenue, but it also allows him to put his product in front of visitors that may not know where he is on Bay Street, near Bull. “It’s amazing how many people just walk right on by down to the river and don’t even know we are here”, he says. “After the 4th of July, we had a ton of people come through the restaurant.”

No matter who you talk to downtown, the ones doing it the best are the ones taking the time to tend to the locals. They will all tell you tourists may come and go, and everyone deserves a great dining experience, but restaurant owners are happiest when the locals are happy. “Sometimes they get upset in season”, Lubowicki says. “I tell them we sold out two weeks ago and they say ‘yeah, but we are locals’. Ok, do you want me to build another table and put it on the ceiling”? These are certainly good problems to have and indicators of a solid restaurant, but sometimes they just can’t connect the dots for you. At the end of the day, these are businessmen and women who want to make everyone happy. Sometimes it’s next to impossible. “We treat our guests like family members”, he says.

Hotels downtown are going up as fast as someone can pour concrete. Some are about to open their doors, others are just about to jump off of the drawing board and into reality. It’s estimated that by 2020, which is just four and a half years away, Chatham County will have about 17,500 hotel rooms. Up from the current 15,000. That’s quite a bit for a city our size.

The new guys and gals will continue to show up on the scene looking to step Savannah up to a new level food-wise, and the solid engines that got us to this point will keep doing their thing. “Five-thousand restaurants and five-thousand cafes will open around us”, Restivo says. “The focus is never going to be, are we giving up ground. The focus is always going to be, are we doing what we are supposed to be doing…which is taking care of our guests and taking care of our staff”.  Lubowicki agrees. “There is no reason why this town shouldn’t be on the map of destination places in the world to come to.”

See you on TV.

Jesse

 

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