Interview with Mike Tauraso in Smart Company Mag

I know most of you may not be aware of a new publication in the area: Smart Company Magazine.  It is tailored more towards businesses in Frederick County, but since my “other blog” is a featured blog in their blog section, I thought I’d give them a highlight for a very nice interview with Mike Tauraso.

courtesy Smart Company Magazine

On His Terms: Restaurateur Mike Tauraso:
Starting with Service
By Larissa Newman

With a failure rate of close to 60 percent within the first three years, the restaurant industry is a risky frontier for new business owners. But Frederick resident Mike Tauraso, owner of downtown Frederick’s The Tasting Room, has proven that with the right strategies and fundamentals, successful restaurants are not only possible, but profitable.

Focusing on the market he knows best, Tauraso has operated four establishments in Frederick since entering the industry with his father to open Tauraso’s in 1986, which he ran for 10 years. He followed that successful enterprise with Luke’s pizzeria before launching The Tasting Room in 2001, Proof Artisan Bakery & Barista in 2004 and Black Hog BBQ in August 2008. Each restaurant embraces a different theme that works well in the Frederick eatery scene. Trained in the upscale Georgetown restaurant world, Tauraso admits, “The Tasting Room was cutting edge for Frederick. We had high-end martinis and all fresh ingredients. But business doubled in two years, and Frederick residents opened themselves up to it.” With Proof, it was more about having a place that people already knew as a bakery to make desserts and breads for his own restaurants. This kind of money-saving innovation makes Tauraso’s tactics stand out among restaurateurs.

His most recent project, Black Hog BBQ, was spawned from his self-description as a “weekend barbeque guy.” “I love that with barbeque, you can take the toughest piece of meat in the world and make it tender,” he says. And with a lack of Downtown barbeque joints, Black Hog seemed the perfect addition to the thriving locale. “Frederick gets bored,” Tauraso says. Mixing up the restaurant scene with new ideas keeps his establishments ahead of the trends and novel in the minds of local diners.

Learning the Business

Tauraso traces his passion for food to his Sicilian roots, crediting his family’s history of “breaking bread” together for his dedication to the restaurant business. “We would go to New York for the holidays, and everything revolved around food,” he recalls. “Italians could take nothing and make great food out of it.” His love for cooking led him to an early start in the business as a dishwasher and then a cook. After graduating from Johnson & Wales University, Tauraso moved to Washington, D.C., to practice and perfect his art. “I learned to cook all different types of high-end foods.”

Tauraso recalls that initially it was difficult to learn the needs of his customers. He also struggled with taking criticism constructively and adapting to customer feedback. Another challenge remains keeping prices affordable and products primo amid a time of quickly rising costs. While the temptation might be to sacrifice quality, Tauraso says that is never the direction a restaurant owner should go. “If you need to increase your bottom line, that is not the way to do it.” He suggests trying to save in other areas. Tauraso praises his cooks for their thrifty and cost-efficient ideas. “I have one cook who has figured ways to efficiently purchase and use peanut oil,” though its price has recently doubled. He also reminds owners to “watch your labor. Payroll needs to be constantly monitored, and you need to make sure the time clock is proper.”

While these practices cut costs, Tauraso stresses that owners should not be greedy. He attributes his accomplishments to a strong and competent staff. “What’s an extra dollar an hour to you for a cook who works hard all week? …You have to get good, hard-working people, show them direction, train them and pay them well, give them incentives, and they will work hard for you.” Acquiring these individuals comes from a good interview process; a restaurant owner or manager has to sit down and talk to an applicant to really understand their personality. “You can tell in two days whether they are going to work out.”

Tauraso’s achievements in the restaurant industry, though not easy, certainly prove that his method of entrepreneurship works. With a talented staff and a quality- and customer-minded business philosophy, he has made a reputable name for his restaurants in the community. Still, success truly comes from doing what you love, he says. “The money is good, but at the end of the day, it’s the cooking that’s satisfying.”

Pretty sure we need to go to the Black Hog soon. I ran into him a month or so ago with his dad at the Tasting Room. He told me he’d heard the feedback that there wasn’t enough smoke flavor in the meat through his employees reading this blog. I feel the need to find out for myself.

~LizFrog~