Word: batali
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That's a great idea!" he says with mock enthusiasm. "Just past the bar, next to the piano player. You too can buy throwaway aprons in the gift shop. Have your picture taken with the likeness of Mario Batali...
...huge pizza oven ... So let's make sure we have 20 of them there, and we can use them all day." Turning your restaurant into a marketing tool works if you're Hard Rock Cafe, but it isn't clear how well it works at the high end. Batali seems to have few qualms: when an assortment of spoons, turners, ladles and skimmers is shown for his approval, Batali says, "All of this will be on display at Mozza in Los Angeles, and it will sell infinitely...
Confidence is a requirement of someone who works with flame, but Batali sometimes slips into an overconfident caricature, the boor at the center of the room. Later that night he will tell Lagasse about a poorly attended cooking demo he did at last year's housewares show for a distracted crowd. It had been a running joke this weekend that few people had come last year, but now Batali let loose: "I'm like, 'Do you know how much people in New York would pay to f______ stand where you're standing?'" Batali was giggling, and everyone doubled over...
Back in the product meeting, someone suggests selling a Batali apron "at a stand in your restaurants." Finally, Batali draws the line at marketing himself...
...Batali's cookware has sold well since it was launched last year. The 2005 products were anchored around three cast-iron pieces--a 6-qt. pot, a grill press and a lasagna pan large enough to bathe an infant in. "It was the most successful launch of cast iron I've had in my career," says Marjorie Daugherty, the cookware buyer for Crate & Barrel. "We sold 6,000 pieces in the fall, and it was out for January and February." She also believes "Mario's are the best wooden tools on the market...