June 2003
wining & dining
UPDATING THE STEAKHOUSE CONCEPT AND GIVING WINE EQUAL BILLING HAS FLEMING'S PRIME STEAKHOUSE & WINE BAR ON A NATIONWIDE ROLL
BY BOB KEANE
PHOTOGRAPHY DEBORAH MICHAEL RADKE
Just the name of the place
lets you know that the experience is about more than meat and
potatoes. The restaurant is called Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine
Bar. For most of the other chains and independents in this
segment of the business, the image is all about the beef. 
Marian Jansen op de Haar, wine director, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar.
And with its emphasis on aged USDA prime corn-fed beef, hand-cut daily into steaks in each restaurant, Fleming's is certainly a contender in that arena. But it's with the other half of the title--"wine bar"-- that Fleming's, with its selection of 100 wines by the glass, takes a bold move to set itself apart from other concepts with a similar menu. In the markets where Fleming's has opened so far, that point of emphasis has found an enthusiastic audience. According to wine director Marian Jansen op de Haar, around 27% of all Fleming's sales volume comes from wine alone (sales of all other beverages account for about another seven or eight % of the company's total).
"Without question, our wine program creates a unique point
of differentiation and has become an integral part of the dining
experience at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar," says
chain co-founder Bill Allen. That point of differentiation
has won the chain accolades from a wide variety of sources,
including the 2003 Cheers Award For Beverage Excellence--Best
Chain Restaurant Wine Program. 
The Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar was launched in December 1998 in Huntington Beach, CA, by industry veterans Paul Fleming and Bill Allen. Fleming's background includes a dozen years as an operator of Ruth's Chris Steakhouses and the development of the Z'Tejas Grills and P.F. Chang's concepts, while Allen made his mark with Marriott and as ceo of the La Madeleine French Bakery and Café and Koo Koo Roo chains. To date, Fleming's is a chain comprised of 18 units and ambitious expansion plans call for another five to seven openings each year. The corporate business structure is comprised of a series of partnerships, with ownership divided among Allen and Fleming, Outback Steakhouse and a number of regional partners as well as managers and chefs of individual restaurants who also have an ownership stake in the enterprise.
"We founded Fleming's on the premise that a steakhouse need
not be expensive, stuffy nor an exclusive domain for men, and
what we have created is a dining experience that is as equally
appealing to women and couples," says Allen. "We offer fine
food and a broad selection of wine within a comfortable environment
that is further complemented by attentive and knowledgeable
service. Since its inception, response has been strong and
Fleming's has quickly evolved into the neighborhood steakhouse." 
The menu of steaks (filet mignon, ribeye, NY strip), chops (veal, Australian lamb, pork rib) and seafood (charred salmon fillet, grilled swordfish, tuna mignon, almond cilantro crusted shrimp, seared curry scallops, lobster tails, king crab legs), certainly gives diners a wide array of appetizing entrees, but it's Fleming's wines that keep them thirsting for more. At Fleming's, all aspects of the wine program fall under the jurisdiction of wine director Marian Jansen op de Haar.
"The thing that makes us most different is probably the size of our list and the fact that you can get everything by the glass," says Jansen. "And the price is the same whether you buy a 2-oz. Taste, a glass or the entire bottle."
"I guess another difference is that we keep our wines at the right temperature so that they are served properly to the guest. The reds are at 60 (°F) and whites at about 45(°F). And we open only one bottle at a time."
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE WINE
With
18 units currently operating and a schedule that calls for
an average of six more restaurants each year, Fleming's has
ambitions to truly be a national chain. But a national restaurant
mindset doesn't always make for the best results when it comes
to wine. A sufficient supply of a release from a highly desirable
vineyard or of a small bottling from an excellent vintage often
isn't available to meet the needs of a chain, even one of this
still-modest size. For this reason, only about half of the
Fleming's wine list is mandated chainwide. "We have 100 wines
by glass and a reserve list of 80 to 100 wines, which are wines
in limited supply and only available by the bottle," explains
Jansen. "Fifty of those by the glass are national and the other
50 are ones the wine manager can choose according to some basic
rules."
Jansen is well suited to her current role in charge of Fleming's highly visible wine program. She claims two decades of professional wine experience and brings a background that includes wine retailing and wholesaling in addition to time as a sommelier, restaurant manager and cook.
As wine director she explains that ultimately it is her responsibility to see that the lists in all the chain's restaurants are balanced for taste profile, origin and price point. With a few exceptions, by-the-glass prices range from $5 to $16.
"The list needs to have variations," she says. "We can't
have all Napa Valley chardonnays with the same taste profile
and price point." 
To achieve that balance, Jansen looks around the world for the best selections. She explains that about 75% of the list is American wines, predominantly from California but with a significant representation from Oregon and Washington as well. France, Australia and Italy are well represented among the imports. When talking about what's new in the wine world, Jansen mentions Australia, South America and South Africa and the south of France as regions to look at. "For us that would probably mean one wine on the list," she explains.
"And although for several years we've listed 'white wines of interest' to show alternatives to chardonnay, this year for first time we created a 'red wines of interest' section," she explains. "It's for sangiovese, malbec ...those kinds of grapes," she says. "You know about 50% of the people that come in want to try something new. I think that they are ready to try something new."
As is the case with many chain and independent steakhouses, wine dinners are a regular feature at Flemings. "We do three national dinners with different wineries every year," says Jansen. "We also do a varietal dinner, where we feature different styles and producers of the same grape and then the local restaurants can also have their own dinners. This allows them to have a winemaker or winery owner come in who might not be able to work with all 18 restaurants.
TRAINING MAKES IT WORK
Fleming's
shows it's serious about wine by including it in the restaurant
name. But that and having 100 wines available by the glass
isn't quite enough. If a restaurant is going to stake it's
reputation on wine that it has to make certain that it can
live up to the promise and there's only one way for that¸--training.
"When it comes to wine I train everybody in the company--servers, bartenders, managers, general managers, partners," says Jansen. "I just certified our president/ceo, which shows how seriously we take it.
"For servers and bartenders I do extensive training when we open, she continues. Unlike a traditional steakhouse where a knowledge of spirits and mixed drinks is requisite behind the bar, Fleming's really is a wine bar. According to Jansen people often come into enjoy a glass or two of wine in the bar without necessarily staying for dinner. In a situation like that it's imperative that the bartender understand wine and be able to talk about it as well.
FLEMING'S FACTS
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COMPANY OFFICERS
BILL ALLEN, President & CEO TOM SWIFT, Real Estate Director JENNIFER CLARKE, Training & Development Director RUSSELL SKALL, Corporate Chef
FOUNDED December 1998
WINES 100 By The Glass; another 80 to 100 Reserve wines by bottle only.
CHECK AVERAGE $45/person
HEADQUARTERS Newport Beach, CA |
LOCATIONS Austin,
TX |
"We also use a wine education DVD. When I do training for openings it's two hours a day for three days with a certification test after. We use a workbook that I developed, but most importantly, we do blind tasting. We taste about 10 wines a day."
Since
she obviously can't be in all the units all the time, Jansen
has taken steps to see that the training program continues
well after the restaurant's initial opening. She's trained
wine managers so that they can keep the training of restaurant
staff as an ongoing process. "They do weekly tastings at the
restaurants," she explains. "We taste 30 wines in the initial
sessions. That means there are 70 left. The wine managers taste
through those with the staff and then, of course, as new wines
are added, they taste those as well."
The dedication to continue wine education as an ongoing part of the process, combined with a wide selection of wines at a variety of price points and a proven menu are key elements in Fleming's formula for success. But the most important thing to remember is this: "We sell a lot wine," says Jansen. "Mostly by glass." And that pretty much says it all
SELECTIONS FROM
FLEMING'S 100 WINES
BY THE GLASS
RED WINESGamay/Pinot Noir Louis
Jadot, Beaujolais-Villages, Argyle, Willamette Valley, 2000 Byron, Santa Maria Valley, 1999
Sangiovese/
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WHITE WINES Champagne/
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