Meet the Admirable Rebecca Banks, Beverage Director at Keith McNally’s Restaurant Group, New York, NY
When it came time to interview Rebecca Banks, I found myself very nervous. Why, you may ask? I am not exactly sure, but maybe since I consider Rebecca a close friend, I wanted the interview to go exceptionally well. However, Rebecca’s warm and humble personality quickly calmed the ‘butterflies’ in my stomach.
Rebecca and I first met at the International Wine Center about ten years ago when we were both studying for our Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Advanced Certificate and have been friends ever since. Her background and journey are very interesting, and I thought I should share her story.
Being a fashion-buff myself, I find it very interesting that before starting out in the hospitality industry, you worked in fashion. Tell me more about your fashion background:
Rebecca Banks: I graduated from Moore College of Art and Design (Philadelphia) in 1995 with a BFA in Fashion Design, determined to make it in the fashion industry. By 1999, I started working as the assistant to the head designer at Dana Buchman, a division of Liz Claiborne. After six years of taking coffee orders and making dinner reservations, I decided to quit my fashion assistant job.
Shortly after leaving Dana Buchman, I started my new role as a styling assistant in film. I found myself working on styling jobs, prop styling, and photoshoots for catalogs, such as Sears. I lived in Murray Hill at the time and every Saturday, I would take a walk to Union Square Wines, where they used to host weekly wine tastings. Every single Saturday, I would go to the market, stop over at Union Square Wines, taste several different wines, talk to winemakers and usually buy a bottle of something to take home. It was really fascinating to me. I started taking wine classes with Andrea Immer Robinson who was teaching the ‘Fundamentals of Wine’ at the French Culinary Institute, which is now the International Culinary Institute. I found myself really enjoying the wine classes. This is when I started to think that I could potentially be a food stylist.
In 2004, I enrolled in the International Culinary Institute for a 9-month program. While at ICI, I enrolled in a wine class taught by Geoff Kruth, who was the assistant to Chris Goodhart, the Beverage Director at Balthazar at that time. Geoff shared many amazing stories with the class about his experience working with wine at restaurants and as a wine writer. At the end of the program, Geoff mentioned a possible internship at Balthazar. I was intrigued and asked him: “What is this? What can I do?” He told me to stop by the restaurant. So, I did. I met with him and Chris and Geoff told me up front: “There is no money. You have to schlep boxes, unpack and restock.” It didn’t matter to me. I was excited and responded: “Great! When can I start?”
I started my internship at Balthazar in 2005. The position went from an unpaid internship to a paid part-time job, and eventually a full-time opportunity opened-up later that year. There were constantly new lists to work on and new people to train. It’s been almost 15 years and my role continues to evolve. It afforded me the opportunity to progress with my wine studies and allowed me to get my WSET Diploma in 2011.
You oversee the Beverage Program in all five McNally’s restaurants: Balthazar, Morandi, Augustine, Minetta Tavern and Lucky Strike. How do you do it all?
Rebecca Banks: I don’t (laughter). Each restaurant is very different. Balthazar requires the most day-to-day maintenance and I spend the most time there. Which is fine, because I am at my best there; that’s where my desk is and that’s where I started. Balthazar is my passion. It has the biggest list AND it’s all French! “I love that list!” We move a lot of wine there so I'm constantly trying new things.
Balthazar at 80 Spring Street in New York City
Morandi is all Italian. Stefano Connena is the manager there and has a lot of experience in high-end restaurants. He’s from Italy. He knows his wines and his regions. He’s on the floor and he trains staff and really knows how to present and move product. I rely on him to help me rotate the Morandi list, and to keep the wine list fresh and exciting.
With Augustine, it’s still fairly new. We have started to evolve a bit toward an Austrian feel. Our goal is to rebrand Augustine and give it new life. The changes will be slow, and well-thought out. We have already begun adding Austrian specialty cocktails on the list.
At Minetta Tavern, I can’t change it too much because it’s our steak house. There are certain things I have to have. I have to stay classic. I am trying to infuse some coolness in there. The manager at Minetta helps with the day-to-day (inventory, restocking etc…).
Lucky Strike is a fun bar/restaurant and I work closely with the general manager. She is great about letting me know if something isn’t moving. We do a lot of fun things with the happy hour there. The list is tiny and easy to work with.
What do you find to be the biggest challenge in your position?
Rebecca Banks: The biggest challenge is time management. How do I balance the different needs of each restaurant, the needs of the respective teams, and, of course, the needs of my family? It is an ongoing challenge. Sometimes, it seems effortless and other times, the complete opposite. If one little thing goes wrong, it can disrupt things in all of the restaurants, like a domino effect. I just have to keep calm. There is always some issue that needs to be dealt with, but that’s what makes this business so addictive. “It’s never boring!” Some things I have control over; such as what we are pricing our wine and drinks at, but I don’t necessarily have control over sales. I can always do more training. The staff is always hungry for something to grab onto to sell.
It is becoming increasingly more challenging to run a restaurant and even more so to have a profitable one. The beverage program is a big piece of the pie, so I have a huge responsibility to make sure that our numbers are on point every single month. I run a very tight program: “No free-flowing Champagne!” I don’t think anybody can do that anymore. I believe in having a price point for everyone; whether you spend $20 or $2,000, but you’ll walk out happy. That’s always the goal.
How involved are you with the reopening of Pastis?
Rebecca Banks: The upcoming reopening of Pastis is a joint venture between the McNally’s and Starr Restaurant Groups. I was involved as a consultant at first, making sure to keep the McNally’s theme and worked on developing the cocktail and beer program. I’ve since stepped back a bit and Charles Puglia, Beverage Director of Le Coucou (part of the Starr group) has taken over the list. I just wanted to make sure we all felt good about keeping in line with the original concept of Pastis, while still moving in a forward direction.
The expectations are very high in terms of the menu, wine list, the décor, the location. Everything is going to be under a microscope, given the memories people have of the “old” Pastis. We used to have 100 wines on the list. It will be a bit bigger now, yet very accessible, along with some gems on there as well. The first orientation has already taken place. However, I am not exactly sure when it will open. I feel good about the joint venture. It’s something different. I really like everybody that’s involved.
I am glad we are meeting at Augustine because there’s been some changes. Tell me more about that:
Augustine at the Beekman Hotel in New York City
Rebecca Banks: We hired a new executive chef in August 2018, Chef Marcus Glocker (born and raised in Austria), who is still affiliated with Bâtard (a Modern European restaurant located in Tribeca). Chef Marcus has made some tweaks to the menu. It still has a French feel, but Austrian influences are evident. We now have goulash, spaetzle, and other typical Austrian dishes on the menu, but the biggest changes were made to the dessert menu. With additions like sacher torte and a few other Austrian specialties, we, of course, needed to bring in some Austrian wines. We added a small Austrian selection both by the glass and by the bottle. We have a Grüner Veltliner and a Blaufränkisch by the glass. It’s been a lot of fun, because that’s been a category of wine that I haven’t worked with much.
I always enjoy visiting any of the five McNally’s restaurants. If you find yourself near any one of them, stop in and enjoy a great craft cocktail or an exceptional wine methodically selected by my good friend Rebecca.
Cheers,
Anna
