Mark Pascal and Francis Schott, Owners, The Restaurant Guys Podcast, Stage Left Steak & Catherine Lombardi Restaurants

Mark Pascal and Francis Schott, owners of Stage Left Steak & Catherine Lombardi Restaurants and hosts of The Restaurant Guys Podcast, spoke to Invest: about the dining industry in New Brunswick. According to them, this cosmopolitan city acts as a benchmark in community engagement and diversity, despite the challenge of high costs of labor.

What is your overview of the dining sector in New Brunswick, and how has your experience with your restaurants influenced your perception of the city?

Francis Schott: 

Mark and I started working as bartenders in a New Brunswick restaurant called the Frog and the Peach, which is still around. We opened Stage Left in 1992 with 50 seats. It soon went on to become one of the most sought-after restaurants in the state and expanded to 125 seats. We expanded the first floor of our building for Stage Left, and in 2005, we took over the second floor to open our second restaurant, Catherine Lombardi.

In February 2005, we began our podcast on a live local radio show WCTC. We were pioneers of the podcast industry, uploading our recorded shows to iTunes for eight years straight. After a brief break, we started posting again last July, and we’re now among the top 2% of podcasts in the world again.

When we first started, we were really embraced by the city. We passed from having 50 seats to owning two restaurants with 125 seats each and a wine shop on that corner of the city — we are thriving, and the city is too. 

As part of the major redevelopment program for downtown New Brunswick, The Heldrich Hotel opened across the street in 2006. The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, right next door, is brand new (2019), and The State Theater, which is 100 years old, continues to improve since its first renovation about the time that we opened 33 years ago.

Restaurants play an important role in the redevelopment of cities. Our industry provides a living for all levels of workers, including entry-level and provides working-class jobs.

The goal was not to push people aside as a consequence of the redevelopment of the city. As a result, today we have a thriving working-class community. Restaurants are relevant for the economic development of a city, considering the entry-level jobs and social mobility that the industry offers. Most of the chefs and restaurant owners I know started as dishwashers.

Mark Pascal: 

New Brunswick has always been a thriving city. In the late sixties, a lot of cities went through some difficult times; New Brunswick was not immune to that. In the early 80s, New Brunswick began a resurgence, then James Cahill became mayor in 1990, and we opened Stage Left in 1992. Some other good restaurants followed suit, as well as the opening of the three theaters in Theater Row, where we are located. It all started to build a beautiful, blossoming city.

Francis and I got here in 1983, and we watched the city reemerge into this absolutely beautiful cultural center, where food and theater merge with the university and the medical field. All these things are happening in the city.

Since 1983, we have watched the city reemerge into an absolutely beautiful cultural center, where food and theater converge, alongside a well-renowned university and life science center.

The building we are in is a hundred years old, which speaks to the history of the city — how it maintains its historic charm, while re-blossoming as a remarkably cosmopolitan city.

What are your insights into the diverse culture in New Brunswick, and how does that enrich the dining experience in the city? 

Mark Pascal: 

Over the last 100 years, different waves of immigrant populations and ethnicities have come through, working their way through. In New Brunswick, it started with the Hungarian population. It exploded in the 1950s because Johnson & Johnson advocated for job opportunities for immigrants in New Brunswick.

Today, some of their kids are still here. You can see a little piece of different cultures, such as Hungarian, Italian, Irish, and Latino cultures.

Francis Schott: 

New Brunswick is one of the best examples of urban redevelopment in America right now. The community is strong and present in the working class in New Brunswick.

Ever since 1985, the city has recognized the importance of community engagement to reduce crime and harassment problems in New Brunswick. An example is The Sidewalk Café program for New Brunswick Restaurants. The idea was to put as many good citizens on the street as possible, which builds a vibrant opportunity for the businesses, bakeries, and grocery stores to have people on the street. That’s how you take a neighborhood back.

What inspired you to merge your experience with a podcast? How has this influenced your approach to New Brunswick?

Mark Pascal: 

We were always engaged in the community in New Brunswick. I think part of the reason people want to listen to the podcast is because of the engagement we’ve had with our customers and our community.

Francis Schott: 

At the time that we started in the craft cocktail scene, New York City, London, and Chicago were at the forefront, and it would take years for the trends to propagate out to the smaller cities.

When we opened, New Brunswick was about six years behind Manhattan in the dining and drinking trends. Our restaurant was only about eight months behind Manhattan trends, thanks to our social network within the restaurant business community.

That drove a lot of attention to the city, because we were doing cutting-edge stuff and we weren’t even in New York. Once the podcast got more attention, it also had a huge following in the industry in New Brunswick. I think that we add to the cosmopolitan nature of New Brunswick. We bring the world to New Brunswick. We even bring amazing world-class chefs to the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center through our live performances of The Restaurant Guys podcast.

What is the main challenge faced by restaurateurs at this time, and how are you navigating through these?

Mark Pascal: 

Definitely, it’s the cost of goods and services and the cost of labor. Keeping it at a place that people can afford. The cost of labor has exponentially increased in the last five years. People falsely think that the tipped employees’ minimum wage is a reduced rate of $5.62 an hour, but the total earnings must meet the standard minimum wage of $15.49 an hour, just like any other employee. The restaurant employer is responsible for making up the difference. Tipped employees make the same minimum earnings as everybody else.