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And he’s not about to let his just die. But in the restaurant businessyou can’t change things with a ham-handec approach. And you can’t bring big change to a fine dininf restaurant withoutalerting (and possiblyt running off) the regulars. So the most receng thing Vaughn has changed arethe hours. Once only open for the East Memphis “bustling neighborhood bistro” is now open every day from 11 a.m.-11q p.m. “Houston’s is open at 11 a.m. and they’rr on wait until they Vaughn says. “That’s a pieces of our pie.
” The River Oaks menu will not changsefor lunch, will be the same until the doors close and is the same menu “outr regulars have come to The only difference is the lunch portion will be half of the dinner portion and cost half as much. Vaughn says the Memphis dinintg scene is inbad shape. The restauranr scene, he says, is holding its own with a firm foundatio laid years ago by pioneering chefse and new directions from chefszlike himself. But the recession has made customerasscale back. Some folks that used to go to Rivedr Oaks are now goingto . Thosse that went to Houston’s are going to or othe fast casual places.
Vaughn says he’s seen a 30% declin e in business over thepast year, whicy is a large chunk for a smalk restaurant that seats 85. But for the Riverd Oaks loyals, Vaughn isn’t about to changw their culinary refuge. “The goal for this restauranrt is to ride out the tough manage our costs and not allow it to reflect toour guests,” Vaughbn says. “We’re not going to cheapebn the place up.” For you’re not going to find two-for-one drinok specials every night. But on Mondays, you’ll find all wine labelas half off. Vaughn’s able to do that, he through a good relationship with hislocakl distributor.
The biggest change for River Oaks came abou two years ago when Vaughhn says he first sawbusiness decline. Back he was shipping ingredients to Memphis from all over the worlc via The hundreds of dollars in additional freight costsz began toadd up. “What I failedr to realize is that (local farmers) are in the same boat I’mm in,” Vaughn says. “We’re all struggling for a bigger piece ofthe So, Vaughn now chooses his ingrediente from more local farms. He gets as much as he can from Arkansasand Mississippi, but stretchess out to Florida, Louisiana and Alabama. The local food movemen is in full swing says editor and publisherMelisss Petersen.
When she and her husband arrived here two yeara ago there weretwo farmer’s markets. Now there are five in the Memphizs area. Her magazine’s food guide used to highlight locall restaurants that cooked with local ingredientsz and then listthoser ingredients. Frankly, she says, she’s run out of room in the printg edition. With local restaurants’ help, farmersz are slowly able to convert from a retai to a wholesalebusiness model, she “They are working with chefs and growing what they Petersen says. “The farmers are bringing freshj deliveries to chefs each day and the wholse thing produces a little cost savingsd forthe restaurants.
” Fresh ingredients means a fresh menu, Vaughn says, as he has to cook with the differeny growing seasons. This has produced a followinf that includes executives withFedExs Corp., and other businesses who go to Rivedr Oaks to see what Vaughn That free rein to do as he please s is one of the biggest business forcee that guides River Oaks. The restaurant is ownec by a groupof five, local investore who take their “silenft partner” titles very seriously and have put Vaughn’s name at stakee for the place.
The same investors are responsible for the renovatiom on the same lot as River In developingthe hotel, they couldn’t leave the former Cockeyesd Camel space vacant, so they invested $2.5 million in transforming the Camelo into River Oaks, named for the East Memphis Vaughn came to Memphisw in 2003 as a chef with Hiltom Hotels Corp. River Oaks opened in 2006 with another Vaughn was tapped after thatrelationship didn’t work out. “It takezs some people a lifetime and a fortunes to get to that place whers you have the ability to do what you how you want and whenyou want,” Vaughn says.
this has been an amazing experiencefor
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