Welcome everyone to the State of City (Winery). And like Biden did this week, I am here to report the state of City Winery is strong. And like Lebron did this week, I am here to humbly show our achieving new records as well. Now, it has been very obvious to everyone in the company that the last 3 years has not been normal, easy, and we so done with damn pandemic. It’s really only been the last few weeks that it feels like we are getting our sea legs again, back to a place where we have a team that is aligned again, rowing in the same direction towards our North Star.
When I look back at 2022, the pandemic that plagued our company more than covid, was a virus of labor, a virus that infiltrated and affected our culture. Clearly our leadership from senior executives down to managers had a level of burnout, of frustration, of inability to deal with the challenges that faced our company. There has been poaching, quiet quitting, and other issues affecting team members. But I am both proud, relieved, and tremendously grateful that the soul of our company is intact, our brand continues to symbolize the great connection of music and wine, and the core and dedicated team have risen to the top.
We are getting through the slow season now armed with some additional financial resources to transition us to the strong Spring and summer months filled with packed programming schedules, many many parties, and our various wine gardens opening. And we finally, after several years have a strong, experienced, and team ready to focus on operations and continue on a growth path.
You all have probably heard of the recent layoffs coming from some of the largest brands. Disney yesterday announced 7000 people, Google, 12000, Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, tens of thousands each. Goldman Sachs even let 3,200 people go in January. Word is McDonalds is slimming its workforce. Guess what, we added 15 people last week and are hiring another 75 people to our 1200 when we open St. Louis in March. We are not laying people off, we are hiring people. And in fact, we are being selective finally, only hiring now the right people. We are being pickier, taking our time to get the right people in place. While we have had some attrition, and while some roles are still being covered by a few people, we are waiting for the right fit, right time and being as smart as we can about our hires. I’m so proud that we have filled, not backfilled, but actually fulfilled our target of a great new accounting team, Human resource team, etc. There are two more highlights I want to make and so many shoutouts of people who have really stepped up in the last few months in every location. But most of you have probably already interacted with Greg Kitowitz who is national director of operations. He has been to almost every property in last month and half, used to work here in our early years, got some great hospitality training outside and we have brought him back to lead operations, feel very lucky. And last but not least, Thomas Fallon our National Director of Culture, Training and Development. The first person to own this title.
And Tom is the segue to my next set of points, because he not only was the one who suggested I do this State of the City address, but to me, epitomizes all that is great about City Winery Management, our teams, and our culture. There are few people who can quote from Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table better and who have internalized the important themes of Enlighted Hospitality. Tom came up in ops in Boston, demonstrating clear leadership skills, has an effusively happy personality, and gets the customer organically. Culture can’t be taught from textbooks or just following the rule book, it requires instinct, creativity, and a real strong sense of EQ, emotional intelligence. Tom came to me having moved to training over a year ago, with observations and an articulated antidote or vaccine to the virus that I was speaking about earlier. He wanted to inject a shot of enthusiasm back into the soul of our company. He saw that training is not giving people a rule book when onboarding of what they can’t do, but focus on what they can do at City Winery. Remind people of why they want to work here. Why do you want to get up and go to work. Why you should love what you do. If you are coming for just a paycheck, then you should leave. We are a place to get a unique chance to hear some of the greatest artists in the world performing. A place to learn about wine, not just your normal restaurant offerings, but actually how wine is made, from real wine making experts. To smell the aroma of fermenting pinot noir berries in the morning when you come in. A rare privilege in this world.
There is a parable of the three stone cutters on side of the road. When the first one was asked, what are you doing? Without the slightest hesitation, the worker replied, I’m a stone cutter and I am cutting stones.”. When asking the second one, the second worker thought for a moment, then explained, I am a stone cutter and I’m cutting stones to earn money to support my family.” When asking the third person what are you doing the worker stopped, stared at the stone in his hand, and said, “I’m a stone cutter and I am building a cathedral”.
Ya’ll, we are building a cathedral. For those of us who love hospitality, cooking and entertaining friends at home, what a better place to welcome people into our home, our cathedral and serve them. True hospitality to welcome guests to have a precious moment out with their friends combining all of the sensory elements we offer of great sound, visuals, smells, textures, and the warmth of a smile. When we truly indulge everyone’s senses, we have created a magical form of alchemy. A delivery of an experience that is rare anywhere. Tom understands this precious privilege and is engaged to make sure everyone also gets it. Thank you Tom.
Now one more thing about the importance of what we do that maybe you all have not thought about it a while. The experience we are offering to our customers is also an antidote to what is happening in all our lives. We are all on our screens all day, computers, phones, maybe even relaxing at home watching a big screen, hard not love Yellowstone, Fauda, Friends, Survivor, or any of the mind-numbing great and horrible storytelling out there. But the live, interactive, real connection people get sitting in a room together, drinking wine out of a real glass, seeing their favorite artist up close and intimate, hanging out with friends at a wedding or small group afterwork is needed by humanity today more than ever. The experiential economy is regaining the attention of the investment world and the value of what we specifically have to offer has never been more needed, more powerful. While consumer product purchases are down, special travel and entertainment is up. Attendance at sports, festivals, and live events continues to grow, increase in ticket price, and the VIP experience offerings getting more valuable. We have a great product for the right time. And we have survived though a challenging period and come out of it stronger, weeded out the weak links and together will reach our goal.
Now what is that goal. Now that we have stabilized the company, both with financial capital and human capital, it’s execution time. Our realistic expectations have been set and everyone needs to step up to the plate and commit to achieving or overachieving their part. We need more than simply to be “accountable”, but overdeliver and contribute to the team. We need to raise the bar and every location needs to beat our 2019 numbers. And I don’t just mean financially, but get even better scores for our wine, better scores on yelp for service, better scores on trip advisor for our cleanliness, better scores on glassdoor for our management practices, and better scores in your mind when you go home. We really want you to feel like, I gave it 110% today and I really feel great about what I do. I’m giving myself a 10 on the 1-10 for enjoying life. All of these scores are to be improved this year.