Tim Zagat appointed chairman of NYC & Co

Nation's Restaurant News,  May 17, 1999  by Paul Frumkin

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NEW YORK -- After spending the past several years serving as a kind of unofficial statesman and general advocate of the New York City restaurant community, guide book publisher Tim Zagat has stepped into a more formal role at one of the city's most influential promotional arms.

Zagat, who with his wife, Nina, publishes the Zagat restaurant, hotel and retail surveys, was named to a two-year term as chairman of NYC & Co., the organization formerly known as the New York City Convention & Visitors Bureau.

While NYC & Co. has been charged with promoting tourism across all of the city's numerous cultural and business segments, Zagat said several programs that are in the planning stages will showcase New York's 18,000-plus restaurants.

A campaign to promote New York as the "greatest restaurant city in the world" is set to kick off within the next couple of weeks -- the initial centerpiece of which will be a series of eight advertisements running in prominent papers and magazines. A portion of the campaign budget will enable the city to jet in journalists from around the world and expose them to the variety, hospitality and quality of restaurants in the city's five boroughs.

"We'll demonstrate that New York City is the dining capital of the world and allow people to see for themselves," Zagat said.

Another point of attack, he continued, will be to promote tourist activity in New York during those times of the year when the city is not full. "From right after Christmas and almost through the end of the first quarter, there is a huge drop-off in tourism," he said. "Throughout most of 1998 hotel occupancy in the city ran at about 90 percent. During January it dipped to 65 percent.

"We surveyed restaurants and found that during that period one out of seven employees is laid off. The same thing happens at hotels and stores. There is a huge drop in employment."

Zagat said that NYC & Co. are exploring the possibility of creating a winter festival that would draw enough people to fill the gap. "We want to emphasize that all of the things that are difficult to do or see during the rest of the year are easy in January or February," he said. "The arts and cultural institutions are in full swing. So much is going on in the city."

A big citywide push is scheduled to be held in concert with the millennium celebration, he said. The tentative plan calls for the marshaling of all major industries doing business in New York -- including advertising, law, art, fashion, finance, health, hospitality and foodservice -- and help to arrange conferences and other events that will draw attendees and tourists to the area throughout the year. "We'll use the millennium as a catalyst and work to convince enough industries to hold their events simultaneously," he said.

Meanwhile, the New York restaurant community will reprise the popular NY'90 Restaurant Week event this year, during which lunches will be available at many of the city's top restaurants for $19.99. "Next year, of course, the price is going to have to go up to $20," Zagat observed.

Zagat, in fact, was one of the architects of the highly successful Restaurant Week promotion. Together with the late Joe Baum and several other prominent New York operators, Zagat launched the event back in 1992 during the Democratic National Convention.

What had begun as an effort to promote the city's restaurants to the 5,000 state delegates and 15,000 members of the national press turned into a marketing gold mine for New York and the participating restaurants during a severe economic downturn. The event turned out to be so successful that it has been held every year since then -- with nearly three-quarters of the participating restaurants extending the discount promotion throughout the summer.

"We are constantly trying to find ways for the restaurant industry to reach out," Zagat said.

Zagat's participation in NYC & Co. is a plus for New York restaurants, said Danny Meyer, owner of Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Tabla and Eleven Madison Park. "It's great for New York restaurants. Anytime the New York restaurant community bands together and speaks with one voice is a good thing. Tim's leadership has done a great deal for us."

Zagat takes the chair of NYC & Co. in a year when its advertising coffers have swelled considerably over those of previous years. "In 1997 the Convention & Visitors Bureau had a budget of $7 million," he said. "This year we have $13.8 million, an increase of 79 percent -- largely due to the efforts of president and CEO Fran Reiter."

And while the chairman's s post at the organization requires only a part-time investment, Zagat noted that he spent nearly 30 hours working there during a recent week -- despite a hectic schedule at his own company. "Somebody asked me, 'Why are you doing this?' "he said. "I love New York. I've spent my life here. My family is from here."