How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I

CUinaire staff
preparing
breakfast at the
Texas state caplo!
"Presentation is
merch<strong>and</strong>ising,
<strong>and</strong> merch<strong>and</strong>ising
is everything."
Lo .e Field airport, Gussoni displacs
finished s<strong>and</strong>wiches placed in a glass
case so travelers can examine the
seltole-grair, brcad, meats, cheeses
<strong>and</strong> dressings before m,ildng a sciection-visual
tasting again . Asserts
Gussoni : "Carercrs often box things
for s•olume, but the customer c :m't
see the fod ."
Gussoni apprenticed Itimself to the
fod b«,siness after graduating from
The Citadel in 1976 . For the next
three vears he «orlced 100-hour
weeks as a maitre d' in South Carolina
countr.clubs . From the clubs he
graduated to running in-storc restaurants
for Blooniingdale's <strong>and</strong> Federated
Department Stores in Sen• York,
Dallas <strong>and</strong> Miami . Gussoni introduced
such dishes as pumpkin tortellini
<strong>and</strong> rotisserie chicken, injecting
k 'en e into *_'.te staid depattment store
cuisine .
His big break came in 1988 . Lucv
Crow Billingsley, Mho then headed
the Dallas Market Center (owned b-
deceloper Trammell CrosN's childrenl,
invited Gussoni to run catering
services at the huge sho«-room <strong>and</strong>
uade-show facilin', "~Ve wanted to
establish another le~el of expecrr
tion ;' Billingslesesplauns,
Gussoni deiivered . He incigorated
dte facilin"s tired hotdog-<strong>and</strong>-chili
Forbes . dugust 14, 1995
far'e with fniit drinks, fresh s<strong>and</strong>niches
<strong>and</strong> Italian food . Mhen the
Ramses the Great museum exhibit
came to Daiias in 1989, he persuaded
Billinasic}, to let the :blar'.cet Center
run " restaurant kcved to the exhibit-
Gussoni designed a restauiant completc
%sith columns <strong>and</strong> hieroghphs,
<strong>and</strong> semcd dishes inspired bv North
Africa : iamb <strong>and</strong> okrastewserred orer
couscous, for example, <strong>and</strong> grilled
chicken with yogurt <strong>and</strong> pita bread
s<strong>and</strong>wiches . "He's a salesman," says
Billingslev, "<strong>and</strong> he's hmtgre .^
Under Gussoni the Market Center's
food-sen'ices reaenues doubled,
to $13 million bv 1992 . Gussoni
-,vanted to e % p<strong>and</strong> the Market Ccnter's
catering <strong>business</strong>, but manaeement
«'asn't interested <strong>and</strong> agreed to
Visual tasting: At the snack
bar he runs at Dallas' Love
Field airport, Gussoni
displays fln.ished s<strong>and</strong>wiches
placed in a glass case so
travelers can examine the
whole-grain bread, meats,
cheeses <strong>and</strong> dressings before
making a selection,
sell the of}=sitc part of the <strong>business</strong> to
him in \o%embcr 1993 . Gussoni scill
sav onh• that the price was "less than
S1 million" He got catering equipn
:ent, 35 employees <strong>and</strong> a revenue
stream saorth arotmd S3 million a year .
Without a salan, for the first time ill
his career, Gussoni had to mo °e fast .
The tirst month he signed the Dallas
Farmers Market to a food-sen°ices
contract, Contracts ro run cafeterias
at Ericsson Inc . <strong>and</strong> Apple Computer
oliices followed, as Ncell as a contract
to run food senices for the Dallas
Comention Centcr .
In 1994 Culinaire won a 15-vear
contract to operate the dining facilities
in two Embassv Suites hotels in
tim Dallas area . The facilities were
losing money, but instead of cutting
costs Gussoni hired more staff <strong>and</strong>
bctter mairagentent to improce service
. This svas kcv, he says, to the fact
that the operations were turning a
profit within four months .
Gussoni is trring to sign up new
clients in institutions like hospitals .
Late last vea; he opened a sir-down
ltalian restaurant called Nicola's in
the Dallas Galleria . The Dallaa-LtornirLlr
Vewrs recently rated it one of the
cin's best new spots .
C ;ncle Tobia would have expected
nothing less. ~
20466'7339,9 141
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