At Havana Central we are dedicated to excellence. We consider ourselves a “teaching” restaurant group with a comprehensive training program and an ongoing team member support program. The most important people to senior management are our team members, Guests are the next most important group.  Why? Because if we hire properly, and our team members are well trained and happy, we will delivery the best guest experience possible.

Who would have thought that a Jewish guy from the Upper West Side of Manhattan would be the successful brainchild behind Havana Central - New York City’s home of authentic Cuban cuisine?

Jeremy Merrin, Havana Central Founder and President, opened his first restaurant in 2002 and now operates three high-volume locations, each with its own unique personality and distinct clientele. Each restaurant evokes the golden era of Cuba, capturing Havana’s heyday as the world’s most tantalizing playground. Stepping into any one of the lush restaurants outfitted with swanky 1950s décor, guests are transported to another place and time. Celebrating a milestone, Havana Central commemorated the seventh anniversary of the first location in Union Square location in June 2009.

Jeremy attributes the spark of inspiration that led to the development ... of Havana Central to a life-long love of Latin food combined with a childhood infatuation with a school classmate from Cuba. Reuniting with old friends at his 25th high school reunion, he was brought face-to-face with his former classmate. “When I told her I had become a Cuban food fiend, a regular at a place near my home, she laughed and told me I needed to try some real Cuban cooking-her mother’s,” recalls Jeremy.

During a subsequent dinner prepared by his friend’s mother, Jeremy realized he had never tasted such richly satisfying Cuban fare at his neighborhood restaurant, nor had he been exposed to the authentic culture of Cuba. It was obvious to him that the quality of Cuban dining opportunities in New York was inadequate and the market was underserved. Most Cuban restaurants in the area were storefront, family operations. Jeremy, who had a history of successful entrepreneurship, sensed opportunity.

Jeremy pursued a hunch honed by more than 20 years of hands-on business development experience. Following graduation from Tufts University in 1980, he led the mail order operation of his family’s jewelry business, one of the country’s largest, and a pioneer in the sale of jewelry by mail. An interest in entrepreneurial ventures soon surfaced. “I found the family business heavy-lifting and realized that I needed to do something I could call my own.”

Applying valuable development experience from his family business, Jeremy founded a fine jewelry design and manufacturing firm, Ardian Corp. This innovative new venture earned an international reputation for the creation of trendsetting styles, and in 1997 he sold the company for a considerable return on his investment.

On the heels of the successful sale of his first business and at the height of the Internet boom, Jeremy became intrigued by increasing opportunities in online ventures. After thorough research, he came to the conclusion that a party and paper goods business was a great vehicle for a Web-based business. Rather than start his own company, he joined iParty.com as senior vice president for business development and marketing. During this time, Jeremy returned to school and earned an MBA at Columbia University. Following the success of this thriving virtual emporium, and an even more successful combination brick-and-mortar retail unit, Jeremy was a man looking for a new project when he attended his high school reunion.

“I never imagined myself in the restaurant business, but identifying an opportunity that addressed a specific niche market — Cuban — that could be properly defined with a truly unique and immersive experience really intrigued me.” However intriguing, Jeremy knew nothing about the restaurant business and decided he needed a quick education and expert help. He turned to restaurant consultant Arlene Spiegel, a 30-year veteran of the food and beverage industry, who embraced his idea of a Cuban-centric eatery.

Both Jeremy and Arlene recognized that the key to success of the concept, the means of elevating the restaurant above the competition, would be authenticity of the food and the entire cultural experience. Nine months of intense, painstaking research began, during which they examined the entire Cuban experience in both the New York and Miami markets. This period of deep exploration included dining at dozens of Cuban and Latin restaurants, meeting with Cuban chefs, collecting recipes from Cuban friends and acquaintances, testing those recipes and discovering all aspects of Cuban culture.

The resulting research led to Havana Central, which opened in Union Square in June 2002 and was enthusiastically welcomed by New York’s Cuban populace, the Latin community, and New Yorkers as a whole. For Jeremy, it was like discovering a vast extended family in his customers and staff, putting the fun back in his professional life. He firmly believes that in order to offer the best experience to his customers, his staff must be well-trained and happy. His philosophy, based on the work of Danny Meyer, the famous New York restaurateur, is to “first take care of each other, then our guests, as well as give back to the community.”

From the beginning, Jeremy made the commitment to operate the Havana Central restaurants based on analytics. All of the restaurants utilize a sophisticated point of sale and inventory system that relays real time sales and cost figures, as well as analyzes details such as percentage tip comparisons among the servers. Additional features allow him to calculate inventory usage of each menu item by hour and day of the week. This attention to detail is responsible for setting Havana Central apart from its competitors and other restaurants.

Jeremy believes that the life of every guest should be enhanced from the moment they enter a restaurant until the time of their departure. “At Havana Central, we transport our guests to pre-revolution Cuba, with a total environment that evokes images of the Havana of the 50s. It’s not just the food, but the staff, the colors on the walls, the furniture, the music, even the tableware and the way the food is served, contribute to the overall positive experience.”

In fact, Jeremy maintains what he has dubbed the ‘Cuban Cabinet.’ This advisory board is comprised of specialists with individual areas of expertise—cuisine, décor, music, artwork, etc.—with whom he checks in regularly to make sure Havana Central keeps the experience real.

Jeremy’s painstaking attention to detail and passionate commitment to authenticity clearly resonate with patrons of Havana Central, whatever their ethnicity. When he’s asked if he is Cuban, he often replies, “No, but I plan to convert soon!”
 

Randy Talbot, Havana Central’s Vice President of Operations, is a seasoned hospitality veteran with more than twenty years of restaurant management expertise.   Randy’s dedication to results-driven performance through quality training has helped shape the Havana Central experience.  His combination of modern management techniques and proper team member training has led to consistent sales growth and the advancement of cost controls.  Under Randy’s leadership, Havana Central has begun to institute the most exemplary business practices in the hospitality industry, solidifying the company culture and helping to grow the Havana Central brand.

Two decades before the birth of Havana Central, Randy began his career as area director of Bertucci’s Restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts. As an original member of the executive team during ... the restaurant’s public offering, Randy’s career quickly took flight.  While with Bertucci’s, Randy was directly involved in opening more than thirty locations in six states within a decade.  Following the swift, national expansion of the brand, the company was acquired by N.E. Restaurant Company. Randy continued with Bertucci’s, for 18 years, moving to New York to serve as Area Director for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

After several prosperous years of expansion with Bertucci’s, Randy’s entrepreneurial spirit beckoned and he moved on to the successful launch and growth of several national brands including Le Pain Quotidien.  During his time with Le Pain Quotidien, he managed thirteen locations across Manhattan.  Additionally, four of his restaurants were participants in the “green certification program” of New York State.

Randy joined Havana Central in 2007, bringing a wealth of hospitality and operational expertise as well as a history of driving successful growth.  With three high-volume locations in Manhattan, Havana Central is a brand poised for expansion.  Randy’s progressive, professional and operational practices are making a strong impact on Havana Central’s next chapter of growth.

There is no place Stanley Licairac would rather be than in the kitchen at Havana Central cooking home-style Cuban cuisine. “I have literally been doing this my entire life—I have no idea how to do anything else. The food at Havana Central is about the love that I actually put into making each and every dish.”

As Havana Central’s first employee dating back to April 2002, there’s nothing more heart-warming for Licairac than pleasing his customers. “The majority of people who come to our restaurant will look at the food descriptions on the menu and say, ‘Wow, this is really like my mother’s cooking. I’ll definitely come back here with my family!’ Or they’ll say, ‘This Arroz con Pollo is different, but the taste and the flavor is definitely something I’m familiar with and it brings me back to ... when I was a kid.’ And when they say things like this—which happens every week—that’s it for me!”

With three locations, each with its own unique personality and distinct clientele, Havana Central has been bringing real-Cuban cooking to New York since 2002. (The Union Square location will be celebrating its seventh anniversary this June 2009). The restaurants evoke Cuba’s golden era, when its namesake city was one of the world’s most tantalizing playgrounds. Walking into the swanky circa 1950’s Havana nightspot setting is to be transported to another place and time.

Brooklyn born and raised, the 38-year-old Licairac could barely see over the counter when he started learning the food ways of a Latin kitchen in his father’s deli. By the time he was 11, Licairac’s Dominican Republic-born father and Puerto Rican mother were living out the American Dream, having purchased the Midtown Manhattan deli in which the senior Licairac had once worked. “It was the first deli in Manhattan to offer such now familiar staples as picadillo and oxtail stew,” says Licairac.

By the time he was 19-years-old, Licairac began his own culinary career as silent partner, cook and waiter of Burritos Tin Tan on the Upper West Side. At Licairac’s insistence, the restaurant was distinguished from the profusion of Tex Mex operations by its dedication to authentic Mexican fare.

A few years later, Licairac persuaded his parents to come out of retirement to open a Mexican restaurant with him in Forrest Hills, Queens. At the very successful Burrito Heaven, Licairac continued his journeyman chef education, mastering a Caribbean-oriented Mexican repertoire, with the help of family recipes that taught him the flexibility of a simple foundation. Twenty-four months later the family sold the restaurant, and Licairac joined the Cabana Restaurants organization, where he took on front-of-house managerial responsibilities, as well as elevating the kitchen operations.

Toward the end of his three-and-a-half year tenure with Cabana, Licairac came to the attention of Jeremy Merrin, who had a vision for the creation of an authentic Cuban restaurant several cuts above the typical storefront variety. A novice to the restaurant industry, Merrin knew he needed a chef and a manager with experience and credibility in the Latin culinary community. He found both in Licairac.

Furthermore, Licairac was armed with a treasure trove of family recipes that would help define the character Merrin wanted to create for Havana Central, that of comforting home-style cooking. “It’s very family-oriented here. To this day I’ll call my mother and grandmother everyday in Florida and we’ll test new dishes in our kitchens and check in with each other the following day. Also, we have 230 employees at Havana Central and most have a Latin American background — Cuban, Colombian, Puerto Rican, Dominican — and I ask them to taste everything. If 230 people give their seal of approval, I’m good!”

Aside from continuously reading anything he can get his hands on about Cuban cooking, Licairac finds the inspiration to work 12-16 hour days by feeding off the enthusiasm of everyone around him. “Everyone in our restaurants, from the cooks to the dishwashers, everyone has to be passionate about what they do. I will ask each of them every single day, ‘What would you like to see on the menu?’ And I will take bits and pieces of what they say and I’ll Cubanize it!”

According to Licairac, creating high-quality, authentic Cuban cuisine boils down to one main ingredient: Passion. “When it comes down to it, Cuban food is all about salt, pepper and garlic—it’s very basic. But real Cuban cooking is deeper than that. Take white rice, for example. You don’t just cook the rice and come back when it’s done. You have to watch over it, stir it, taste it, and nurture it. And that’s where the passion comes in. Latin American people are very warm and loving and that’s exactly the flair I put into all of my cooking.”

 

Arlene Spiegel, founder and President of Arlene Spiegel & Associates, is a restaurant, retail and foodservice consultant, team builder and a multiple award winner for excellence in foodservice operations and branding. As the former Director of the Global Food and Beverage Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ms. Spiegel has clearly proven her food and beverage skills to the betterment of her restaurant and hospitality clients.

As a third generation restaurateur, Arlene has dedicated her entire professional life studying the eating and purchasing habits of consumers in every possible food and beverage environment.  Having owned and operated successful restaurants in the New York area, Ms. Spiegel understands first hand, the challenges, responsibilities and rewards of ownership. Her restaurants, The Garden of Eating, capitalized on the growing demand for 'good ... for you' style eating and resulted in Ms. Spiegel receiving the coveted Pacesetter Award and The Small Business Woman of the Year Award.

For over twenty-five years of working with all segments of the restaurant industry, including corporate chains, independent entrepreneurs, hospitality, retail, contract management, gaming and entertainment clients, Ms. Spiegel, has been highly successful in developing differentiated and compelling branded concepts; master plans for public and private developments; engineered profitable menus; and orchestrated roll-out programs. Her enthusiasm brings new spirit and energy to all of her projects.

Her knowledge of strategic planning, systems, processes, trends, operations analysis, concept development, menu development, financial modeling, brand positioning and franchising, offer her clients a holistic approach to creating successful business outcomes. Ms. Spiegel also specializes in Business Transformation consulting which is the process by which an organization can identify and optimize its value to achieve true and sustainable prosperity. Her clients range from haute cuisine programs with Chef Jean Georges Vongerichten to dining venues with Hearst World Headquarters. She recently created eight original restaurants for SeaWorld, Orlando and a fine-dining Steakhouse for the Cherokee Casino, Oklahoma.

Ms. Spiegel is a member of the National Restaurant Association, The Foodservice Consultants Society International, The IBM Foodservice Consulting Consortium, The Roundtable for Women in Foodservice, The Women's Foodservice Forum and she served as the National Chairperson for the Symposium on Food Trends. She is on the Board of Advisors of Mobil Travel Guide and Senior Lifestyles, Corp. and a contributing editor to several National trade publications often appearing on the pages of The Wall St. Journal, NY Times and Crain's NY Business. She is a frequent guest on CNN and CNBC.