Mayor challenges students on their restaurant 'plans'

Ithaca Mayor Alan Cohen, left, looks over a presentation of a model restaurant by sophomore Chris Hammond and senior Keri Stahl, for Professor Robert Chase's Introduction to Management course, in the Pennsylvania Room of the Statler Hotel, Dec. 4. Charles Harrington/University Photography

By Darryl Geddes

Ithaca Mayor Alan Cohen didn't come to campus last week to lecture on government. There was no discussion about taxes or social services or civic responsibility. Rather Cohen was on campus Dec. 2 and 4 to discuss business forecasts, menu management analysis, advertising and marketing niches with students enrolled in a management course in the School of Hotel Administration.

Cohen, owner of Simeon's restaurant on the Commons for the last 14 years, portrayed a restaurant owner while students were cast as his restaurant management team. This meeting between owner and management marked the culmination of a semester-long project for students in Professor Robert Chase's Introduction to Management course for non-hotel school students.

The course required teams of students to open mock restaurants, design menus, hire employees and make business decisions while watching the competition. The computer simulations also required students to react to various uncertainties, such as downturns in the economy. A significant part of the final grade is derived from these annual report presentations, in which Cohen decides whether to renew the management team's contract.

Cohen aggressively quizzed the students on their presentations and annual reports. He questioned them on labor costs, portion size and advertising, and chided various groups for failing to account for competition in their forecasting.

The management team for The Cleveland Brown, a fictitious eatery, was scolded by Cohen for faulty forecasting and for failing to see the competition's affect on profits.

"We shared some of the same concerns he had," said senior Karen Wang, a management team member. "We were expecting his questions to be tough."

But other groups found Cohen's thorough questioning somewhat nerve-wracking.

"I was surprised he was so thorough," said freshman Michael Adam Wacht, a member of the management team for Melkham's Grille. "He found little discrepancies in the report. It was good to know he read the report."

Cohen said he was not about to let the students off easily. "I'd be doing the students a disservice if I didn't question them so intently," he said.

Chase said the course provides an excellent introduction to business practices. "While some of these students may not go into the restaurant business, all will have some occasion in their careers where they must address various business issues, just as they did here."

Despite his intense questioning, Cohen said students performed admirably. "I was very impressed with the students," he said. "They developed a good understanding of market."