2nd February 2008

Grill Mr Gaucho

Zeev Godik on bringing his dramatic vision and passion for beef to the UK.
Zeev Godik looks slightly taken aback when he realises he eats more than half his bodyweight in beef every year.

But a look of surprise quickly fades, replaced by one of triumph. “Its nearly as much as Argentina”, he says.

His eating habits are a personal endorsement of Gaucho restaurants, the Argentine steakhouse chain he founded in 1976.

And for those who fear the effects of eating a kilo of red meat per week, Zeev, who is a chief executive of Gaucho Group, looks pretty healthy and is almost evangelical about the Argentine diet.

“In Argentina each person eats 70kg of beef per year, by far the most in the world, though it used to be higher. Its twice as much as the US, which is the second largest consumer,” he says “I cant give you any statistics but you never see fat people in Argentina. It’s a very healthy lifestyle”.

He insists he`s not on a mission simply to increase the UK`s steak intake, which stands at a relatively paltry 17kg per person per year, but rather to change our perception of what quality beef is all about and offer it up with exceptional service.

Let them eat steak
“UK beef consumption is higher now than before BSE”, he says. “As far as im concerned the best meat is beef and the best beef comes from Argentina. Argentine culture is synonymous with beef and Argentine beef has less fat than chicken, because its grass fed – US beef, fed on corn, can be fatty.

The first Gaucho was founded in Amsterdam when Zeev, originally from Israel, was at film School. “I was 22 – year old spoilt student who had never worked and was destined to do something completely different”, he says “I didn’t think this would be a career but I fell in love with the first operation. After five months it took off and allowed me to expand”.

The current crop of Gauchos, now owned by Gioma restaurants, numbers 15 in Holland and 10 in the UK:nine in London and one in Manchester, all in central locations but still managing to be slightly off the beaten track. An 11th is abou to open, uncharacteristically, in the O2 arena, otherwise home to some pretty run of the mill restaurant chains.

Down at the Dome
“Although its not something we normally do – we`d never go into a shopping mall or leisure park – in this case we think its exciting culturally to create something slightly different. Its going to be the premium venue in the O2.”

What has probably swung it is the fact that this huge, 450-cover multi-storey venue represents an opportunity to harness a more corporate crowd attending concerts at Indigo, the smaller concert venue within the O2, to which this Gaucho is attached.

Beyond that site, Zeev is cagey about revealing any target numbers for future openings. “What we are doing is quite unique in the UK”, he says. “There isn’t really another multiple operator offering the same standard of food and quality of service as us. The next one down has a far cheaper spend per head – probably Chez Gerard.

“Its not going to be 150 restaurants but a very measured expansion based on the quality people we can attract, so its restrictive in that way – we don’t open new restaurants with new staff”.

So does he feel too many operations are willing to compromise service and quality to grow their business quickly? “The issue in this county is that as soon as a business expands, the quality declines, “he says “Our biggest challenge is not to let that happen. If that’s what we call restricting ourselves we’ll restrict ourselves”.

Perhaps his reticence to elaborate on expansion plans also owes something to the fact a flotation of the company to the fact a flotation of the company on the London Stock Exchange was abandoned last month due to `market conditions`. Documents issued ahead of the planned flotation reveal, however, that Gioma had been hoping to open a further 40 restaurants at a rate of three a year.

“I wanted to float but the fact we didn’t doesn’t mean we have a different vision,” he says “When the float was a possibility it was not about cashing out – I was not selling any shares. Its very much a long-term project.”

Dark and Dramatic
Whats clear is that future Gauchos will share the design theme – a surprisingly dark and dramatic environment that has evolved from an earlier, more rustic look, all courtesy of Zeevs wife Patsy, Gauchos creative director.

“Argentina is not a subtle place”, he says “It’s a very, very dramatic society. Theres no grey, theres only black and white, good and bad, a good horse or a horse that you shoot.

“That’s what Gauchos design represents. You couldn’t do Laura Ashley with a couple of cushions.”

Zeev spends up to eight weeks a year in Argentina, where he has a home and vineyard. He visits slaughterhouses, farms and vineyards, and spends much of that time gaucho style, on horseback on the pampas in full traditional gaucho regalia – including nine-inch knife.

“Whoever you speak to in Argentina, they are all gauchos at heart. Whatever it is they do, bankers, doctors or teachers, they all have this dream of living like gauchos – no other nations has one common passion.

“I just enjoy it. The Andes are very close by, and a fantastic thing to do is take the horses up to the mountains or go fishing. Its like Marlboro country”.

I guess its lucky for the horse that eating all that Argentine beef has not added to Zeev`s waistline.