Yes I'm an American owning and operating a Chinese restaurant says the 44 year old founder and C.E.O.

"The authenticity comes from our Chinese Chefs and head chefs running the  kitchen.

His Goal: The concept was to create a fast, casual, consumer friendly restaurant, that serves fresh, high-quality, made to order Chinese Cuisine.

Davis designed City Wok's menu by experimenting with recipes in the bar's kitchen after the kitchen was closed. There he met Hing Fan Chan, a professional head chef trained in Kowloon, China. Chan, who previously cooked in many fine-dining establishments, helped Davis create a high-end menu without the high-end prices. According to Davis, Chan, who now operates his own restaurant, brought a lot of traditional recipes to City Wok, yet worked with Davis to prepare his traditional dishes in a healthy manner, eliminating things like MSG. It was an East-meets-West approach that combined the best of their knowledge.

WORKING WOK: Unlike many

fast-casual operations, City Wok

prepares a customer's order on

the spot, but with amazing speed.

 It was a 50-50 collaboration, "Davis says. "He had great talent when it came to professional, traditional Chinese cooking. I had a great sense of what people wanted"

Ninety percent of City Wok's menu is available in half orders, an example of Davis knowing what people really want. Davis claims City Wok was the first Chinese restaurant to offer half orders, differentiating the concept from Chinese restaurants that refuse to split orders. "It went over fantastically" Davis says.

Many people have favorites when to comes to Chinese, such as Kung Pao Chicken, which is perhaps one reason why 70 percent of City Wok's menu is still intact today. "Its amazing how people come in and eat the same thing three times a week. Davis Says".

But [new items] keep the menu fresh and looking good." How quickly an item can be made to order often determines whether or not it stays on the menu. " If we feel there is a dish we just aren't executing to our standards, we take it off and offer something else," Davis says. The speed in which City Wok's dishes are prepared blends into the concept's Decor. City Wok sports contemporary exhibition kitchens where professional Chinese chefs show off their skills working two woks at once. The kitchen is the focal point of each restaurant. Its noisy, it's fast paced and fire occasionally shoots into the air. It's a show that leaves the counter seats rarely empty. "This isn't a romantic restaurant... you aren't going to propose here," Davis says. "There's a lot of action. Its hectic"

City Wok's display also includes a large, marketing-inspired wall display that is out together like a collage, depicting service personnel working tables, guests enjoying their food and chefs cooking in the kitchen. "It sells the brand and it sells the product" Davis says when describing the mural. " It shows people what some of the food looks like and it shows smiling severs, happy guests and lots of action" All City Wok restaurants are built using high-end finishes, including stainless steel and granite - anything that requires little maintenance.

City Wok's packaging echoes its decor. Take-out and delivery orders account for 30-40 percent of City Wok's business. Because of this, each City Wok has an area designated for walk-in and phone-in orders only. Food is packaged in state-of-the-art, heavy duty packaging that sports City Wok's logo. "we spent a lot of time and a lot of money making sure the packaging is effective". Davis says. Unlike many Chinese take-out joints, Davis says his packaging was created to fit the food, rather than crating food to fit a package.

Davis works to ensure that City Wok's take-out process is a slick as the take out packaging. City Wok's seating is limited, with each unit offering about 80 seats. And with City Wok's average check coming in about $8 for lunch and $12 for dinner, its pretty much guaranteed that a four-top isn't going to generate a $150 check.

But according to Davis, large take-out orders can reach the $100 range, easily. Therefore, Davis says perfecting the take out process is key. "We have young kids working on 40 orders at once," Davis says. And its not just burgers and fries. These kids have to learn a 60 to 70 item menu." Each customer's take-out order is neatly packed with condiments, fourtune cookies and anything else the dishes prepared require. Before the customer leaves, each order is double-checked. 

CITY WOK'S MARKETING EFFORTS GO BEYOND SLICK wall displays and state-of-the-art packaging. The restaurant maintains a web site at www.citywok.com. Most of City Wok's marketing efforts go into direct-mail campaigns that use a 10,000 name database derived from City Wok's customers, who filled out guest cards or type in information into a computer at City Wok locations. Currently Davis is working to increase the number of names on the chains database. He consulted with Fishbowl, a national e-mail marketing firm, to take care of City Wok's e-mail specials, including 20% discounts, and birthday and anniversary specials. "We're starting to lean away from a postal database and leaning toward an e-mail database," he says, "Its more cost effective."

CONCEPT: A fast-casual, consumer-friendly restaurant that serves fresh, healthy-consciously prepared, made-to-order Chinese cuisine in a contemporary setting.

UNITS: 4 in California

OWNER: Stuart Davis, founder and c.e.o

LOCATIONS: El Paseo: Palm Desert, Calif.; Country Club: Palm Desert, Calif.; Studio City: Studio City, Calif.; Trump 29 Casino: Coachella, Calif.

MENU: Five page menu includes traditional Chinese cuisine (Kung Pao Chicken) and dishes unique to City Wok (famed City Wok Chicken)

AVERAGE CHECK: $8 lunch, $12 Dinner

ANNUAL SALES: 5.5 MIllion company wide

FUTURE GROWTH: Two units per year for the next five years.

Davis City Wok's are located in tourist-infused towns. Therefore, he makes a point to meet, greet, and feed local hotel concierges in hopes that they will recommend City Wok to their hotel's patrons. City Wok also buys listings in local magazines that are placed in every hotel room in the area, but that's as far as Davis will go when it comes to coupons and advertising. "When you send out things like Val Pack, you usually get about a two percent return," Davis says. "Plus, your image takes a beating." Davis strives to uphold City Wok's image as a non-discounter.

Davis plans to grow with the chain as big as it can get without sacrificing quality and service. "I never want to hear 'Oh, they used to be good," Davis says. To prepare for future growth (his goal is to open two units per year for the next five years), Davis has spent the last two years honing the infrastructure of the company to create a mode of compliance and best practices within each restaurant. He contacted Bill Main & Associates for consulting purposes on everything from food handling and human resources to customized manuals for every position. "We've spent the last two or three years making sure the company is ready to grow, " Davis says.

ALONG WITH SELF FINANCING AND CITY WOK'S PROFITS, Davis plans to finance future growth with the help of two private investors that have been attached to City Wok's growth for several years. Smaller endeavors, such as City Wok's latest location at the Trump 29 Casino, are completely self financed. (The City Wok in the Trump 29 Casino operates in an upscale, three-restaurant food court and, therefore, is smaller.)

   City Wok Strategies

 Create Everything within the chain to be "consumer-friendly."

 Prepare authentic, healthy, made-to-order Chinese cuisine quickly and efficiently. Offer half orders.

 Offer table, take-out and delivery services.

 Pump up brand awareness through the packaging, decor and web site.

 Create an infrastructure that offers a real mode of compliance and best practices within each restaurant so when the time comes to exit, the chain looks attractive to quality buyers. 

Currently Davis is negotiating deals on two new City Wok locations. He looks for spots in medium-sized shopping centers that also house quality grocery stores and stores like Walmart or CVS. Davis says co-tenants, such as Starbucks and Jamba Juice have worked well for City Wok in the past.

So how does City Wok compete with other fat-casual shopping center located concepts such as Panera and Chipotle? Davis says City Wok's distinguishing factor is that it offers table service. At one point Davis toyed with the idea of getting rid of City Wok's dishwashers and going to disposable ware instead. "We got a big, negative response from focus groups in L.A." Davis Says. "People want to be served... they don't want to wait in line and get their own drink."

Davis says he doesn't have an exit strategy, but adds that if the right buyer comes along, he'll listen. For now, he's working with consultants, continuing to make the company strong from the inside so that, when the time comes, the concept looks attractive to larger companies peering in from the outside.

Source: Restaurant Hospitality Magazine