Financial Management Hanft, Adam. (Oct

Financial Management

Hanft, Adam. (Oct 2003) "The Zentrepreneur." Inc. Magazine. Retrieved 15 Mar 2007 at http://www.inc.com/magazine/20031001/zentrepreneur_Printer_Friendly.html

This article provides a refreshing profile of what it calls the second type of entrepreneurs, what it calls a Zentrepreneurs, who may not have always known what enterprise was their reason for being (unlike the first, highly planned kind), but who have "a wide-angle view of things" and are processing and scanning" the commercial environment "all the time" (Hanft, 2003). Phil Suarez is one of the leaders of the culinary world in fine dining. His most recent venture is a high-end Asian restaurant named 66, and 66 deploys the type of Asian fusion cuisine that takes even the most jaded palates by surprise. Yet although Suarez has an empire, but it is an empire without a plan.

On one hand, it is somewhat frustrating to read this article, although the account of the meal had by the author and the Zentrepreneur is certainly entertaining. How is it possible to find feasible advice from the career of a man who seems to take whatever life offers him? However, it provides important instruction how simply being responsive to the changing needs of the marketplace and tastes, without obsessing can be financially fruitful. The lessons of Suarez's career seem especially apt for entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry, where consumer's tastes may be very fickle. Once upon a time, not so long ago, the idea of upscale Asian food, as opposed to take-out, would have been unthinkable. However, Suarez, despite his innovation and emphasis on the unique, is not averse to altering even his 'whatever' approach, given the demand for franchising upscale restaurants, as people everywhere want to sample a bit of elegance and luxury. According to the article, one day Suarez suddenly though: "Imagine if we had one formula.' Suarez recognizes that a standardized, scalable restaurant is more saleable than a collection of quirky, individualistic culinary marvels," hence his new idea of embarking into hotel chains as well as chains of his most popular restaurant Prime " (Hanft, 2003).. His willingness to constantly shatter his own old paradigms demonstrates why Suarez has sustained cranky restaurant reviewers and the upswings and downswings of a volatile industry.