Gourmets Galloping Home

Traci Dokich has her own court reporting agency to run, a family to feed and a distaste for greasy fast food. So when time runs short, the Corona del Mar mother simply drops by Pascal’s Epicerie and gets some juicy prime steaks to go.

“I don’t get much opportunity to do the Martha Stewart thing,” Dokich said while waiting for her steaks. “But this place is pretty good.”

Like many people with long work days, Dokich doesn’t have time to cook, but can afford gourmet dinners. And that no longer means having to dress up after a long workday and sit down at a tony restaurant for a couple of hours.

Restaurateurs are realizing that working couples and singles who can afford the finer foods are creating a market for takeout food that does not leave greasy fingerprints on the wrapping. Some restaurateurs see the opportunity there for a new stream of income.

Pascal Olhats, for one, took to the idea of gourmet takeout with gusto. He opened Pascal Epicerie next to his Newport Beach restaurant for those too impatient to deal with waiters before getting that rabbit a la Moutarde. The takeout business, which opened three years ago, now generates 25% of the restaurant’s income.

Said Olhats: “In five years, everyone will be doing this.”

This growing trend has even led to the coining of a new term for orders to-go.

“Home meal replacement sounds better than takeout,” said Stan Kyker, executive vice president of the California Restaurant Assn. The demand for takeout by higher-end diners has been on the rise for at least three to five years, he said.

“It grows from the realization that a lot of consumers really want the convenience of not cooking at home, but want more than what they have traditionally equated with takeout food,” Kyker said. “I call it more of a consumer trend than a restaurant trend. Restaurants say, ‘If we don’t participate in what consumers want, they’ll find some other way to get it.’ ”

The idea is not limited to Southern California. A survey by the National Restaurant Assn. in 1995 showed that 99% of restaurants having an average check of $8 per person offered takeout. Of higher-end restaurants with average checks of $25, about 65% now offer carry-out.

“They see it clearly as an opportunity for additional sales,” Kyker said.

The owner of Gustaf Anders Restaurant was accustomed to having patrons of Scandinavian descent swarm his restaurant in December, requesting takeout orders of whole baked salmon, herring salad and the other essentials of a proper Swedish Christmas feast.

It’s taken him a little longer to get used to the idea that the takeout concept is a year-round reality for even the more upscale restaurants of Orange County.

“We’re always nervous because once the food leaves the restaurant, we lose control,” said owner Gustaf Magnusson. “But people call back and say, ‘That was fantastic.’ ”

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The restaurants are not the only businesses using gourmet service to appeal to the overworked.

Supermarkets such as Pavilions are stocking more shelf space with gourmet goodies and offering their own takeout.

And most Orange County residents can now call on two gourmet delivery services to run to restaurants and bring back a dinner complete with wine.

Elly Alpan and her sister opened Gourmet Shuttle in Huntington Beach two years ago after some of their market research showed there would be a demand. Alpan, who holds a master’s degree in finance from the University of San Francisco, said she considered the idea while trying to cope with juggling demands when she had her first child.

“It was so hard working, caring for a baby and then cooking,” said Alpan, who formerly was a corporate finance manager.

“I wished there was a service delivering good food. But there were only pizza companies.” Her sister, Zeynep Bursal, had earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from USC and the two decided they had the know-how to launch their own business.

The shuttle does more than deliver food. Diners can also request candles, flowers, champagne, cakes, cookies and cork service. Gourmet Shuttle drivers have even delivered full meals at the beach on Valentine’s Day.

“Our concept is the total gourmet dining experience,” said Alpan, whose company now works with about 50 Orange County restaurants and averages 300 to 400 dinners a week.

Working with part-time drivers who use their own cars, Gourmet Shuttle relies on customized computer software that holds all the menus offered and spits out orders to the restaurants as soon as it comes into the small dispatch office. Drivers come in every day, pick up radios and thermal carrying cases and go out on the routes, sometimes stopping at two different restaurants for the same family.

Most of the restaurants are in the mid-price range and include Garden Bistro with entrees of $11 to $17, the Magic Pan Restaurant with dinners running from $6 to $10 and Franco’s Cal-Ital Cuisine, which offers entrees from $5 to $9.

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Lou Buchieri, co-owner of Takeout Taxi, another Huntington Beach-based delivery service, said that more and more upscale restaurants are considering the takeout business, even though the owners have some qualms about takeout demands overtaxing the kitchen staff at night.

“It’s another source of revenue, an increment of customer they haven’t got now,” said Buchieri, who just opened a branch to serve Long Beach and Lakewood. “It’s a better customer.”

Vicki Cavenah, a 40-year-old Newport Beach hair stylist, is one of those customers who does not have time to cook but shuns fast food for her 5-year-old child.

“I work, so it’s easy to come grab something,” said Cavenah, while looking over the choices at Pascal Epicerie. “You don’t feel like you’re eating junk food. It’s wonderful and it’s no more expensive than anything else I eat.”

Trifles offered for those on the run include veal blanquette to-go for $8.75, black truffle cream for $29.90 and sea bass that would cost $21.95 in the restaurant, but are a bargain at $8.75 in the takeout shop.

Most of the entrees would be $20 and up if delivered, the same price as in the restaurant’s dining room.

But offering takeout is not necessarily easy for the better restaurants.

“I think it’s a good idea, but it’s kind of bad, too, because it’s a lot of work,” said Pascal, who added that building his customer base has been a long process.

“People are not familiar enough yet with gourmet dinners and gourmet groceries. But people who know us, we don’t lose them.”

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Gourmet Takeout

Takeout food has been a growing concept for gourmet restaurants, although restaurateurs prefer to call the trend “home meal replacement.” Annual revenue generated nationwide from full-service restaurant takeout food, in billions:

1990: $76

1991: $78

1992: $83

1993: $87

1994: $91

1995: $96

1996: $100

High-End Trend

The percentage of upscale restaurants--those with an average check of $25 per person--offering takeout nationwide is also increasing:

1990: 52%

1995: 65%

Source: National Restaurant Assn.