The Brands, They Keep A-Comin’

Today’s travelers face a bewildering choice of hotel brands. Back in the day, people knew what Holiday Inn, Hilton, Hyatt or Marriott could offer, and that familiarity bred comfort.

This is changing. Today, who knows the difference between a Hyatt Regency, Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Centric?

Cheap financing, strong demand and eager developers have prompted hotel companies to dilute brands to ensure their flag flies on new properties. What do you do when you want to sell a franchise for a new hotel but non-compete agreements with current owners preclude you from building more Marriotts in the city? Create a new brand!

Hotel companies have little to lose, because they own less real estate and operate fewer hotels than ever in their history.

In 1992, Marriott Corporation owned 136 hotels, managed 415 and franchised 195 hotels. As of March 2013, Marriott International owned six hotels, leased 38 hotels, managed 1,021 hotels and franchised 2,571 hotels. Most other major hotel brand companies have since followed suit.

Modern hotel companies are not in the hotel operation business – they are in the technology, branding, sales and marketing business. In this business, more brands is a sound strategy.

Guests can’t keep track of the subtle differences. Brand differentiations are mostly meaningless … hot cookies at check-in, cinnamon buns at breakfast, free coffee and tea in the lobby, small rooms/big rooms, desks/no desks and so on. Ask a business traveler to name Marriott’s 30 brands and define their key points of difference. It likely can’t be done.

Then, there is the mushrooming of lifestyle and soft brands in the last 10 years. Soft brands are the collection of ‘independent hotels’ that maintain their unique names but participate in brand booking engines and loyalty programs.

Lifestyle brands are chain owned properties marketed as boutique hotels. They are distinguishable from their legacy parents, but they are almost identical to one another. Their core ingredients are the same, including a design that reflects the unique community and culture of the area, a high-tech approach, high-energy social environment, and a health-focused, authentic experience.

There are currently more than 100 lifestyle brands operating in the US.

As a result of brand proliferation, travelers are becoming increasingly indifferent to hotel brand selection.

No Loyalty
The proliferation of brands is leading to a lack of brand affinity among hotel travelers. Consumers enroll in a multitude of brand loyalty programs, driving undesirable brand-switching behavior.

Hotel brands have commoditized rewards by focusing on repeat purchases instead of building enduring emotional connections and positive customer experience associations.

As a result, hotel loyalty members show a remarkably low affinity for their preferred brand. Only one out of four hotel travelers allocate more than 75 percent of their wallet share to their preferred hotel brand.

Bigger and Better Airbnb

In 2017, The New York Times released documents proving how much the American hotel industry regards Airbnb as a threat, and the resources and efforts they are willing to dedicate to thwarting this disruption.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association (supported by major hotel brands) launched a major lobbying and public relations initiative forming unlikely alliances with politicians, affordable housing groups, neighborhood associations and hotel labor unions.

They had some small wins, initiating a few regulatory roadblocks. Three U.S. senators asked for a Federal Trade Commission investigation into rising housing costs caused by Airbnb, and some Airbnb hosts in New York were fined.

In response, Airbnb is making concessions, strengthening efforts to work with landlords and regulators to collect local hotel taxes, limiting the number of properties hosts can rent through Airbnb, and informing landlords about their renters who are hosting on Airbnb.

Overall, the initiative seems to have made only a small dent in Airbnb’s armor.

Consider …

• Google search traffic for Airbnb hit an all-time high in April of 2017.
• Their customers are happy, with 90% of users rating the Airbnb experience as good or very good.
• Airbnb is valued at $31 billion. (The only hotel company that exceeds this is Marriott at $39 billion.)

Airbnb has new initiatives and big plans. The company recently purchased a vacation management company called Luxury Retreats for $300 million, thus adding 4,000 properties to its database.

It launched a travel app and a program called Airbnb Trips, enabling users to recommend and book local experiences, and access recommended itineraries and restaurants.

The Airbnb website says, “We want every trip you take to feel magical. So you no longer have to follow the maps, wait in the lines, and take photos of all the same sights. Now, you can access unique experiences, incredible homes, and local favorites — all from one app.”

Now, for $120, visitors to Miami can spend four hours learning about leatherworking. Airbnb takes a 20 percent commission from experience providers. Forty thousand experience providers have applied to join the platform.

The company also launched a program to attract more business travelers called ‘Business Travel Ready,’ which includes a search tool that shows only properties suited for business travelers. To qualify, listings must have features like self-check-in, fast Wi-Fi and comfortable workspaces.

In July, Airbnb listings started appearing on Concur (the largest business travel portal in the U.S.). Companies like Autodesk, Box and Salesforce are now offering their employees Airbnb rentals via Concur.

Airbnb also joined forces with WeWork, the largest provider of shared workspaces in the world, valued at around $20 billion. This collaboration means that two of the world’s most valuable technology startups are teaming up, with the hope of luring young business travelers away from hotels. Now, Airbnb’s corporate customers will be able to save a spot at a WeWork office nearest to where they’re staying.

And there’s more in the works. Airbnb’s CEO is speaking publicly about plans to purchase or build its own Online Travel agency, even getting into flight reservations.

Other Players Jumping on the Home Rental Bandwagon

Big online travel agencies (OTAs) are moving in on Airbnb’s turf. In 2017, Priceline’s Booking.com offered around 650,000 alternative lodging properties, an increase of more than 50 percent from 2016. Priceline’s valuation of $89 billion is bigger than both Marriott and Airbnb combined.

Expedia said its alternative lodging subsidiary, HomeAway, experienced 30 percent growth in the most recent quarter and now has 1.4 million listings.

Co-Living: The Next Big Disruptor?
Co-living spaces are now popping up in big cities. What is co-living, you ask? People describe it in many different ways, from “dorms for adults” and “the modern commune” to “a solution for the urban housing crisis” or “a new live/work alternative for remote workers and global nomads.”

Co-living spaces range in style and price from ultra-luxury to hostel-style, blurring the lines between residence, hotel and home-share. WeWork recently launched WeLive as ‘a new way of living built upon community, flexibility and a fundamental belief that we are only as good as the people we surround ourselves with.’

“From mailrooms and laundry rooms that double as bars and event spaces to communal kitchens, roof decks and hot tubs, WeLive challenges traditional apartment living through physical spaces that foster meaningful relationships. Life is better when we are part of something greater than ourselves. Whether for a day, a week, a month, or a year, by joining WeLive – you’ll be psyched to be alive.”

At WeLive, you can move in for months or stay one night and enjoy yoga studios and community concierges, with online access to a global community of 100,000 members. A private studio in New York goes for $3,500 a month, or $230 per night.

How to Compete

The hotel industry needs to realize we are not going to win the battle against homestays through legislation. Instead of trying to slow them down, we need fight a great idea with a better idea.

Homestays feel local, but are also isolating. There’s no central hotel lobby where you can gather with other travelers or locals. Hotels need to double down on this distinct advantage and build on guest desires to get out of their rooms and socialize.

We must invest in communal spaces and integrate restaurants into our lobbies, with the bar front and center. Hosting community building experiences will bring people together.

We can also shift our focus to pampering, especially in the way of great beds and bathrooms. Think about the amenities guests have at home and make sure they are in our hotels … only more fabulous.

We have an opportunity to make people feel like they’ve been somewhere special and learned something new. This is why it’s more important than ever to offer local, ‘in the know’ information to our guests, with an insider perspective on how to experience our destinations. Let’s expand the traditional concierge and facilitate connections with local influencers to enhance our guest experience.

Mobile, Mobile and More Mobile

Mobile has overtaken desktop as the traveler’s search and booking device of choice. In 2017, there were more than 128 million Google search results for hotel bookings on mobile devices. Travelers also want immediate, real-time customer service on their smartphones.

That’s why Starwood Hotels launched “Let’s Chat,” allowing guests to communicate with guest service teams via WhatsApp or iMessage, and Hyatt Hotels provides customer service through the Facebook Messenger platform.

Mobile payments are on track to overtake credit card payments in the near future, using platforms like Apple Pay.

Personalization

Hotel guests appreciate a more personalized touch to their booking experience. They want you to get to know them before they arrive. Some marketers are creating qualifying fields in their booking engines, asking about the ‘purpose of travel’ or celebrations like honeymoons and birthdays. Return visitors like to be welcomed back in a special way.

So hotels are increasingly adopting software that enables them to recognize these guests and give them the personalized attention they crave.

Good Design Goes Mainstream

Whether your hotel is ultra-luxury or ‘bare bones’ budget, guests are more focused on design. They want hotels that look and feel good, with a fashionable design that encourages a sense of community. (And photographs well for Instagram.)

This sort of design creates communal spaces that make solo travelers feel more comfortable and facilitate being alone together. It will attract locals to your lobbies, restaurants and bars, encouraging a higher spend on food and beverage.

Architectural trends include more natural light, open spaces and expansive sightlines. Guests want to hang out in the lobby (and we should want them to spend time there, too) so we need to add more hang out spaces in our hotels – as many different social spaces in the same area as possible. There should be a greater sense of theater, a “bigger reveal,” with more art and animation.

Getting ‘Techy’

It is highly likely that the Internet of Things (IoT) will be coming to a hotel room near you.

Here are some ‘Brave New World’ things to expect …

• Smart, hyper-personalized rooms with smart mirrors (that display your morning yoga routine) and faucets (that auto adjust to your preferred water temperature).
• Ability to use your phone to check in and unlock your room.
• When you enter, your personalized preferences are already in place (art, temperature and amenities) and there’s a personalized welcome message on the TV.
• Ability to cast content from thousands of different apps without having to enter your personal credentials, automatically disconnected when you leave.
• Rooms fully customizable via your phone (lighting, temperature, television, curtains, etc.)
• Fingerprint technology replacing keys and payment systems.
• Robots delivering towels.
• RFID stickers on the carpet that turn on lights when you step on them.
• Room service from voice-activated devices.
• Real-time voice-activated and text communications with hotel staff to order room service or request towels or get restaurant recommendations.

We need to build the strong infrastructure necessary to deliver these services, so hotel brands and individual properties are making major investments in technology.

Here are some (okay, a lot) of things Bee Loud (Innisfree’s in-house marketing agency) will be thinking about next year.

Building ‘Duck and Weave’ Marketing Teams

Marketing roles are changing faster than in any other business department. The pace is fast, and the flux is constant. To keep up, we will continuously redefine workflows to find efficiencies, stay flexible and nimble. We will hire adaptive people, and foster speed and tolerance for failure. You’ll often hear us say we ‘fail forward,’ because we’re experimenting and learning all the time. We’ll work hard to eliminate organizational red tape so we can act fast on good ideas.

Customer Experience

Digital communication continues to empower consumers, and innovation is accelerating their expectations. Customers are less tolerant of frustrating experiences, both online and off. They want every experience to be useful, seamless … even joyful. They also want immediate responses, all the time. (Pretty demanding!)

Fantastic customer experience is how we can set ourselves apart from the competition. Because every department affects the customer experience, we will invest in collaborative workflows and design thinking. We’ll also allocate time to learning about our customers, so we can better understand their needs and empower them to create and share their own stories.

Of course, this is not easy, because building a cross-team approach is difficult to achieve. We’re aware that (at times) we’ll experience a gulf between understanding and implementation.                     

May We Have Your Attention, Please?

The media landscape is fragmenting. Every minute is contested, and our customer’s attention is our most valuable currency. Demand for attention far outpaces supply. Consumer attention is expensive, and costs continue to skyrocket. At the same time, attention is being diverted away from traditional information to new digital platforms.

Consider this …

• A video streaming platform called Twitch is the fourth largest source of Internet traffic in the U.S., behind Netflix, Google and Apple. Twitch has more than 1.5 broadcasters who are viewed by more than 100 million visitors each month.
• A YouTube video creator called PewDiePie has 57 million subscribers and earns $7.5 million per year in commissions from ad sales.
• YouTube star Hola Soy German has a broader audience than the NBA Finals and the World Series.

These platforms share some commonalities. They support self-expression, and content is provided by the community.

It is important to highlight that the behavior of the young is predictive of the future. Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Tumblr, Snapchat, Reddit, WhatsApp, Instagram and Vine were first utilized by teens, later catching on among older users. So when we think about what companies to bet on, we need to follow the attention of our youth.

Storytelling as a Business Competency
Competition for attention has made storytelling a necessary business competency. We want to engage emotionally with our customers using our story to capture their attention. We’ll continue to build our in-house team and improve our storytelling capabilities. The customer experience and the content to support it continue to be our top priority in 2018.

The War for Talent

The most significant challenge we’ll face in reaching our goals is finding the right people for the job. We are competing with major tech companies and other agencies to recruit and retain top digital and creative talent.

We need to increase the time we spend on training so our team can hone skills in critical subjects like content marketing, analytics, mobile, social marketing, location targeting, Search Engine Optimization and more.

We’ll keep recruiting young people for our team. Young talent is purpose-driven and interested in how businesses connect to the community. An innovative, fun work culture will attract bright, young minds.

Authenticity, Breaking Taboos + Norms

In a quest to stand out, marketers are using content that challenges old rules and breaks taboos. Brands are challenging their audiences with unexpected language. They are exposing cracks and imperfections to tell the real story. They’re also jumping into controversial political issues like never before. The focus has shifted to the unfiltered, the genuine and the raw.

Our goal will be to represent ourselves honestly and transparently.

Virtual Tribes

We’ll focus on targeting communities, as well as individuals. We know our prospective customers are likely to learn about us from their peers (not our ads). This “virtual tribe” is enabled and empowered by social media. To succeed, we must hone the skill of getting our customers to advocate for us.

Channels + Channels + Channels + Channels

Consumers are shifting between digital platforms (apps + websites) and devices (desktop + mobile + wearables) now more than ever. The average consumer now communicates through five devices and visits 12 platforms before making a purchase decision. (Just seven years ago, it was three devices and two platforms.) This has caused a proliferation of communication channels, and with them, new marketing opportunities and challenges.

We need to engage customers whenever, wherever and however they choose. We know that today’s consumer expects to move seamlessly from one device to the next, with content that is tailored to each channel.

Impossible to Tell What Prompts Customers to Buy

We know it’s getting harder to determine what prompts a customer to buy. The path to purchase is longer and more complicated, making it more difficult to attribute what prompts consumer action. Consumers now move through too many channels to correctly assign the sale to any particular one.

For instance, just because the sale didn’t happen on a mobile device, doesn’t mean mobile didn’t play a role. The user likely used their phone to compare prices, read reviews or map out directions. Also, we know that users typically do not purchase on Facebook, yet Facebook ads have a significant impact on awareness and aspiration. We are finding that even our customers can’t always tell us what touchpoint caused them to buy.

So we are moving toward measuring the sum of all digital marketing efforts against total profit contribution. We’re talking about Return On Investment and Return On Ad Spend in totality rather than attribution. We are focusing on aggregate metrics like engaged website traffic and social media reach, or most importantly revenue going up or down.

Data Amalgamation and Democratization    

With more channels come more data. We know that data is the only way we will regain control of this unruly multi-channel landscape. We need amalgamated cross-channel data (from both online and offline sources) to understand what part of the marketing mix is working.  

Bringing all data into one dashboard is a business priority (even if it remains an unrealizable dream in the short term). We will watch for new tools and software to fill this gap, and plan to increase the marketing dollars we spend on analytics and data analysis.

Social Media Not Going Anywhere

Consumers are spending more time on social networks and messaging platforms than ever before. Social media user numbers and dwell times continue to grow. Social media platforms are creating more traffic than search engines, and the range of functions consumers perform on social is also expanding.

So we will be integrating social media into every marketing campaign. We’ll use it to create brand awareness and brand advocates. We’ll leverage social for customer service and sales. We will pull insights from our social campaigns to improve our websites, email newsletters, digital advertising buys and Search Engine Optimization.  

Death to Mobile Browsers + Micro-Moments

Eighty-six percent of the time we spend online on our mobile devices is spent in apps. There are more than 2.2 million apps now available in the App Store. We know that we need to find effective and efficient ways of reaching app users.           

We also know that consumers reach for their phone the very instant they want to know about something. During these ‘mobile micro-moments,’ consumers are highly susceptible to advertising and prone to impulse purchases. We will work to identify the micro-moments of our target audiences and ensure that in these fleeting seconds, the experience we provide is a valuable one.

Native Ads

Native advertising content looks like editorial content but is paid for to promote a specific product. We know that native advertising is now the most impactful form of digital advertising.

Makes sense, right? Do you enjoy interruptive and irrelevant ads that pop up while you are browsing online? Native ads are non-disruptive and blend into their environment. They don’t annoy users, so click-through rates are much higher, especially on mobile.

Our goal is to put the right information in front of the right user at the right moment. (Right when they need it.) We want to create content that is contextual and enriching, rather than intrusive and annoying. We want our native ads to entertain, engage and inspire our customers.

Get the Message + Speak

Messaging platforms (like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, WeChat and Snapchat) are becoming major communication hubs, offering a vast array of services for consumers. They are now delivering services (like an Uber ride or directions to the nearest Starbucks) and enabling users to search for a product and make a purchase without leaving the app.

Audio-driven experiences are also becoming mainstream. We are starting to think about how we are going to adjust our search advertising and content strategies to accommodate consumers chatting in apps and talking to digital assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant – on their phones, in their homes, in their cars and via a growing assortment of wearables.

On November 3, 2017, Innisfree Hotels celebrated a private reception for Luna Fine Art Gallery at the Hilton Pensacola Beach, during an evening filled with food, drink, artists and art lovers.

While the gallery’s name is a nod to Tristán de Luna y Arellano – the Spanish explorer who settled Pensacola – the name works on another level. Luna is a Latin word for ‘moon,’ which is the light in the darkness whose reflection comes from the sun. As German composer Robert Schumann once said, “To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts, such is the duty of the artist.”

Shaughnessy Johnson, Gallery Director, adds an interesting note that explains its origin.

“The word ‘lunatic’ was once used to describe the behavior of people around the time of a full moon,” he says. “They would call these people eccentric or radicalized, so we wanted to adopt the term ‘lunatic’ to describe people who are crazy about the arts and the environment. We refer to those passionate artists as the ‘lunatics,’ while the ‘luna-crats’ are the art lovers who advocate for the arts.”

By that definition, Julian MacQueen, founder and CEO of Innisfree Hotels, counts himself and his wife, Kim, among the ‘luna-crats.’

“At Innisfree Hotels, we wanted to have a bit of a role to play in bringing art to the community and being a good corporate citizen to the communities in which we have hotels,” says Julian. “We thought it was appropriate to kick it off here at the Hilton. It’s our crown jewel.”

Julian attributed much of his love for the arts to his sister.

“I’d also like to thank my sister, Elizabeth MacQueen,” he says. “She’s always been an inspiration to me in understanding what art does for mankind.”

Lisa Puzon, Gallery Director of Luna Fine Art Gallery, spoke about what the evening meant to her.

“It’s a dream come true,” she says.

Part of that dream involves artists Pat and Kristen Regan, the mother-daughter duo whose work is the first to be exhibited at Luna Fine Art Gallery. Pat’s ‘Retrospective’ exhibit features a number of paintings from her collection.

“For Kim and Julian to do something like this for the arts is just incredible,” she says.

Guests to the event described the gallery as ‘lovely, stunning and thought-provoking work,’ and ‘love the idea and the venue at the beach.’

For Pat, working side-by-side with her daughter is very meaningful.

“I’m so happy that my daughter Kristen has taken up the banner,” she says. “She’s fighting for the environment and making a real statement with her work.”

Kristen’s exhibit ‘Plastisphere’ is a series of photographs featuring disposable plastics. Kristen has a clear message and theme throughout her work.

“I am trying to eliminate the use of single-use plastics as much as possible,” she says. “If I could just have one person decide to stop using bottled water, then I feel like I’ve made a change.”

The numbers alone are enough to grab your attention.

“Eight million metric tons of plastic goes into the ocean,” says Kristen. “A small change can make a huge impact.”

Luna Fine Art Gallery is the newest project of significance to Innisfree Hotels’ corporate social responsibility program, The Hive. Another way Luna Fine Art Gallery plans to give back to the community is by sharing 40 percent of proceeds sold to the public from this exhibit with Dixon School of the Arts, the school that inspired and shaped much of Innisfree’s charitable giving.

Luna Fine Art Gallery is only the first foray into the arts for Innisfree Hotels. Julian MacQueen talked about plans for the next big exhibit.

“Our next rollout is going to be in New Orleans at The Mercantile Hotel,” he says. “It’s right in the Arts and Warehouse District.”

Luna Fine Art Gallery is officially open to the public, so stop by the Hilton Pensacola Beach to enjoy the beginning of what is shaping up to be an artistic and environmental movement on the Gulf Coast.
Hilton Pensacola Beach is located at 12 Via De Luna Drive, Pensacola Beach, FL. For more information, visit the Luna Fine Art Gallery website or call (850) 916-2999.

Innisfree Hotels and Hilton Pensacola Beach’s very own Celebrity Chef Dan Dunn has been awarded as Chef of the Year with the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association.

Chef Dan Dunn is a Florida native, born in St. Pete and raised in Pensacola, that has been Executive Chef at the Hilton for 10-years. For eight of those years, he has been recognized as a celebrity chef in the Pensacola area. We caught up with Dan and talked about what it means to him to be a chef in Pensacola.

“I truly love Pensacola and the variety of fish we have right in the Gulf of Mexico,” he says. “I also love cooking outdoors. The weather here allows me to do that almost all year long.”

Being an ambassador for the Pensacola area is a big part of what Dan does as a chef in Pensacola.

“I’m always promoting Pensacola through my food,” he says. “We were just up in Nashville promoting a new direct flight between Nashville and Pensacola. It’s so much fun to share Pensacola with other people.”

But Dan isn’t just promoting Pensacola–he’s involved with the community.

“I am involved with all of the fundraisers here at the Hilton,” says Dan. “I’m also involved with the First City Art Center doing Hot Glass Cold Brew.”

Chef Dunn has also been part of Innisfree’s From the Ground Up Community Garden. The Community Garden is part of Innisfree’s corporate social responsibility program called The Hive. These garden events allow Chef Dunn to pursue his love for cooking outdoors.

“We’ve done about three or four dinners at the Community Garden,” he says. “It was really awesome. We got to do a farm-to-table event and it was a great way to bring the community together.”

And bringing people together is what it’s all about for Dan.

“Food brings people together,” he says. “I even try to bring my own family to the dinner table every evening.”

Even though Chef Dunn has been given awards in the past, this award was a big one for him.

“Chef of the Year”, he says. “That’s pretty huge. I was blown away when I heard about it.”

Chef Dunn usually finds himself busy on most days, but he tries to take advantage of the great activities and weather here in Pensacola when he can.

“I try to get out on the beach every morning for a walk before I come to work,” he says. “I also love to surf and fish for pompano when I get the chance. I love living out here on Pensacola Beach.”

But even when Chef Dunn finds himself without free time, he finds himself totally at peace.

“I love to stay busy,” he says. “Entertaining and cooking for people is my passion. The word ‘no’ just isn’t in my vocabulary.”

Chef Dunn is looking forward to being part of the growth of Pensacola and Innisfree.

“This area and Innisfree has experienced a lot of growth in the past few years,” he says. “It’s been a lot of fun to be part of that.”

You can follow Chef Dunn on Instagram @4dunns to catch a glimpse of his love for food, photography, art and Pensacola.

Chef Dan Dunn would like to thank the following events and associates over the years.

• FishFryMagazine

• Children’s Home Society

• Arc Gateway (Crab Cake Cook-Off)

• The Mall Ball

• Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital

• Best of Pensacola

• First City Art Center

• Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida

Chef Rafael III, Executive Chef at McCamly Plaza, has brought his love and passion for food from his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia to Battle Creek. Like most chefs, Chef Rafael III has a favorite dish. We caught up with him and asked him all about it.

“If I had to pick my favorite thing to cook, it would be Beef Brisket with Smoked Vidalia Ketchup.”

He was kind enough to fork over the recipe.

• Ketchup

• Three large Vidalia onions julienned and smoked

• 1 cup Worcestershire

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 cup molasses

• ¼ cup organic apple cider vinegar

• Salt & pepper to taste

According to Chef Rafael III, cooking brisket is an intricate process.

“Smoking beef brisket is an art…you don’t just throw it in the smoker and pray it will be great,” he says. “There’s a discipline and understanding for temperature, the science of the meat and smoke etc.

Then it’s time to move on to the sauce.

“This sauce is something I created in my hometown of Atlanta,” says Rafael III. “Light your smoker and add your wood–a little wood goes a long way. I julienne my onions and set them on a tray and put them in the smoker. Then, I immediately pop that can of ketchup open and pour it out onto a sheet pan to place in the smoker along with the onions. Do not place directly over heat. You only want them to get smoke heat. In an hour, the onions will be soft and the ketchup will have a black film across the top. Remove and let them cool in the fridge for 30 minutes. After they have cooled, place them in a large bowl with the rest of the other ingredients…the ACV, molasses, brown sugar, Worcestershire. Use an immersion blender on high to puree it all together and combine flavors until they are smooth. Salt and pepper to taste. This sauce is the best! Similar to bbq sauce, but with little bits of caramelized onion and fresh smoky flavor.”

Now, it’s time for the star of the show, the brisket. Chef Rafael III talked to us about how chooses and prepares his brisket.

“I buy larger average pound briskets (11-15 lbs makes for an evenly cooked product) with full deckle and not trimmed,” he says. “Brisket comes from the chest plate of a cow, so that will better help you to understand its shape. You’re gonna want to evenly trim all the fat cap away from the meat but pick a thickness. Leave either ¼ inch or ½ inch of even fat all the way around the meat. The underside will have very thin splotches of fat, but you will need to remove all of that. The underside almost looks like flank steak with the striations of meat. Trim off about the first 2 inches from the flat to square up the rectangular shape (this is very thin and will probably burn up and be super dry anyway–this is great for jerky.) Next, make your seasoning mix. Keep it simple, 1 cup kosher salt to ¼ cup cracked black pepper. Pat dry the meat with a paper towel and sprinkle evenly with the mixture, making sure to start on the underside first, then the sides, back, and top. Pat the meat with your hand to press in the seasoning–don’t rub! Rubbing only makes big salt patches (clumps) that are not very tasty. Refrigerate for an hour.”

And then there’s the smoking, which is all about timing and temperature.

“Place fat side up in smoker that has been preheated to 235 degrees. Here’s where it gets tricky,” says Rafael. “We want to ensure we get a beautiful, pink smoke ring. Some people smoke their meat and it’s a little on the strong smoke flavor side or it dries out or it has burnt outside. The hemoglobin in red meat will only absorb smoke flavor until the temperature of 140 degrees, so that’s why we chilled it before placing in the smoker. It’ll absorb more smoke for longer before it hits 140. So, now that you have your brisket smoking, it should take about 6-8 hours before it hits 140 degrees. At this point, remove and wrap with the brown paper bag or butcher paper and place back in the smoker. The paper does a few things for us:

1. Keep smoke from drying it out further

2. Keep moisture in.

3. Disperse fat drippings evenly around brisket.

4. Help maintain solid temp.

Now, we just wait until the meat hits 185- 190 degrees and is jelly-like when picked up. It should jiggle and be floppy.”

And patience plays a big role in making a successful brisket.

“This next step is absolutely crucial: let meat rest for 30 to 45 minutes before cutting into it,” says Rafael. “Cutting it open too soon will release steam and tons of moisture.”

Carving up the brisket is just as important as all of the other steps. Chef Rafael III clued us in on his carving techniques.

“Use a serrated knife, not a bread knife,” he says. “All cuts should be the thickness of a pencil or ¼ inch thick. Cut across the width at 90-degree angle against the grain. The thicker back half has a grain that runs in a different direction, so turn it 90 degrees and slice just like you did the thinner beginning piece. You will know this when you start to see a piece of fat in the center of the meat. The back half has fat in the middle like a ribeye steak. Give the brisket the “pull test” by taking a slice and gently tugging to see how it pulls apart. If you take a slice of brisket between the thumb and index finger in both hands and pull, it should come apart easily, but not fall apart. If it stretches, it isn’t done enough. If it falls apart, it’s overdone. Don’t forget the smoked ketchup. Enjoy!”