NOVEMBER 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 23
MICHAEL LESSING
COUNTING THEIR LESSINGS
By WARREN STRUGATCH
Last December, Michael Lessing
was named fifth-generation president
and chief operating officer of
Lessing’s Hospitality Group, a restaurant
and catering company based in
Great River. Founded in 1890, the
company operates 17 wedding venues
and 10 restaurants on Long Island,
Westchester and Florida. Lessing’s
boomed in the 1980s through a string
of acquisitions of Main Street restaurants
and cafes along the South Shore.
Last year, the company regained the
contract to operate Bethpage State
Park’s high-profile event space after
a 20-year lapse, five months ahead of
the PGA Championship next May. I
spoke with Michael inside the event
space at Bethpage State Park, now
renamed Heritage Club at Bethpage.
Let’s start our conversation at the
beginning. Who were your mentors
rising up the ranks? My father,
Lawrence Lessing, was president
prior to me. My Uncle Jack was CEO.
They influenced me enormously and
still do. They’ve moved into senior
advisor roles. They still come to work
everyday. I meet with them once or
twice a week. As CEO, Jack was very
outgoing; he was the company’s public
face. My father was more subdued,
more professor-like. As mentors they
gave my brother Mark and I enough
rope to go out and make our mistakes.
As long as we learned from our mistakes,
that was ok.
Were you groomed to be CEO? I
wasn’t planning on being in the business!
I went to school for finance. On
summer vacation in 1984, I worked
as a steward in Bethpage State Park
(where Lessing’s operated the concession.)
I spent more time in the cellar
than anybody should have to.
As president, what changes have
you made so far? One of the things
we’ve done is make the next generation
work outside the company (for
outside experience). My son Michael
Jr. went to Fairfield University.
When he graduated with a degree
in finance we had the father-son
conversation about careers. I asked
him about his plans and he said, ‘I
want to go into your business.’ I said,
‘Are you crazy?’ So he went to work
first at Blue Smoke in Manhattan (a
three-restaurant Southern barbeque
chain owned by the Union Square
Hospitality Group). He’s now general
manager at the Post Office Café in
Babylon, which we own.
What’s your primary challenge
operationally? Our number one challenge
is finding the right people. We
always start by looking within, and
promoting. It doesn’t always happen,
which means we always are looking
to recruit. In the long run, the tightening
labor market is a big challenge.
How are you meeting the challenge?
We look to make Lessing’s a
more desirable employer. Through
our benefit packages we offer career
training and more flexible scheduling.
We’re making it a company
where people really want to work,
and want their family and friends to
work here, too.
You’re a fifth-generation executive
running a 128-year family
business. How do you negotiate
between tradition and innovation?
Lessing’s has quite a heritage! At 128
years old, we don’t turn on a dime. So
we’ve been working to automate – automate,
automate, automate. It’s been
a game changer for us. Our goal has
been to make our operations more
user-friendly. Employees can log
on and see how many hours they’re
working, see their schedules two
weeks ahead, and put in requests for
vacation times.
Have you explored new business
models? We’ve moved into franchising.
We now operate Blaze Pizza
locations. Blaze has given us a new
perspective in terms of how they
roll out new ideas and new initiatives,
and in terms of using social media.
You and your brother Mark both
grew up in the family business. You
became president last December; he
remains executive vice president.
How has the promotion affected
your relationship? Mark and I are a
year apart. We were very competitive
as kids. Through high school we were
best friends. I came up on the catering
side, he came up through restaurants.
In addition to Mark I work with two
other brothers. There’s a fifth brother,
who’s not in the business, and a sister.
They’re both computer programmers.
C-SUITE
Michael Lessing is 5th-generation president of his family’s restaurant and catering business. (Photo by Ralph DePas)