Trending
NEW?YORK, N.Y. – Daniel and Derek Koch are competitive guys, who love a good challenge.
In that regard, not much has changed since the Martins Ferry natives’ prep days at St. John Central.
However, in the grand scheme of things, much has changed for the twin brothers.
The twins moved from Columbus, where they had been attending and wrestling for Ohio State University, to New York City in 2002 without much of a plan in place of what the future held.
“New York City is full of opportunities,” Derek Koch said during a phone interview. “We moved here and obviously we had to find a job.”
Growing up in the Ohio Valley where life is slowpaced and transitioning to Manhattan was something the twins relished.
“It all comes down to hardwork and determination,” Derek said. “We stayed grounded with the discipline that we learned growing up in the Ohio Valley.”
Using those qualities, charisma and the skills to run a successful restaurant they learned working at different NYC eateries are definitely paying dividends for the Class of 2000 SJC graduates who have become two of the nation’s biggest city’s youngest and most successful restaurant entrepeneurs.
“New York City is like a roller coaster, but things have become pretty stable for us,” Derek said.
In October of last year, the twins opened their first restaurant, the MPD (Mon Petit Dejeuner), which is located in NYC’s growing meat-packing district.
“The restaurant has been well received by the public,” Derek said. “It could always be better, but we’re in a good location and we’ve got some things in store for it down the road.”
The twins actually began building their equity when they teamed to form the Dual Groupe Hospitality and began a Day & Night Brunch affair.
Basically, the model they used for the day and night brunch is taking the normal midday meal and turning it into a party-type atmosphere.
“When we were working at Le Bilboquet, it really injected this concept into us,” Derek said. “Doing it allowed us to build the business quite rapidly and we were able to invest our own money.”
The Day & Night Brunch is still an ongoing trend. It’s actually got 600 confirmed guests for today’s event, which is being held in a restaurant known as the Oak Room, which is situated in an up-scale NYC hotel.
“There are a lot of moving parts involved in Day & Night,” Daniel said. “It’s meant to be housed at a hotel.”
The Day & Night concept stays in the hotel until Memorial Day, but from that time until Labor Day, it re-locates to the Hamptons Yacht Club, which is north of the city.
“It repositions itself every year,” Derek said. “We feel strongly that if we continue to move it (to different locations), it’s got added relevance.”
The concept has grown such in popularity that word is spreading nationwide, according to the twins.
“We’ve got people in Los Angeles and Las Vegas interested in bring it there, too,” Derek said. “We’re exploring everything, but we’ve got to be careful to what we can commit our time to at the moment because we’re both so limited with so much on our plates.”
The success and marketability of the Kochs has landed the brothers an appearance on NBC’s Today Show on Feb. 25 during the show’s fourth hour.
When the Kochs first arrived in Manhattan, they were hired by Oscar Reyes at Trump Management to a modeling deal.
A little less than a year later, they got their first taste of the restaurant business when they were both hired at Le Bilboquet, an up-scale restaurant on NYC’s Upper East Side.
“Daniel and I both worked together as a team and things kind of got going from there,” Derek said. “We spent a lot of time working as waiters and trying to get involved with movies and being very creative with our lives. There were times when we would maybe par our rent and maybe we wouldn’t. Those were the fun times.”
In 2007, the twins got their first taste of being involved in a partnership. Teaming with Frederick Lesort, they opened a restaurant in Manhattan’s Midtown called Jour et Nuit, which is French for Day & Night.
As the brothers have worked together, they’ve continued to learn more and more about each other.
“We’ve been able to identify our strengths and weaknesses and sort of separated the responsibilities for what we’re good at,” Derek said.
Derek handles much of the management and operations, while Derek works on the promotions and marketing side of the business.
“We’ve been able to balance things,” Daniel said. “Derek controls one end of the spectrum and I do the other. There’s two people involved in every marriage to make things work. There is often times a lot of instability and lack of loyalty in the business world, but it’s different when you’re working with your brother.”
Both Daniel and Derek also give major props to the third member of their team, Michael Wainstein, who handles the legal and business end of things like contracts and such.
Since the Kochs spend so much time together in the work realm, they decided to live separately, but they still live within the same proximity of each other.
Derek and his girlfriend share an apartment in the city’s West Village. Daniel lives by himself off of fifth avenue also near the West Village.
“We’re in an area where our lives are kind of in a triangle,” Daniel said. “Our businesses are kind of right next to each other, so it’s really nice.”
Due to their business schedules, both have trouble getting back to the Ohio Valley as often as they might like. Their parents and youngest brother, Dane, still live in Martins Ferry.
“I make it a point to get back every now and again,” Daniel said. “I was back in December before Christmas.”
Derek spent the holidays in Seattle, visiting his girlfriend’s family.
Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com