A heaping dish of fun
CHICAGO — Richard Melman is watching what you eat, and how you eat it.
It’s nothing personal. The man who has been called one of the world’s most innovative restaurant creators is simply looking for inspiration for the next great American restaurant concept — or Asian, Italian or whatever theme strikes him as rich with potential for fun and profit.
“I’m always looking for holes in the marketplace,” says the founder and chairman of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc., an eclectic group of 68 restaurants whose eateries range from fast food to four-star dining.
Melman and his 35-year-old restaurant empire have been hailed as a creative force within the industry beyond the success of such restaurants as Big Bowl, Everest, Tru, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba and Wildfire. Industry consultant Ron Paul goes so far as to compare him to a certain filmmaker who likewise is known for exploring a variety of themes and styles.
“He’s the Steven Spielberg of the restaurant industry in terms of being innovative and in terms of his track record, with the number of successes he’s had,” said Paul, president of Chicago-based restaurant consulting group Technomic Inc.
Melman doesn’t like applying labels to his restaurants, such as specialty-themed. Instead, he uses such words as “different,” “new” and “fun” to describe them during an interview at the company’s offices, where a giant, detailed photograph of — what else? — a head of lettuce greets all visitors.
Different on the light side, that is.
“A sense of humor is very much part of what we do,” said Melman. “If we can’t have fun and make money, there’s something missing.”
Fun, for the affable restaurateur, is creating 1940s-style dinner clubs with steak and chops (Wildfire), a ‘30s Baltimore wharf seafood restaurant (Shaw’s Crab House), a short-order takeout bar with Chinese steamed buns (Wow Bao), and an “exciting” new style of buffet (debuting in Las Vegas next spring).
It’s restaurant names like Lawrence of Oregano, Great Gritzbe’s Flying Food Show and Jonathan Livingston Seafood.
All told, Melman estimates he’s developed 130 restaurants and 70 or more different concepts since he and best friend Jerry Orzoff opened a funky burger joint in Chicago’s upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood in 1971. Orzoff died in 1981.
Today, the privately held company has annual sales of over $300 million and about 5,000 employees. Melman won’t discuss its earnings but doesn’t dispute a report that puts them at over $50 million.
R.J. Grunt’s, a name memorializing their initials, captured the spirit of the hippie era, Melman recalled fondly. It featured tofu burgers and the macrobiotic meal of the day, served by waitresses who wrote political messages on customers’ checks.
“We did wild stuff then,” said the restaurateur, who had stored up creative ideas working in his father’s deli.
Lettuce had five other restaurants by 1979 besides R.J. Grunt’s, which remains in operation today. Melman then traveled through Europe and returned to open a steady flow of new restaurants covering all genres of dining, many featuring a theatrical environment.
A made-to-order creperie, flamenco dinner shows, one-bite desserts — all have been spawned from a bulging idea file.
The 64-year-old Melman handed the CEO’s role to protege Kevin Brown three years ago.
His legacy may be passed on through his three children, all of whom are involved in the business.
Now chairman and the self-described “daydreamer of the company,” Melman vows to never take it public or let it turn into a mega-chain on his watch. He still puts in a full week rainstorming possible restaurant concepts in his office or working on new concoctions in the test kitchen 50 feet away.
“Everything I think of, I relate to restaurants,” he said. “If I’m in a hardware store, I’m in a movie, I relate it to restaurants.”