Restaurateur sees salad days ahead

updated 7:55 p.m. ET July 20, 2006

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.

‘The Spielberg of the restaurant industry’
“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. “There's not a single other restaurant operator with as many different kinds of concepts as he has.”

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.

LETTUCE ENTERTAIN YOU AT A GLANCE — Description: Privately held owner-operator of 68 multi-concept restaurants. — 2005 sales: Over $300 million. — Founder/chairman: Richard Melman, 64, launched first restaurant R.J. Grunt’s in Chicago in 1971 with late partner Jerry Orzoff. — Restaurants: Ambria, Antico Posto, Ben Pao, Big Bowl, Brasserie Jo, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba!, Chicago Flat Sammies, Di Pescara, Don & Charlie’s, Eiffel Tower, Everest, Foodlife, Joe’s Seafood Prime Steak & Stone Crab, Krispy Kreme (franchisee), L. Woods, Maggiano’s Little Italy (consultant), Magic Pan Crepe Stand, Mity Nice Grill, Mon Ami Gabi, Nacional 27, Osteria Via Stato, Papagus, Petterino’s, R.J. Grunt’s, Scoozi!, Shaw’s Crab House, Tru, Tucci Benucch, Twin City Grill, Vong’s Thai Kitchen, Wildfire, Wow Bao.

“When you do things a little better and a little different, often people beat a path to your door,” he said.

Different on the light side, that is.

“A sense of humor is very much part of what we do,” said Melman, who's known for wearing sneakers with his business attire. “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 developing hit concepts like Corner Bakery Cafe, Maggiano's Little Italy and Big Bowl fresh Chinese and Thai, building them into thriving mini-chains and selling them to larger companies that expand them. Maybe buying them back, too, as in the case of Big Bowl.

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It's restaurant names like Lawrence of Oregano, Great Gritzbe's Flying Food Show, Jonathan Livingston Seafood and Fritz, That's It — even if the fun couldn't keep them in business.

Or it might be waffles in the shape of dollar-bill signs in Las Vegas, or an offbeat idea for dessert insurance that he has considered offering — buy insurance for, say, $1 when you walk in and save 50 percent off the price of dessert.

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