Dine at RPM Steak for a succulent tomahawk cut
While much has changed in the restaurant industry since Rich Melman opened the doors to R.J. Grunts in 1971, the Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (leye.com) founder and chairman says that one thing remains the same: the importance of great food. “I always start with the food. I know if we serve great food, provide wonderful service and make our guests happy, we will always be successful,” he says. June 10, he celebrates 50 years since starting his famed restaurant group, which includes legendary spots like Mon Ami Gabi, Shaw’s Crab House and Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, with over 120 other restaurants in the Greater Chicago area, along with Las Vegas, D.C. and more. Melman credits his success to the culture of the restaurants. “We have a culture of caring and hospitality at Lettuce,” he says. “So beyond the food and the service, it’s that we care about our guests and we care about each other, and it starts at the top.” Since opening, more familiar faces have joined the team, including Melman’s three children, R.J. as president and Jerrod and Molly as executive partners. “[Growing up,] Lettuce was very much like the sixth member of our family,” Jerrod says. “I remember at a very young age just appreciating that we had a dad who did something that he really got a lot of joy out of.” Now, Jerrod and his siblings get to experience that joy as well. When asked about their favorite memory over the past few years, one stands out for all of them: the opening of Hub 51. “It was the first restaurant that the three of us really worked on and opened together,” Jerrod says. Molly, who was fresh out of college at the time, remembers the opening as the first time she realized working with the family company was the career for her (she was working as a kindergarten teacher in New York). Looking to the future, expansion outside of Chicago to even more markets like Florida is on the horizon. “We say something internally: ‘If you want to understand the future, you have to look at the past,’” R.J. concludes. “Lettuce has been an outlet for creativity in restaurants for 50 years, and our future will look the same as we continue to grow in new spaces and new places.”
Photography by: John Stoffer
