CHICAGO —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Prompted by stiff competition in downtown Chicago and booming growth in outlying areas, companies large and small are seeking out new markets for both tried-and-true concepts and new ones. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Adobo Grill, which has two restaurants in Chicago and opened one in Indianapolis last year, next will expand into the western suburb of Lombard, Ill., where it has a restaurant under construction. Owner Paul LoDuca says the location is ideal. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“The market is underserved,” he says. “There are not a lot of Mexican restaurants that can be considered competition.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Adobo Grill, which first opened in 2000 and added a second unit four years later in the Wicker Park neighborhood, has kept to the Chicago area as it has slowly grown. It opened the Indianapolis location to test how the concept would work outside Chicago, LoDuca says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“We learned a lot,” he says, particularly when it comes to the dining habits of Indianapolis residents. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“They’re more price-sensitive, on liquor especially and on food a little bit,” he says “We fine-tuned the concept. We ended up making the appetizers larger because they just wanted an appetizer for an entrée.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
LoDuca acknowledges that growth has been slow, but there’s a reason for that. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“We always try to be real cautious,” he says. “We’re the tortoise. We’re chugging along. We’re trying to do one new restaurant a year, which hasn’t been the past track record.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Restaurants-America, based in the Chicago suburb of Glenview, Ill., is moving ahead with “an aggressive expansion plan” for its Bar Louie concept and looks to open 14 or 15 more this year, says Amy Weisenburger, the company’s director of marketing and public relations. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The first Bar Louie opened in 1991 in Chicago’s River North. There are now 29 locations, including units in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Tampa, Fla., and Columbus, Ohio. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Bar Louie is a “casually cool” concept that attracts customers who are 21 to 55 years old. Lunch draws daytime workers and students, while dinner attracts families and happy-hour crowds. Young singles dominate the late-night hours. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
It’s this demographic mix that Restaurants-America looks for in potential markets, Weisenburger says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“We tend to seek out areas that are up-and-coming, that don’t really have a restaurant base that is something between casual dining and more upscale, fine dining,” she says. “Bar Louie bridges the gap.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The restaurant serves a menu of appetizers, salads, sandwiches and entrées that range in price from $3.99 to $12.99. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The average Bar Louie is 7,000 square feet, but both store size and menu are adapted to the market, Weisenburger says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“As we expand in the Midwest and Florida, the Bar Louies are a little larger and have a lot of different eating options,” she says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Restaurants-America also is expanding its Grillroom Chophouse & Winebar. It recently opened a unit in suburban Westmont, Ill., the third location for the concept. A fourth Grillroom is scheduled to open in late summer in Baton Rouge, La. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group plans to open another Harry Caray’s restaurant next year across the street from Wrigley Field. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“We’ve been looking up there for 10 years or so for the right opportunity,” says Grant DePorter, president of the restaurant group. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The restaurant will occupy what is now Hi-Tops Tavern and will be a more casual version of the flagship restaurant in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. The menu will emphasize more salads and pizza than the River North restaurant, DePorter says. Appropriately, the restaurant will open on the opening day of the 2008 Cub’s season. DePorter expects it will do great business during the baseball season, but “our goal is to be busy the rest of the year as well,” he says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Before that location opens, another Harry Caray’s and a new concept next door to it called Holy Mackerel! will open west of the city in a suburban Lombard shopping mall. Both are scheduled to open this August. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The Harry Caray’s in Lombard will be bigger than the flagship restaurant, DePorter says, capable of holding more than 500 diners in its largest banquet room. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The casual-dining Holy Mackerel! will seat 125 people in the dining room and 28 in the bar. A private dining room called The Chart Room will seat 52. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The dining room will feature large-scale murals depicting vintage Chicago lakefront scenes. Only fresh seafood will be served, and menus will be printed daily to reflect whatever seafood is available that day, said director of marketing Beth G. Heller. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
DePorter says opening Holy Mackerel! will allow Harry Caray’s executive chef Paul Katz to “showcase his strengths.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“Seafood is his specialty,” DePorter says. “He has been running seafood specials [at Harry Caray’s] for years.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group also is looking farther west than suburban Chicago, perhaps to Las Vegas or Scottsdale, Ariz., where the Cubs hold their spring training. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“A lot of people have approached us about Las Vegas,” DePorter says, but the restaurant group does not have imminent plans to move there or to Arizona, even though “if you’re thinking big picture, it would make sense to have one in Scottsdale.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. has done so well with its first two Wow Bao concepts, which serve steamed Chinese buns filled with meat and vegetable combinations, that it plans to open a third, says chief executive Kevin Brown. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Sales at the first unit, at Water Tower Place, and a recently opened location in the city’s financial district “have been terrific so far,” he says. A third unit is set to open soon at the corner of State and Lake streets. All three locations are in heavily traveled areas. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“You always like to be where the people like to live, where they work, where they visit,” Brown says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Wow Bao, where the average check is $5 or $6, appeals to both nearby workers and tourists, he says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
LEYE also recently opened a Wildfire 1940s-style steakhouse in Atlanta, its seventh location for the concept, and plans to open another later this year in Tysons Corner, Va. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The company is looking at a “variety of cities” in which to expand its Big Bowl Asian stir-fry dinnerhouse concept, Brown says, and is “actively pursuing” expansion of Mon Ami Gabi, a French Bistro. “Quite a few things are about to happen,” he says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Amid this expansion, however, LEYE plans to close its 27-year-old Ambria fine-dining restaurant June 30. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“It’s just time,” Brown says. “Everything is an evolution. You keep evolving.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The 10-unit Flat Top Grill, a create-your-own-stir-fry concept, also is poised for expansion with plans to open two suburban units in the next few months, says founder and chief executive Keene Addington. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“We like downtown sites, and that could be downtown Chicago or a suburban downtown,” he says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Before opening in new locations, Addington sends people to monitor customer traffic at nearby restaurants. This helps to gauge whether customers loyal to successful restaurants in the neighborhood would become Flat Top Grill customers as well. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Flat Top Grill’s target market is a younger, professional crowd, Addington says, and 65 percent of sales come from women. Flat Top Grill conducted “an interesting exercise” in which it fed its demographic and psychographic profile into a computer to determine possible locations. Flat Top Grill’s profile matched 500 potential locations, Addington says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
A unit opened recently in Fort Wayne, Ind., and though the ultimate goal is to become a national brand, “how that eventually gets there remains to be seen,” he says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
For now, the plan is to expand in the Chicago area or within a few hours’ driving radius from the city. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“Our goal is to grow at three to five restaurants a year for the next couple of years,” Addington says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Kamehachi, a Japanese cuisine and sushi concept, opened its first Chicago location in 1967 and now has another unit in Chicago and one in suburban Northbrook, Ill. It operates a sushi bar in the lobby of the Westin Chicago River North and last year opened Sushi Café in the South Loop. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The cafe is a “fast-fresh” concept targeting professionals who live and work in the neighborhood, “and it’s something we’d like to push out into the airports,” says Carl Meier, director of operations. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
That would give Kamehachi an additional market: hungry airline passengers who want freshly made sushi instead of the packaged variety, Meier says. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Getting a restaurant slot at either the Midway or O’Hare airports is a difficult process, however, and Meier acknowledges that it involves a lot of legal work. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
The South Loop cafe “is doing quite well,” he says, because it’s luring customers away from nearby Sears Tower, where diners don’t want to put up with lengthy security checks just to get into one of the building’s restaurants. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Kamehachi also is considering expansion into the western suburbs. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“There’s a lot of [population] growth and not as much competition as you have downtown,” Meier says. “It’s kind of full in the city.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Special Report Windy City sizzles with eclectic new eateries as NRA show approaches —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
Kamehachi’s expansion has come through real estate developers who believe they have an appropriate site for a restaurant, he says, and that’s likely to continue. —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
“Things kind of come up,” Meier says. “You want to make the place a destination. When you pick a location you have to do it for the long haul.” —In the never-ending search for new customers, many Chicago-based restaurant chains are broadening their reach beyond the city and expanding their brands into neighboring suburbs and across state lines.
