Lettuce Entertain You founder Rich Melman was at a Cubs spring training game in Arizona last winter when a conversation with a friend, ex-NBA star Rick Barry, turned, naturally, to food.
The topic? A new chain that one of Melman’s kids had discovered called Baja Fresh Mexican Grill. Melman had fallen in love with its chicken tacos and was eager to spread the word.
Barry, it turns out, was an investor, and, right there, the conversation turned to Melman getting involved.
“I’ll tell the right people,” Melman recalls Barry saying. The next morning, Greg Dollarhyde, president and CEO of Baja Fresh, was on the phone to Melman.
On Monday, both companies announced the fruition of those discussions: Lettuce is setting up a separate partnership to develop 16 new Baja Fresh restaurants in Chicago and the northern suburbs over the next five years.
The new entity will mean a management change at Lettuce. Chief Executive Steve Ottmann will step down to partner with Melman in the new venture. Melman, chairman of Lettuce, will add CEO duties for the time being.
Ottmann, who has experience in quick casual dining, was a partner in one of Lettuce’s most successful offshoots, Ed Debevic’s.
Though business has been tough on all restaurateurs, especially following the Sept. 11 attacks and the subsequent slowdown in convention business, Melman said there was nothing behind Ottmann’s move other than his desire to work on a single concept.
No word on how long Melman would keep the CEO title, but many in the industry say that Lettuce president Kevin Brown could become CEO.
Though his new investment is a departure in strategy, Melman said his success in partnering with Krispy Kreme–he is opening another in Spokane and plans seven more–paved the way for Baja Fresh.
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“My feeling is that I sort of like to spread out the types of restaurants we have, not only in style and food, but also in price point,” Melman said. “With the economy the way it is today, you can’t go wrong with having an average check of $6.”
Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Baja Fresh is one of the fastest-growing quick casual restaurant concepts in the U.S. There are 171 restaurants in 16 states, including five in the Chicago area. Melman will go head-to-head with other chains, including McDonald’s Corp.’s Chipotle concept. Ironically, Melman and McDonald’s had an informal consulting arrangement on concepts unrelated to Chipotle.
“I feel very positively about how Baja Fresh stands up against Chipotle,” Melman said Monday.
Melman indicated that tough economic times call for restaurateurs to be more flexible.
Given the state of the economy, “I’m not motivated to open a $100-a-check restaurant today,” he said.
Wieden wins at Cannes: Reflecting Wieden & Kennedy’s creative renaissance with Nike, the agency shined at the annual Cannes International Advertising Festival over the weekend, taking the Grand Prix for Nike’s “Tag” campaign–its dramatic long-form ad of the ultimate game of tag through the canyons of an urban jungle.
Three Chicago shops garnered Lions: DDB Chicago brought home four bronze Lions for Anheuser-Busch; Leo Burnett, a silver for Walt Disney Co. and a bronze for Hallmark; and Young & Rubicam, a bronze for Nascar.
H&K and TMR form alliance: With Hill & Knowlton looking to bolster its higher-education practice, the firm is hooking up with Chicago-based Team Marketing Report in a unique arrangement to provide consulting and communications services to sports organizations. Though there is no formal business arrangement, Team Marketing Report staffers have moved into H&K space at 900 N. Michigan Ave. Sallie Gaines, senior managing director of H&K, and Dan Migala, executive vice president of Team Marketing Report, will lead the alliance.
On the move: The Hearst Group named Norman Miller, formerly luxury goods director for Vogue magazine, as its new group advertising director. … Fox Sports Net Chicago named Pat Joyce, formerly with Rainbow Advertising Sales, as an account executive on its local advertising sales team.
Clarification: J. Walter Thompson, Chicago, is the agency on the new Blockbuster Inc. work for its video game sales, set to break Monday. The agency’s name was omitted in a column Friday about the campaign.