Vongerichten, Suarez expand upscale group in U.S., China: sales of $50m forecast for '04; hotel line next

Nation's Restaurant News, March 1, 2004 by Erica Duecy

NEW YORK -- With 12 upscale restaurants in five cities, chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and partner Phil Suarez have built a restaurant portfolio that many observers of the fine-dining scene regard as unparalleled in its breadth of concepts.

From fine-dining French restaurants and sophisticated steakhouses to French-Thai and Chinese-fusion eateries, the prolific partners have expanded their holdings at an increasingly rapid pace through their New York-based Jean-Georges Management, or JGM, as well as through several limited-liability corporations.

In the past three months alone, the Vongerichten-Suarez group has opened three restaurants, each with its own footprint. Bank, in Houston, is a steak and seafood restaurant in the Hotel Icon; Rare is a steakhouse in Manhattan's new Time Warner Center: and Spice Market showcases Southeast Asian street foods in Manhattan's Chelsea district.

Another JGM concept, a French fine-dining restaurant modeled after the group's acclaimed New York flagship, Jean Georges, is scheduled to open next month in Shanghai, China.

Suarez projects that the group's restaurants will do $50 million in combined sales in 2004. In the next year JGM plans to extend the upscale Vongerichten brand to include a line of luxury, hotels.

Managing the myriad projects is not for the faint of heart, according to Suarez. But the rationale behind the multiple concepts has more to do with passion than profit, he said.

Each new concept is a creative outlet for Vongerichten. "I have to stay excited about projects," the chef-entrepreneur said. "'1 have to keep it fresh."

Despite the number of concepts, some restaurants in the group are similar, such as the steak-heavy Prime in Las Vegas. Rare in Manhattan and Bank in Houston. "We're doing each in a different style." Suarez said. "That's what makes it more interesting. We don't want to become a Smith & Wollensky."

Providing guests with a unique experience is part of the Vongerichten brand, Suarez said. "We're also in the business of theater, and I think that just enhances his name and what he wants to offer with his food."

To operate the many restaurants, JGM runs a centralized system for human resources, financial operations, and sourcing and purchasing services. The company has more than 2,000 employees.

JGM has developed its own in-depth financial-analysis programs to track sales, food costs, profit margins and inventory on a daily basis. "All the results are generated daily to make that bottom line work for us," Suarez said. "If you see it right in front of you, you can adjust it on a very quick basis rather than getting into a hole. Once you dig that hole, it's very hard to gel out of it."

Vongerichten's three recent openings exemplify, the diversity of concepts in the restaurant group.

Spice Market, which opened in February, is Vongerichten's homage to the street foods of Southeast Asia. The 13,500-square-foot restaurant seats 300 and is designed in dark, carved woods imported from India, luxurious, colorful fabrics and chairs upholstered in white leather.

The second of the three openings, Bank, which debuted in January, represents the team's first foray into the boutique hotel business, with Vongerichten and Suarez owning a small financial stake in the Houston hotel.

To prepare for the duo's planned line of Vongerichten-brand "'personal luxury" hotels, "we've been talking to people very heavily lately," Suarez said. "Hotel Icon is kind of our beginning."

The 200-seat Rare opened in February in New York's Time Warner Center.

Vongerichten's concepts in New York include the French-Thai Vong, French bistro JoJo, the Lipstick Cafe, Jean Georges and American bistro Mercer Kitchen. Prime is located in Las Vegas" Bellagio resort-casino, and a second unit of Vong is located in Hong Kong and its sibling, VTK, is in Chicago.