Famie Chicken: will it take wing?

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 18, 1989 by Carolyn Walkup

Famie Chicken: Will it take wing?

ROYAL OAK, Mich. -- People used to think that Keith Famie, chef-owner of the hot Les Auteurs bistro and winner of several prestigious awards, had a lot of grandiose ideas that would never be realized.

Famie, 29, set out a few years ago to become rich and famous in his chosen profession. He does not yet admit to being rich, but his fame has spread far beyond Detroit's northwestern suburbs. And he's working on increasing his wealth, not through fine dining, but through fast food.

Fast food may seem incongruous for a chef named to Food and Wine magazine's annual listing of the nation's top up-and-coming chefs and an owner whose restaurant was listed as one of Travel-Holiday's top 1989 fine-dining destinations.

But Famie, who has proven he can combine his cooking talent with good business sense, would not produce what is ordinarily considered fast food.

He and two partners plan to open their first Famie's Chicken next spring. The restaurant will specialize in oven-roasted or rotisserie chicken and other foods that can be served quickly for take-out or drive-thru.

Preferring not to call the concept fast food but rather "convenience food," Famie said, "We hope to take the market by storm with this product." Long interested in healthful eating, he sees his idea as an alternative to deepfried, high-fat fast foods.

"We hope this will be the first of many. My partners have the ability to make this a big company," Famie said.

If the concept should take off and grow into a sizable chain, it could net its owners considerable profits. Famie has distributed modest profits from Les Auteurs' first $2 million year to his investors and continues to put more money back into the business. He is currently building a 30-seat addition for private dining and overflow and has purchased equipment and built a separate kitchen for off-premises catering.

He has already added a separate take-out section to Les Auteurs, called LA Express. Available for both take-out and delivery are items including salads, thin-crust pizzas, pastas, chili, desserts and, of course, rotisserie chicken.

Another potential income-producing project Famie has finished is the publication of a booklet on how to order healthful foods in restaurants, titled, "Cookit My Way, the Pocket Guide to Healthy Dining." He is working on obtaining national distribution for it.

Famie enjoys organizing other projects both for their public relations value and for bringing recognition to Michigan chefs and restaurants generally. He initiated production of an all-Michigan dinner for French dignitaries in Paris last summer at the U.S. ambassador's residence. He plans to produce a similar showcase of Michigan chefs and products locally next summer for a delegation of Soviet businessmen.

In February he will expand his international interests even further by cooking on board a cruise ship sailing from Singapore to Bangkok. When he is not preparing dinners or doing cooking demonstrations, he will be researching the cuisines of the Orient's exotic ports.

Closer to home, a Detroit TV station recently featured Les Auteurs' Crayon Club. Famie's bistro may be the only one in the world to lease a vault holding regular patrons' personal boxes of 64 crayons for use on their paper-topped tables.

Some of his ideas translate into charitable fund-raisers. He plans to auction the crayon drawings done at Les Auteurs by professional artists for charity. Last fall he got the Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce to sponsor a race of miniature racing cars for another charity.

Famie carries over his energy to the day-to-day hard work of running his restaurant. The trick to motivating a staff is to demonstrate "enthusiastic leadership and team spirit," he said.

He does not complain about his 85- to 90-hour work weeks. To ease some of his load, he has relinquished some of his hands-on cooking duties to a chef de cuisine, Eddie Madison.

"This is a business of close friends. There is no time to nurture friendships outside of work when you work so many hours. Our closest friends are here at work," he said.

PHOTO : Keith Famie, chef-owner of Les Auteurs, Royal Oak, Mich., in construction zone that will

PHOTO : become an addition to his restaurant.