Carlucci Group stakes claim in downtown Chicago

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 10, 1997 by Carolyn Walkup

CHICAGO -- Carlucci Hospitality Group, which started with one North Side restaurant 13 years ago, has evolved into a multiunit company with a downtown presence.

With the opening of its eighth restaurant, Iron Mike's Grille, a high-end American restaurant named for partner Mike Ditka, former Chicago Bears coach and newly named coach of the New Orleans Saints, Carlucci has moved downtown. In addition, two more downtown restaurants are planned for openings this year, including a Carlucci Italian restaurant in the new House of Blues Hotel.

"We started as a neighborhood group," founder Joe Carlucci said. "We had Carlucci on Halsted, Charlie's Ale House, Vinny's and Strega Nona within a 1-mile circumference. Now we have made more of a conscious effort to be in higher-volume locations."

Some new well-heeled partners are another factor contributing to Carlucci's move from North Side neighborhoods to the brighter lights of downtown. Investors in Iron Mike's include Jeff Shearer, vice chairman of Boston Market, and John Morlock, Chicago area Boston Market franchisee.

"The cost of building a restaurant is about the same. no matter what the sales, "Carlucci said, explaining the company's strategy. He now thinks it makes more sense to have a downtown location with the potential to do between $8 million and $9 million in sales instead of a neighborhood site that does $3 million.

Current companywide annual sales are about $15 million. That total easily will surpass $20 million this year, Carlucci said.

"As we become more active, a lot more and greater opportunities come our way. Our opportunities now are better than even five years ago" he noted.

"You need to do more than just dinner to do volume" he said. As a result, he and his associates made the decision to close the original Carlucci on Halsted in favor of building a new interpretation of the concept next to the new House of Blues music hall. Because that restaurant will be in a hotel, it will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Carlucci also will do room service and banquets.

A similar arrangement exists at the Iron Mike's location in the Tremont Hotel, formerly the site of the short-lived Cafe Gordon and its long-lived predecessor, Crickets. Iron Mike's also will have a private-party room and a cigar bar.

"The meeting-room and private-party business is huge," Carlucci said. "It's an underdeveloped market. It would be foolish to build a restaurant without it if you have the room."

Carlucci already has received inquiries from businesses that want to reserve Iron Mike's private room two days a week every week. Early requests also have come in for meeting rooms at the House of Blues Hotel, which is not scheduled to open until the end of this year.

"We like the hotel business," Carlucci said. `They always seem to have the best locations, and they have a built-in clientele." He believes hotel guests will eat in hotel restaurants that are merchandised like freestanding restaurants and are designed differently from the rest of the premises.

Both new restaurants will have separate entrances as well as distinctive interior and exterior designs. Iron Mike's is a clubby, wood-paneled and marble two-level restaurant accented with part of Ditka's personal sports memorabilia collection.

There will be just three televisions in the restaurant to avoid the erroneous image of a sports bar, Carlucci said. The concept also is expected to appeal to women in spite of its men's club design.

"When you see the food and the extensive wine list, you will know it's a serious restaurant," Carlucci added. He expects dinner checks to average about $55 although customers easily could spend much less.

Michael Weinstein, formerly of The Riviera in Dallas, is executive chef. Examples of his menu items are curry-spiced chicken cake; shredded duck and caramelized onion "cigar," tightly wrapped in a buckwheat crepe and served on a cigar box lid; apple-smoked bacon and truffled spaghetti, and double-cut venison chops.

A signature section of "Ditka food" is expected to appeal to larger appetites. It contains pork chops, reputedly Ditka's favorite food; a 3-pound whole chicken; and a paddle steak, a bone-in, 18-ounce ribeye. Pork chops were the signature entree at the former Ditka's Restaurant in Chicago, which closed several years ago following a partnership dispute.

Ditka, 57, has been involved closely with opening Iron Mike's and expects to spend a considerable amount of time in the restaurant when he's in town, Carlucci said. "He loves the restaurant business," Carlucci added, noting that Ditka is a partner in a Burger King franchise and formerly owned restaurants in Dallas and Pittsburgh.

Iron Mike's would have no trouble succeeding in other major cities that have a lot of convention and tourism business, Carlucci said, because of Ditka's widespread popularity. He predicts that out-of-towners could make up as much as one-third of Iron Mike's business.

Duplicating existing concepts is Carlucci's primary plan for future growth. "I think there is more value in having 10 of one rather than one each of 10. It's easier to focus. You can be more creative, and operations are more standardized and easier to deal with.