Chain Leader

Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (2)

Honk if you're opening an Asian restaurant
March 6, 2008

   Back when, there used to be a bumper sticker that read, "Honk if you're not opening an Italian restaurant." Or so it was said. I never saw one. But I did visit lots of new Italian concepts in the early-90s -- Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill, which outlasted many of the others, among them. (Does anyone recall Ragazzi's?) Today, Italian food remains enormously popular in the U.S., but opening a new eye-talian? Well, fuggetaboutit. It ain't gonna give you braggin' rights, pal. 

Big Cheese: David Overton

   Asian cookery, on the other hand, is currently bestowing them. And we're not talking China or Japan, cuisines now with about as much panache as rotisserie chicken. We're speaking of southeast Asia, a culinary melting pot that is capturing the attention of chain operators, namely, in the form of David Overton. 
   Overton, as most industry types know, founded The Cheesecake Factory in 1978, on Rodeo Drive, in Beverly Hills. He's currently CEO. The restaurant eventually grew to become one of the most popular and admired casual-dining chains with AUVs of $11 million. It enriched Overton and created a heretofore unknown slot dubbed "posh casual." 
   A few years ago, the concept spawned a look-a-like sister called Grand Luxe Café. It caused Wall Street analysts to question Overton's judgment, noting the only difference between his creations was that finishes in the new place looked more expensive than the The Cheesecake Factory's. Though doubt may linger still, it appears that GLC is carving a niche of its own ("premium posh"?).
   Now Overton is about to debut a designer Asian called Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen, a moniker he believes will appeal to young strivers. The final menu testing takes place in early June, under the direction of the concept's chef, who hails from Singapore. 
   "Everyone who has tasted the food has been blown away by it," Overton boasted to a group of investors this morning in New York.
   Rock Sugar will open in mid-June in Century City, in west Los Angeles, not far from his original Cheesecake Factory. "We are not Cheesecake-izing Rock Sugar," he insisted, meaning portion sizes will be smaller than the gargantuan loads the flagship serves up.

Big Food: Not at Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen.

   You've got to admire Overton's chutzpah, opening a new concept amid the industry's worst economic downturn in recent history. Guest traffic at the Cheesecake Factory has been declining for four years and expansion of Grand Luxe is on hold this year.  
   But, hey, what's life without a new challenge, a hill to climb, a river to cross, a craving to satisfy? "[Rock Sugar] could be the next great thing of what's growing in America," Overton declared. Let's hope so, because it doesn't look like anything else is in casual-dining at the moment.

Posted by David Farkas on March 6, 2008 | Comments (2)