FOOD INDUSTRY NEWS JUNE 2021
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FOOD
39 CELEBRATING
YEARS
INDUSTRY NEWS CONNECTING BUYERS AND SUPPLIERS AT ALL LEVELS OF THE MARKET
FOUNDED 1982
JUNE 2021
50 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE AT LETTUCE ENTERTAIN YOU
Photos courtesy LEYE PR
LEFT: Lettuce Entertain You partners at R.J. Grunts in 1977. RIGHT: Richard and Martha Melman in Booth One at the Pump Room with baseball infielder Dave Nelson; Jane and Bernie Sahlins; Joyce Sloan and Danny Coval. BELOW LEFT: Siblings Jerrod, Molly and R.J. Melman. BELOW RIGHT: Founding partners Jerry A. Orzoff and Rich Melman.
“It’s sort of hard to believe that it’s gone so quickly,” says restaurateur Richard Melman, a co-founder and chairman of the board of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, which marks half a century in June. “I’m not sure what it feels like, but it doesn’t feel like 50 years to me.” LEYE kicked off in 1971 with one restaurant in Lincoln Park: R.J. Grunts, “a very special restaurant.” “It was really very unique. We had organic food, we had macrobiotic food,” Melman says. “It was a breakthrough restaurant in a lot of ways. … A great start for me.” And, Melman adds, that’s where he “met the love of his life, Martha,” whom he married. Today LEYE comprises more than 120 restaurants with an array of cuisines and price points in several states. Along the way he helped create Taste of Chicago and resurrected the Pump Room for a time. Now Richard and Martha’s children have stepped to the forefront. Melman, and his oldest, LEYE president R.J., spoke to us about the business and where it’s headed. Continued on page 24
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Lettuce"ltr" Entertain You RESTAURANTS
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