OPERATIONS
MEET THE CHICAGO FAMILY BEHIND 7 OF AMERICA'S TOP-GROSSING INDEPENDENT RESTAURANTS CONTINUED...
bunch of menu ideas. Eventual- ly they settled on a more seafood variation on Gibsons. But while the steakhouse is about 70% meat and 30% fish, Hugo’s flipped that ratio to sell 70% seafood and 30% meat. Because it sells less steak, Hugo’s has a slightly lower check average, but it’s a larger restaurant. Hugo’s ranks No. 66 on the list this year, boasting more than $14 million in sales with nearly 400 seats. Two years after opening Hugo’s, the Lombardo family agreed to a collaboration with Ralph Lauren to open a restaurant called RL in Chi- cago. (The Gibsons group also later operated the Polo Club in New York City in partnership with Ralph Lau- ren, though that ended during the pandemic, Steve III said.) For the Gibsons group, a period of steady growth followed. In 1999 came Gibsons in Rose- mont, Illinois, a 410-seat restaurant that is No. 31 on the list, which did nearly $23 million in sales last year. A second Hugo’s opened in nearby Naperville, Illinois, in 2003. In 2004, a “quintessential Amer- ican bar” called LuxeBar launched, which Steve III predicts will be a contender soon for Top 100. In 2005, Quartino Ristorante, the group’s largest restaurant at that point with 528 seats, leaned into more-casual Italian dining with $14.7 million in sales last year, despite an average check of about $34.76—far lower than the more than $90 average for other concepts in the group. It ranks No. 61 on the Top 100 this year. Quartino, however, was the only of Gibsons’ restaurants to decline in sales from $14.9 million in 2022. Steve III blames problems with staffing. Another Gibsons Steakhouse opened in Oak Brook, Illinois, in 2010. It’s a monster of a restaurant, with 710 seats. That location is No. 20 on the ranking with $24.6 mil- lion in sales last year.
Co-founder Steve Lombardo II (lower left) and his children Steve Lombardo III (upper left), Michael Lombardo (upper right) and Liz Lombardo Stark.
“We think it tastes great and consumers seem to agree,” said Steve Lom- bardo III, the son of the founder and now CEO of Gibsons Restaurant Group, who is known as “Steve III”. The first Gibsons wasn’t an immediate hit. When it opened, that part of downtown Chicago was “a bit bleak,” with only the well-established Morton’s nearby, the senior Lombardo said on a recent podcast, The Dining Table. But the opening of Gibsons coincided with a resurgence of people moving back to downtown. And it didn’t hurt that the Chicago Bulls had a winning streak of six NBA championships. Michael Jordan and fellow teammates be- came regulars at the restaurant, added Steve III, and the crowds followed. And, after 35 years, they keep coming. Ranking No. 8 on the Top 100 list this year, the original Gibson’s did nearly $30 million in sales in 2023. The concept launched a still- growing restaurant group built around the seemingly simple ideas of great service, great hospitality and great food—and a commitment to give custom- ers what they want. “It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. If you give them what they want, they come back,” said Steve III. COLLABORATION Next came Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fish House, which opened in 1997, right next door to Gibsons Steakhouse on iconic Rush Street. “It was a crime of opportunity,” said Steve III. The larger space became available when the now-defunct Hamburger Hamlet filed for bankruptcy, and the senior Lombardo took it over. They didn’t know what they wanted to do with it, initially, so they called it Hugo’s—“Hugo Ralli hated the name,” said Steve III—and played with a
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS JANUARY 2025
PHOTO COURTESY: GIBSONS
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