September

Part Two: The Early Days

This is the second of three articles in the This is Not the Restaurant Business I Grew Up In series. By Paul G Fetscher A Look at The 1980s and 1990s in the Restaurant Business

So, from the Marriott Dinner houses, I went on to Rustler Steakhouses, Moonraker, Plankhouse, Coco’s, Steak & Ale, Chi Chi’s, and then came Rusty Scupper. I learned from their real estate departments. They then asked me to find locations in other markets: Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and down to Washington DC. In the 1970’s, dinner houses were king. Footprints typically were 10,000 – 14,000 SF. Other than Marriott operations, they served lunch and dinner for seven days. A visit to one of them was … an experience. You might be in a Victorian townhouse, a Mexican Hacienda, or a beautifully skylit oak environment with porpoises jumping over each other in a surfboard-inspired bar top. The 1980’s brought us ferns. “Fern Bars” ranged from TGI Fridays and Houlihan’s to their copies, Ruby Tuesdays and Applebee’s. They broke down the model of having one room for the bar and another room for dining. As women emerged in the

workplace, they now could meet a friend for drinks, be seated at a table, and not be hassled. At the same time, a businessperson on the road could sit at the bar and order from the full menu. The footprints shrank. Instead of 10-14,000 SF, their footprints decreased to 8,300 down to 5,500 SF. Clearly there was less distinction between Dining and Drinking areas.Socially, this was the place to meet and greet.

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