Anyone who witnessed the rise of fine dining in New York City in the 1980s and ’90s would have never thought Danny Meyer would choose Red Lobster. The executive who will replace him as head of his restaurant group.
Chip Wade, 59, was responsible for 704 Red Lobster restaurants in North America. Union Square Hospitality Group, It was started in 1985 by Meyer, a 27-year-old Midwesterner with a degree in political science. Union Square Cafe At the time, it was an unlikely area for fine dining.
The company has grown to include a collection of 12 restaurants, a catering arm, and an all-day café called . daily necessitiesand spawned fast food giant Shake Shack, now worth more Over $3 billion.
For Meyer, who is involved in every part of the company, down to the look of the bacon on his sandwich, it was no easy task to let someone else take over.
Mr. Meyer, now 64, will continue to collaborate on menus, new restaurants and expansion strategies, and will serve as Chairman of the Group’s Board of Directors, Chairman of Acquired Companies and Managing Partner of Investments. He said that letting go of the operational side of the business would allow him to do what he loves, including providing vision for the company, mentoring chefs, and appearing at more conferences and retreats. .
“I’m overrated as a restaurateur,” he said. “I’m the first to say that. But I know I can do it really well.”
Raised by a single mother who worked at the Scott Paper Mill in Chester, Pennsylvania, Wade has been working in restaurants since she was a teenager. At 15, he was cleaning parking lots and washing dishes in his Dunkin’ donuts. By the time he graduated from high school, he was making both schedules and donuts.
Mr. Wade asked the manager what to do next. He suggested cooking school.
“I had no idea what a culinary school was all about,” Wade said.
he landed Johnson & Wales University In Providence, Rhode Island, he left home for the first time when he was 17. For a child who has only seen cows on TV, learn to disassemble Half the animals were exhilarating, he said. His family could not afford all the expenses, so he worked at a restaurant to pay the bills.
rear Graduated in 1983he went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Widener College master’s degree in business University of Texas at Dallas.
he ran for 14 years TGI Fridays, Based in Boston regal seafood chain.After that, he joined a large restaurant. Darden,Own olive garden, Longhorn Steakhouse And at that time, red lobster. (Ltd sold the chain In 2014, it was sold to California private equity firm Golden Gate for $2.1 billion. )
Wade admits his resume has made some Union Square Group customers and staff uneasy. “We knew there was fear and concern that chips were turning us into chains,” Wade said in an interview.
Meyer is no stranger to restaurant chains. The small hot dog stand he opened in 2001 to help revitalize his Madison Square park is now Shake Shack, a publicly traded company with more than 400 locations. Mr. Meyer is Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Meyer said the hiring of Shake Shack and Wade is an example of the narrowing of the historical gap between the two camps in the restaurant industry. For decades, those who run privately owned fine dining restaurants thought that chain owners lacked taste in food and decor, but chain owners believed restaurateurs were efficient. I thought I didn’t know how to run a restaurant.
Wade, who Meyer originally hired three years ago in hopes of eventually taking the CEO role, has already changed. The system has been improved and streamlined. This includes integrating purchasing practices into an organization that has allowed restaurants to operate largely as independent entities.
he said it was a welcome change Hillary Sterling, executive chef of Ci Siamo in Manhattan West Complex. This is the newest star in the Union Square constellation.
“Look, you don’t have to order kosher salt separately,” said Sterling, who had to cook and interview to get Mr. Wade’s job.
She was skeptical of her connection to Red Lobster. Especially since she’s never been to Red Lobster. But she discovered that Mr. Wade loved food, restaurant culture and the employee-first ethos as much as Mr. Meyer.
“This company and this industry are all about emotion,” she said. “It’s all about the feeling. Having a cozy open kitchen is really important and he understands that.”
Michael AnthonyThe executive chef of Gramercy Tavern since 2006 described Wade as “very vulnerable and very authentic”.
Wade was at a crossroads both personally and professionally when Meyer approached him. His two sons, raised by him and his wife his Pam Hoyt-Wade, were in their 20s and starting a life of their own. Wade considered a more lucrative job at a larger restaurant company, but chose to follow Meyer instead.
“It’s getting back to my culinary roots. That was the deciding factor for me,” he said.
“I have been a huge fan of Danny Meyer ever since I read his book in 2007 or 2008. He liked it so much that I bought 115 copies and worked for him at Red Lobster. I handed it over to the people who were there.
Wade and Meyer cemented their relationship during the company’s darkest year, when Meyer closed his restaurant and laid off 90% of his staff in response to the pandemic. It took a hit to its reputation after getting $10 million in federal payroll protection loans to help. After public outcry, the company returned the money.
According to Meyer, the two are very in sync, reading each other’s texts aloud and even showing up to the office wearing the same clothes.
Mr. Wade is a voracious reader who collects rare and old books. His favorite topics include slavery, the Black Panther-era civil rights movement, business history, and Harry S. Truman.his prize money 1893 book by Frederick Douglass.
Wade and his wife recently moved the family home from Orlando, Florida to Charlotte, North Carolina, but he estimates he spends 95% of his time in New York City. His wife regularly travels around the city.
He feels part of New York because he frequents the city’s restaurants, parks, and cultural venues. That feeling solidified, he said, when he marched through the streets with fellow New Yorkers protesting police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Mr Wade Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Allianceand has made fighting discrimination a priority for the industry, and “sadly, there’s a lot of room for both women’s representation and people of color representation,” he says.
That’s one reason Meyer took action. “We came in when Chip needed us and we needed him,” he said.