_______________________________________________________________________________ Gibsons
Restaurant Group
Having grown up in the restaurant business , Steve never thought he would end up following in his father ’ s footsteps . However , in the end he was won over by the dynamic legacy of Gibsons . “ I grew up around the business , watching my father operate nightclubs , bars and restaurants since I was a boy . I did some ancillary office work and bussed tables as an early teen , but at the time I had no aspirations to go into the restaurant business . My father wouldn ’ t wake up until after I was at school , and I would be asleep in bed by the time he came home . Sundays were his day off and he was asleep all day . This worked to my advantage in high school where even with some late nights out , I somehow still managed to arrive home ahead of my parents .
... our job is to make people happy
“ I ended up going to law school and practiced corporate law for 17 years at Katten in Chicago . I counseled CEOs of companies and did a lot of private equity mergers and acquisitions . The restaurant company was a client of course , and I helped with leases for new locations , fundraising , and later directly importing wine for several of the locations . I was usually at the table when my father , Hugo , and the CFO were having big picture discussions about strategy .
“ As an outside advisor to the company , I started advising them about succession planning about 20 years ago . My father ’ s response to that was to exercise an extra hour a day - who needs succession planning if you can live forever ? Eventually though , he decided that he wanted to keep the business in the family . I have three siblings , and all had successful careers , but all are now working in the restaurant business ,” Steve reveals .
The Gibsons Restaurant Group is now
under its second generation of leadership , with Steve ’ s siblings , Michael Lombardo who oversees IT , facilities and quality control , Liz Lombardo Stark , who handles social media , marketing and public relations and Christa Vrabel , who oversees digital marketing and operates the online retail channel . Their goal is to bring the Gibsons hospitality experience to more customers . As Steve concludes : “ When you boil it all down to the simplest essence of what we do , our job is to make people happy . That ’ s a pretty noble purpose in my opinion . Growing more units and expanding into different markets is about making more people happy . So , in a perfect world , in five years , we would have at least five or six more restaurants in at least two or three new markets .” ■
www . gibsonssteakhouse . com
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