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Updated May 3rd, 2007
Dining with the Smith Brothers
By CHRISTINA HAMLETT
LCF Outlook
 Bob and Gregg Smith, who grew up in La Cañada Flintridge, are
the owners of the highly successful Smith Brothers Restaurants.
Arroyo Chop House, Parkway Grill and Smitty’s are among the
Smith Brothers’ most popular establishments.
“If more of us valued food
and cheer and song above hoarded
gold,” wrote “Hobbit” creator
J.R.R. Tolkien, “it would be a
merrier world.”
For San Gabriel Valley gastronomes
on a quest for good
eats, there’s no need to journey to
Middle-earth. Thanks to the
entrepreneurial Smith brothers –
Gregg and Bob – a convivial and
magical dining experience is
closer than one can imagine.
The co-owners of seven successful
area restaurants — including
Arroyo Chop House, Parkway
Grill and Smitty’s — came into
the business by respectively circuitous
career routes. For Gregg,
a public relations curriculum at
BYU led to a stint in advertising.
For Bob, it was the epiphany that
engineering – and then dentistry –
just didn’t hold his attention.
Gregg relates that he was at a
steak house in Aspen in the
1970s. “It was a rustic, cafeteria
style where you walked down a
line, picked out a steak, visited
the salad bar, and then threw your
meat on an indoor barbeque.” He
laughs. “I remember thinking to
myself, ‘Hey, how tough can this
be to run a restaurant and have it
packed every night?!’”
Bob immediately chimes in,
“Not as tough as it is running one
today!” The elder Smith recounts
a restaurant in the high desert
near his dental practice at the
time. “They were looking for a
manager-trainee and I thought
Gregg would be great for it.” He
advised him first, however, to cut
his shoulder-length hair and wear
a suit so he would look like management
material.
As Gregg continues the story,
he walked into the interview with
his conservative new look, only to
discover his future boss was in
Levis, tee-shirt, bare feet…”and
long hair!. I immediately told
him, ‘This isn’t really me! Two
hours ago, I looked exactly like
you!”
The siblings have no shortage
of anecdotes which followed that
first foray into the restaurant
business and led them to eventually
own a string of successful
and diverse establishments,
including a number of Crocodile
Cafes in other states. Adds Bob,
“When new spaces become available,
we try to assess what the
market needs and go on to fill it.
Every one of our restaurants right
now is on the site of a previous restaurant that failed.”
The high failure rate in this
industry, Gregg explains, translates
to two out of 10 restaurants make it
to their second anniversary. “Five
years later, only one of those two is
still in operation.”
As Bob explains, “There’s a relatively
low cost of entry and exit so
a lot of people get into the business
for all the wrong reasons. It’s complicated
by the fact that not only is
the product 100% perishable, but
everything in the restaurant itself is
stuff that people can use at home.
It’s far different from running a
widget company. People who typically
go into this business are momand-
pops who may have a great
recipe or two and a small, usually
undercapitalized nest-egg but who
have no administrative background,
no knowledge of labor law,
accounting or contracts, and who
engage in poorly written leases
because they don’t know any better.”
He adds that restaurant
employees are often first-time
workers and/or are going to college
and in transition. “It’s also often a
secondary job while they aspire to
being actors, writers, doctor and
lawyers.”
To retain quality staff, Gregg
says, it’s important to hire quality
people to begin with and provide
them with the best training possible.
“We maintain high standards and
expectations so they can take genuine
pride in where they work. We
are, after all, only as good as our
last meal served. We also know that
we’re doing something right when
our clientele eat at our different
restaurants several times a week
and our staff always greets them
by name and knows their preferences
on where they’d like to sit.”
“Our valets even know which
cars they drive,” Bob points out,
citing the availability and security
of on-site valet parking as a
significant part of their popularity.
For Gregg, the best part of
being a restaurateur is the ongoing
creative process. “The instant
gratification and feedback we get
from our guests on a regular basis
is priceless. I can’t tell you, for
instance, how many times I’ve
heard someone say, ‘This is the
fourth day in a row I’ve eaten at a
Smith Brothers restaurant’. What
I think we really sell is great
service. It’s all about taking care
of our guests. Every time we
walk in, it’s like we’re coming
home, and we want our clientele
to feel that way, too.” He also
explains that every caller to any
of the restaurants during regular
business hours can be guaranteed
of getting a live person and not
an answering machine. “We’re
low-tech, high-touch,” he quips.
In conclusion, Bob emphasizes,
“What we’re providing the
community with is a fresh experience
and a different concept at
each of our restaurants but,
always, with the same expectation
of great food and attentive
staff. Why would they want to go
anywhere else?” |
