Comings & Goings_Sum19_Ed-final.qxp_Road Trip_Cinci.qxd 5/29/19 11:39 PM Page 8
starters | comings & goings
comings & goings
BY RON MIKULAK
Everyone knows that starting a restaurant is a risky business. One supposed statistic that is frequently bandied about is that 90% of new restaurants fail within a year. Though this “fact” does not stand up to much scrutiny (Forbes magazine a couple of years ago reported on a 10-year longitudinal study that reckoned new restaurant failures to be no more likely than most new business failures), starting a new restaurant does require considerable capital investment in equipment, in hiring and training of staff, in promotion and in achieving consistency of product. Restaurants are a volatile business challenge, a fact that makes the Louisville area’s burgeoning restaurant scene worthy of notice. Once again, and for the 26th issue of the last 30, we can report that openings of new restaurants outnumber the closings by a total, in this issue, of 32 to 20. The willingness of a restaurant owner who has experienced the headaches and overcome the roadblocks of starting and running a successful business to try to do so again by opening other restaurants, we think is worth special notice. The fact that five of the new restaurants noted here are being opened by experienced restaurant operators is a special detail that speaks well of those restaurant owners reading into the future promise of the Louisville dining scene. We devote this issue to profiling three such operators of multi-location — and even multi-concept — restaurants: Fernando Martinez, Chad and Lauren Coulter and Jared Matthews, who have all taken chances, tried out new ideas, built on prior successes and have injected new energy into the restaurant community and delighted Louisville diners. Fernando Martinez and his partners in Olé Restaurant Group have, for the past decade or so, been salting the city with one interesting restaurant concept after another: Mojito, Mussel & Burger Bar, Mercato Italiano— all of which Martinez has developed and then sold. He has stayed with his successful El Taco Luchador concept; he plans in June to open his fourth Luchador location in the recently renovated Colonial Gardens at 5205 New Cut Rd. and his fifth at 9204 Taylorsville Rd. in Jeffersontown this fall.
8 Summer 2019 www.foodanddine.com
And that's not all. This past spring Martinez closed his Artesano Vino Tapas y Mas restaurant in Westport Village and almost immediately opened Steak & Bourbon in the same space at 1321 Herr Ln. In this issue’s profile (pg. 18) of Martinez, he explains why he thinks his new concept will work well in the Westport Village complex. Another multi-restaurant group, the ambitious couple Chad and Lauren Coulter, who have LouVino restaurants in Cincinnati and Fishers Indiana (an Indianapolis suburb) as well as two in Louisville, have also launched something new for them. The Coulters’ newest idea is Biscuit Belly, a breakfast and lunch spot that just opened at 900 E. Main St. The Coulters discuss their career switch from pharmacists to restaurateurs in this issue (pg. 38). Also profiled in this summer issue (pg. 28) is Jared Matthews, who is building a multi-concept restaurant empire in St. Matthews. Currently the co-owner and operator of Diamond Pub & Billiards, Lou Lou Food + Drink, Equus & Jack's Bourbon Restaurant | Lounge, Matthews and partners plan to open another new concept this summer, Diamond Street Grub & Hops, 3920 Shelbyville Rd. in the one-time Mellow Mushroom Pizza location. There, diners will find street food dishes from around the world as well as a wide choice of draft beers.