The Sun - Baltimore, Maryland November 23, 1998 "Morton's of Chicago attracts trendy crowd with 3-pound steaks" Associated Press CHICAGO - That big-name account is up for grabs, and you can choose from hundreds of restaurants at which to wine and dine the executives and win the prize. For 20 years, it's been no contest for the meat-and-potatoes kind of guys. Beef is definitely what's for dinner at Morton's of Chicago, the steakhouse that opened on a snowy December night in 1978 in the basement of a downtown office building and has grown to 42 locations, including Baltimore. Morton's is known for its understated elegance, for providing excellent food and even better service that keep customers coming back despite fierce competition in the restaurant industry. "The steaks are great and as expected, you'll pay dearly for them," food reviewer Max Jacobsen noted in a recent Los Angeles Times review. "What I like best about this ultra-masculine restaurant, which attracts a trendy, smartly dressed crowd, are the nonsteak items, such as the discus-shaped hash browns, which have no equal, and the delicious molten Godiva chocolate cake, served hot." With the meal averaging more than $65 a person, Morton's isn't for everyone. And company President Allen Bernstein doesn't pretend it should be. The chain has positioned itself as a place for the important event - on someone else's dime. Morton's says many of its patrons are business people dining on expense accounts that make it a little easier to order that double porterhouse steak, topping 3 pounds and weighing in at $59.95 each. "The average person can't afford to spend that kind of money for dinner for two," says Bernstein, a former Wendy's franchise owner. "That means we've got to be at the top of our game, buying the best of the best of beef and other items to satisfy the heavy-hitters we see coming in. Morton's was a creation of Arnie Morton and Klaus Fritsch, who met while running the food service operations for Hugh Hefner's Playboy Club in Chicago. They wanted Morton's to be a place to offer "the biggest and best steaks, and that's what we did," says Fritsch, who is vice chairman of the company. In 1987, the pair sold the seven-unit chain to a private investment group, which in turn sold it in 1989 to Quantum Restaurant Group. That company changed its name to Morton's Restaurant Group in 1996. The chain throughout has kept up a tradition of serving only prime aged beef, a designation given to less than 3 percent of U.S. beef annually. Each Morton's restaurant - from Chicago to New York, Singapore to Canada - features the same menu and the same preparation and presentation of food. A book helps new staffers learn the ropes and tapes teach them the spiel they must give when they roll out carts showing huge, plastic wrapped cuts of meat and live lobster. Each restaurant features dark woods and extensive wine lists aimed at attracting the core customer: married males, ages 35 to 55, with average incomes of more the $100,000. Frank Sinatra tapes play in the background and serigraphs of famous people dominate the walls. The rich and famous and repeat big-spenders see the best treatment. A computer system notes their orders, whether they're married or single and even whether they've just had a child, giving each general manager information with which to greet a guest. Raki Mehra, general manager of the first Morton's store and employee since its opening has spent nearly half of his 46 years watching a world of movers and shakers. He has mingled with politicians, movie and television stars, athletes and authors over the years, greeting them with a smile and handshake, stopping by their tables - "Can I get you a little cognac or after-dinner cordial?" - remembering their favorite dishes. And, he says, he's often gone out of his way for special diners. "There was even this guy once who had cancer, came in and said he wanted a hamburger, which we don't serve," Mehra recalls. "Well, we took a New York strip, ground it up and went out to the store and bought some buns. I told him it was the most expensive hamburger he was ever going to have, but he loved every minute of it." Investors who monitor the food world have had high regard for Morton's Restaurant Group, which also includes 10 Bertolini's Authentic Trattoria Italian-style dining restaurants. They note that there is little nationwide competition in the fine-dining steakhouse category, with the Ruth's Chris chain being one of the few exceptions. Morton's stock tumbled recently on fears that a global economic crisis could force big-spenders to tighten their pocketbooks, but analyst Allan Hickok at Piper Jaffray says he still considers Morton's a good buy. "If times are tough and you're trying to get an important client to sign on the dotted line, are you going to take them to Applebee's or Denny's for a grand slam breakfast? You'll take them to Morton's," he says. "When business people tighten, it's rarely on the food side." Indeed, Morton's Restaurant Group reported its third-quarter profit rose 11 percent over the comparable year-ago period to $1.02 million, and for the first nine months of the year saw its net income rise 24.4 percent over a year ago. About 85 percent of the company's revenue comes from the steakhouses. The solid earnings come despite a nationwide decline in the past two years in overall beef consumption, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. And so diners such as Neil Smith of Chicago keep coming to Morton's. "I love the place," says Smith, who often picks up the hefty check while trying to sell cosmetic surgery lasers to doctors. "You know what you're going to get here: good food and excellent service. That's all you can ask for." Shared/TheSunWebArticle1998