Frontera’s New Frontier
Rick Bayless cautiously moves into quick-service dining.
By Staff -- Restaurants & Institutions, 2/15/2006
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After bringing his take on Mexican cuisine from fine-dining restaurants to supermarket shelves, television and magazines, Chef Rick Bayless is venturing into a new channel: quick service.
Chef-owner of two Ivy Award-winning restaurants, Topolobampo and Frontera Grill in Chicago, Bayless opened Frontera Fresco late last year in Marshall Field’s flagship store in the city’s downtown. The restaurant could be the start of a larger venture for Bayless, who says he’ll consider opening more department-store locations and possibly freestanding restaurants. But he is in no hurry to begin empire building.
“Field’s would like us to open another one tomorrow, but I’m not ready for that,” says Bayless. “I don’t have any experience in quick service.”
Bayless, appearing in the fourth season of the PBS television series “Mexico—One Plate at a Time” and author of five cookbooks on Mexican food, has been slow to expand his restaurant business. He’s taking the same cautious tack with his quick-service efforts.
“I’m not one to jump into new things,” Bayless says. “I like to hang on to something for a while.”
Frontera’s contract with Marshall Field’s parent company, Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores, works like a franchise agreement. Frontera Foods, Bayless’ retail-products label, licenses the Frontera Fresco brand to Federated, which staffs and operates the restaurant. The relationship allows Frontera Foods employees, whose experience is in the food-products business, to learn restaurant operations, Bayless says.
“One of our team members goes to the department store every single day and does a full line check and tastes three dishes,” Bayless says. “The restaurant business is not about creating a recipe and handing it off to someone else. It’s about managing daily operations.”
Location, Location, Location
Bayless says that even though the restaurant is run by Field’s, he is able to control the quality of the fare because Frontera Foods provides most ingredients from its line of sauces, chips and salsas.
Frontera Fresco’s tortas, grilled Mexican sandwiches, are made with Frontera Foods’ black-bean spread and creamy cilantro or smoky chipotle sauces. The restaurant also serves the company’s tortilla chips and a variety of salsas.
“They’re minimally processed,” Bayless says. “We knew that would give us a competitive advantage because much quick-service food is highly processed.”
He says that the restaurant attempts to give dishes a “hand-done feel” by eschewing large cooking equipment, limiting the menu to about 20 items and preparing all food in view of customers.
Although the location—on the seventh floor of a large department store—is remote, Frontera Fresco opened just before the retailer’s busiest time of year, the holiday shopping season. That provided something that few new standalone restaurants have: a large, immediate customer base.
A Marshall Field’s spokeswoman declined to provide sales data, but Manny Valdes, president and chief executive of Frontera Foods, says the restaurant has increased foot traffic to the area of the store.
“You would think [the seventh-floor location] would be an issue, but it isn’t,” adds JeanMarie Brownson, Frontera Foods culinary director. “If you’re up there at lunchtime, it’s packed. People aren’t only coming to the store to shop, they’re coming to eat.”
Future Focus
Marshall Field’s is not alone in seeking to differentiate itself and draw shoppers through addition of destination restaurants affiliated with well-known chefs. A Wolfgang Puck Express unit operates in Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco. New York City Chef Jean-Louis Dumonet is developing a new menu for the SFA Café in a Saks Fifth Avenue department store near New York City’s Rockefeller Center. And Larry Forgione Signature Cafés operate in eight Lord & Taylor stores.
Bayless’ contract with Federated specifies that Frontera won’t open locations in any stores not owned by the retail chain (which also operates Bloomingdale’s and the Macy’s brand, to which the 62 Marshall Field’s stores will be converted this year). But the deal allows Bayless to open freestanding Frontera Fresco units.
Valdes says his company will open a standalone store if more Frontera Fresco department-store locations are successful.
“We really don’t know whether the perfect number is one or 100,” he says. “Can we manage five as well as we manage one? We don’t want to cookie-cutter this thing.”
Bayless says he will approach expansion opportunities carefully. He adds that when the Frontera Foods staff gains enough experience from the retail locations, the company likely will hire an experienced restaurant operator to help with freestanding stores.
“It took Rick 20 years to agree to expand beyond Clark Street,” where the two restaurants are located, Valdes says. “We’re not going to do anything very fast. We want to make sure the concept is working, and working very well at Marshall Field’s before we do anything else.”
On the Menu
The Frontera Fresco menu lists about 14 entrées. Chef Rick Bayless (r.) says that restricting the number of offerings helps give each item a “hand-done” quality. Included in the lineup:
- Tortas: Crispy grilled sandwiches with avocado, black-bean spread, dressed greens, pickled tomato and smoky chipotle or creamy cilantro sauce. Four varieties are offered: chipotle chicken, Cubana, grilled steak and torta de queso.
- Huaraches: Corn flatbread layered with black-bean spread, a choice of toppings, chipotle sauce and tangy fresh greens; in four varieties: steak, chorizo, chicken and three-cheese.
- Quesadillas: Crispy grilled, cheese-filled flour tortillas with chicken, grilled shrimp, chorizo or mushrooms. Served with a small salad.
- Tamales: Sweet corn with roasted green chiles and goat cheese. Also offered in seasonal varieties.
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