Richmond Times-Dispatch
Cooking up a dynasty / Michelle Williams is about to open her latest restaurant, deLux
Lisa Antonelli Bacon
December 9, 2007
Michelle Williams knows how to make a place distinctive.
Her newest effort, deLux, scheduled to open in the Fan District this month, is haute diner, a snazzed-up booth-and-bar spot to eat, work, check e-mails or just hang.
Williams has made her mark on other well-known area restaurants.
The Hard Shell, for instance, her flagship restaurant in Shockoe Bottom, is dedicated to providing top-grade seafood and steaks in a casual setting.
Next door, Europa, with its tapas menu, promotes socializing and grazing.
Michelle's at Hanover Tavern offers a quaint historical context for comforting food. And up on Church Hill, the Hill Cafe is enjoying a new life as a neighborhood eatery.
With Cha Cha's, Williams brought Mexican food to the Bottom. And her Lucky Buddha did the same with Asian cuisine. (Both have since been sold to former employees.)
Overseeing five acutely individualized restaurants in different parts of the area can be maddening for the most organized entrepreneur.
Williams rules with a cool head and a steady hand, thanks to experience.
"I just make it work," said Williams, the co-owner and operating partner of the Richmond Restaurant Group.
When deliveries are piling in, a worker calls in sick, or the fish doesn't look quite to her liking, she doesn't buckle. She stays cool. "I don't sweat the small stuff."
Her partner, Jared Golden, agreed.
"The more restaurants we've accumulated over time has made it a little less demanding on us," Golden said. "We've got more staff, more resources. Now if a cook doesn't show up, we've got people all over, not just the resources at one restaurant."
The Richmond Restaurant Group's restaurants have been profitable, either increasing or remaining stable over the years, Williams said.
The Hard Shell, Europa and the Hill Cafe are close to posting their largest sales ever this year, she said.
However, sales declined shortly after Short Pump Town Center and Stony Point Fashion Park opened in September 2003. "We were braced for that and waited it out," she said.
Six months to a year later, sales had rebounded.
For the moment, deLux is the only restaurant on the Richmond Restaurant Group's horizon.
"Opportunities come to us, and we decide which ones to take," Golden said. "We want to focus on those we have to keep them fresh. Down the road, we'd like to be doing larger concepts. They take the same amount of energy, and the larger the restaurant, the more profitability."
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Restaurant dynasties are common in Richmond.
The Zajurs of La Siesta fame serve Mexican food in many loca- tions, as the Trak family does with Mediterranean cuisine at Trak's, Grapevine and Seafire Grill. And the Du family, who raised the bar for Chinese restaurants locally with the Peking restaurants, recently marked its second generation of restaurateurs with DD33.
But Williams heads a restaurant group that has multiple locations of varying themes and concepts, each with its own unique fare and atmosphere.
Women and minorities represent three out of five owners of eating and drinking establishments, compared to less than half for all U.S. firms, according to the National Restaurant Association.
John and Katrina Giavos (Sidewalk Cafe, Kuba Kuba, Kitchen 64 and Three Monkeys) head another local restaurant group with multiple concepts.
The competition is not only friendly, it's suffused with two-way admiration.
"There's always a buzz surrounding her openings," Katrina said of Williams. "That's fabulous. The more restaurants, the more people."
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On a recent Friday morning, Williams sat back-to-back with Europa's general manager Josh Snodgrass.
Both were manning computers and telephones in the office above Europa, making sure all four restaurants were on the rails and steaming toward opening hours.
Her knack for making a place special has transformed what is little more than a second floor landing into an office.
Curtains conceal a handy washer and dryer.
A kitchen sink is visible beyond the desks.
Bulletin boards and calendars liberally dot the walls.
An ungainly statue of a big red bull is the only nod to decor, unless you consider cookbooks and colorful cans of Europa coffee as interior design.
With its gas fireplace, it's a cozy place for her to catch her breath while she checks mail and returns phone calls between trips to her restaurants in her Cadillac Escalade.
"You have to work as hard as you want everyone in your organization to work," she said. "And you have to work smart."
At 36, Williams has time to grow the dynasty.
She has a passion and experience for the business.
"She's fantastic at putting together different combinations of different ingredients," Golden said. "Although she doesn't cook that much any more, she still has a hand in writing the menus."
Originally a sculpture student at Virginia Commonwealth University, Williams got a taste of the restaurant business as a hostess at The Tobacco Company.
More than a little intrigued, she switched to J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College for its culinary program.
After serving as executive chef at the former Island Grill, Williams partnered with Golden and others to open The Hard Shell in 1995.
While her life is, at its core, her business, Williams said she's found her pace.
"I'm happy," said Williams, who graduated from Douglas S. Freeman High School.
"Believe it or not, I have slowed down," she said. "It used to be six days and six nights. I've learned to step away."
She allows herself a regular Friday night dinner-and-drinks date with girlfriends. But sometimes they wind up at one of her restaurants because she can't make herself step away.
"When you stop loving what you do, you need to look for another job," she said.
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deLux is about to be born in the West Main Street space once occupied by Southern Comfort. The opening is scheduled for Dec. 17.
When Williams and her partners took over the space at 2229 W. Main St., they gutted it and started from scratch.
"Down to the timbers," she said, unfurling a roll of blueprints that show what the new restaurant will look like.
Tile floors, plush semi-circular booths and newly added windows provide the backdrop for what Williams calls a swanky diner.
Giant pendant lamps hang over a curvy concrete bar.
"We've modernized the diner," she said. "During the day, you come in, get your coffee, go upstairs and enjoy the Wi-Fi.
It's kind of like your living room."
There is also a patio for nice weather.
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In the dozen years since Williams and Golden began building their restaurant empire, they have yet to fail.
"At our height, we had six [restaurants], and deLux would've made seven," Williams said.
But the partners recently sold Cha Cha's and Lucky Buddha.
"We opened those restaurants for a reason, but didn't necessarily intend to keep them," she said.
Instead, they were "intentional maneuvers," part of a defensive strategy.
After Jimmy Sneed's Frog and the Redneck restaurant literally disappeared overnight in 2001, The Hard Shell and Europa were left with dead space next door.
"We didn't want someone to come in and directly compete with our seafood business or the tapas theme at Europa. So [Cha Cha's and Lucky Buddha] were space holders."
But they turned out to be much more.
"We didn't want to lose customers to The Fan, so we created a one-stop shop for the night," Williams said. "People would come to Hard Shell or Europa, then go next door for drinks, and later come back to Europa's lounge."
By selling Cha Cha's and Lucky Buddha to like-minded former employees, the one-stop concept remains intact, she said.
"Even though Buddha and Cha Cha's aren't ours any more, we still benefit. You can park you car and spend the evening down here," Williams said.
