you enterprises type private industry restaurants founded 1971 in chicago illinois founder rich melman & jerry a. orzoff headquarters chicago illinois usa key people rich melman co founder jerry a. orzoff co founder revenue 300 million 2005 net income 50 million 2005 number of employees 5 000 2005 website www.leye.com lettuce entertain you enterprises leye is a group of approximately 90 restaurants founded by rich melman and jerry a. orzoff in chicago il in 1971 . contents 1 history 2 restaurants 3 see also 4 notes history edit wildfire grill the first restaurant was r.j. grunts in lincoln park opened on june 10 1971 . 1 the company lists nine original partners bill higgins melman bill frost bob wattel charles haskell orzoff marvin magid and fred joast . 2 by 1976 the company had 5 restaurants . 3 the partners continued expanding the company s network of restaurants . by the mid 1980s the company employed over 2 000 people and had annual revenues of 40 million . 3 since its founding the company has opened 130 restaurants with 70 concepts . 4 the restaurants are unique and vary in price theme and cuisine . however they generally combine theatrical flair and good value . 5 leye currently owns licenses or manages more than 100 establishments in illinois california arizona maryland virginia minnesota and nevada including wildfire petterino s oyster bah shaw s crab house and everest . 2 also among its creations are two restaurants in the paris casino on the las vegas strip eiffel tower and mon ami gabi an expansion of the flagship location in chicago big bowl and l2o . 6 the newest opened in january 2016 is naoki in chicago illinois . 7 as of 2000 leye had 38 partners 45 concepts and 4 000 employees . it owns operates and licenses 90 restaurant venues in the united states . it has separate restaurant consulting and restaurant development companies . 8 the food court at water tower place is among its operations . 9 1999 annual revenue estimates ranged from 145 to over 200 million . 6 8 2005 revenue estimates were 300 million with 5000 employees and approximately 50 million in net earnings . 4 restaurants edit lettuce entertain you restaurants include 4 antico posto beatrix big bowl big bowl chinese express bub city cafe ba ba reeba community canteen di pescara don & charlie s eiffel tower el segundo sol everest foodlife frankie s scaloppine & fifth floor pizzeria hub 51 intro il porcellino 1 joe s seafood prime steak & stone crab 10 an offshoot of joe s stone crab in miami krispy kreme franchisee l. woods 2 maggiano s little italy consultant magic pan crepe stand m burger m street kitchen mity nice grill mon ami gabi nacional 27 naoki sushi osteria via stato oyster bah petterino s pizzeria via stato reel club r.j. grunt s rpm italian rpm steak scoozi stella barra pizzeria shaw s crab house stripburger summer house santa monica tokio pub 1 three dots and a dash tru tucci benucch twin city grill wildfire wow bao see also edit rick tramonto notes edit a b zeldes leah a. june 2 2011 . happy 40th anniversary lettuce entertain you . dining chicago . retrieved june 6 2011 . a b the lettuce entertain you story . lettuce entertain you enterprises inc. retrieved february 2 2007 . a b wilson mark r. 2005 . lettuce entertain you enterprises inc. encyclopedia of chicago . chicago historical society . retrieved february 2 2007 . a b c carpenter dave july 20 2006 . restaurateur sees salad days ahead . msnbc.com associated press story also published on cbsnews.com . retrieved february 2 2007 . kleiman dena february 13 1991 . retro magnate moves east . the new york times . the new york times company . retrieved august 4 2008 . a b cebrzynski gregg january 2000 . richard melman chief executive officer of lettuce entertain you enterprises inc . nation s restaurant news . retrieved february 2 2007 . naoki sushi to open jan. 20 in lincoln park . chicago tribune . july 16 2016 . a b sheridan margaret 2000 . richard melman on savoring peace of mind . restaurant & institutions magazine . retrieved february 2 2007 . olvera jennifer july 2008 . block party after years of highs and lows and plenty of wheeling and dealing the first new building at block 37 is set to rise this month . chicago social . p. 68 . http www.leye.com files leye restaurants.pdf retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title lettuce entertain you enterprises & oldid 743336801 categories companies based in chicagorestaurants in chicagorestaurants established in 1971restaurant groups in the united stateshidden categories use mdy dates from august 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent 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