Steve Palmer (Photo: Andrew Stephen Cebulka)

Charleston

Annual sales: $30 million 

Units: 13

Key personnel: 
• Steve Palmer, founder/partner 
• Jeremiah Bacon, executive chef/partner

SINGLE CONCEPTS:
• The Cocktail Club (an upscale cocktail lounge located above The Macintosh)
• The Macintosh (modern Southern American fare prepared by five-time James Beard semifinalist executive chef/partner Jeremiah Bacon)
• The Oak Table (classic farm-to-table)
• Indaco (rustic Italian cuisine)
• Colletta (northern Italian cuisine)
• Mercantile and Mash (a gourmet food market that serves breakfast and lunch inside a renovated cigar factory)
• Bar Mash (a whiskey and beer bar connected to Mercantile and Mash)

MULTIPLE CONCEPTS:
• Oak Steakhouse (a fine-dining steak house with units in Charleston and Alpharetta, GA) 
• O-Ku (Asian with a southern twist; a unit in Charleston and one in Atlanta)  

UPCOMNG PROJECTS:
• O-Ku, Charlotte
• Oak Steakhouse, Nashville
• Oak Steakhouse, Charlotte 
• O-Ku, Raleigh 

WHY IT’S COOL: Indigo has two powerful weapons—Steve Palmer and Jeremiah Bacon. Palmer is a manager’s manager, having run a number of high profile restaurants, including 11 properties in the Southeast and the Caribbean, before going out on his own. While he handles business, Bacon is a culinary icon who has been nominated five times for a James Beard Award for best chef in the Southeast. Indigo’s restaurants are beautiful, beautifully run and offer best-of-show food. What more could a restaurant group ask for?

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