Headquarters: Deerfield Beach, FL

Annual Sales: $12.5 million

Units: 4

Key Personnel: Gary Rack, owner/founder

SINGLE CONCEPTS:
• Racks Downtown Eatery & Tavern (an American concept with a raw bar and two beverage bars, one inside and one out)
• Racks Fish House (a New England seafood house featuring prohibition-style cocktails)
• Gary Rack’s Farmhouse Kitchen (a farm-to-fork health-focused concept)
• Gary Rack’s Fat Rooster (classic southern comfort foods)

WHY IT’S COOL:
The namesake of this group, Gary Rack, clearly understands today’s customers and what they want. Look at all his restaurants and you’ll find menus that are sophisticated, but casual. All four concepts pamper guests and give them a choice of high-end menu items and deliciously low-end comfort food classics. Much was made of his Racks Downtown Eatery & Tavern, which reportedly cost $4 million to create. The obvious inclination would have been to create a high-end menu designed to quickly generate offsetting profits. And you’ll find menu items like filet mignon and oysters on the half-shell, but they commingle comfortably with more relaxed options like chicken pot pie or buffalo calamari with blue cheese dip. Clearly, Rack is playing the long-game and he’s doing it with a nice portfolio of restaurants that cater to a variety of tastes. It’s no wonder GR Restaurants are the go-to favorite in the region.

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