Rick Bayless: Frontera Fresco

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Rick Bayless is a smart businessman. Take a look at just one part of his Frontera Foods. After starting operatios in 1996, Frontera Foods now makes 100 different products from Mexican-style pizzas to salsa and guacamole mix, which it markets at Whole Foods, Williams Sonoma, and many other stores as well as under private label. Recently, Rick began looking for other opportunities to put his manufacturing empire to work. In mid-October 2005, Frontera will be opening its first quick service restaurant (QSR) in Marshall Field's historic State Street store in downtown Chicago. Frontera Food entered an agreement with Marshall Field's which provides the labor and space in exchange for the menu, staff training, and food products under the Frontera logo. Frontera Fresco, the new eatery, is on the tony 7th floor of Marshall Field's near a La Brea Bakery sandwich station and unbranded pasta and grill stations. Why Marshall Fields? We were impressed with the quality of what they are doing. They have La Brea Bakery kiosks in several stores and they are very successful. They have phenomenal training manuals. So explains Executive Culinary Director JeanMarie Brownson, who sees Marshall Fields as an upscale food court for shoppers and surrounding office workers. She estimates a lunch with a drink will cost $10.50. According to JeanMarie: We are focused on lunch: Mexican torta, a hot sandwich with black beans and other toppings such as chipotle chicken; tamales; quesadillas, our best seller at Frontera Grill; Huarache, a Mexican flat bread made of corn masa dough, griddle-baked as a 9-inch oval, then grilled with black beans and toppings like steak, cheese, salsa, and salad. There will also be tortilla soup, Frontera chocolate pecan pie served as a portable bar, and Mexican popsickles (paletas). Rick is following in the footsteps of other super chefs like Wolfgang Puck and his Wolfgang Puck Express, Tom Colicchio's wichcraft, and Robert Del Grande's Cafe Express. Each of these are quick service restaurants where the quality is above standard fast food, and food is often served on china rather than plates. Some have table service, some don't. Quick service restaurants have the potential of franchising, as both Wolfgang Puck and Robert Del Grande have proven. Rick Bayless is taking it one step at a time for now, choosing to open in a location his staff can visit on a daily basis if necessary. "I think that Rick wants to be at all his places," says JeanMarie. "That is what he attributes the success of his restaurants. We had been talking about the idea for several years. This is a cool opportunity." Frontera Foods will consider expanding into new locations in six months, JeanMarie continues. Luckily, Marshall Field's has stores all over the mid-West, close to Frontera Foods' homebase... Is Rick Bayless taking the first part of the final step to becoming a super chef? Previous articles: Branding: Todd English, Beer Gourmet Wall Street Journal: Beef over Chef Sponsorship? More Halloween Mexicana, from Rick Bayless Halloween Mexicana: Day of the Dead a la Super Chef Technorati Tags: superchefblog, super chef, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, fast food, quick service restaurants --> back to superchefblog