Move over, Planet Hollywood and Rainforest Cafe. Chicagoan Stewart Curry has landed an 8,000-square-foot space station in North Chicago that he contends will be ground zero for the next theme-restaurant mega chain.
Actually, landed is probably just an illusion. Because, according to Curry, the place, called Star Voyager, is out somewhere in the galaxy. And spaceships regularly dock at its bay to unload tourists who are on their way to other destinations. He even has a blackboard with spaceship arrival and departure times.
But all of this supposedly is occurring in the latter part of the 23rd Century.
For Earthlings to step on board, simple ground transportation that will take us to 2311 Green Bay Rd. just south of Martin Luther King Drive in North Chicago will do.
Not that anyone driving by the place during its year and a half of construction would ever know that a space station was taking shape on the site.
Its modest, storefront-style white exterior belies the highly detailed, molded rooms awaiting inside that include a science-fiction wares gift shop, exhibition corridor, science fiction computer game room, the “Star Bar” and three dining rooms with views of the galaxy.
The “space station,” which opened last week, serves up such intergalactic delicacies as barbecue ribs and chicken, a crab and shrimp cake, a portobello and spinach salad, blackened catfish and salmon club sandwiches, and herb crusted whitefish.
When asked how some upscale dishes landed on a themed menu, Executive Chef Steve Harty pointed out he went for quality and what people like.
“This is good food. This is not so much like a Planet Hollywood menu as a Lettuce (Entertain You) restaurant. And Planet Hollywood is upgrading its menu. If you don’t serve good food you’ll be closing your doors,” said Harty, whose credits include such high-end restaurants as Wildfire and Zinfandel in Chicago, Gabriel’s in Highwood and Le Titi De Paris in Arlington Heights.
“It is more than a restaurant,” Curry said during a preopening tour. “It is a facility that is designed to provide the 23rd Century traveler on vacation with a number of ways to spend leisure time.”
Visitors stepping into his Star Voyager are greeted with the clean lines and curves that a person might expect in a 23rd Century space vehicle. Trims are metallic.
“I wanted people who come in to feel that they really are entering a space station. There even is a docking space at the end of the bar,” he said.
And if people want to dress up as creatures from other planets a la the famous bar scene in “Star Wars,” that is OK with him. “Wonderful. We would love to have them,” Curry said.
So why the unprepossessing exterior?
Curry shrugged. He explained that because his goal was to create an extraordinary environment that would attract the crowds yet stay within a tight budget (he won’t divulge the cost) and fit into a variety of places, including indoor shopping centers, he was not as concerned with outward appearances as with having everything right inside, down to the simulated ventilation system and docking door.
“This is the prototype. After building this one, we can replicate it elsewhere — Mall of America, Woodfield. And we don’t have to be in a large metropolitan area. This would work in midsized towns like Rockford,” he said.
Indeed, having an exterior that did not call attention to itself turned out to be an advantage during construction because until he was ready to open, Curry kept the space-themed restaurant under wraps. Few people outside his select work crew were allowed inside the building. And those who were had been asked not to broadcast what they saw.
“Space is hot. You have the `Star Trek’ spinoffs on TV, the re-releasing of the `Star Wars’ trilogy and movies coming out all the time about aliens that are big grossers. I didn’t want anyone to steal the concept and open before I did,” he said.
That could be a worry. A July 22, 1996, article in Time magazine noted that theme restaurants, called in the trade “eatertainment,” have become the “fastest-growing segment of the restaurant industry.”
Given how long it took Curry to get his concept airborne, he is lucky that someone had not already rolled out the idea.
He walked down the exhibition corridor, which featured a solar system display for the opening, and into the first dining room, where he pulled up a comfortable chair.
“This has taken me 10 years,” he said as he sat down. And the seats in this restaurant really are comfortable; they are adjustable, executive desk chairs.
The 46-year-old Curry talked about how after working for UPS for several years where, among other things, he did graphic design and edited an in-house newsletter, he left in 1987 to start a national — “even international” — themed restaurant-entertainment business.
“I wanted my own business,” he said.
He always was intrigued by space. “At one point I wanted to be an astronaut,” Curry said.
That the business would somehow draw on his design skills was a given. Curry not only conceived the space-themed restaurant chain idea, he also designed the interior.
A former student of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who first started working at the UPS loading docks at age 19 after school, Curry started to take on graphic-arts projects for the company when officials there needed motivational posters.
The spark that sent the spaceship into orbit was the company’s 75th anniversary display project in 1987.
“They were talking about more than 100 linear feet of displays for the celebration. It priced out at hundreds of thousands of dollars. I said we could do it ourselves for a lot less. We did it for less than $20,000. Looking at the money we saved made me realize how much can be done for so little. I thought, if we can accomplish this with so little money, why not apply that to another project that I could do for my own business?” he said.
But why a restaurant?
“I wasn’t thinking restaurant, per se. I wanted to create a place people can come to that is a lot of fun. Yes, this is a restaurant. And I think even though it is in deep space, customers will want the same thing they want elsewhere: fresh, wholesome, good-tasting food and a classy presentation. But it is also an experience. You might say it is part of a Mardi Gras but year round. If a family or Star Trek club wanted to come here dressed up, wonderful. They can have fun with it,” he said.
Part of the fun is following an ongoing story line written by Curry and relating to the Star Voyager. People can read it on the walls of Star Voyager’s entry port. The story draws on the still controversial debris found near Corona and Roswell, N.M., in 1947.
“If people want to know what happens, they will have to come back for the next installment,” he said.
“Dining is just part of what we’re doing here. The key thing is the restaurant, but we’re also building stores and selling sci-fi fantasy. The goal of the store is one-stop shopping,” he said.
He expects that shopping to be a moneymaker. And a call to National Restaurant Association Chairman Tom Kershaw proved Curry’s supposition correct.
Kershaw, owner of the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston that was the setting for the “Cheers” TV series, said that the profit margin was much better on shirts than food because restaurants are labor intensive and the shop end is not.
“If you have somebody at the cash register and you sell one T-shirt an hour, it covers your payroll (for the shop area). And T-shirts and mugs don’t spoil; they’re not bread or vegetables. If you don’t sell an item one day, there’s no loss,” he said.
That makes T-shirts with the Star Voyager logo doubly attractive to Curry.
“They’re good business. They get the name Star Voyager out there, and they help make the business profitable. I’m an entrepreneur. I envision having Star Voyagers all over the country and maybe abroad, like Hard Rock Cafe,” Curry said.
Indeed, a person calling Star Voyager might also be greeted with the tag line “Future Entertainment Centers,” Curry’s name for the parent company. And that is “future” as in futuristic.
“The Star Voyager Space Station is just the first of the space themes I want to do,” said Curry, who was not about to give out more details on his “future” plans.
But first he just wanted to get the concept off the ground.
“My game plan here is that this would be an affordable-to-build theme restaurant,” he said.
To achieve the affordable part, he pulled in a team that included Oak Lawn general contractor Don Vezeau, Chicago architect Michael Mohr and Waukegan business consultant Ben Grimes, a member of the Lake County Economic Development Corp. They have worked with him at lower than their usual rates to come in on what they expect to be a national chain.
“There is a lot of sweat equity here,” Curry said.
A silent partner and his own savings (he won’t divulge how much) made up the difference. But how can a person afford to spend 10 years on a project before seeing any return? “I did well on UPS stock options,” he said.
Grimes talked about why he thinks North Chicago, a city that does not spring to mind as a tourist mecca, would draw the crowds needed to launch a theme restaurant chain. Curry chose the site in 1995, attracted by its low cost compared with other locations and because the facility, formerly a restaurant attached to what was a Holiday Inn, contained a large kitchen.
“I think this location is interesting,” Grimes said. “We’re excited about it, primarily because the Great Lakes naval base is just up the road. The base graduates trainees 51 weeks out of the year, which means a constant influx of families and friends. And the Navy people go all over. Potentially, our T-shirts with the Star Voyager logo will be worn all over the world,” Grimes said.
And Mohr was sold on Curry’s design ability and ambition. “The design is kind of unique, at least to us (Mohr, Vezeau and Burbank builder Don Koblick, who did a great deal of the construction). There are a lot of soft corners to create this look. I don’t know of anything else that looks like this. The design is out of this world,” Mohr said.
As to whether it will take off, so to speak, Mohr said, “Some people talk about building things. Other people build things. Stewart builds. He does not just talk about it.”
Even if it takes 10 years.
“I went through several prototypes. This is not the first Star Voyager designed,” Curry said.
“The first prototype I built was for a larger facility with a lot of special effects. It was also more expensive,” he said. That was seven years ago when he worked with Peter Mayer from the architectural firm of Mayer, Jeffers and Gillespie in Chicago.
“Mayer did one heck of a job. We spent over a year on the first set plans,” Curry said.
Having great plans and photos of the prototype meant little to the loan institutions back then.
“We fine-tuned our proposal, went back, fine-tuned our proposal again, went back again. Because of the uniqueness of it, it was difficult. And banks considered it a tremendous risk. It’s not as if I applied for a loan to build a McDonald’s. Finally, a bank said, `We’ll help you do it,’ ” Curry said.
He looked around the dining room and added, “It’s been an odyssey, no pun intended. I think typically that’s the way things get done for what people later call, in quotes, an overnight success. This took a lot of good fortune and a heck of a lot of people’s hard work.”
And he might have added that the result is a science-fiction fan’s dream. At least that is the way one self-characterized space nut described the place.
Account executive Doug Duty, whose office in a nearby design studio in North Chicago is filled with “Star Trek” and other science-fiction memorabilia, was glad the place finally opened. “I’ve been watching and waiting for more than a year. Their attention to detail is amazing. The place is awesome,” he said.
Curry is counting on people to spread the word that a special place has opened in North Chicago.
“People will know it’s here,” Curry said. “The word has already gotten out on the Internet among sci-fi clubs. You know what they say, `Build it and they’ll come,’ ” he said.
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