Renaissance Restaurateur

Renaissance Restaurateur

By Sean Roth

Real Estate Editor

There must be a lot of hats in the back of Paul Mattison's closet, because he certainly wears more than a few throughout the day. No one would dispute that restaurateurs are busy, but Sarasota's Mattison is busier than most.

In five years, Mattison has gone from executive chef and part owner of a restaurant to the owner of three restaurants, a catering business, a culinary travel business, a cooking school and a retail store. At the same time, he became the spokesman for Cuisinart on the Home Shopping Network. And his employee base grew from 75 to about 200.

In late March, Mattison's life got somewhat easier with the sale of a St. Petersburg location. Is he slowing down? No. Talk to him for five minutes and it's clear Mattison has bigger plans.

Raised in an Italian family in upper New York state, he grew up in the restaurant business, working for Symeon Tsoupelis, owner of Greek restaurant Symeon's Homemade.

"As an immigrant he opened a little stand and developed it into a wonderful restaurant,' Mattison says of his mentor. In 1985, Mattison graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.

After five years at the pricey Aspen, Colo., mainstay Pinon's Restaurant, he moved to Sarasota to become an executive chef and part owner in the Summerhouse restaurant on Siesta Key. In 10 years there, he created a cooking school and an alfresco garden terrace. In 1998, he started Sarasota Bread Co., a gourmet retail store and restaurant. He left his position with the Summerhouse in September 2001. A few months later, he and business partner Jason Sango started work on Mattison's American Bistro in The Plaza Tower, St. Petersburg.

A year later, Mattison and Sango opened Mattison's City Grille on Main Street and Lemon Avenue in Sarasota. In November 2003, Mattison and Sango opened Mattison's Steakhouse at The Plaza on Longboat Key.

While Mattison was dealing with the temporary street closure of Lemon Avenue that for a while closed down the City Grille restaurant, he set up the first franchised Mattison restaurant, Mattison's Siesta Grille, which opened in September. All the while Mattison was operating a catering business that grew to an 8,000-square-foot Longboat Key location.

Still, Mattison was a somewhat reluctant entrepreneur.

"I never wanted to grow or even create Mattison's," he says. "The St. Pete restaurant wasn't even going to be a Mattison's, but I couldn't talk my partner out of it."

Mattison says after the first restaurant, he really started expanding the catering business.

"I was at a catering job at an event (in Sarasota) when it came up in conversation that there was a derelict little corner," Mattison says. "I had taken tourists on cooking tours of France, Greece and primarily Italy. I thought it looked like a perfect spot for a European sidewalk cafe."

So Mattison cobbled together a plan for a 15-year lease with the city to open a restaurant. The concept: a large awning covered a bar and half of the tables with another six tables uncovered and surrounded by a black fence. The idea was risky; would Floridians give up air conditioning for open air?

So far, the restaurant is one of the most popular on Main Street.

During the summer of 2004, Mattison worked on the menu and hired the staff for the owner/operator/partner Clayton Thompson's Mattison's Siesta Grille.

Including the St. Petersburg location, the company generates about $8 million in annual revenue. In 2003, the company generated about $6 million. Catering operations amount to about $2 million annually.

Few of his partnerships have been by design. When W. Howard Rooks bought The Plaza on Longboat Key, at 525 Bay Isles Parkway, Longboat Key, Mattison's first thought was to walk away.

"I was under the impression that I would be given the first option to buy the property," Mattison says. "There was also the logistics of him approaching us about buying a portion of the business. But then we got to know him, and we negotiated a deal that made real sense. It was really a fair deal for everyone."

Rooks agrees, adding: "We got along beautifully. I told him I would only consider (being a partner) if I could be silent; I don't know the restaurant business."

A friend convinced Mattison to enter a licensing agreement to create the Siesta restaurant.

"He wanted to be in the restaurant business in the worst way," Mattison says. "He really wanted to do a partnership. But I was swamped. He's a very dynamic guy, and it was an appealing match. So instead of being the day-in, day-out-operating partner, we created a licensing quality agreement."

Meanwhile, in 2003, a representative from Cuisinart spotted Mattison at one of his cooking demonstrations.

"They said they really liked how I presented the products and asked if I would be willing to be their spokesperson for the Home Shopping Network, creating recipes and doing on-air sales," Mattison says. "I had done some local TV and was comfortable, so I said OK."

He didn't realize how different HSN would be.

"I'm used to a one- or two-camera conversation," Mattison says. "At any given time they've got about 87 million people watching. This is pretty serious stuff. They've got eight cameras and an overhead boom on you at all times. The director is in constant conversation over your earpiece with you while you are on the air. My first time on it was just a blur."

By the third show, Mattison's on-air spots produced about $2,300 a minute. In a single day, Mattison filmed four 12-27 minutes spots, which collectively produced sales of about $115,000.

Now, Mattison does an on-air presentation for Cuisinart about four to five times a year.

He sold the St. Petersburg location, which was renamed Bistro 111. As part of the agreement, Mattison has stayed on as a consultant.

"Throughout the course of the day I can be at any one of my (Sarasota) restaurants in 10 to 15 minutes," Mattison says. "The issue was that if there was a problem in St. Pete I would have to tell them, 'Well, I'll be up there in an hour.' "

In February, Mattison opened Mattison's Culinary Outfitters on Longboat Key. "I really needed office space pretty badly," Mattison says.

The location was a 1,500-square-foot suite in the front side of the Avenue of the Flowers building on Longboat, which presented Mattison with a more high-profile location than his existing Longboat restaurant.

"We needed something to hook (walk-in visitors) so they would look at a menu or see that we do catering," he says.

Mattison made the front portion of the building a culinary product store, which attracts the walk-ins. "This has helped us develop (our catering business) over a lot of the Key," he says.

Mattison's retail experience has allowed him to expand creatively, he says.

"I'm really a frustrated architect," he says. "I see this really developing into the source for anything people need in the culinary world, including custom kitchen design. I enjoy creating the flow and design of a kitchen. ... If I wasn't so ingrained in the restaurant business this is the stuff I really would love to do."

Mattison envisions a culinary supermarket like what Circuit City has done for electronics or Barnes & Noble for books.

Asked about the next Mattison's, he says: "I don't want any more locations right now." But the Gulf Coast Business Review has heard that a new restaurant might be just around the corner.

Mattison still does traveling culinary workshops mainly in Italy, but locally he's not teaching any accredited cooking classes.

He works at least six days a week. A look at his daily planner lands Mattison in the workaholic category. He has a culinary event or work note on every day back to Feb. 6.

"I try to get to each property as much as I can," he says. "I will hit the most important spots. I really rely on my management team to make it work. I find myself handling more big issues like equipment repair, catering special events, working on charitable boards or dealing with advertising."

On a typical day, he gets up at 7 a.m. and checks e-mails and phone messages. "I try to play catch up, which can take from 15 minutes to two hours," Mattison says. " Usually I have a 9 or 9:30 appointment... either that or I come down (to the Main Street restaurant) or the Longboat office. We will usually have an office meeting or I'll meet with the marketing manager to reviewing marketing proposals. Then I work with my accounting staff for 15 to 30 minutes."

From about 3 to 4 p.m., Mattison tries to relax. "I go home to ride my bike or play seven holes," he says.

As the dinner rush nears, he makes the restaurant circuit.

"It's usually pretty easy to tell how everything is going. ... You also have to look at the expression on the servers' face." he says. "Do they have everything under control? Are they making money? Then I ask if they need anything."

If there's no crisis, Mattison heads to the kitchen.

"I also try to taste everything," he says. "I look at what is being plated right then; does it look good? I don't want people to suddenly change the way they are doing things simply because I'm here."

After a chat with the manager, Mattison visits the guests. Then it's time for staff.

"Our staff is our biggest investment," he says. "We spend more on employees than on food and wine. I try to find the right people with the right attitude that can treat people the right way. I find people's strengths and weaknesses.

"I have finally matured enough to where if I don't remember someone's name I ask them again. I would like to say that I remember 90% to 95% of their names. I love when they need my help. I still want to jump in even if it means filling bread baskets or water. I'm accessible, but I let people do their jobs."

Then he's off to the next restaurant.

He heads home between 8:30 p.m. and midnight.

As for the future, Mattison plans to continue to improve the restaurants and grow the catering business. He downplays new locations, but says opportunities exist.

Now that Mattison's mentor Tsoupelis has retired to Sarasota, Mattison says it might be time for a new Greek restaurant.