How (and Why) Ballyhoo President Jon Farrer Dedicated His Career to Hospitality

Resy: You didn’t end up going to business school, but what have you learned on the job?

JF: I realized I took a different approach in restaurants and wanted to continue to build skill sets.  You can learn about leadership and people, you can learn about food and beverage, you can learn about community, you can learn about PR, you can learn about finance and accounting. So I’ve just tried to pick up all the pieces any which way and take advantage of opportunities being presented.

What’s the secret to the success of the company?

At Ballyhoo, we talk a lot about people. I think hospitality and what we do is the backbone of it all. Everybody on our team understands that that’s our way of life and our standard. We’ve had things we’ve coined as the “Ballyhoo way” in our gestures at the store level and how we treat birthdays, first-time guests, or big wine buyers. We’ve tried to create this understanding that there’s so many restaurants out there and so much competition and a lot of places where people could spend their money. I think the biggest focus for us is how we make people feel. The places that do that well are the ones that will be around for a long time. I also think the same time, effort, energy and hospitality you put into the guest should be put into your team and community. If you focus on those pillars, then the connection becomes real, and you can have some longevity and be a hospitality company, not just a restaurant.

How do you plan to drive revenue during the post-holiday slump?

We spend a lot of time building up these community aspects of what we do and we’re very hospitable. I think a lot of people still come during the winter. I also think aside from gift card promos and the fun stuff everybody does from a value standpoint, we’re still planning wine dinners and wine wholesale events at Pomeroy. We try to do some holiday programming that carries into January and February. We keep our foot on the gas, get behind our marketing efforts, and try and have a little more fun in the downtime. But I think all of the handshakes and the gestures and hospitality we give the community now is paid forward in January, February, and March when those people are the ones still coming to our restaurants, ordering to go, or planning private events.

What are your top three dishes to order?

Such a tough one. I’m a huge fan of the chicken piccata at DeNucci’s. I order it with a side of spaghetti limone, so you get to double up on the lemon. I also loved their cheese pizza. It’s New York style and you can eat it piping hot or cold. My family has come to love it too. I have two young kids and there’s no shortage of cheese pizza in our house. The third would be the Wagyu beef carpaccio at Sophia Steak. It’s thinly sliced, served rare, and comes with jumbo lump crab meat, horseradish crème fraîche, and pickled onion. It’s really something. 

What’s on the horizon for openings? 

We just opened our third DeNucci’s and are actively looking to continue to expand the brand. Zenzi Den is a Japanese concept we’re opening in Glenview in the next few months and we’re also working on a new concept later this year in Juno Beach, Florida, just north of West Palm Beach. In 2027, we’ll open a Mediterranean concept called Arkadia right around the corner from Pomeroy in Winnetka. 

How are people ordering and dining out these days?

We’re lucky in that a lot of our restaurants are in communities. We have neighborhood spots like Gemini, Coda di Volpe, and Sophia Steak in Wilmette where we’ve built up a strong foundation and the dining habits haven’t changed a ton. I think some of the strategy is, you can come into a lot of our restaurants and have a burger and a beer on a Tuesday, but you could still order a nice steak and a bottle of cab on a Friday. So it allows some people to come back more than once a month or even more than once a week. 

And I think we’ve seen the amount of alcohol people are consuming [change]. We’ve had some concepts where we’ve asked, ‘Can we do a three-ounce pour or do we do a nine-ounce pour? I’ve also seen a couple of restaurant groups start to play the volume game, where you’re seeing cocktails and wines by the glass in the $9 to $12 range. We spent a lot of time this last year doing happy hours and bottomless brunches and trying to stay a little more relevant on promotions and things where it gave guests a different reason to come into the restaurant.

What trends do you want to see more or less of in Chicago? 

I love the small chef-driven concept focused on something that they commit to or do really well. And they’re not trying to be a 300-seat monster on Michigan Avenue or in a huge tourist area. I think the number of Michelin stars you see in Chicago nowadays is always a great sign of how many talented people work in the city. And I feel like the dining options continue to expand. I know they mention closures every month, but I feel like my list of great restaurants is often growing more than the ones I’m able to make it to.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

The people. Seeing all of the moments and understanding that it’s really a people business and the food, beverage, and ambience are byproducts of what we do. And you see those moments click at the store level through people’s dining experiences or community events or our team members that are going through hardship or have a night where they want to bring in their family. The most rewarding part is when all of that comes together. I obviously love creating opportunities and working with our team and holding topics on leadership and being better business people, but at the end of the day once you see that human connection, that’s the star of the show.