For New York-based restaurateur Roy Liebenthal, real estate has driven many of his accomplishments in foodservice. His first successful career was in New York’s real estate industry, and when that market had a downturn in the late ’80s and early ’90s, he jumped into the restaurant business because he was “just looking for something different to do,” he says.
As a result, Liebenthal opened Café Tabac in 1991 in the trendy East Village. That restaurant’s success with an eclectic downtown crowd allowed him to open The Lemon in 1996 and POP Restaurant in 1998. His original POP Burger concept, opened in 2003, fused two menu and service styles into one stylish eatery. Up front, a quick-service format provided clubgoers in the Chelsea and Meatpacking District neighborhoods with the requisite mini hamburgers, onion rings and milk shakes. In the back was an old-school New York saloon complete with fancy cocktails.
Liebenthal’s latest venture is a second branch of POP Burger, the concept he intends to expand throughout the country. The unit’s high-profile real estate, a three-story building at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street adjacent to F.A.O. Schwartz and an iconic Apple store, at once presents a golden opportunity and a great challenge, he says.
What differentiates this second location of POP Burger from the original?
The second location is more comprehensive. Having the restaurant in our own building gives us a lot of opportunity to translate the brand through visuals we wouldn’t have had. We’ll get to incorporate the façade into the look, like having a large advertisement for POP Burger facing Fifth Avenue.
Why did you decide to replicate POP Burger instead of developing a new concept like you had before?
I really think POP Burger hit the zeitgeist. I love challenging myself with a new idea, but I think translating this restaurant to Fifth Avenue real estate is a challenge in itself.
Did that translation require you to adapt many aspects of the concept?
Yes, we were sort of tweaking with the concept to have it fit in the envelope of a three-story building.
So what are your immediate goals and growth projections for POP Burger?
I don’t really have a [specific] goal today. The goal is to make the next POP Burger a success. I’d be happy to see as many POP Burgers as the demand is for them. Taking the concept and putting it in a Fifth Avenue location should indicate how strong the idea really is.
FAST FACTS EDUCATION: University of ArizonaPERSONAL: married, two childrenBIRTH DATE: Dec. 11, 1962CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: opening and operating Café Tabac, The Lemon, POP Restaurant and POP Burger
Why’s that?
I think it’s sort of the center of the universe right now, as it relates to things like the new Apple store and F.A.O. Schwartz. It’s a neighborhood where there’s a cross section of all different types of people: tourists, businessmen and shoppers.
So then would your expansion plans necessarily involve mostly large urban centers?
I certainly would like to expand it wherever it would work. I think it’d work for a lot of different real estate locations. I’d love to see an element of it on every college campus. It’s a very adaptable concept.
Many New York restaurateurs have told NRN that 2007 was a difficult year with stricter regulations, rising rents, etc. Was this opening harder for you than others you’ve had in the past?
No, they were all complicated.