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Business activity: While owning a restaurant is thought of as a high-risk adventure, Tim Mallett doesn't see it that way.
"The restaurant business is just like any other," Mallett said. "I do a lot of research before opening a new restaurant. I don't take chances."
Mallett's track record speaks for itself. He has proven successes in the Blue Water Grill, Big Sky Cafe and Remy's Kitchen & Wine Bar and is off to a start in his fourth venture, Ellie Forcella, which opened in September.
To handle the operations of the four restaurants, as well as a catering service, Mallett formed a management company, Great Restaurants Inc., in 1999. The corporation, based in Kirkwood, advises all four restaurants as well as the staffs, which have ballooned to 150.
Blue Water Grill was Mallett's first restaurant, opened in November of 1988 on Hampton Avenue. The name was chosen to reflect the restaurant's specialty seafood, which has won the eatery the title of best gourmet seafood restaurant in St. Louis in two publications, including the St. Louis Business Journal. The main entree is described as seafood with Southwestern and Mexican overtones.
After 10 years on Hampton Avenue, Blue Water Grill moved to Kirkwood in 1999 to take advantage of more dining space and additional parking. The response was immediate; business tripled the first year.
Mallett opened Big Sky Cafe in Webster Groves in 1992, buying a property where a restaurant had gone out of...