How a Chicago Restaurant Has Stayed Open For Nearly Three Decades

Richard Mott built North Pond on a business model shaped by seasonality. He started a campus coffee-and-sandwich business in 1981 while attending the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, after a summer finance internship at Progressive Insurance convinced him he did not want to work for someone else. By his 1982 graduation, the business had four locations; eight or nine years later, it had grown to 20. The shops operated in academic buildings outside Compass and Aramark’s main meal plans, paid rent to the university, and kept separate profit-and-loss statements.

Because university sales rose and fell with student traffic and class schedules, Mott added Chicago Park District concessions as a seasonal counterweight. He won the Lincoln Park facility contract when no other bidder came forward and opened a restaurant there in 1997. Securing permission took about two and a half years, followed by a year of construction. The Park District initially opposed a bar and required a takeout window, so North Pond opened as the more casual North Pond Cafe. After renovations were approved, it added a front room and bar, and received the park’s first liquor license.

North Pond’s food evolved while retaining a fine-dining identity. After its second chef joined, the restaurant adopted sustainable dining—now commonly called farm to table—and began naming farmers on the menu under the description “North Pond seasonal American dining.” The original approach paired classic French preparations with sustainable ingredients. A long-serving chef, trained in France, worked there for more than 20 years, joined the Slow Food board, and helped found Green City Market. North Pond now works with close to 100 small local farmers and craft producers. Since that chef left in December 2019, a younger chef has brought a more international sensibility: for the past four or five years, the menu has been more eclectic and less classically French, while remaining fine dining.

The restaurant’s nearly 30-year run is exceptional in a sector Mott describes as intensely competitive and financially difficult. He says many independent fine-dining restaurants last about three years, and that the category overall has a negative return, citing Wharton and SBA statistics. In his view, low barriers to entry make successful concepts hard to protect, while competitors may operate at a loss for personal or vanity reasons. He estimates that businesses complying with labor, immigration, and overtime laws can face a 5–10% disadvantage against competitors that do not. North Pond has instead built recognition around its chefs and the restaurant rather than its owner; its last three chefs appeared on Food & Wine covers and won James Beard awards.

The current menu is a $130 five-course prix fixe, but the restaurant’s sales mix and costs have shifted. Wine contributed just over 33% of sales during North Pond’s first 28 years, falling to 24% in the last 18 months. Mott says wine margins are similar to food margins but require far less labor; the average bottle costs about $110. He sees reduced drinking, especially among younger guests, as a major challenge, though he cannot separate the influence of GLP-1 drugs from broader changes in dining. The restaurant has added nonalcoholic cocktails and proposed THC drinks, but that proposal has not been approved.

Operating pressures have intensified: starting cook pay is about 30% higher than three or four years ago, and North Pond has raised prices four times in two years. Because it buys ingredients week by week, food-cost increases show up quickly, although its network of suppliers and farmers offers some protection. A dinner for two with wine pairing can cost $400, and Mott says the restaurant increasingly serves special-occasion guests rather than casual weeknight diners. He describes restaurant profitability after the pandemic as seriously negative, with many restaurants losing money for about three years and the recovery remaining weak.