Entrepreneurial bug bites restaurateurs

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by Maria Hoover|ret||ret||tab|

Inside Business Editor|ret||ret||tab|

mhoover@sbj.net|ret||ret||tab|

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Not resting on the laurels of their successful downtown eatery Bijan's, at 209 E. Walnut, Billy, Sara and Mike Jalili have plans to open a second restaurant in center city. The Jalilis are leasing the space at 314 W. Walnut, which formerly housed The Epicurean restaurant.|ret||ret||tab|

The trio also purchased The Epicurean's restaurant equipment for an undisclosed amount. |ret||ret||tab|

Following minor renovations, the Jalilis will open Flame Steakhouse and Wine Bar there, possibly as early as mid-September. "It's going to be very different from Bijan's," said Sara Jalili. "We are going to do the interior in a more contemporary style; it will have a quieter atmosphere. The bar downstairs will have a lounge feel. The renovations are mostly cosmetic. We had a beautiful restaurant already to work with," she added. |ret||ret||tab|

The Jalilis believe that Flame will fill a niche in the Springfield market as a high-end steakhouse. |ret||ret||tab|

"We're going to do dry and wet aged steaks, wood rotisserie chicken, possibly rotisserie duck, nice salads, baked potatoes with really great toppings. We do steaks here at Bijan's, too, but this restaurant will be a totally different concept. The menu will be much more basic, good French-fries, good onion rings, awesome salads, great baked potatoes and excellent desserts," said Mike Jalili. |ret||ret||tab|

Flame's cuisine will start at around $12 per plate. The Jalilis have selected Chef Wing Leong for Flame. |ret||ret||tab|

"We are very excited about this new restaurant," said Billy Jalili.|ret||ret||tab|

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From the vine|ret||ret||tab|

The Jalilis are also excited to introduce a new concept in wine service to the Springfield market. "It is called the Cruvinet wine preservation system. Usually when you open a bottle of wine, you have to sell it within two or three days or the oxygen will cause it to go bad. What the Cruvinet system does, very simply, is it takes the oxygen out of a bottle of wine so that it is as if it has never been opened," said Mike Jalili. |ret||ret||tab|

Sara Jalili added, "If you have guests who maybe don't want to buy a $100 bottle of wine they can buy it by the glass. In most restaurants that have wine by the glass, they have to sell lower-end wines or the wine will ferment if you don't sell it in a few days. I don't know of anyone else in Springfield that is using this system." |ret||ret||tab|

The Jalilis will offer 30 wines by the glass at their new establishment. In addition, wine samplers will be sold as one order. "They can get maybe four types of Pinot Noir or four different types of red wine. It's a really good way to learn what you like," said Mike Jalili. |ret||ret||tab|

Offering customers the ability to select their ideal steak and complement it with their favorite wine by the glass is part of the joy the Jalilis find in being restaurateurs. "The new restaurant will have the same management philosophy as Bijan's. Unless they ask the impossible, we will do whatever we can for our guests. All of us put our hearts and a lot of hard work into what we do," said Mike Jalili. |ret||ret||tab|

The result for Bijan's has been droves of loyal customers and steady growth for the past seven years. Both Bijan's and Bijan's Under the Tower, a banquet facility, enjoy a steady stream of customers. |ret||ret||tab|

"We thought Bijan's Under the Tower was going to be seasonal, but that has turned out not to be the case," said Sara Jalili. |ret||ret||tab|

Billy Jalili added, "We are so limited on space that, of course, we can only grow so much, but every year we have grown. From the first year we were downtown to now our sales have increased about 50 percent." |ret||ret||tab|

While the Jalilis declined to disclose revenues for Bijan's, they weren't surprised by the restaurant's success. |ret||ret||tab|

"We knew it would be successful, since it was the first open-grill restaurant in the area and it was so different from everywhere else in town. But I didn't expect it to be this successful," said Sara Jalili. |ret||ret||tab|

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Competition|ret||ret||tab|

In Bijan's seven-year tenure on Walnut Street, the Jalilis have seen competition in the downtown market increase dramatically. They do not, however, see additional restaurants as any sort of threat to their business. They believe the more numerous and varied the businesses in the downtown area, the better it is for everyone in that market. |ret||ret||tab|

"We just try to concentrate on what we are doing. Our greatest competition is ourselves," said Mike Jalili. |ret||ret||tab|

The Jalilis describe the downtown business market as a friendly neighborhood, with businesses borrowing supplies from one another, and enjoying one another's food. |ret||ret||tab|

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