TAO Las Vegas - Highest Grossing Restaurant

Once Again, TAO Las Vegas Restaurant & Nightclub Retains it's Title as the Highest-Grossing Restaurant in the U.S.

Learn more about TAO Nightclub at The Venetian here.
For the second consecutive year, Tao Las Vegas Restaurant & Nightclub in The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino took the top spot with 2007 food-and-beverage revenues of $66.6 million dollars, up from $55.3 million last year. Tao Las Vegas last year added a third element, Tao Beach, to its operation.

Listed in the April 15 issue of R&I, this year’s top 10 restaurants and their 2007 F&B revenues are:

1. Tao Las Vegas Restaurant & Nightclub, Las Vegas $66,636,546
2. Tavern on the Green, New York City $37,636,999
3. Joe's Stone Crab, Miami Beach $29,680,810
4. Smith & Wollensky Third Avenue, New York City $28,702,000*
5. Tao Asian Bistro, New York City $26,842,734
6. Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington, D.C $22,851,237
7. Gibsons Bar Steakhouse, Chicago $20,846,253
8. Fulton's Crab House, Lake Buena Vista, Fla $20,673,932
9. SW Steakhouse, Las Vegas (est.)$20,500,000
10. Bob Chinn's Crab House, Wheeling, Ill $20,449,151

*The original Smith & Wollensky location was not part of the chain sold to Patina Restaurant Group and is operated independently.

Las Vegas Effect
Las Vegas, with 40 million visitors annually, has taken the dining experience to a new level in the past decade. When partners Richard Wolf and Marc Packer took their New York City concept Tao Asian Bistro (with 2007 revenues of $26.8 million) to Las Vegas from New York City, they achieved success on a whole new scale—Tao Las Vegas Restaurant & Nightclub boasts 44,000 square feet of space and $66.6 million in revenues.

Although the Las Vegas restaurant market may seem rarified and otherworldly, "part of that is about demand," says Andy Masi, partner in Las Vegas-based multiconcept operator The Light Group, whose properties include Top 100 member Fix Restaurant & Bar. "You have hotels with 3,000 or 4,000 rooms in Vegas," he says. "Just to meet the demand of guests staying in a 4,000-room hotel, you need more restaurants and more seats. Dinner is on everyone’s agenda when they come to Vegas."

But glitz, glamour, style and showmanship don’t sell—even in Las Vegas—without the basics of quality food and service keyed to the marketplace, Masi says.

"It’s getting very expensive to build out there," says E-Brands’ Robinson. E-Brands recently opened David Burke Modern American Cuisine in The Venetian. "The cost of entry is not inexpensive and it can be very risky if you don’t have the capital behind you. There is no guarantee that you’re going to do great.

"You have to pick your size right," he adds.

To read the full article, visit http://www.rimag.com/archives/2008/04b/sr-100-main.asp

Learn more about TAO Nightclub at The Venetian here.