By Christy Simo
It’s a winding path from 1968, when a New York teenager came to Oglethorpe College aiming for a law degree, to today, as Bob Amick sits in the dining room of Atlanta’s TWO urban licks. But for Amick, this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner, the road to owner and founder of Concentrics Restaurants makes total sense.
“I was always in [the restaurant industry] but never planned to be in it,” he says, recalling his time washing dishes in a pizza joint and running a hot dog stand when he was a teen. “I really thought as I got into college that I was going to go to law school.”
He says, though, that despite his plans, “I could never get the restaurant business out of my head.”
So after graduating college in 1972, he soon found himself working for Stouffer’s Hotels, where he spent time as a beverage manager before traveling the country opening hotels and training the hospitality teams.
“The business sucks you in, and sometimes it doesn’t let you go,” he says. “I enjoyed it.”
It was while at Stouffer’s that he first met Steve Nygren. Amick would eventually team up with Nygren and Richard Daley to operate the Pleasant Peasant restaurant company.
“I woke up one day and realized if I’m going to do this, I can’t do this as an employee,” he says. “So I made the decision that if I was going to stay in it, I might as well go for it and take a look at it from another direction.”
As a partner in Pleasant Peasant, Amick helped grow the company’s concepts, including Mick’s Restaurants, to 42 locations across the country during the 1980s.
However, by 2002 he had left the company and was ready to scale down. He and his wife decided to open a restaurant just down the road from their Ansley Park home. Little did he know it would be the start of his next adventure.
“Originally I was only going to open one restaurant, which was ONE Midtown Kitchen. My wife named it because we had all these restaurants, and now we were just opening one,” he says.
From that experience emerged Concentrics Restaurants, which today is one of the state’s largest restaurant companies. It owns, manages and develops acclaimed concepts around the country, including seven in Georgia as well as in Chicago, St. Louis and San Diego. The company also offers full-service development and management services for food and beverage operational needs.
“It’s not for the faint of heart. You have to work hard and do it well,” he says of the restaurant industry. “It’s not an easy business – our world operates differently than other industries. You live, work and breathe the industry 24/7.”
Clearly the hard work has paid off. Concentrics restaurants have been recognized by publications like Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, The New York Times and InStyle magazine.
But his company’s influence stretches far past the restaurants’ front doors. Many of today’s top chefs in Georgia once worked in one of Concentric Restaurants’ kitchens, including Kevin Gillespie, Todd Ginsberg and Zeb Stevenson, to name just a few.
“Watching people become successful is a great contribution,” he says. “Since I’ve been in the industry for so many years, I can now provide a platform for people to learn and grow and contribute their own role in Georgia’s hospitality industry.
“I’ve been a part of the restaurant scene since 1968, and I’ve seen how Atlanta has transitioned over all of these years to become a culinary destination,” he says. “Guests are more knowledgeable about food these days, and so they appreciate and understand what us restaurateurs are trying to create for the city.”
When you’re in the restaurant industry, your work is often a family affair. And while Amick encouraged his children to pursue a career independent of their father’s company, several have found that the restaurant life suits them, too.
“I am a restaurant junky, and I love to compete and try new things. My love for the business has been passed down to my children, and I have been able to see them grow in the industry and be a part of it as well,” he says. “It’s incredibly satisfying to see my family thrive in this business. I’m extremely blessed to have a supportive family, and our time spent away from work is being spent on the other side of the table.”
