Brian Canlis didn’t anticipate to be within the restaurant enterprise his entire life.
However as with so many household companies – particularly massively profitable ones like Canlis, which single-handedly put Pacific Northwest delicacies on the map – life and careers occur earlier than we all know it.
And there’s little doubt that the brothers Canlis, Brian and his brother Mark, have completed a masterful job since taking the reins from their mother and father (who themselves inherited it from Peter Canlis, who began the restaurant again in 1950). Right this moment, Canlis is as related and forward-thinking as ever, a uncommon achievement in an trade the place even essentially the most legendary eating places usually have a shelf life.
So after practically twenty years on the helm, it could have been straightforward (and anticipated) for Brian to proceed main the restaurant, having fun with the perks of operating a world-famous eating establishment perched above Seattle’s Lake Union. As a substitute, he determined it was time to blow all of it up.
“Once I grew to become a restaurateur in my 20s, I used to be single and I attempted on the shirt known as operating this restaurant—and it match,” Canlis instructed me on the Reimagining Eating places podcast. “Twenty years later, I’ve 4 small youngsters and the shirt doesn’t slot in the identical means.”
So what does a brand new shirt that matches his 40-something life a bit higher appear like? As revealed in February within the New York Instances, it’s a brand new chapter in Nashville, the place he’s becoming a member of forces along with his greatest pal from school, Will Guidara—co-founder of Eleven Madison Park and writer of Unreasonable Hospitality—on an open-ended artistic partnership.
The 2 have been shut since freshman orientation and even labored collectively in New York throughout a quick sabbatical Brian took in 2013. Now, they’re reuniting, probably for the long-term, however with a bit ‘try-it-before-you-buy it’ twist: “We stated, ‘Let’s date earlier than we get married’,” Canlis stated. “Let’s simply work collectively for a yr and see what occurs.”
The transfer displays extra than simply skilled curiosity—it’s rooted in a want to be extra current as a father and companion, and to discover what work and life can appear like when untethered from legacy.
“I began to develop an creativeness for what it could appear like to have a profession the place I could possibly be extra current to those kiddos on daily basis,” he stated. “The place I might train a unique piece of my mind, and perhaps transfer nearer to my spouse’s household.”
Leaving wasn’t a simple choice, nevertheless it was one supported wholeheartedly by his brother and enterprise companion, Mark.
“He stated, ‘It’s best to solely be working right here so long as you might be flourishing as a human,’” Brian stated. “‘Our values are solely our values in the event that they price us one thing.’”
That ethos – prioritizing folks over plates – is the crimson thread throughline of Brian’s journey. Whether or not it was changing Canlis right into a burger drive-thru in the course of the pandemic or internet hosting wild, pink-painted Barbie-themed fundraisers, the Canlis brothers infused hospitality with coronary heart and a willingness to take artistic dangers.
Their guideline? {That a} restaurant must be a spot the place individuals are impressed to show towards one another.
“We’re not within the meals enterprise,” Brian instructed me. “We’re within the folks enterprise.”
As for what comes subsequent, Brian is embracing the uncertainty. He and Will haven’t put anyting in concrete simply but, simply an settlement to discover new concepts and alternatives in hospitality, with Nashville as their testing floor.
It’s a leap. However then once more, so was opening the primary restaurant in Seattle with a liquor license in 1950. So was placing a fine-dining spot on a cliff above Lake Union. So was portray the partitions pink.
Seems, reinvention runs within the household.
You’ll be able to watch my full dialog Brian under or discover it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or the place you hearken to podcasts.
