How Boka Restaurant Group Blazed the Trail for Chef-Driven Concepts in Chicago

The story of Boka Restaurant Group won’t surprise you. That’s because it’s not shocking to witness how hard work, dedication and ingenuity pay off.

But what makes the story of Boka Group so interesting has less to do with its success, and everything to do with how teamwork and discernment helps a dream come to fruition. Chef-driven restaurants in Chicago weren’t yet the massive trend they are now when Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm, founders of Boka Restaurant Group, met in 2001. For the past 15 years, the co-founders and friends have brought the trend to Chicago, working diligently in the background as they encourage some of the world’s best chefs to take center stage.

“I think we had some very good timing,” said Boehm. “There was a proliferation of these TV programs that were making chefs superstars when we were taking off. We realized that we’re really good at managing restaurants, but it wasn’t until we realized that we had an opportunity to make the chefs a star in their own kitchens that we had our breakthrough moment.”

The duo’s first restaurant, Boka, an American concept “with soul,” opened in 2003 and featured Chef Lee Wolen. It was an instant success, and since then, has received a Michelin Star every year since its inception. The group has now opened 16 additional concepts, most notably Girl & The Goat alongside chef and partner Stephanie Izard; GT Fish & Oyster with chef and partner Giuseppe Tentori; and Balena, which was the first combination of Boka and B. Hospitality Co., with chef and partner Chris Pandel. Katz and Boehm have been lauded for the high quality and uniqueness each concept brings, having been named “Restaurateurs of the Year” by major publications, being named “Best Restaurateur in America” semi-finalists and being finalists at the James Beard Awards in 2015 and 2016.

Before all of this success, however, Katz and Boehm were just two guys who had big ambitions for the restaurant industry. It wasn’t until they met and began collaborating that the true magic began occurring.

“Mutual friends thought it would be a good idea for us to meet, and it ended up being very fortuitous,” said Katz, who became a partner at a bar at a very young age and fell in love with the hospitality industry in Chicago. “The past 15 years with Kevin have been pretty action-packed. We were feeling out our ability, and sort of becoming experts in our field, and becoming comfortable with our voice and what our ambitions are. We were very much so aligned. There are things that Kevin is really good at and that’s great because I’m not nearly as strong in those things. It just seemed to be one of those perfect partnerships.”

Recognizing that their partnership played a key role in the success of Boka, Katz and Boehm place that same kind of attention into finding the right people to help realize the group’s vision, from chefs that they partner with to the bartenders to the wait staff.

“We have a pretty specific vision going into each restaurant, but it can only be accomplished if you find the right people to execute that,” said Katz. “We’re pretty good at finding and identifying talent, but it takes a lot of people. It’s not enough that we have a great idea--we’ve got to find a bunch of people who think like us and are talented enough to bring our vision to life. There are other people who do what we do, and the competition is so fierce that filling every position with the right people is very difficult, but necessary.”

To not only attract, but retain those well-suited individuals, Boka Restaurant Group makes sure of three main things: that employees are valued (which the group shows through time off, benefits and fun group events like softball tournaments and day trips), that they feel like their voice is heard, and that they see opportunity for growth.

“The new battle cry is grow or die,” said Boehm. “You end up losing these great people who work for you if you don’t have restaurants that allow them to grow. We did not think it was going to get this big. We were always ambitious. We always knew it was going to grow. But neither of us thought it would be this--this was a wildest dreams scenario. I’m just exceptionally proud of our company. We’ve been burying our head and working for a long, long time. Every now and then you look up and see all these amazing people. It’s very humbling.”