If you want to hear a multigenerational American success story, the restaurant business is a good place to look. Case in point: the Livanos Restaurant Group, a family-run operation that owns three popular restaurants in Midtown Manhattan. Molyvos is well known for its genuine and unpretentious Greek cuisine and its warm welcome to larger tables of families and friends; Oceana is a high-end, fine-dining seafood establishment with a stellar wine list; and Abboccato Italian Kitchen is an intimate and authentic Italian restaurant. We sat down with Proprietor Nick Livanos in Oceana to ask him some questions about the operation and how it’s able to sustain its success.
Nick Livanos, far right, poses with the Livanos family
Q. How did your family become involved in the restaurant business?
A. My dad, John Livanos, arrived in New York in 1958 from his family home—a stone house in the village of Molyvos on the island of Lesvos—which the family still regularly visits. His path from dishwasher to line cook to luncheonette owner took three years. A Long Island diner followed, and in 1974, he built The Arch, a Brooklyn diner, which he operated for ten years. Fifty-plus years later, my siblings (Bill and Corina) and I, are actively involved in the family business and the next generation—ten offspring between 9 and 26—are in the pipeline, with my eldest already working in the hospitality industry.
A. Because our three Manhattan restaurants are in the Theater District and surrounded by hotels and office buildings, we enjoy a varied clientele. Our guests include out-of-town visitors, local New Yorkers, and regulars who work in the neighborhood.
Molyvos
Q. How important is your bar business?
A. Each of our restaurants has an active bar and serves a considerable number of full wine bottles with meals. Oceana has a large bar with 7,500 bottles in a local-to-international wine cellar; Molyvos, with 580 bottles, has the largest all-Greek wine list in the country, and the cozy bar at Abboccato Italian Kitchen attracts clients for cocktail hour and post-performance nightcaps.
Q. Each restaurant has a different concept, is there something in common?
A. Yes, each of our concepts are unique. The one thing that they do have in common is that they value and serve the freshest ingredients; each restaurant in New York City has a purchaser who goes to the fish market daily.
Q. Is there another commonality among the restaurants?
A. From the beginning, my dad’s priority has been location and he still owns the property of his former Brooklyn diner. So, everything we have done has been location driven. Oceana, a vast 49th Street space in the former McGraw Hill building is one example. Abboccato has a desirable spot on 55th Street, opposite New York City Center.
Oceana
Q. Who does what in the family?
A. We each have a “Hands On” management position. John, my father, made contacts with local Long Island farmers when he first built a home on the North Fork in 1985 and still maintains personal face-to-face relationships with our produce suppliers. He’s also intimately involved in the daily operations. Corina, whose children are the youngest, is the family “face” for business relations; she keeps in contact with clients and hotel concierges. Bill is involved with our Westchester County outlets: Moderne Barn and two City Limits diners.
Q. What’s your particular focus?
A. I keep my eye on the money and constantly view the POS (point of sale) in every restaurant. I also read all the comments both on cards and online and personally respond to every client who contacts any of the restaurants.
Q. What is the LRG management style?
A. We emulate what I call “The Danny Meyer model,” because the successful restaurateur can either walk or taxi to his venues. Our midtown locations are easily reached from one another, on foot.
Q. How do you manage to have long-term relationships with chefs and employees?
A. We treat everyone like family, which is why we’re able to create so many longstanding relationships with our employees and management. Several of our staff have been with us for about 20 years. For example, General Manager Paul McLaughlin arrived at Oceana, day one, 23 years ago. Carlos Carreto, the Executive Chef at Molyvos, has been with the restaurant for the last 17 years.
Abboccato Italian Kitchen
