Career
Melman serves as chairman of the board of LEYE. He creates restaurant concepts. As such he is a corporate executive who sees himself as an artist. In 1971, Melman and Jerry A. Orzoff founded R.J. Grunts in Lincoln Park in Chicago.
Melman and Orzoff continued their partnership, developing a number of restaurants, until Orzoff died in 1981.
Melman continued his philosophy of "partnership" and now has 37 working partners. Melman grew up in Chicago.
As a child, he sold ice cream and peanuts at Chicago beaches and even sold eggs door to door. He unsuccessfully attended three different colleges.
At 14, he started working for the family restaurant business.
After his father rebuffed his inquiries to buy into the partnership, he struck out on his own. Persistence led him to Orzoff, who was the first businessperson to take him seriously. By 1988, encompassed 27 restaurants and yielded approximately $90 million.
Some of their best-known restaurants included Editor Debevic"s, Wildfire Grill, Shaw"s Crab House, and Big Bowl.
On January 1, 2000, he passed the title and duties of chief executive to Steve Ottmann. In 2003, Kevin Brown assumed the Chief Executive Officer role.
The separate consulting business has served McDonald"s Corporation, Chart House and Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits. In fact, it was instrumental in the development of Popeye"s Cajun Kitchen.