Hoping Diners Will Sit, Stay

Can the Simms family teach a new dog old tricks?

It’s a natural question for the Simms clan, which has deep roots in the Southern California dining scene and last summer sold the Mimi’s Cafe chain for a reported $103 million.

Scion Chris Simms, a 30-year-old Ivy League grad who initially resisted the lure of the restaurant business, hopes the answer lies in the Lazy Dog Cafe, an elaborate canine-centric eatery in Westminster.

“I felt in order for me to be satisfied I needed to start up my own restaurant concept,” Simms said. “I wanted to do my own thing.”

He’s doing it under the scrutiny of industry colleagues who are wondering whether Simms -- with the aid of his father, Tom -- can replicate Mimi’s success.

“People are going to judge you,” said Rick Rosenfield, who helped found California Pizza Kitchen Inc. and now wants to launch a new dining concept. “They want to know whether you are a one-trick pony.”

Simms spent $2 million to open the Lazy Dog in August 2003 with the help of his dad, two other partners and a small group of investors.

During a recent lunch hour, guests lounged in rocking chairs on an ersatz front porch, waiting for tables in the 7,000-square-foot dining room. The cavernous space features mountain-lodge decor, an ample bar -- a key difference from the bar-less Mimi’s Cafe -- and plenty of pooch paraphernalia.

A 6-by-9-foot dog portrait in bright shades of green, blue, brown and white stares out at diners, just left of an extended, exhibition-style kitchen. To the right of the kitchen, a curved burnt-sienna wall is covered with some 60 framed photos of man’s best friend. A bowl of bone-shaped breath mints near the cash register stands ready to stave off diners’ doggy breath.

Customers are invited to dine with their real-life pooches on a small outdoor patio, which is stocked with bowls of fresh water. Dog food -- a grilled chicken breast or a hamburger patty -- is available for three bucks a pop.

The human fare emulates Cheesecake Factory’s eclectic menu, with Bahama chicken and Hawaiian ribs listed alongside Chinese-derived dishes and comfort food such as “Better Than Home” meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy.

“The goal is for guests to enjoy the scenery and action in the room and never have to lift a finger,” Simms said. “We really wanted them to feel like lazy dogs.”

The concept has done well enough, Simms said, that he’s already scouting San Bernardino and south Orange County for future locations.

The Simms family has long played a role in the local hospitality business. Chris Simms’ grandfather, Arthur J. Simms, ran the MGM commissary during the 1950s and had partnerships in several Hollywood coffee shops and restaurants.

During the 1970s, he teamed up with his son, Tom, who had managed Tiny Naylor’s diner in Hollywood, to open the French Quarter restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard. The Simmses later purchased the Kettle restaurant in Manhattan Beach, followed by a small chain of coffee shops in Orange County. The O.C. operation eventually evolved into Mimi’s, a family dining concept with a faux-French bistro design and an all-American menu.

By the time sausage maker Bob Evans Farms Inc. offered to acquire Mimi’s from the Simms family and other stakeholders in June, the company had grown to 81 units with $240.5 million in annual revenue.

Despite his lineage, Chris Simms aspired to be an investment banker while attending Cornell University. When he eventually decided to go into the family business, he opted to get his feet wet by working at the P.F. Chang’s chain of Chinese restaurants because he disliked the idea of being “the boss’ son.”

But these days, Simms, who eventually served a yearlong stint at Mimi’s opening new restaurants, is quick to acknowledge his dad’s assistance. Besides helping his son raise the start-up capital, Tom Simms is frequently consulted on major issues. The family connection hasn’t hurt with outsiders either.

“Without a doubt, our ties to Mimi’s have helped landlords and staff to take us more seriously,” Chris Simms said. “It gave us credibility.”

Of course, it will take more than a well-known name to make the Lazy Dog Cafe a success.

Challenges include managing the concept through its start-up stage.

“If they make poor decisions early on in real estate management or even their financing partner,” they may never recover, said Randall Hiatt, president of restaurant consulting firm Fessel International.

“Everybody who has a successful restaurant thinks they’re going to have a hundred of them,” Hiatt said. “But it rarely happens.”