{"id":148955,"date":"2025-08-15T22:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T22:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/148955\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T22:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T22:39:11","slug":"lettuce-entertain-you-sued-by-former-business-partner-over-joes-seafood-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/148955\/","title":{"rendered":"Lettuce Entertain You sued by former business partner over Joe&#8217;s Seafood venture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                                                    <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/money\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755297551_3_\"  width=\"296\" height=\"80\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n                                                    We break down complex business news to help you understand how money moves in Chicago and how it affects you.\n                                                <\/p>\n<p>During a friendship that spanned 40 years, Lettuce Entertain You co-founder Richard Melman and restaurateur Gerard Centioli became business partners, expanding iconic restaurants under the company ICON.<\/p>\n<p>But in a lawsuit filed last week in Cook County Circuit Court, Centioli is accusing his former friend of betraying him by fraudulently acquiring interest in Joe\u2019s Seafood, Prime Steak &amp; Stone Crab, effectively cutting Centioli out of his ownership equity.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago-based restaurant operator Lettuce Entertain You and its owners attempted a \u201ccorporate coup\u201d and cut the company, now ICONcepts, out of a partnership that started in 1999, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s first major venture was expanding Joe\u2019s Stone Crab in Miami to other cities. Joe\u2019s Chicago location opened in 2000 followed by Las Vegas in 2004 and Washington, D.C., in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut in 2025, it became clear that Richard, his son R.J. and their company Lettuce were diverting the financial benefits of the enterprise to themselves, their families and the Lettuce empire,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n<p>In April, Richard Melman was said to have fraudulently signed documents transferring ICONcept\u2019s indirect ownership equity in Joe\u2019s Chicago, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., locations to Lettuce Entertain You. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cRichard Melman, for his part, abandoned a friend of over 40 years, betrayed a business partner, and violated a shared legacy in favor of allowing R.J. to consolidate power, resources and influence for their family\u2019s financial gain,\u201d the suit said. \u201cThis is a tragic end to a proud tradition of partnership, cuisine, connection and accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>R.J. Melman is CEO of Lettuce Entertain You.<\/p>\n<p>ICONcepts alleges fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. It\u2019s seeking damages and to invalidate the equity sale documents. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLettuce Entertain You is a company that has mentored and employed thousands of the industry\u2019s brightest professionals\u201d Gabriel Gillett, partner at Jenner &amp; Block representing Lettuce, said. \u201cIts continued success is based on a fundamental commitment to operating with the utmost integrity and transparency. They lead by example. While we will not comment on the specifics of this complaint, we believe it lacks merit. The company will vigorously defend this case in court and believes it will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lettuce Entertain You operates over 120 restaurants, including Chicago spots like R.J. Grunts, RPM Restaurants, Aba, Caf\u00e9 Ba-Ba-Reeba! and Three Dots and a Dash. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We break down complex business news to help you understand how money moves in Chicago and how it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":148956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-148955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115035187808080005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}