This episode of How I Built This features host Guy Raz in conversation with Steven Starr, founder of Starr Restaurants, one of the most successful independent restaurant groups in the United States. Starr owns 9 of the 100 highest-grossing independent restaurants in the country, including Pastis and Buddakan in New York, Le Diplomate in Washington D.C., and Makoto in Miami.

The conversation traces Starr's unlikely path from a lonely New Jersey kid obsessed with TV credits and Beatles vs. Elvis debates, through a career as a comedy club operator and concert promoter in Philadelphia, to becoming one of the most influential restaurateurs in America. Along the way, Starr discusses opening his first venue at age 22 with a $40,000 bank loan and no collateral, promoting acts like Jerry Seinfeld, U2, and Ray Charles, and eventually opening The Continental in 1995 for just $90,000.

The episode also covers the brutal economics of the modern restaurant industry, the devastating impact of COVID on a 5,000-employee operation, and Starr's evolving philosophy about scale, design, and what it actually takes to make a restaurant feel like magic.

From Jersey Kid to Concert Promoter: Building Confidence on the Boardwalk

Starr grew up in New Jersey surrounded by televisions — his father was a TV repair man — and became obsessed not just with shows but with the credits: "I knew the producers. I knew the writer."

At 15-17, working on commission at a boardwalk store in Atlantic City taught him human nature and salesmanship: "Just like a Navy SEAL or a Marine, we got to be trained killers. We learned how to sell and how to convince people."

He snuck into a college radio station as a teenager, got caught, and was taken under the wing of the on-air DJ who taught him to edit and splice tape — a pattern of learning by doing that defined his career.

His first concert promotion was booking Mott the Hoople — the band behind "All the Young Dudes," written by David Bowie — for his high school as student council president.

His mother died when he was 19, leaving him responsible for three younger sisters. He had already written her a letter promising to be a millionaire by 21. He left Temple University in his third year to help support the family.

Stars Comedy Club and Ripley Music Hall: Learning by Losing Money

Starr launched his first comedy venue by partnering with an existing Philadelphia deli called Grandma Minnie's — he kept the door revenue, the owner kept the bar — and booked comics he'd met at Catch a Rising Star in New York City.

When the deli owner kicked him out to run the comedy himself, Starr responded with pure competitive fury: "Fuck him. I'm gonna come back and I'll fucking put you out of business."

He convinced Continental Bank to lend him $40,000 with no collateral at age 22 to open Stars at 2nd and Bainbridge Streets in Philadelphia, a $150,000 building he bought for roughly $50,000-60,000 total.

Opening night disaster: cover charges were put on the check instead of collected at the door, and roughly 65% of the audience walked out without paying.

Early acts included Richard Belzer, Pat Benatar (then doing cabaret), Jerry Seinfeld (paid $75 as amateur night host), and Bob Saget.

Stars evolved from comedy to music — Nina Simone, Buddy Rich, the Four Tops, the Ramones, The Clash — before Starr moved to the 500-seat Ripley Music Hall on South Street, where he promoted U2, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Miles Davis, and James Brown.

"If I had been— if I had gone to business school, I never would have done it because none of it made sense. A little of this is you're almost an imposter." — Steven on the psychological advantage of not knowing what was impossible.

He sold his concert promotion company around 1990 to Electric Factory Concerts, his main Philadelphia competitor, seeing that the industry was consolidating and promoters without Ticketmaster deals would be squeezed out.

The Continental: A $90,000 Bet That Changed Philadelphia

Inspired by a New York martini bar called Global 33, Starr leased a 1962 diner at 2nd and Market Street in Philadelphia from a Greek owner doing $3,000 a week, and transformed it for $90,000.

Designer Miguel Calvo (who was also the DJ at Global 33) and Philadelphia artist Owen Kamihira created the concept: reupholstered booths in olive green with red piping, a concrete bar top, and iconic olive-shaped lighting fixtures with giant toothpick stems.

Martini glasses were filled with Lucite and hung above the bar, creating a dramatic visual from the street.

The Continental opened in 1995 to lines around the block and eventually hit $100,000 a week in revenue — a 33x increase over the previous tenant.

The timing was fortuitous: the movie Swingers came out in 1996, and Sex and the City's Cosmo culture followed shortly after, turbocharging the martini bar concept nationally.

Starr had previously tried and failed with a fast-food concept called Shake Burger and Roll — it was so crowded they couldn't get food out, and it closed in 9 months — which left him terrified of the food side of the business.

The Continental became a catalyst for a broader restaurant and retail renaissance in Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood.

Buddakan and the Design Philosophy: Shock, Awe, and the Executive Producer Model

Buddakan Philadelphia was a Pan-Asian fusion restaurant built around a 12-foot golden Buddha, inspired by Wolfgang Puck's Chinois on Main in California and China Grill in New York. Starr and Owen Kamihira designed it themselves after Philippe Starck turned them down.

Buddakan became the Studio 54 of Philadelphia restaurants — a 2-month wait for Saturday reservations, celebrity clientele, and a singles scene at the bar.

Starr describes his role not as designer or chef but as executive producer: "I was Samuel Goldwyn. I had an aesthetic to know the right director to hire, the right lead actor and actress, and maybe what the soundtrack sounded like."

He compares his team-building philosophy to a Steve Jobs quote about the Beatles: "These guys collectively were the most brilliant people in the world. Individually, they did really good work, but nothing like they did when they were together."

When Buddakan New York opened in 2006, designed by French architect Christian Liagre for a "giant amount of money," Starr called it his Sgt. Pepper moment: "I said to people around me, 'This is it. I can't do any better than this.'"

Starr's obsessions on every restaurant: air conditioning, lighting, sound, and food consistency. "I am the number one person" tasting food for consistency across all 40+ locations.

The Brutal Economics of Restaurants: Then vs. Now

In the late 1990s, Starr's Philadelphia restaurants were doing $30 million in sales with $5.5 million in profit — margins of roughly 18-20%, far above today's industry standard of 10%.

Today, opening a major restaurant costs $16-17 million. A kitchen alone runs $1.5-1.8 million (up from $500,000 pre-COVID). HVAC that cost $600,000 now costs $1.7-1.8 million.

"I could never, ever, ever do this again. I don't think anyone could replicate what I did without having some giant money behind them from the beginning." — Steven on the structural changes that have closed off the path he took.

His current advice: keep restaurants small, targeting 85-95 seats with 2.5-3 table turns per night. Larger restaurants require landlord co-investment to be viable at all.

Concert promoter margins were roughly 15% after all expenses — modest, but far better than running a nightclub, where the club was essentially a loss leader to build agency relationships.

COVID Nearly Ended Everything — and Then Didn't

When COVID hit, Starr had $5-7 million in the bank against $10-15 million in accounts payable, roughly 4,000-5,000 employees, and 37 restaurants suddenly generating zero revenue.

A buy-one-get-one-free gift certificate campaign raised approximately $10 million in 36 hours: "It was very emotional because our people believed in us."

"Without the PPP money, gone. We would've been gone. Absolutely. No question. It saved us." — Steven on the federal Paycheck Protection Program as the decisive factor in survival.

Vendors were largely understanding, accepting partial payments as a show of good faith. One exception aside, the supply chain relationships held.

The Introvert Who Throws the Party: Identity, Motivation, and What's Next

"I've been throwing the party for years, but I'm never in the party." Starr describes standing in the back of his own nightclubs with arms folded, watching — and eventually embracing that role as his true identity.

Two early heartbreaks — his mother's death at 19 and a girlfriend leaving 9 months later — were the emotional fuel: "My motivation to open that club was two things: to get her back or to say, 'Fuck you. Look, I made it.'"

The thrill for Starr is always in the creation, not the operation: "The thrill is gone the day after it opens." He describes opening day as his "sad time."

His dream exit is an acquisition by a luxury brand with aesthetic alignment — LVMH is his stated ideal — rather than private equity, which he fears would erode the brand.

His next ambition is a fast-casual concept to compete with Shake Shack: "It's the warrior in me. I'd love to compete with Shake Shack and do my own version."

On luck vs. skill: "You talk to Bruce Springsteen about his career, he said it could never happen again. It was a different time. I couldn't do it. So a lot of it's luck. A lot of it."