At Christopher's in Phoenix no one job is more important than another, the whole team works together to cook, serve, wash dishes and help guests pick out wine.
"Everyone does everything from cleaning the restaurant to serving the guest, and overall, they have a little more pride in everything because they do it all," said chef and owner Christopher Gross in an interview. "I wanted the cooks to understand there's more to it than just making the dish, it's about getting it to the table and how the guest interacts with the dish."
When Gross opened his restaurant in Phoenix's Wrigley Mansion in March 2021, he wanted to implement the One Team idea. He had many reasons to do this. For starters, to close the gap wage between the front and back of house. He also felt the customers would be better served if anyone working could guide them through the wine list, discuss the menu and help them find the hidden silverware in the drawers beneath the table. Finally, after working in restaurants for decades, Gross felt he himself would have benefited from knowing more about how the business ran and how other positions worked.
"We sort of went into this model a little naive, and people said it wouldn't work, that you can't train these people to do it all," said Gross, who credits his chef Taylor Sorenson as being one of the solid people he had to help make it happen. "I said if worse comes to worse, we will bring the food to the table ourselves."
At the start of training the staff works in the back cold area doing salads and other cool foods. They also start learning service by delivering said items. Next comes learning about wine and then kitchen work. Throughout the training the team does mock services before the customers come in. Just about everyone learns how to cook the food, how to talk about the wine program, and a bit of mixology, since the tasting menu comes with a tableside cocktail presentation.
"The team picked it up really well and I think we are pretty happy with it," said Gross. "And, believe it or not, some chefs decide they want to stay in the front [of house].”
This One-Team method isn't unique to Christopher's, and Gross himself was inspired by other restaurants with a similar division of labor.
There’s Schwa in Chicago, where chef Michael Carlson serves up a 10-course menu of New American food and the whole crew works to get it to guests. Another is Scratch Bar & Kitchen in Encino, Calif., owned by chefs Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee. There's also Kevin Gillespie's Gunshow in Atlanta that prescribes to this style of service, though it's not one Gross mentioned.
One thing these three restaurants have in common is a more intimate setting, something that Gross embraced as well. At Christopher’s, only 32 seats grace the restaurant, and all require prepaid reservations. There's also a set menu on Thursday through Saturday. That way, said the chef, the staff knows what to expect and how many people will be served. It's also a good way to manage costs and cut down on food waste. This $275 prix fixe menu consists of eight courses, plus some surprises, all plated on unique dishes that the chef has sourced from all over the world.
On Tuesday and Wednesday diners have more choices, but the menu is still limited. Dubbed the "classic," this menu runs $125 per person and includes three courses, many from Gross' past menus throughout the years. Guests can choose from an appetizer such as roasted red pepper soup or country pate. On the entree side there's options like grilled fish of the day and duck two ways. Then there's dessert, showcasing the chocolate tower, which the chef has been making since 1982.
While the One Team model is new for Gross, the chef has been working in restaurants since he was in his 20s, and running his own eateries, starting with the first Christopher’s and Christopher’s Bistro in 1990. Later he opened Crush Lounge as well, though all these places were closed in January 2018 when Gross decided to open his concept in Wrigley Mansion. At first the new spot was going to launch in 2019, but, as with many other businesses, the pandemic hit and put a damper in those plans. It finally opened in March 2021.
Now in his mid-60s, Gross, who won a James Beard Award in 1995 and was a semifinalist in 2022 for the Outstanding Chef nomination, is happy running just one place, and doing it well.
A normal check on the classic nights runs around $200 per person, and on the other nights it's closer to $375 to $400. However sometimes the clientele splurges, and Gross mentioned one customer that came in with three other people and dropped $10,000 on wine. That night, he said, was really good for the staff and most were shocked by how big their paycheck was thanks, to the 25% tip that was left on that bill.
"In a small venue the cross-training is invaluable as it can have such a pay out," he said. "Plus if someone can't come to work or needs a day off, everyone knows everyone else's job since it's not so segregated."
While overall Gross said the business model works, it presents challenges too. For starters, it takes a lot of training, and weekly Gross runs mock service before the real service in order to let his staff practice. Another challenge comes in hiring people who are open to doing multiple roles and learning more about the business.
"It didn't go without any hiccups, you get some really good cooks and they say they don't want to have anything to do with waiting on tables," said Gross. "We try and massage it a little, but the whole idea is for you to learn the front [of house], and we had a few people that left in the beginning."
It's not just learning all the positions of the restaurant that Gross finds useful, it's learning more about food and wine in general. The chef encourages his staff to expand their knowledge, even paying for any wine courses they complete on the way to earning a sommelier certification.
"When learning about wine, you're learning what you're cooking for and are able to match the wine list to the food," said Gross. "You need to know as a chef, what does go good with your food so if you take over a place that has a certain style wine list, you know what make to make that restaurant successful."
Space, too, plays a part in making a business successful. The building that houses Christopher's proves just as unique as the restaurant.
Built for the chewing gum mogul William Wrigley Jr, Wrigley Mansion is a multi-use fine dining and special event venue owned by Jamie Hormel. Hormel is also Gross' girlfriend of 15-plus years, and the hand model for an amuse-bouche serving dish. While the mansion dates back to 1932, the inside of the triangular Christopher's has a modern touch. Two of the three walls are made of glass, giving diners an unparallelled view of Phoenix below.
The interior of the small restaurant is bright and accented with silver-colored metals, and many have magnetic properties. This allows for Gross to do things such as hide bowls of liquor-filled chocolate under the lamps, or in another place on the table if the guest already knows about the secret stash. That aspect, he said, is supposed to be the final surprise of the evening.
And because each member of his team is trained the same way, no matter which staff member ends up showing it you, everyone working at Christopher's knows it's there.
