Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1489717
C T I N N O V A T O R S , 2 0 2 2 4 3 GINA LUARI media, the Place 2 Be quickly lived up to its name, drawing patrons from across Connecticut and nearby states. When the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the restau- rant industry, Luari moved forward with plans to open additional Place 2 Be restaurants in downtown Hartford and in West Hart- ford's Blue Back Square. "I had leases signed for downtown and West Hartford," Luari says. "I had no choice; it was either default or make it happen." So Luari pushed ahead, opening the Hartford location in October 2020, and the West Hartford spot in June 2021. As the restaurants bucked trends and brought in customers, Luari set the stage for am- bitious growth. is spring she opened a Place 2 Be at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Another will open near Yale Univer- sity in New Haven. She plans to open a sixth in Connecticut but is keeping the town's name under wraps until agreements are finalized. Luari also has three new restaurant concepts under development in Hartford, including RAW, a raw bar seafood restaurant located at 280 Trumbull St. Luari plans to open a pizzeria on the first floor of a former fire- house on Pearl Street that is being converted into a mixed-use apart- Gina Luari CEO The Place 2 Be; The Statement Group Education: Bachelor's degree in business administration, Central CT State University Age: 30 ment property. Renovation of the former Dish Bar & Grill space at 900 Main St. in Hartford will begin shortly. Here, Luari plans to launch Cantina, a restaurant featuring Central and South American cuisine. Luari recently announced she will open a Place 2 Be restaurant in the Urban Victory Park area of Dallas, next to the American Airlines Center arena in early 2023. It is a bustling area, teeming with office, retail and restaurant activity. It is also the furthest flung effort yet for Lu- ari, and a good chance to prove her conviction that she can replicate her successes nationally. "Texas is really going to prove that for us," Luari says. "It's a big city. It has tons of compe- tition. I can't wait to be able to show what we can do in that kind of environment." Analytics and marketing Luari's restaurants fall under her recently formed company e Statement Group, a ban- ner she expects will cover 50 to 100 restaurants nationally within a decade. To help manage this growth, Luari is turning to a deep dive on data, from customer metrics to close tracking of her ingredient inventory. She recently hired a vice president of oper- ations, Joshua Pivonka — formerly of inter- net-based food and delivery service Go Puff — to help manage the growth. e Place 2 Be's success owes much to a youthful, ongoing and confident social media marketing campaign. Fun videos posted on Instagram and other channels highlight the experience and draw in crowds. Luari has on staff a brand manager, creative director and social media manager. e Place 2 Be closely collaborates with about 10 social media influencers in and around Connecticut regularly, and dozens more on an infrequent basis. All Luari's staff, from cooks to dishwashers, are encouraged to become "brand ambassadors." ey can collect additional pay, along with merchandise and free meals, by creating social media content outside their shis. Luari recalls friends advising her to pull back on advertising in the early days of the pandemic, as many restaurants struggled and failed. "We actually spent more," Luari says. "I just thought it was really important that people who were at home know about our presence more than ever. I needed our customer base to know that we are active, how you could order from us, how you could pick up from us. ey needed to have more information than ever." And the bet seems to have paid off. e Place 2 Be employed 35 people in 2019 before the pan- demic hit. Now, e Statement Group has around 218 employ- ees, Luari says. Revenues have grown from $3 million to about $10 million a year. e addition of Springfield will likely bring in Continued on next page PHOTOS | STEVE LASCHEVER