We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Connie Ruel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Connie below.

Connie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

Which one should we talk about? In the restaurant business, craziness happens daily. So much so, I wrote the book, “Passions of a Restaurateur” about a few of the incidents. Stories that will make you laugh, cry, cringe, giggle…. or all the above simultaneously. That being said, rather than tell all the customer/employee/fellow restaurant owners/vendors etc stories, I think the achievement moments are some that stand out to me. Though I could tell you about the times I was on the show with Guy Fieri or the time I was on “Chopped”, those were fun, I think one of my favorite moments is when my second restaurant got Restaurant of the Year by the “Oregonian”.

When I opened my first restaurant, Laslow’s Broadway Bistro, in July of 1998 my immutable goal was to be The Oregonian’s Restaurant of the Year.” I did everything I could to be continually seen in the press, win accolades and always deliver impeccable food and service but I knew that our odd location in northeast Portland was holding us back.

Though I had been in business for only a year, by March of 1999 I realized I had to move to a higher profile location with potential for growth. I found a struggling Thai restaurant in the bustling Nob Hill, northwest district. The price was right and the lease was awesome, I couldn’t resist. I acquired a bridge loan, held my breath and dove in.

I opened quickly and kept both locations going. The East side was called Laslow’s Broadway Bistro and our west side location was Laslows Northwest, a play on the fact that, in addition to being located in Northwest, Portland we focused on northwest cuisine.”

It wasn’t long until I realized that I needed to concentrate on one store and by 2001, I sold the east-side restaurant and poured myself into the west-side.

The restaurant was classified as fine dining/special occasion, which sometimes would work against us. We had seating capacity for only 35 indoor and 30 on the patio. Our tables were set with white linen and our servers wore white button up shirts with ties, black slacks and long aprons, very typical of the era. Our food was vertical, as was any cutting edge restaurant in the 90’s, with outstanding presentation and flavor. The wine list was small but eclectic and very meticulously chosen. Given its size, the business was easy to manage and if I worked 14 hour days, we were moderately profitable.

But trends in the new millennium were quickly changing and restaurants were leaning toward more casual environments and rustic food. If we wanted to move with the times, we had to make some changes. In addition to staying profitable, I still had my mind set on being “Restaurant of the Year.”

Laslow’s Northwest was situated in a large 1875 Victorian four level home; our kitchen was the size of most restaurants’ rest rooms. For the first two years, I conveniently lived in an apartment above the restaurant. As the casual trend continued to evolve, I decided to move to a nearby apartment, renovate the second floor into the fine dining aspect of the restaurant and build a casual bistro on the first floor. We offered casual bistro fare downstairs and our finer fare up.
I thought the move to a more casual environment would cause our check average to drop, but on the contrary, it became even stronger, as did our business levels. Our reservation book began to bust at the seams, I felt we were finally where we needed to be. The restaurant capacity grew to 75 indoor and 40 out. A size still manageable and quite profitable.

Then it happened. On the fateful Friday, April 19, 2002, our world changed forever. It was my 42nd birthday and the day that our little empire adorned the cover of the most anticipated Oregonian news section of the year. There we were, in a news spread titled: “Upstairs/downstairs at Laslow’s Northwest…Oregonian’s 2002 Restaurant of the Year.”

WE DID IT! Less than 4 years after the opening of the first little bungalow restaurant, did we reach our goal. It was one of the best days of my life.

Though the day’s event was exhilarating and fulfilling, it wasn’t the accolade that was life-changing. All of that paled in comparison to another event of the day. It was when I discovered I was pregnant with my sweet little girl, Celina, at the age of 42.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As a first-generation American of Italian descent, I was weaned on Chianti and Italian cuisine. I grew up in my family’s famed Italian restaurants, “Casa D’Amore” and “The Villa Capri” in Hollywood, California, where the first pizza was brought to the west coast in 1939 and which kindled my passion for the restaurant industry. My father is the reason I became a restaurateur. I could spend hours telling you about the life of this amazing man! We’ll need to save that for another day.

After finishing school, I interned and managed in restaurants for 9 years in Switzerland, enrichening my knowledge of food, service, and wine. I returned to the USA in 1987 and worked in management of many successful restaurants and hotels in the Pacific Northwest.

Driven by my passion for wine, I took a position as Hospitality and Culinary Director at “Sokol Blosser Winery,” an innovator and pioneer in the Red Hills of Oregon’s Yamhill County, known for its Pinot Noir. I appeared before thousands as speaker at wine festivals throughout the U.S. and educated hospitality students at the Mt. Hood Community College.

Beginning in 1998, I opened and managed a succession of my own restaurants. “Laslow’s Broadway Bistro,” “Laslow’s Northwest” and “Malanga Cocina Cubana” quickly became established as benchmark eateries in Portland Oregon. “Laslow’s Northwest” was named one of “America’s Best Restaurants” by GOURMET magazine and THE OREGONIAN’S 2002 Restaurant of the Year. During this time, I traveled to Manhattan to represent Laslow’s at the James Beard House. I also further established myself in the industry by frequently judging at professional wine and food competitions. In 2003, I was touted by the OREGONIAN as having “…one of the Northwest’s best palates.”

I moved to Colorado to continue my food and beverage ventures and developed and opened the unique concept of “TUTTI, a restaurant for everyone”. Then in 2012, after the successful sale of all my restaurant ventures, I developed entrepreneurship and wine curriculum for the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Boulder, Colorado.

In 2014 and 2016 after completing my memoir cookbook, “Passions of a restaurateur,” I made appearances on Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games” with Guy Fieri and “Chopped.”

Then finally in 2014 I opened the award winning “Follow the Ruel,” which was a consulting, education, and specialty dinner company. Unfortunately, by 2017 a hereditary disease of erosive arthritis made it difficult to work in the kitchen and I decided to sell the business.

Bringing us up to date to 2024; my whole life I have been interested in fine art and took the “retirement” as a means to spend time honing my talent in oil and egg tempera painting, which is what I have been doing since. I love to do figurative painting and have found my niche in the painter’s community. I have won awards with my work and have been granted some commissions. I hope to continue improving my skills and appear in shows and highly recognized events as an artist. My first solo gallery show is coming up in January 2025 at CACE gallery in Ft. Morgan, Colorado.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

I have been blessed with the fact that none of my 6 businesses went out of business or experienced bankruptcy, I was able to sell each of them profitably allowing me to move on to new ventures.

I find that is easier to do in the restaurant business because it IS such a volatile transitional business. Whenever I was looking for a place to put my concept, I would seek out existing restaurants who were obviously struggling, usually because of lacking business savvy or a bad concept or worse, bad product. I know that they are trying to find a way to get out of a lease or financial commitment as they are losing money daily…and bankruptcy feels too close. Just getting them out from under this imminent disaster, offering them the means out is a win-win. The low price gets me into a good lease, established kitchen and gets them out of a bad situation. Then, with a small renovation, I can get a place turned around and in business quickly.

Getting into a location and signing a smart contract with clauses allowing transfer, then working hard for a minimum of three years to build a brand and successful business in an earlier depressed spot builds value. Getting into the deal with bottom dollar allows for great profit when you get out at top dollar.

As for selling my businesses, or for that matter, running them, doing a lot of the work myself and knowing what to delegate, and to whom, was crucial.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Now this was the scary one. In order to open my first restaurant, I had to “throw caution to the wind” and go in with the “go for broke” attitude. I found a turnkey restaurant that allowed me an in with all equipment installed and included in the lease! I mortgaged my house to pay for start up costs and renovation, doing most of the work myself. It was “touch and go” for the first year but with a keen mind for marketing, great product to offer , great staff and many hours a day, I was able to build my bankroll then use my good business management to get a bridge loan to open my second restaurant. Having been in the very strong economical time of the late 90’s helped.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/connieruel or www.facebook.com/followtheruel
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgoqE0tyyXY
• Other: www.followtheruel.com
  www.instagram.com/connieruel
  www.instagram.com/followtheruel