Canlis-a Seattle icon turns 55
Seattle DINING! chats with Mr. C and Mark
 On
December 11, 1950, Peter Canlis opened the Seattle Canlis restaurant. As a piece
of Seattle history, it’s fascinating to hear how it all started, how it’s
continued through the years and what the future holds. Seattle DINING!
had the chance to sit down with Chris Canlis (the “owner-owner”) and Mark Canlis
(the “managing owner”) and hear their story.
Photo: Chris and Alice Canlis
 The man who started it all, Peter Canlis
(photo at left), was debonair, affable and huggable.
He loved the excitement of a “jazzy” restaurant complete with movie stars,
travel and advertising. This was probably due not only to his personality but
also as a reaction to his parent’s restaurant in Stockton, California. It was
not exciting enough. As the eldest child, he would pick up his siblings after
school and they would do homework in the booths. During dinner, he would wait
tables and imagine the upscale restaurant he would own one day.
Chris Canlis had a different experience growing up. With four restaurants in
four different cities, his dad traveled extensively. From the second grade on,
Chris attended boarding school. He worked in the family restaurant business and
learned all about food, but never planned to stay in the business. In fact, he
became a banker for Wells Fargo in California.
What changed? A visit from Peter to Chris and his family to share bad news.
Peter had cancer. As Chris remembers, “It was the fall of ’76 that he got sick.
He came to California to ask me what I’d do with the company—would I keep it in
the family or allow it to be sold. Even though I hadn’t planned on being in the
business, I wouldn’t allow the company to be sold.”
When
Chris came back to Seattle he was 31. There were good people in place running
the restaurants, but he had to learn how to run the company. Peter lived across
the street from the restaurant the last eight months before he died. “He opened
his mind and heart about the restaurants for the first time,” recalls Chris. “It
was like school—Peter was the teacher despite his illness. It took time to get
my feet on the ground. I worked in all four restaurants and trained at 21 in New
York.” Alice (Chris’ wife) had her hands full with sons Matt and Mark while
pregnant with son Brian.
After Peter died, the company was run differently. “With my dad, family took
first place,” explains Mark. “The restaurant was structured so that he was home
on Friday nights. Because the priorities were different, we as kids loved
working in the restaurant. He showed us how you could run a restaurant and still
have a family life.” One of the biggest changes was that Canlis became one
restaurant instead of four.
Over the years, Mark has worked in ten restaurants between Seattle and New
York. He trained in New York and was part of a restaurant opening. He was there
almost two years. But it was not a given that he would follow in his father’s
and grandfather’s footsteps. “We started talking about Mark working in the
restaurant in 2000, about a year before he got out of the Air Force,” says
Chris. “Alice and I had been doing this for many years and loved it. But we have
other interests as well and don’t necessarily want to be at the restaurant every
night.”
As Mark recalls, “I didn’t know if I wanted to do this, but I knew I wouldn’t
feel good if I didn’t see if there was a fit. I’m still in the processing of
analyzing things, but so far it’s been a good decision and I’m thrilled to be
here.”
 2005 marks the 55th anniversary of the Seattle Canlis restaurant. How is it
possible to keep it fresh in order to bring in new customers, yet satisfy the
extremely loyal customer base? Every so often, the buzz about Canlis becomes
“they’re old fashioned and when their older customer base is gone, Canlis won’t
have new customers to take their place.” Chris and Mark acknowledge that they
fight this perception, but are able to find some humor in it as well. As Chris
says, “We’re actually on our third generation of Canlis guest. The average age
of our guests right now is 41. In 1950, the first guests were in their 50s and
60s. By 1970, they were gone. Twenty years later, the next group was gone.”
“We have to concentrate on ‘what’s the right decision now’ and not focus on
the past,” explains Mark. “We have great respect for the family heritage and
tradition, but we’ve also been prescient about what guests will want.” It’s a
balancing act that the Canlis family seems to handle well. As Chris notes,
“Change is inevitable. We still take special requests for meals like the liver
that used to be a guest favorite but is no longer carried on the menu. We also
have a tasting menu that changes monthly. We cater to both sides—the person
who’s been coming here for years and wants certain dishes they’re familiar with
and the young professional food-oriented person.” Mark adds “People always say
they don’t want change. We’ve remodeled six times since 1955 and people say it
feels just the same as it always has.”
One constant is the way guests are treated. “We love it when someone comes in
the first time and it’s their one big night out in the year,” says Chris. “The
biggest surprise for most people is that we’re personal. They begin to build a
relationship with us. When they walk out the door we hope they will want to tell
someone about their experience. This work doesn’t get old even if you get tired.
Communicating with guests one at a time is always new. We also provide a quiet
place where people can communicate with each other after a harried and stressful
day. They reconnect. We’re humbled that we open each day and the restaurant
fills up.”
Besides shrinking the company down to one restaurant and running it with
family as a priority, Chris and Alice (and now Mark) view staff as family. As
Mark says, “We have 65 employees and we’re all a family. Our values are good.
This is a trust business. We focus on people and take care of staff. Trust,
love, accountability, performance. And the customer feels all of this at the
table. Our staff sticks around. They’re part of something they believe in.”
Canlis Restaurant
2576 Aurora Ave North
Seattle, WA 98109
206-283-3313 |
Chris adds, “It’s easier to focus on food than people. People are
complicated. But if you hire a name chef who feels it’s all about him or her,
you lose what we do. It’s not about any one of us. The people who work here want
to be part of the Canlis family. If they don’t buy into family and values, they
don’t want to come here and we know it’s not right. For example, everyone here
shares tips. And you will rarely here the word “I” spoken at the table by a
staff member. People can feel lonely and isolated today. It feels embracing when
you’re loved. We all help each other. We babysit. We talk to staff about
problems in their personal lives. Staff members know they’re cared about. This
is a foundational piece for us.”
“This is the overall message of the event we held on August 8 that included
family and friends,” explains Chris. “Past, present, future—it’s all the same.
Canlis has always taken care of our customers and Seattle has always taken care
of Canlis. This doesn’t change from generation to generation.”
One thing that has changed over the years is their wine program. One of the
early menus said “Wines Coming Soon.” Peter wanted wine but didn’t have the
money. In the late 90s, there was resurgent interest in wines and the sommelier
wanted to learn more. He became a master sommelier as is one of their current
sommeliers, Shayn Bjornholm. “We decided to be the wine destination. We have
seven sommeliers on staff now. One is a master, one is advanced and the rest are
all past the first level. We’ve won the Grand Award from Wine Spectator nine
years in a row. And we serve wine in Riedel crystal.”
Their approach to food has changed also. As Chris explains “There’s a
holistic approach to food and wine now—people want to know the source. In 1950,
fine dining was Australian lobster tail. Now it’s herbs from the garden next
door. When Greg Atkinson was the chef here, he really pushed us into the local
thing.” Mark elaborates, “The chef creates many menus a year. We have four
seasonal menu changes on the main menu and a tasting menu that changes monthly.
We have monthly wine dinner menus that never have regular menu items on them.”
 Like
any restaurant owners, they can’t just focus on food and wine today. They have
to plan for the future. The 1995 Canlis website was one of the earliest
restaurant websites. In November 2005, their new website went up. Mark and Brian
worked with a company to create the new look and feel. Brian will begin working
officially at the restaurant in 2006. “I think Brian’s cards will read
‘Department of Adventure’,” laughs Mark. “With Chris and Alice off traveling and
speaking, I’m here every night. A lot of offers to do things come our way but we
haven’t had time to explore them. That will be Brian’s job.”
Photo: l-r Matt, Mark and Brian Canlis
Each month the management team goes offsite, does something fun together and
then sits down to figure out how they can take their area and the restaurant to
the next level. “We get lots of great ideas from these meetings,” says Mark.
Despite looking ahead, the every day focus does not go away. As Chris says,
“We reflect the next day on what happened the night before and how we can
improve our performance. We don’t talk money; it takes care of itself. If we
didn’t do the best job for someone, we know we can do better and we take care of
it. We work hard to be at the top.”
Along with providing a top-notch experience at the restaurant, the Canlis
family plays a big part in the community. In 1999, they raised a half million
dollars in one night at the restaurant. The $5,000 a plate event went primarily
to the YMCA and a youth mentoring program. Alice and Chris are currently the
chairs of the capital campaign for FareStart. On December 11, 2005, they will
host another dinner, this time for $1,000 per plate. As before, they will donate
all the food and wine and the full Canlis experience to help get the FareStart
building funded. It would seem the “give and you shall receive” concept works
well for them.
Connie Adams/December 2005
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