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Reimagining Hospitality After The Pandemic With Gregg Horan, Co-founder of The Greggory

Gregg Horan

Reimagining Hospitality After The Pandemic With Gregg Horan, Co-founder of The Greggory

Gregg MoranGregg Horan is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Greggory, an upscale American restaurant in South Barrington, Illinois. Before launching The Greggory, he spent nearly 30 years with Gibsons Restaurant Group, where he helped open and operate several high-profile establishments, including Gibsons Steakhouse and the Polo Bar in New York. Gregg partnered with longtime colleagues Bill Veremis and Chef Jose Sosa to form Hirth Hospitality, combining decades of expertise in hospitality and culinary innovation. His mission is to bring big-city dining and personalized service to the suburban market.

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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • [1:59] Gregg Horan discusses The Greggory’s mission to restore true hospitality post-COVID
  • [2:39] How Gregg’s time at Gibsons shaped his approach to restaurant ownership
  • [4:51] Why South Barrington was the perfect location for The Greggory
  • [7:08] Gregg shares some memorable experiences from bartending across from Wrigley Field
  • [10:13] Building The Greggory’s menu with Chef Jose Sosa and incorporating global flavors
  • [11:14] The role of live-fire cooking in enhancing flavor and ambiance
  • [12:12] Thoughtful design of the restaurant’s  bar and wine room to boost customer experience
  • [15:36] Financial risks and personal investment involved in launching the restaurant

In this episode…

Restaurants are shifting focus beyond just food, emphasizing hospitality and community to stand out in competitive suburban markets. As food lovers seek experiences that blend high-end ambiance with everyday accessibility, leaders are rethinking how they design and manage their spaces. What does it take to launch a new restaurant that feels both luxurious and welcoming?

According to Gregg Horan, who co-founded The Greggory and oversees its operations for Hearth Hospitality, success starts with deep industry experience and a personal passion for hospitality. By leveraging the design insights of trusted partners, a hands-on culinary team, and lessons learned from his decades at Gibsons, Gregg created a space that’s both visually stunning and community-driven. The Greggory’s menu, ambiance, and customer service model reflect a seamless blend of luxury and approachability tailored for suburban diners.

On this episode of Top Business Leaders Show, Chad Franzen welcomes Gregg Horan, Co-founder of The Greggory, for a conversation about building a standout restaurant brand in South Barrington. Gregg shares insights from his time at Gibson’s, explains the thought process behind The Greggory’s menu and design, and opens up about the personal investment and risk involved in starting a new venture.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments

  • “We’re bound and determined to bring hospitality back to the restaurant world—something that kind of disappeared during COVID.”
  • “Every restaurant I opened, I learned something new—I took bits and pieces from each to build The Greggory.”
  • “We wanted to bring a little big city vibe to the suburbs and make it a gathering place, not just a restaurant.”
  • “We didn’t have Gibson’s infrastructure behind us—there was real personal risk, and that made success even more rewarding.”
  • “It’s like being a coach—building teams, instilling culture, and making sure everyone is pulling in the same direction.”

Action Steps

  1. Prioritize hospitality in your business model: Make every customer feel appreciated from entry to exit.
  2. Draw from past experiences to guide new ventures: Use what you’ve learned in previous roles to refine future projects.
  3. Collaborate with trusted partners: Surround yourself with people whose strengths complement yours—especially in design and execution.
  4. Create versatile dining spaces: Offer both high-end and casual options to serve a wide range of customer needs.
  5. Be prepared to take financial risks: Understand that personal investment might be necessary to build something truly exceptional.

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Episode Transcript

Intro: 00:00

Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show. Powered by Rise25 Media, we feature top

founders, executives, and business leaders from all over the world.

Chad Franzen: 00:20

Hi Chad Franzen here co-host of the Top Business Leaders Show, where we feature CEOs entrepreneurs and top leaders in the business world. Past guests of this show include Britni De Leon and Kasia Bednarz, the founders of FARE, healthy, fast casual restaurants. David Grossman, president and CEO at Epic Burger. Kirk Mauriello, CEO and founder of Profit Cookers. George McKerrow, co-founder and CEO of Ted’s Montana Grill and founder of Longhorn Steakhouse, and Wing Lam, co-founder of Wahoo’s Fish Taco.

This episode is brought to you by Rise25. We help B2B businesses reach their dream relationships and connect with more clients, referrals, and strategic partnerships, and get ROI through done-for-you podcasts. If you have a B2B business and want to build great relationships, there’s no better way to profile the people and companies you admire on your podcast. To learn more, go to rise25.com or email us at support@rise25.com.

My guest today is Gregg Horan, owner and founder, and managing partner of The Greggory in South Barrington, Illinois. He spent nearly three decades at Gibson’s Restaurant Group, rising from assistant manager to managing partner and director of operations, overseeing openings like Gibson’s Steakhouse, Hugo’s Frog Bar, Gibson’s Italian Restaurant, Chicago, the Polo Bar in New York, and more. After departing Gibson’s at the end of 2022, he teamed with Bill Vermes and chef Jose Sosa to launch Hirth Hospitality and opened The Greggory in March of 2025.

Gregg, thanks so much for joining me today. How are you?

Gregg Horan: 01:48 

Well, thanks for having me. It was great to hear you mention Kasia and Britni, with who were I had the pleasure of working with at Gibson’s for many years. They’re both great, great, great people to work with at Gibson’s. And so proud of everything they’ve done with that fair concept. They’re amazing.

Chad Franzen: 02:03

Nice. Well, that’s great to hear. I’ll let them know that you said hi. Hey, tell me when a customer who has never been to the Greggory comes in there. What is what are they likely to sense upon walking into the door.

Gregg Horan: 02:17

Well, I hopefully the first thing they sense is, is that we are bound and determined to bring hospitality back to the to the restaurant world. I think it’s something that kind of disappeared over the Covid period. And I think we’re we’re really trying hard to bring it back and trying to engage the customer from the moment they walk in the door to the moment they leave and really, really make them know that they’re appreciated and wanted as a as a customer and valued. So that’s, that’s that’s really, really the biggest thing we’re trying to do right now.

Chad Franzen: 02:46

As I mentioned, you had you had a long tenure at Gibson’s Restaurant Group involved in multiple openings. How did kind of how did that experience shape your vision for what you’re doing now?

Gregg Horan: 02:57

Well, I mean, I guess I tried, you know, every restaurant I open, I learn something, right? I opened Gibson’s in Rosemont in the year 2000. I think I was like, you know, 30 years old and and, you know, it was a disaster. You know, the first couple of weeks were a disaster. We didn’t know what we were doing.

It was really the first big expansion for the group. So, you know, every time we open a restaurant, I opened eight of them with Gibsons. You learn something, you pick something up and you know, some of the other stuff I learned, you know, I had the opportunity to go to New York and open the the polo bar with the Ralph Lauren company. So you learn a lot about branding from those kind of people. And, and then you take bits and pieces and kind of put it together and into our own spot here.

So. So there’s a little bit of, you know, Gibson’s original Gibson’s Steakhouse, there’s a little bit of Gibson’s Italia, there’s a little bit of RL and Polo Bar, you know, all these components that I loved brought into the into the new restaurant.

Chad Franzen: 03:51

I know you partnered with Bill Veremis. I hope I’m pronouncing his name.

Gregg Horan: 03:54

Bill Veremis. Yes, yes, Bill.

Chad Franzen: 03:56

Veremis and Chef Jose Sosa to launch this venture. How did that partnership come about?

Gregg Horan: 04:02

Well, Bill Bill’s family and his family had a restaurant called the Rosewood in Rosemont for, you know, it was there for about 30 years. And and Bill was there when I opened the Gibson’s in Rosemont. So we became friends. When he heard that I was I was leaving the Gibson’s group. He reached out to me and said, I’ve got this great spot here in South Barrington.

He bill lives nearby in Inverness. So? So he was sitting on the spot for for a long period of time brought me out there. Turns out the landlord was a great customer of ours. It gives us Italia.

You know, Chef Jose came out about six months into the project. He had been doing something with another group, didn’t work out, so we were lucky enough to grab him and partner with him on this. And and Chef Jose was our opening. He was he was with Gibson’s for, you know, about 14 years, I think. And he was the opening chef at Gibson’s Italia, which is now one of the highest grossing restaurants in the country.

Chad Franzen: 04:58

So you, you, you have this restaurant, your location, as you alluded to, is in South Barrington. Tell me a little bit about that location. What made what made what made Bill. And now you think it’s so great.

Gregg Horan: 05:09

Well, it’s in a it’s in an upscale outdoor mall. They’re called the Arboretum and there’s a few other successful restaurants really, really doing great numbers out there. They have a Cooper’s Hawk that’s that’s very busy. They have a Hampton Social, a Ruth’s Chris, a couple smaller restaurants as well. It’s kind of a destination point for the the northwest suburbs.

It’s right off of 90. Easily accessible, accessible, lots of parking. So we found that we’ve been able to draw anywhere from, you know, from 25, 30 minutes around draw circle around South Barrington and it’s easy to get to from 90. And they really didn’t have anything kind of a local flair. They had small local restaurants, but nothing like what we’re doing.

The rest of it’s all chains, so we felt like there was a real opportunity to do something special, bring a little big, big city vibe to the suburbs. And and so far, so far it’s been working.

Chad Franzen: 06:00 

I’ll get back to The Greggory in just a second. How did you get started in the restaurant business?

Gregg Horan: 006:05

I had always, I don’t know, my first my first restaurant job I guess was at Gibson or I’m sorry, it was a McDonald’s drive thru when I was 16. You know, in high school it wasn’t quite as uncool then as it is now. I had a bunch of my friends who were athletes. We all kind of worked there and had a, had a had a good time and learned a lot. College, I ended up, you know, being a busboy, waiting tables, you know, bartending a little bit, all that kind of stuff.

I, you know, out of school, I graduate from University of Illinois and and I was in a sales position for a couple of years that I didn’t love. So I kind of went back to what, back to bartending. Got a job at the Cubby Bear right across from Wrigley Field, and they figured out that I could count money. And I was not a thief. And and so they tossed me the keys about six months in, and, and I kind of stayed in their business ever since then.

They kind of taught me how to run a place. I was a manager there. I ran Sports Corner on the other corner, owned by the same family, the Lucas family. And, you know, I had five great years with some, you know, incredible experiences and great people and a lot of fun. Learned.

Learned a lot as well.

Chad Franzen: 07:13

Yeah. Tell me a little bit about the experience of working, you know, as a as a kind of a bartender. You’re kind of the face that a lot of people see there, right across the street from the the Wrigley Field popular place in Chicago. What was that like?

Gregg Horan: 07:26

Yeah, it was it was it was super busy. So we would we would have, you know, baseball games during the day, then we would clear the game, the place out at night and we’d have bands. It was a great, great music venue. Still. They still do music to some extent.

But back then it was, you know, it was kind of a cutting-edge venue and there’s lots of great bands there. And, you know, you know, I think I told you this before Johnny Cash performed there when, when, when I was there and, you know, did two shows and, you know, we sold 1000 tickets to each show and, and just an incredible experience to meet him and see him on stage. Chuck Berry was there, you know, the Smashing Pumpkins were there and and urge overkill. And it was just a kind of a, you know, it was a lot less, less nice in that neighborhood at that point. This was this was definitely a little more Wild West feel.

So it was it was it was fun. I learned a lot about about running a business as well because George gave us George Lucas, the owner, gave us a lot of freedom as managers to to run the place and, and make, make him some money.

Chad Franzen: 08:25

Did anything from that experience contribute to your vision for The Greggory?

Gregg Horan: 08:32 

Not really not. You know, I, I thought about, you know, staying in that neighborhood and doing a restaurant there, but I was, you know, again, I was in my mid 20s and, and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to work with Gibson’s shortly after that as an assistant manager. So I went from a place where I was making probably, you know, probably, you know, 75, 80 grand a year bartending and managing to my first job with Gibson’s assistant manager, making 500 bucks a week. So and that was 1996. So this was this was a this was a big step.

But the real learning, you know, I, you know, learned a lot about you know, about making customers happy at at Cubby Bear and and and high volume situations and and pressure carry that over to my Gibson’s years as well. But but most of the inspiration for the restaurant came from the the the restaurant portion of my career.

Chad Franzen: 09:24

What about the design vision for the Gregory? Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Gregg Horan: 09:28

Yeah, I, I gotta give full credit to my partner Bill and and and his wife and sister. So that’s Stacey. Stacey and Katina. We, we we initially had an architect in there and we, you know, we weren’t able to translate our vision adequately to them. So so it was kind of a hard thing and, and they were not drawing what we wanted to see.

And so we eventually, you know, went to another architect and ended up with D plus K architect. And even then we struggled a little bit, you know, just trying to get our vision across. Bill and I had an idea and then Katina and Stacey were came in and really, you know codified it and said, this is what you’re this is what your light fixtures are. This is what you’re this is what your your, your your bookcase looks like. This is what everything looks like.

And here’s your furniture. And really, really brought everything together into a into an amazing, beautiful restaurant. So so I give I give them full credit for, for for that.

Chad Franzen: 10:27 

How did the how did the menu come about? I know you work with Chef Sosa.

Gregg Horan: 10:31

Yes. So so again we took we took some components of, of some of the restaurants we, we loved and had worked at before and tweaked tweaked some stuff. But it’s a classic American menu. And you know chef you know chef chef took some stuff that he loves. He’s making all the pastas fresh in-house.

So he’s doing an amazing simple cacio e Pepe with Bucatini. That’s just tremendous. Prime rib done on the rotisserie has been a standout and chef has has got a real healthy curiosity about the world and its different meats and flavors. So we’ve been dabbling a little bit in, in in Wagyu from Australia and you know some Japanese stuff as well. So it’s it’s been it’s been interesting.

But chef has chef has a lot of freedom to do what he wants to do. And we have some staples that that are that are you know tried and true. But but he has a lot of freedom to to experiment as well.

Chad Franzen: 11:26 

And I know you do some some live fire cooking there at the restaurant. How does that add to the ambiance, the vibe.

Gregg Horan: 11:32

So it really is the centerpiece of the restaurant. When you walk into the into the dining room, you see it right there. There’s a there’s a oven, a a grill and a rotisserie all. You know, wood fired. So so it’s really a stunning visual when you walk in.

It’s beautiful. It’s in the center of the, of the dining room. And, you know, it imparts some amazing flavors. You know, that would that would give you a different, different flavor for the steaks and the fish that are, that are that’s prepared on and the vegetables as well. So he’s using that to our advantage and, and kind of building around that.

Chad Franzen: 12:03

And you have a house made pasta?

Gregg Horan: 12:06

Yes. Yeah. Everything’s made. Made fresh daily. And.

And we do. We do, you know, three different pastas a day. We’ve got a, we’ve got a ravioli special right now with summer corn. But we also do tortellini. We also do bucatini and and rigatoni.

So so fantastic off the charts pasta.

Chad Franzen: 12:26

What about the wine room and the bar space design. Can you tell me about that.

Gregg Horan: 12:30 

Yeah the bar. So so I love bars. You know my, my my past is in bars. So I had a big a big hand in the, in the bar design. And I wanted it to be a lot like a Gibson’s bar.

So. So I loved I’ve always loved the serpentine. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to to a Gibson’s. Their bar is kind of an S and it’s serpentine. And my mentor and former partner, Mr. Lombardo, you know, would say, you know, he wanted.

That’s so people are not like just sitting vertically next to each other. There’s actually like a little back and forth so people can see down the bar, they can see each other and it makes for a great interaction. We found the same thing. So we kind of we kind of knocked off a Gibson’s bar, but we put a marble top on it instead of a wood top. And you have a beautiful back bar and, and, you know, just, just gorgeous furniture that’s, that’s kind of more in, in an RL style.

And the wine room, the wine room is, is 3000, 3000 bottle of wine room tempered. Just another showpiece where people you know people can see the wine and and it’s actually stored properly which is great.

Chad Franzen: 13:38

Would you say The Greggory identifies itself as like high end dining? It’s puts out that vibe or or what would you what kind of vibe do you.

Gregg Horan: 13:46 

Certainly we certainly put out the vibe that we’re high end dining. It’s a very special looking place. But that being said, the menu is very accessible for everyday use as well. If you want to come in and have a have a sandwich or some corned beef bites or or some pigs in a blanket and come in the bar and have a glass of wine. You can do that.

Or if you want to come for a special occasion, it’s a great spot for birthdays or or really special occasions. You want to you want to spend a ton of money. You got that opportunity to do that there as well. But we we want we want people to be able to use it and have a burger. You know, this is this is nothing.

I didn’t invent this. This is, this is a Gibson’s philosophy, right? We want, we want, we want you to be be comfortable in, in a luxurious spot and, and get great service and great food.

Chad Franzen: 14:29 

It’s. I read somewhere that you wanted to be kind of a, like a neighborhood cornerstone that people can return to regularly.

Gregg Horan: 14:35

Yeah. I feel like.  That’s, you know, that’s kind of following the theme of what happened when we opened in in Gibson’s, Rosemont, Hugo’s, Naperville, Gibson’s Oakbrook, we became the neighborhood gathering place. Like the the center of the entire city of Oakbrook is still probably Gibson’s Oakbrook. And that’s where that’s where people gather in the bar. You go there for special occasions and but you can go there every day as well. That’s kind of the same thing we’re trying to accomplish here in South Barrington.

Chad Franzen: 15:03 

Was there, you know, you’d opened numerous restaurants with Gibsons, and then you open this one kind of without Gibsons. Did you notice like that, missing that part? Missing with this experience? You know, less overhead.

Gregg Horan: 15:16

Yeah. Yeah. Because because we’re we’re a relatively new company. We didn’t have you know, we don’t we don’t have the infrastructure that we that I had to fall back on at Gibsons, the, you know, the, the wonderful, you know, you know, corporate office with the accounting team and all the support and, and most importantly, you know, deeper pockets. Right.

You know, we’re we’re over budget. And we’re in danger of of not finishing the project. We have to find the solution. We just don’t have money laying around that we can just grab and do that. So so that’s that’s an eye opening experience when you’re when you’re doing doing it on your own for the first time.

Chad Franzen: 15:51

Was there some degree of risk then that that went into it.

Gregg Horan: 15:54 

Oh 100%. Yeah, 1,000%. We you know, we ended up, you know, using our own funds. You know, to bridge, to bridge certain portions of the build out. We ended up actually, you know, selling some of our equity as well at the end because we we ended up being we built a beautiful place.

I mean, it’s real wood, you know, real wood floors, nothing laminate, real marble, all that kind of stuff. And it’s and it feels great and it looks great. So being being over budget and we have to, you know, to in order to finish the project. We definitely had a degree of personal risk.

Chad Franzen: 16:28

I know when you’re in the restaurant business, especially when you’re when you when you own a restaurant, it’s kind of a passion project. I’ve, I’ve talked to a number of people, like if you want to maybe get rich, you’d do something else. What is it about being in the restaurant industry that you like so much?

Gregg Horan: 16:44

I guess I you know, I kind of fell into it and it was something that I turned out to be very good at. Right. And, and and I guess it it kind of feels a lot of times like I’m a football coach or a baseball coach. That’s that’s a big part of the job, is to build these teams, get everybody pulling in the same direction, instill a culture and make sure everybody wants to play. Sorry about that.

Someone’s at the door. Make sure make sure everybody is is dedicated to serving the customer the way that that you want to serve the customer. So there’s that. And then there’s a, there’s a, there’s a gratifying, you know, family aspect to it as well. When you build a business.

And I, I did it eight times with Gibson’s. You build, you know, small families that, you know, you end up growing up together. There’s people that end up being there for 20, 25 years. Their kids grow up, they go to school, you help pay mortgages, you help put kids through school, and you see all that. And it’s and it’s a gratifying experience, you know, on a personal level as well.

And then if you do it right, it ends up being financially viable as well.

Chad Franzen: 17:47

So I have a I have one more question for you, but first tell me how people can find out more about The Greggory.

Gregg Horan: 17:52

Well, you can go to our website at The Greggory. You can find us on Instagram at underscore Greggory. Underscore. There’s lots of great visuals, and our social media team has done an amazing job with that as well.

Chad Franzen: 18:06 

Okay. Awesome. Hey, last question for you. Let’s say you were to just stumble upon The Greggory as a customer and you walked in. What would be your item of choice?

Gregg Horan: 18:16 

Well, I mean, if you’re if you’re just coming in just for a bite, you got to try the corned beef bites. Those were, those were those were borrowed from the polo bar in New York. That was one of Ralph. Ralph Lauren’s favorite things is corned beef. And we got the we’re getting the corned beef from the same supplier in New York out of Minnelli’s that they use at the polo bar.

If you’re going in for a steak, I would I’d suggest you try the prime rib. The prime rib has been off the charts, and if you really want to spend some money, the best steak I’ve ever had is the stone wagyu New York that we serve as well.

Chad Franzen: 18:48

Okay. Sounds fantastic. Hey, Gregg, it’s been great to talk to you today. Thanks so much for all of your time and your insights. Really appreciate it.

Gregg Horan: 18:55 

My pleasure.

Chad Franzen: 18:56

So long, everybody.

Outro: 18:57 

Thanks for listening to the Top Business Leaders Show powered by Rise 25. Visit Rise25 to check out more episodes of the show, and to learn more about how you can start your own podcast.