Steve Fields, a seasoned restaurant entrepreneur, built a remarkable career in the culinary industry. If you live in North Texas, you surely know him from his Plano namesake steakhouse.
Over the years, Fields became involved in a variety of successful restaurants such as Truluck’s and Studebakers. Through it all, Fields' commitment to excellence has been a defining factor in his long-standing success in the restaurant business. However, throughout his journey, one thing has remained: the importance of hospitality.
Local Profile recently spoke with Fields about what it means to be an icon in the North Texas food scene:
In 1983 you moved here from New Orleans?
In October of 1983, we moved here to open Studebakers in North Park.
I'm from Kentucky. I went to school at Mississippi at Southern Mississippi and played basketball for four years. My degree was in criminal justice. I became a police officer, and then I worked for the bureau of narcotics — even when I was a kid I wanted to be a police officer.
“It's funny, the district attorney there in Hattiesburg was the owner of Studebakers. And he called me one day. He said, ‘Hey, you want to get involved with me?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ So I started at the bottom. I was 24 years old, started bussing tables and did whatever I had to do — bar back, bartender, assistant manager, manager, operating partner. I just kind of moved up from there.
Which do you prefer criminal justice for the restaurant business?
They were kind of similar in many ways because you're dealing with people — every night you're dealing with people. I'm kind of a people person, I always have been. I grew up in just a normal, big family — seven of us in Kentucky.
But I will tell you one thing. My brother is two years older. He went out to Hollywood and became famous — he wrote the movie Back to School. That's my brother, Greg Fields, he was the executive producer. And then he was the executive producer of In Living Color. He would send me pictures when his son was five, six years old — Jim Carrey came to the birthday as a clown.
How has the restaurant business in Dallas, Addison and Plano changed?
It seems like people are going out a little bit earlier and going home a little bit earlier. All the restaurants are still closing a little bit earlier than they used to. The workforce has also changed a little bit, the average server was 35 to 45 now it's a little bit younger.
Where our restaurant was, on the northwest side, that used to be all soccer fields. Somebody brought me a picture the other day. They've always told me that was soccer fields, but I never really believed them.
What makes a restaurant successful?
The one thing we do better than a lot of restaurants: it's not the food, it's not the service, it's the hospitality.
We try to really concentrate on hospitality — treat others the way you want to be treated.
We try to really concentrate on hospitality. We're not stiff either. A lot of people like that — they really like the stiffness and the professionalism, but that's really not what we focus on more of the hospitality side of it.
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