Richard Mott, owner of Chicago's North Pond restaurant and Spark Shared Kitchen, told Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway on Odd Lots that wine and liquor made up just over 33% of his sales for 28 straight years. In the last 18 months that share fell to 24%.
Most restaurant owners talk about the food. Richard said the food barely pays its way at North Pond, the wine carried the profit, and the business itself is one most people should avoid.
"On an economic basis, the restaurant business is one of the worst businesses to ever get into. It's hyper-competitive, there's no barriers to entry, and it's very difficult to build a moat around your business."
Richard studied finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School, then left Progressive Insurance after one internship to run a campus coffee shop. He grew it into a 20-location chain and has kept a fine-dining restaurant open for nearly three decades in a segment where most fail.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 49 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 9 lessons that matter.
Odd Lots · Oct 24, 2026 · 49m · 40m saved
With Richard Mott, Owner of North Pond and Spark Shared Kitchen
Key Takeaways
Restaurants have no barriers to entry and no moat, and any menu idea is copied at once
Operators who follow labor, immigration and overtime law run at a 5–10% cost disadvantage
North Pond's $110 average bottle earns a food-level margin with almost none of the labor
Wine and liquor fell from 33% of sales to 24% in 18 months, as younger guests drink less
GLP-1 drugs may play a part, though Richard said the effect is hard to isolate
Starting cooks cost about 30% more than three or four years ago, and prices rose four times in two years
At $400 for two, dinner at North Pond has shifted from a weeknight treat to milestone events
A shared kitchen lets a new food business open in days, not 6-plus months
1. No Moat, No Barriers
Richard's case against his own industry starts with structure. Anyone can open a restaurant, and any new dish or format a restaurant invents is copied almost immediately, so no operator can protect an advantage for long.
Following the law puts an honest operator behind from the start
"If you are intent on obeying the law, you're going to operate at a 5%, 10% deficit to all your competitors" — Richard Mott
Richard tied the gap to labor, immigration and overtime rules that some competitors ignore. An operator who pays every hour and every overtime premium carries costs that a rule-breaking rival down the street does not. In a business with thin margins, that difference alone can decide who survives.
