The owner of an iconic Chicago steakhouse with a location at Midway Airport has been told her airport licensing agreement is being abruptly terminated, a move she believes was done to make way for slot machines at Midway.
Michelle Durpetti’s grandfather, Gene Michelotti, founded Gene & Georgetti Restaurant at 500 N. Franklin in 1941 with his partner, Alfredo Federighi, who was nicknamed Georgetti after a famous Italian cyclist. The restaurant is a Chicago institution, one of the city’s oldest steakhouses.
Durpetti now owns and operates the family-owned business. The restaurant also has a partnership with SSP America, a partner in the consortium that serves as master concessionaire at Midway Airport, and the city of Chicago to lend it’s name and brand to the 3,979-square-foot airport restaurant known as Gene’s Bistro.
In exchange for everything that the Gene & Georgetti brand is known for — from its recipes, menu, tradition and expertise to the look and feel of the Midway restaurant — Gene & Georgetti gets a percentage of gross monthly sales.
On Tuesday, Durpetti was informed by SSP America, a partner in the consortium that serves as master concessionaire at Midway Airport, that Gene’s Bistro would be “closing in the coming months,” and that her 20-year brand license agreement for the eatery was being terminated with 15 years left on the pact. A clause in the agreement says it ends when the restaurant closes.
The email gave no reason for the impending shutdown, but Durpetti said she “personally has no doubt” that she’s being pushed aside to make way for slot machines at Midway.
Kevin Bargnes, communications director for the city’s Aviation Department, said Midway’s master concessions consortium “regularly evaluates and refreshes dining concepts,” and “has elected to refresh the Gene’s Bistro concept. There are no plans for gaming or gambling of any kind at this location.”
Durpetti said she got word from SSP America shortly after Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski told a City Council committee Tuesday that the city was actively pursuing the possibility of installing slot machines at O’Hare and Midway, and that gaming giant Bally’s has identified a site for those machines at Midway.
“I understand that the city of Chicago has significant budget challenges right now. I’m not here to pass judgment on whether slots should or should not be allowed at the airport. But it certainly should not be at the [expense] of a Chicago-based, woman-owned and operated independent business,” Durpetti said. “It feels a little [like] David and Goliath.”
Bally’s spokesperson Lauren Westerfield refused to pinpoint the precise location chosen for installation of slot machines at Midway, nor would she say whether it is the site now occupied by Gene’s Bistro.
“We’re simply going along with what the city chooses. … It is not Bally’s choice. This is the city’s choice,” Westerfield said. “This is in tandem with the city’s choice of moving whatever they’re moving forward. We don’t have a choice in the matter.”
A statement released by SSP America did not say whether Gene’s Bistro was being closed to make way for slots at Midway.
“While we can’t comment on individual lease agreements, we can say our priority is to work closely with the City of Chicago and our stakeholders to create a welcoming, diverse dining experience for travelers,” the statement said.
Asked to respond to Durpetti’s claim that she is being pushed aside to make way for Midway slots, mayoral press secretary Cassio Mendoza said, “The idea that there’s some connection is pure speculation.”
Gene & Georgetti has managed to survive the competitive restaurant scene in the city and has become a Chicago icon. But economic pressures posed by the pandemic, inflation, tariffs and immigration raids have made survival in a restaurant industry with historically thin profit margins more difficult.
The closing of Gene’s Bistro potentially would deal a crucial blow to Durpetti and the downtown Chicago restaurant that her grandfather opened 84 years ago.
“We gave these people our brand equity to win this contract, and the city of Chicago had us represented at their airport. And now, they’re just ripping it out from under us. That’s frightening. It’s frustrating. And it feels immensely disrespectful,” Durpetti said.
“We are a resilient brand. We have made it this far. I would never put out into the universe that, ‘Yes, this is something that closes us.’ My job as the third-generation family member in charge of this brand is to do everything in my power to make sure that is not what happens. But it gets harder and harder every day. And this is something that has only added to that pressure.”