COMMUNITY & CULTURE
TAKE IT FROM ME…
with Zoë Robinson
GLAMOROUS. ROCK-STAR RESTAURATEUR. PROBLEM-SOLVER.
By Diane Kline
Working at a restaurant is like swimming the English Channel
every night.
My family felt like we were outcasts after my dad died. I learned from the worst! It probably made me too empathic. I worry
how I’m treating everyone. The hardest part of the job is that I don’t
have control over everything. When we get a heart-wrenching review
or an online slam, it is terrible. I would do anything to fix it.
I was 5 years old, and there were no single-parent homes on the block.
It was rough to be square pegs in round holes. My mom had that whole
“Doris Day thing” going on - beautiful and soft, yet tough. Other women
saw her as a threat, and even I wouldn’t have wanted to be her neighbor.
It’s an intense, shared experience, so you make immediate friends and
become a family. After your shift, you all go out for drinks. It bonds you.
Working with people of different ages and personalities is great because
they bring new ideas. I hire career-minded people who hope to open
their own places, and love that they look to me as a mentor.
My role models have always been strong women.
I really believe in women, from my mother to Oprah. One of my favorite
movies is “Mildred Pierce,” where Joan Crawford is a determined, single
mom who goes from waiting tables to owning a successful restaurant
chain. Sound familiar? When I started my first restaurant, I was too
young and stupid to be scared. I just thought, “I could do this!”
I’m not book smart, but I’m a great problem solver.
The dishwasher calls in sick, the electricity goes out, we run out of an
entree. There are 10,000 questions. In a restaurant, all night long, you
have to save the day. You strive for perfection even though you can’t
reach it. But we can try. At the end of a stressful night, I reflect, “How
can I make it better?”
To become a good employer, you have to work for difficult
people first.
I’m not afraid any more – not even to die.
Making money was empowering.
My mother taught us to be financially independent. My first real job
was as a cocktail waitress, where they trained the heck out of us, from
mixing cocktails to being discreet. I learned a lot. The money made
me feel like a millionaire, while my friends were earning minimum
wage. The job made me happy, and I was really good at it, so I gave
up on college.
76
GAZELLE
Turning 50 was scary, but my 50s have been transformative. It’s freeing
because in the later years, you really start knowing yourself. You finally
lose a lot of insecurities, have faith in yourself, and most important,
don’t beat yourself up so much.
W
hen you list the top restaurateurs in St. Louis,
Zoë Robinson’s name rises like a Grand
Marnier soufflé.
As owner of the acclaimed Clayton
restaurants, I Fratellini, Bar Les Frères and
Billie-Jean, she has imprinted her personal tastes on everything from
the food to the décor in order to create intimate dining experiences.
Eschewing college, Robinson was a waitress and bartender,
learning valuable lessons about running a successful establishment. An
opportunity fell in her lap when she was managing the Empire Café in
Lafayette Square, and the owners abruptly ended their partnership. The
landlords approached Robinson to take over, even lending her the money
to make the leap. So, at age 23, she gave birth to Café Zoë. Along the way,
she also opened Zoë’s Pan-Asian Café and the Bobo Noodle House.
Her achievements are not surprising, given her childhood. Growing
up in Crestwood with sisters Carrie Houk-Wilson, a producer and
casting agent, and artist Belinda Lee, her family was shaped by their
father’s death from cancer when Robinson was just 5 years old. Her
mother admonished the sisters to “sustain themselves,” and not to rely
on marriage in order to live.
Robinson, the mother of two adult sons who work with her, is as
glamorous as she is ambitious. She shares insights from her experiences
where food is always at the intersection of love and livelihood.