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Brooks Brothers’ Forthcoming Steakhouse May Be Prototype for Chain

Happy hours and pleated pants.
Happy hours and pleated pants. Photo: Courtesy of Brooks Brothers

Yesterday, Steve Cuozzo reported that clothing company Brooks Brothers is opening a 15,000-square-foot steakhouse next summer at 11 East 44th Street, and now there are more details: A source tells the Post that Makers and Merchants, which is named for the Brooks Brothers’ slogan, may be the first of a “national rollout” of similar restaurants, and that the preppy steakhouse will have “rich wood paneling” throughout its dining areas’ three floors.

What’s behind this sudden surge of restaurants connected to clothing retailers like Armani, which was just reviewed by the Times? The economic answer is that square meals (and a few drinks) facilitate more purchases, but restaurants connected to clothing companies also bolster and maybe even reinvigorate brand identity. If you start to think of the nearby Tommy Bahama as your loopy uncle who’s really into dark rum, and the Gorbals at Urban Outfitters as your prankish younger brother who’s working on a line of D.I.Y unicorn bots to sell on Etsy, then maybe the new Brooks Brothers type in the age of the connected dining room is a well-dressed, Ivy League alum with a fine-print “Reagan Was Right” tattoo on his inner arm.

Brooks Brothers make their culinary debut [New York Post]
Earlier: Ilan Hall’s the Gorbals Confirmed for Williamsburg’s Urban Outfitters

Brooks Brothers’ Forthcoming Steakhouse May Be Prototype for Chain