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Ross Buter is the Vice President of Wildfire and a Partner of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc (LEYE). In 1986 Ross began his career with Lettuce as a Manager of Ed Debevic's in Torrance, California and has since worked his way up to Vice President of Wildfire.
Originally from California, Ross remembers the Sunday mornings he would spend with his grandfather at the delicatessen on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. While his grandfather would buy groceries and place bets on upcoming sporting events, Ross, at 10 years old, was busy behind the counter helping out in any way the owners would let him. "The business got into my system and never went away," says Ross. Working at several restaurants in high school, Ross’s career path became eminent. In his Junior year at California State University at Long Beach, Ross found a job with Rusty Pelican Restaurants.
Ross spent five years with the Rusty Pelican where he started as a busser and worked his way up to General Manager of three different restaurants. A former manager introduced him to Gerard Centioli of ICON. He began to work for LEYE at Ed Debevic's in Torrance, California in 1986. Wanting to be closer to the company, Ross then moved to Chicago and worked at the Chicago Ed Debevic's. Under the guidance of Howard Katz, LEYE's President of Operations, he then became the General Manager of Tucci Milan in 1989, where he stayed for about a year.
Ross left LEYE for a short time and moved to Detroit but was back 10 months later. He moved to Arizona and spent the next four years as the General Manager at Tucchetti in Phoenix.
Ross and his wife Linda and son Matthew now call Chicago home. Ross believes he returned to LEYE "a smarter more well rounded manager." After 25 years in the restaurant business, Ross still treats everyday as a new learning experience. | 