Ultimately, the company would open some 17 restaurants, running up to 10 at any given time, mostly in Illinois, though there were ventures into Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and California. Mercedes was born in the early 1980s when several guys with roots in the old Boar’s Head restaurant got together, including Laurel Rainwater, who eventually matriculated to the West Coast, where he made a name for himself primarily in the San Diego area. Along the way, he and his partners became Famous Dave’s franchisees today Mercedes is among that popular BBQ joint’s longest-lasting affiliations. And despite the ups and downs of the restaurant business and its demands, he’s not regretted it, not for a second.Īs president of Mercedes Restaurants, Inc., Shaw has overseen some of central Illinois’ most iconic eateries, from Vonachen’s Old Place at Junction City to the Grille on Fulton in Downtown Peoria to Alexander’s Steakhouse on Peoria’s industrial waterfront, still going strong today. Finally, he landed at the legendary Sea Merchant in East Peoria (now Jonah’s). He flirted with a desk job in Caterpillar’s part department, then tended bar at the Hitching Post on Farmington Road. You didn’t say no,” Shaw recalled with a chuckle.Ī 1972 graduate of Bradley University with a degree in business administration, Shaw initially was open to his father’s entreaties to join him in the insurance industry. But he was still searching for the right fit. Paint the house’ … and the answer was yes. He was of a generation where it was “’Hey, get up on the roof. “It’s just in my DNA, probably from my dad,” Shaw said of his father, Hugh, who ran an insurance business in town. ![]() ![]() Of course, you have to know Steve Shaw, because he may not share your definition of “retirement.” At 74, what “retirement” means to this Peoria native is that he’ll be cutting back to about 40 hours a week, or “half time.”Īt a recent reception celebrating his life’s work, speaker after speaker got up at the company’s flagship restaurant, Alexander’s Steakhouse in Peoria, to laud Shaw’s tireless work ethic – someone did the math and came up with nearly 175,000 hours he’d logged over the years - with customers and well-wishers covering two levels of a wing of the enormous building, which can seat 750. Steve Shaw, one of the deans of the central Illinois restaurant scene with nearly five decades behind him in local kitchens and dining rooms, is easing into “retirement.”
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