CURRENT VENTURE: feel, which might have brother and parents.
Niche, a St. Louis res- been a risk in a EMPLOYEES:
36
taurant that will gross historic St. Louis WHAT’S NEXT: Craft,
$2.6 million this year neighborhood. Its 29, recently opened
WHY HE’S ONE TO WATCH: success is a tribute to Veruca, a café and
Craft’s penchant for how good the food is.” bakeshop, as a
experimentation can THE BACKSTORY: Craft creative outlet for his
be seen in the menu, dropped out of culinary pastry chef. He hopes
which features fried school (“I never did to expand the business
pig’s head and lamb well in the classroom— further: “I would love to
with white chocolate I got bored”) to work at see a brand of Niche
hummus. “He’s a a car wash and a pool with talented chefs
pioneer in terms of hall. He eventually re- that put out good food
both food and loca- turned to the kitchen, and make fine dining
tion,” says Dana Cowin, first working a series more approachable.”
editor of Food & Wine of restaurant jobs and A CONFESSION: “I’m dy-magazine. “Niche has then raising Niche’s ing to be on Iron Chef.”
Brendan Ciecko moving into the corpo-
CURRENT VENTURE: Ten rate market with clients
Minute Media, a such as MassMutual
Holyoke, Massachu- and Clear Channel in
setts, company that the pursuit, he says, of
creates websites for “major scalability.”
music industry clients, EMPLOYEES: None; he
including Mick Jagger, works with 20 free-Katy Perry, and the lancers, many of them
reunited New Kids in Eastern Europe.
on the Block. The WHAT’S NEXT: Ciecko
business is on track to recently bought a large
do $450,000 this year. building in Holyoke,
WHY HE’S ONE TO WATCH: the mill town in which
Ciecko’s break came in he grew up. He plans
2001, when he won a to develop the space
fan contest to create a into an art gallery, a
Flash webpage for the music venue, and a
website of the punk business incubator.
band Slick Shoes. Sony ON BEING A YOUNG CEO:
BMG, Warner, and “When all my friends
Universal saw Ciecko’s were getting ready
work and hired the to go back to school,
then-13-year-old to I met with Mick Jagger
build sites for their art- to talk about his
ists. Given the music website. And I just
industry’s travails, he is had to laugh.”
