Rainforest Cafe is a chain of restaurants designed to immerse diners in the atmosphere of a tropical rainforest. Each location features artificial foliage, fog machines, waterfalls, and animatronic rainforest animals.
The first Rainforest Cafe opened in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on February 3, 1994. The founder, Steven Schussler, a former advertising salesman, transformed his Minneapolis home into a prototype restaurant at a cost of almost $400,000.
The original concept included live animals, such as tropical birds, tortoises, a baboon, an iguana, and tropical fish housed in multiple fish tanks.
Investor Lyle Berman recognized the potential and helped Schussler launch the first Rainforest Cafe in the Mall of America.
Interior of a Rainforest Cafe featuring lush foliage and thematic decor.
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The Rainforest Cafe Experience
For those who have never experienced it, the chain features a dining area where customers are surrounded by animatronic creatures such as gorillas and elephants that move about as you eat.
Decor and Atmosphere: The ceiling and walls are covered in artificial foliage, with faux rock decorating lower areas and booth seating. Brick textures evoke ancient ruins, and support pillars are designed to resemble tree trunks. Papier-mâché birds and butterflies hang from the trees.
Animatronic Animals: Animatronic animals, including butterflies, elephants, gorillas, leopards, orangutans, chimpanzees, macaws, monkeys, and tigers, are strategically placed throughout the restaurant, often above diners' heads.
Special Effects: Every 17 minutes, a simulated thunderstorm occurs, complete with flickering lights, the sound of thunder, and the movements of animatronic animals.
Mascots: Rainforest Cafe features eight animal mascots known as "The Wild Bunch," including Cha! Cha! the red-eyed tree frog, Maya the jaguar, and Rio the macaw.
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Expansion and Growth
By 1997, the chain consisted of six restaurants, all in the United States. The first international location opened in London, England, in June 1997. The company planned to open 10 new units in the US by the fourth quarter of 1998.
In the next few years, quite a few Rainforest Cafes would pop up across the United States, as its stock, which started at $6 a share at its initial public offering in April of 1995, went from $22 a share in October of the same year to about $50 in June of 1996, bringing in millions more in capital for further expansion.
In that same year, a new Cafe opened at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida; a second opened at the Animal Kingdom in 1998.
The chain expanded to locations in countries such as Japan, France, and Canada.
By 1999, each location was making over $8 million a year-the most revenue per spot of any restaurant in the country. (They would also eventually buy Schussler’s follow-up theme restaurant concept, T-Rex Cafe.
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Rainforest Cafe also serves typical American chain restaurant fare, such as burgers, chicken, pastas, and seafood, with the addition of some Mexican food to reflect the tropical theme.
Menu items range in price from $7.95 to $15.95.
Key People: Tilman J. Fertitta of Landry's, Inc. acquired Rainforest Cafe.
A crocodile and a python are often located in the gift shop area to attract the attention of passersby. Tracy Tree, an animated tree face, sits inside the shop and provides rainforest facts.
The chain is known for its characteristic bar stools, made to resemble the legs of animals, designed and sculpted by the artist Glenn Carter.
Fish tanks with tropical reef fish are spread throughout the restaurant and the gift shop space.
Here's a table summarizing the key aspects of Rainforest Cafe:
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Concept | Themed dining experience in a tropical rainforest setting |
| Founder | Steven Schussler |
| Key People | Tilman J. Fertitta |
| First Location | Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota (February 3, 1994) |
| Decor | Artificial foliage, waterfalls, fog machines, animatronic animals |
| Mascots | "The Wild Bunch" (e.g., Cha! Cha! the red-eyed tree frog) |
| Menu | American and Mexican cuisine |
| Special Features | Simulated thunderstorms every 17 minutes |
Locations: Rainforest Cafes now pepper the globe-from Atlantic City to Dubai-and a new location just opened in Jakarta.
Landry’s is great as far as their restaurant management and streamlining, [but] when they approached Rainforest Café with their animal element, they absolutely obliterated it in a very bad way.
Places like Planet Hollywood and Medieval Times made eating out more of an experience instead of just another night out.
And while there are certainly some themed restaurants operating today, some of the larger names in the game have pared down their locations to target high-tourist locations like Florida, Texas, or even near the Mall of America in Minnesota.
The DARK TRUTH About Rainforest Cafe...(*Haunted Animatronics?*)
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