There's a reason why Morton's is "The" Steakhouse – it's not your average restaurant,
so don't expect an average check. Here's why Morton's will do some
damage to your wallet.
No restaurant showcases beef quite like an all-American steakhouse,
and Morton's in particular promises that only the juiciest, highest-quality chops
are accepted into its restaurants, many of which are certified Prime.
Prime is the highest level of quality assessed by the United States Department
of Agriculture. According to the USDA, Prime cuts are typically sourced from younger cows,
and tell-tale signs include tender meat laced with distinctive ribbons
of fat. This is called marbling, and you'll find less of it in cheap steak.
Prime beef constitutes a slim percentage of the meat market at just 2%,
making it rare for the average consumer to get their hands on it. This scarcity
means that dining establishments – and upscale ones at that – will be where
to go to find it. This means you’ll have to pay high prices to get it.
Since Prime meat is judged using a rigorous set of standards,
restaurants can get away with charging more because it beats
supermarket meat in just about every way — in flavor, texture, and appearance.
As any trip to the supermarket demonstrates, not all steaks are created equal. Steak is the focal
point of a steakhouse dinner, so it needs to be able to stand on its own. A gristly,
tough slab that resists cutting with silverware would not be a good look for any chophouse,
and Morton's The Steakhouse prevents this by only buying the best.
The majority of steaks at Morton's The Steakhouse are wet-aged in the refrigerator prior to
serving. All it takes is about three weeks of steeping in its own juices to develop a smooth,
melt-in-your-mouth texture. This is already a long time to wait to cook a steak,
but dry-aged cuts like the bone-in Kansas City strip take even longer, and cost more too.
Dry-aging is when meat is fermented over a period of weeks or months in
a climate-controlled environment. Oxygen in the air allows the enzymes in the beef to flourish,
attacking the meat's tissues in a feeding frenzy and imbuing it with a rich,
complex flavor. Compared to wet-aging, dry-aging is a notoriously lengthy process. Additionally,
the amount of meat that's left at the end is quite small in comparison.
Not only does the beef shrink from moisture loss, but butchers end up carving off a
lot of the exterior because it develops into a hard coating known as a pellicle.
Keep in mind that this level of energy is expended on a single steak. And with all the
steaks Morton's grills on a regular basis, it has to make this effort worthwhile, especially
when that time and labor adds up in the long run. Savoring a dry-aged steak is a privilege, and for
customers to experience this privilege they'll have to fork over the dough, and a lot of it.
We've established why the main attraction at Morton's The Steakhouse — the steak — is
expensive, so what about the rest of the menu?
“Who wants some man meat?”
“I do. I want some man meat!”
“Michael, I want a bite of your man meat.”
“Then my man meat, ye shall have.”
Predictably, many of the other dishes also contain some pricey ingredients,
and we're not just talking artisanal cheeses.
There's black truffle butter, which patrons can order from the Upgrades section, and the Million
Dollar Burger, a limited-run sandwich Morton's launched in 2016 that was topped with foie gras.
Of course, foie gras and black truffles don't just sound luxurious — they are expensive for a reason.
Delicacies are defined by their scarcity, and black truffles and foie gras are hard
to come by. In the case of black truffles, they can only survive in specific climates
and have to grow for up to seven years before harvesters are able to collect them. Similarly,
foie gras’ specialized and fairly controversial production technique makes it quite expensive.
Foie gras can cost anywhere between $40 to $80 per pound, and black truffle will run
you $300 a pound at the bare minimum. Even if they're used as a garnish, that still
costs a lot of money compared to more humble condiments like garlic butter or steak sauce.
One reason you might spend more at Morton's The Steakhouse versus other
sit-down joints? It never skimps on portion size, which is surprising given its ritzy,
upper-crust reputation. Many of the steaks weigh close to a pound,
and that's before ordering a side of matchstick parmesan & truffle fries to fill out the meal.
The pork chop, New York strip, and ribeye steaks all weigh 16 ounces,
and the Prime Porterhouse Steak is the largest cut of all at 24 ounces.
Morton's slogan is, quote, "The Best Steak Anywhere," and we'd argue the
large servings of charbroiled beef probably contribute to that. It isn't
simply good marketing on the restaurant's end, either. Real people who've dined at
their local Morton's have commented on the humongous platters of food they've received,
and the feedback is almost always positive with one reviewer on Foursquare, advising,
"Side portions are huge, so don't order more than two if you're a couple."
When you think of the typical restaurant chain, spending almost $30 on lobster macaroni & cheese
might seem like a rip-off. But the bigger portion sizes at Morton's explain the high
price tag. Leaving full and happy from a steak dinner is one promise Morton's keeps,
even if your wallet may feel lighter afterward and be unrecognizable to some, it’s worth the price.
“All right, well, I’ll pay you guys back.”
“And, can you please get a wallet?”
“I do have a wallet.”
“A wallet.”
If you thought Morton's Steakhouse's standard menu was overwhelming,
just wait until you check out the wine list. The restaurant takes its vino seriously,
offering at least 150 varieties at every location, and those are just the core menu
offerings consistently found at all restaurants. That space is reserved for locally-sourced
bottles too, which means guests could sip from among 300 to 500 offerings at a time.
What's more, Morton's selection is also global in scope. American wines mingle with imports from
France, Argentina, and Italy. Maintaining such an extensive wine cellar must cost an arm and a leg,
and Morton's relies on money from wine sales to remain profitable.
That explains why paying $15 for a glass of cabernet sauvignon or triple digits for
a single bottle of wine is typical at the chain. If you understand that the wine list is not only
exhaustive, but also high-quality, you won't get sticker shock upon receiving the check.
Morton's also offers expensive wine selections by the glass. Some customers are even more
willing to pay for a single glass of high-quality wine than a whole bottle,
which can boast a hefty price tag. The restaurant uses a device called a Coravin to help make sure
partially-finished bottles of wine don't spoil while they're waiting to be sold.
Naturally, it takes an expert's touch to make a selection from a wine list the size of a phone
book, which is where the sommelier steps in. These vino connoisseurs are trained in
understanding wine drop by drop and can make a suggestion based on factors like tannins,
region, and the meat you'll be sipping it with. Diners can usually find one
of these experts on the premises to assist with their beverage decisions.
“I don’t even like wine, but guess what? You’re gonna like it.”
They’re good at convincing you to buy wine. The sommelier profession has four rankings — Level 1,
Certified, Advanced, and Master — and Morton's hires Certified Sommeliers,
who fall right in the middle at Level 2. What defines a Certified Sommelier is typically three
to seven years of overall experience and an annual salary ranging from $60,000 to $70,000 a year.
Though it's not the highest level of expertise, becoming certified can actually be fairly
competitive. Only 66% of aspiring sommeliers even pass the exam. Because it's such a specialized
field, hiring professionals with that kind of education and mastery comes at a price.
Level 2 sommeliers are compensated quite well, to the point that their
annual income potentially tops the wages brought in by the other staff at Morton's,
as Indeed shows. Nevertheless, the sommelier plays an important role
in the steakhouse experience by using their expertise to increase customer satisfaction.
Morton's The Steakhouse cares a great deal about making sure its guests are happy. Chief
Operating Officer Tim Whitlock made a point of this, telling Nation's Restaurant News:
“We’ve really focused on hospitality over the past four years: Great service,
great upscale food, paying attention to the flavors and the plate presentation."
The steakhouse has invested heavily into the dine-in experience to keep visitors happy,
and more importantly, returning again and again, but that has come at a hefty cost.
Part of the strategy has involved upgrading restaurants from every angle of the experience,
including modernizing the interiors and overhauling the menu with trendier
dishes. On the employee end, there are updated training materials and
in-house training sessions conducted by restaurant personnel, who visit locations
to ensure work standards are consistent and always up to snuff on expectations.
Morton's The Steakhouse doesn't simply coast on one-time orientations for staff,
nor does it allow its menu to stagnate. It's constantly reinventing itself as a
dining destination where sizzling steaks and poised staff never fail to charm.
In 2019, Newsweek gave Morton's The Steakhouse a 9.02 out of 10 for its customer service,
taking second place behind Chick-Fil-A. Morton's topped Nation's Restaurant News'
2016 Consumer Picks Survey for white tablecloth establishments, so from a customer perspective,
it seems the steakhouse has done a good job of justifying its higher price point.
The reason? Its hospitality chops are basically second-to-none in the industry,
and these days, that has to count for something.
When gathering at a steakhouse, it doesn't hurt to have a lot of money
on you. Part of why Morton's The Steakhouse is so expensive is because it's targeted at
a wealthy clientele who can afford to splurge on the finer things in life.
“When I have to face my problems, I show up in the back of a limo!”
Limo or no limo, workers in the business or finance sector are some of Morton's
core customers. Morton's Steakhouses tend to be located in major American cities such as New York,
Dallas, and Chicago, within a stone's throw of high-traffic hotspots like airports and
hotels. In other words, the stomping grounds of well-traveled, high-powered tycoons.
One location in Jacksonville, Florida apparently credited a majority of its
total revenue to expense accounts in 2017. The layouts of the restaurants are set up to make
them great locations for business meetings. A significant percentage of locations are
equipped with private board rooms with the capacity to host large groups of people along
with the option of personalizing the menu. It's exactly the sort of venue tailor-made
for client lunches where a handshake at the end is the only acceptable outcome.
Essentially, the philosophy is simple: People with a lot of money won't hesitate to spend
it in the right circumstances. For those with the means, the luxurious ambiance of
a fancy restaurant matters just as much, if not more so, than the food and service.
Like most restaurants, Morton's The Steakhouse has hosted fundraising events for charity. The
Celebrity Server series is a novel, swanky approach to philanthropy that allows guests
to savor a steak dinner that's hand-delivered to them by celebrities, and in Morton's case,
it's typically famous athletes on major sports teams who do the serving.
You can probably imagine that attending one of these star-studded soirees isn't
cheap. The typical price range of the Celebrity Server series is around $300 to $400 a head,
which is practically double what a regular meal at the steakhouse would cost you,
considering the average check runs around $170.
That's a costly sum on its own for just one person, let alone a whole crowd. But the
entire point of the endeavor is to assist non-profits, not necessarily to garner
profits for the business. And seeing living, breathing celebrities? It's the cherry on top.
“Celebrity benefits for natural disasters – the viewership is huge.”
In 2011, an event at a King of Prussia, Pennsylvania location emceed by pro
golfer Jim Furyk to raise money for Children's Miracles Network Hospitals. Later that year,
Jonathan Vilma of the New Orleans Saints joined his teammates at a
Louisiana Morton's Steakhouse to help in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
And because these events are so ritzy, it doesn't take many guests to make a killing.
The New Orleans Saints first fundraiser with the steakhouse netted $190,000 in total donations.