Matt Prentice, the Culinary Institute of America dropout who parlayed a struggling deli and $200 in working capital into a diverse collection of restaurants serving the greater Detroit area, has died. He was 62.
The exact cause of Prentice’s death was not revealed, but a local news website reported that Prentice had been battling colon cancer, citing the restaurateur’s family as its source. A statement posted on the Instagram page of Three Cats, a joint venture between Prentice and business partner Mary Liz Curtin, specifies that Prentice’s affliction was “non-COVID related” and referred to a “brief illness.”
Prentice had been in the restaurant business since his teens. The Matt Prentice Restaurant Group, formerly known as Unique Restaurant Corp., included such celebrated dining establishments as Morel, Coach Insignia, Shiraz and Northern Lakes Seafood. He also built a significant catering business.
Many of the establishments opened at a time when much of Michigan was suffering direly from the downturn in the U.S. automobile industry. Prentice proved that a strong concept could draw traffic and sales even in that sort of environment.
He became a restaurant operator at age 20, after briefly attending the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, N.Y. He left the school before graduating because his father had taken sick. Returning to Michigan, he worked in his father’s deli, a business that was struggling. Believing he could resurrect the operation, the younger Prentice bought it, putting his last $200 into the till to fund the comeback.
The aspiring chef made his mark by adding tableside cooking and more ambitious fare to the menu of his deli. The strategy worked, and more Unique Delis would follow.
Prentice diversified into other types of operations, including catering and a kosher establishment called Milk and Honey. The latter was positioned as a place for people who weren’t keeping kosher but preferred wholesome foods that were prepared in accordance with health-inspired Jewish traditions.
He split with his longtime business partner over strategic direction and sold his stake. Later, after a personal bankruptcy, he re-entered the business and again found success. Three Cats was his latest venture.
Prentice was well-known for his charitable endeavors. In between restaurant companies, for instance, he opened a soup kitchen for Detroit’s underprivileged residents. The place ran in the same way as Prentice’s fine-dining restaurants, according to staff and colleagues.
He formed a partnership with Cass Community Social , a Detroit-based charity, to assist in feeding the city's disadvantaged. The kitchen he created serves about 700,000 meals a day, according to Curtin.
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