If you want to know what's hot in Philadelphia, ask Stephen Starr. The concert promoter-turned-restaurateur pal excellence has gone from hit to hit, tapping into what Philadelphians think is cool at the moment and turning it into such restaurants as pan-Asian Buddakan, faux-future kitsch Pod, sensual Tangerine, dazzling Morimoto and comforting Jones.

It all began just in 1995, with a $300,000 investment in a property on Market Street in Philadelphia's then-languid, now-hip Old City. The Continental Restaurant and Martini Bar was an instant success and paved the way for all the successes to follow, including the eight other restaurants Starr currently has in operation.

Much of the credit for the Continental's success is given to Richard Roberts, who has been the restaurant's general manager since Day 1.

"Richard has taken my philosophy and created his own, which has become the Continental," Starr says. "His sense of style and hospitality defines what this restaurant is."

"His charisma drives this restaurant," says Continental executive chef Bill Murphy. "I've worked with Richard for over three years, and in that time I've seen him handle every type of situation with the highest degree of professionalism."

Roberts" success at the Continental also has had far-reaching repercussions within the company. "Without the Continental I believe we wouldn't have Buddakan, and without the Continental and Buddakan we'd have nothing," says Bradlee Bartram, director of restaurants for the Start Restaurant Organization. Buddakan is SRO's top-grossing and most popular restaurant. At 5 years old it still is packed.

However, the Continental demonstrated that SRO could get a quick return on investment as well as on long-term profit, Bartram explains.

In 2003 the Continental was on target to break $5 million in sales--well above the $4.3 million that SRO had forecast for the year--and 35 percent more than the restaurant had been making back in 2001, according to Starr's estimates.

That increase was achieved during an economic downturn and at a time when the number of liquor licenses within a one-block radius of the Continental almost doubled, according to Bartram. It also accompanied a shift in the restaurant's revenue makeup. Whereas alcoholic-beverage sales previously had generated more than half of the operation's total business, these days food sales from the operation's "global tapas" menu account for 55 percent.

The Continental has 127 seats year-round and another 50 outside during the summer. Per-person check averages are in the low $30s.

Part of the success has been fueled by the addition of another room over the past year. Adding lunch two years ago also helped, Roberts says. "I got the sense that people would come--that there were more business people, there were more shops, there were more people down here doing one thing or another."

He seems to have been right: Lunch volume has tripled over the past two years, and Sunday brunch has become a hit, too. Roberts says that eight years ago the restaurant would gross $1,800 a day on Sunday. Now it does $5,000 just during brunch.

With brunch "maxed out" and dinners and late-night "full until the end," Roberts might be satisfied that the Continental is as busy as it's ever going to be. Instead, he's trying to fill the 3 p.m.-to-6 p.m. slot.

Roberts says he is thinking of keeping a cook in the kitchen for $10 an hour to make panini and other light items. "If eight people come in and have a sandwich and a bottle of beer, I'd be happy," he says.

The Continental has a staff of about 70 people, including three front-of-the-house managers in addition to Roberts and three sous chefs in the back-of-the-house, as well as the executive chef and a super visor who opens each day and manages the back-of-the-house prep staff. Nearly all of the back-of-the-house staff is male: about three-quarters of the front-of-the-house is female.

Most of the management has been around for a while. Executive chef Murphy has been there for three years, the assistant general manager has been there for five and the other two managers have been there for a year and a half. The sous chefs have been there for two years, and even the line cooks have been at the Continental for at least a year.

"Dishwashers come and go," Roberts admits. "But not that bad. We pay them OK. We treat them as well as we can."

Roberts says he recognized that once a good worker is in place, it's beneficial to everyone to pay him more and keep him happy. "Otherwise, they just stop showing up one day," he says.

Dishwashers earn $8 per hour, well over the minimum of $5.15. Line cooks make between $8.50 and $13.

Roberts also air-conditioned the kitchen and the basement prep kitchen and put a radio in the prep kitchen to help improve working conditions.

Servers tend to stick around, too, Roberts says, "not due to my amazing ability to manage, but actually because the front-of-the-house people make good money. Money really takes care of how long they'll stay.