Guzman y Gomez staff work to fill orders at the opening of the chain’s Deerfield restaurant on Thursday. (Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

First of two parts looking at ethnic and health-focused eateries emerging on the Chicago area restaurant scene

What happens when a New Yorker can’t find Mexican food to his liking in Australia?

He starts a chain of fast-food restaurants.

Guzman y Gomez, which just opened its fifth location in the Chicago area, is the brainchild of Steven Marks.

A hedge fund manager who has always been fascinated by experiences, Marks recalls as a child staying in a hotel and being wowed.

“At 8 or 9 years old, I said, ‘I am going to own a hotel one day,’ Marks said.

Doing well for himself on Wall Street and then being poached to set up what became the biggest hedge fund in London, Marks never lost that goal of running a hotel.

He moved to Bondi Beach, Australia with the plan to build his own hotel.

Steven Marks

“I couldn’t get the project off the ground,” Marks said. “I couldn’t get it zoned where I wanted to zone it.”

During his efforts, Marks, who grew up on “beautiful” Mexican food in New York, kept trying to find quality Mexican fare.

“Every time I went to a Mexican place in Australia, they were busy, but the food sucked,” Marks said.

“I become obsessed with things. I literally went to every Mexican restaurant on the east coast of Australia.

“I had just gotten married to an Aussie. She would ask, ‘What are we doing for dinner tonight?’ I would say, ‘I want to try this Mexican place,’ and she would say, ‘But you say they all suck.’”

Marks would balk at one place not using the right chili peppers, another not using the right tortillas.

By 2006, Marks had had enough

“I walked into the office and told my business partner who I’ve known since I was 4, another New Yorker who married an Aussie, ‘We’re going to reintroduce Mexican food to this country.’”

Marks and Robert Hazan founded Guzman y Gomez, which now has 240 locations and nets $1.2 billion in revenue.

The Australian company’s efforts in the United States are solely — for now — in the Chicago area. GYG opened its fifth Chicago area location Thursday in Deerfield.

“Our whole focus is on the suburbs of Chicago,” Marks said of the company’s efforts in the United States. “Our emphasis is on Chicago.”

He said company leaders are “very optimistic” about the chain’s emergence in the Chicago area and United States.

Besides Deerfield, GYG has locations in Naperville, Schaumburg, Buffalo Grove and Crystal Lake. A location is Evanston is expected later this year.

“When we think we’ve got it right, we’ll grow” Marks said. “We’re taking our time. You don’t rush building a generational business. We want to get it right.”

Marks said he learned lessons when Guzman y Gomez, named in honor of family friends, opened its

first location outside Sydney and things weren’t going great initially.

A line of customers waits to place orders at the opening of the Guzman y Gomez restaurant in Deerfield, the chain’s fifth in the Chicago area. (Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

“When times get tough, you figure out what your values are,” Marks said. “I remember saying to the team, ‘We will never ever compromise on the quality of our food or our people.’ That is what the foundation of GYG is.”

Marks said he is out to create the “fastest fresh food operation in the world.”

He said using quality ingredients like Angus choice flank steak is something no one in the fast-casual category does.

“As a food business, we have a social responsibility to serve clean, fresh food to our people,” Marks said. “I think a lot of these big traditional companies forgot that long ago.”

He urged Chicago area residents who like fast, fresh Mexican food to give GYG a look.

“If you like Chipotle, you’re going to love us,” Marks said. “If you are tired of Chipotle, you’re going to love us even more.”

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com