Jim Ulcickas

Co-founder and Proprietor

Jim “Jimmy” Ulcickas founded Bluewater Grill with his partner Rick Staunton in 1996, and is responsible for all aspects of marketing, especially the growth of the brand from the original Newport Beach, Calif., dockside location to a growing family of premiere seafood restaurants in California and Arizona.

He was born and raised in Connecticut, and is a Dartmouth graduate of economics.  After graduation in 1983, he joined W. R. Grace & Co. in New York, N.Y., where he worked as a financial analyst in the restaurant department and assistant to Chairman J. Peter Grace.   During his six-year tenure with the company, he worked in operations for various Grace divisions, including Coco’s, Carrows, Baxter’s, Reuben’s, El Torito and Gladstone’s 4 Fish.

In 1989, Jim joined American Restaurant Group, Inc., in Newport Beach, as controller of Spoons, a $35 million division encompassing 20 restaurants and 1,400 employees.  In this capacity, he was responsible for the financial management of day-to-day operations, strategic planning, budgeting and the development and maintenance of internal control systems.  Jim used his unit-level, district and multi-unit operational experience to help grow the Spoons chain by 50 percent and establish the National Sports Grill concept to six stores during his tenure.

Jim was instrumental in the design and marketing of the Bluewater Grill at The District at Tustin Legacy.  The 7,250-square-foot showplace served as the design inspiration for the new Phoenix location and is the prototype for future Bluewater Grills throughout the West.