Inside the Rise and Fall of Mall of America’s First Rainforest Cafe
The concept did not start in a corporate boardroom. It was constructed inside a single-family house in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Entrepreneur Steven Schussler spent three years and nearly $400,000 transforming his suburban residence into a full-scale prototype restaurant. He filled the rooms with 40 tropical birds, two tortoises, a baboon, an extensive misting system, and automated sound machines replicating equatorial storms.
The transformation bordered on civic disruption. Schussler's electricity bills surged past $2,000 a month, and local authorities once suspected the property housed an illicit indoor grow operation due to the immense heat signatures leaking through the roof. Neighbors routinely complained about the screeching parrots and delivery trucks unloading industrial aquarium filters.
The obsession paid off. In late 1993, retail magnate Lyle Berman toured the domestic jungle. Impressed by the sensory onslaught, Berman provided the venture backing needed to secure a 14,000-square-foot footprint on the first floor of Mall of America. Schussler proved his core thesis: people were willing to endure complete sensory saturation if it turned lunch into theater.
