Hotel restaurant revives brand as franchise concept in Burnsville, Minnesota’s Wyndham Nicollet Inn
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Dallas-based Legendary Restaurant Brands has revived the once-closed Steak and Ale, in Burnsville, Minn., south of Minneapolis.
The Steak and Ale brand, created in 1966 by Norman Brinker, was closed in 2008 when Plano, Texas-based parent Metromedia Restaurant Group worked its way through Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The franchised location reopened July 8 in Burnsville’s Wyndham Nicollet Inn, bringing back such stalwarts of the brand as the salad bar, the menu printed on a meat cleaver, the herb-roasted prime rib, and the Hawaiian chicken with grilled pineapple.
The intellectual property for Steak and Ale and sibling concept Bennigan’s were acquired by Dallas-based Legendary Restaurant Brands and its CEO Paul Mangiamele.
“My wife, Gwen, and I purchased the rights to the concept several years ago with the dream of bringing it back for the legions of people who, like us, are nostalgic for its return,” said Mangiamele in a statement.
Representatives said Steak and Ale has been reintroduced as a “polished-casual concept.”
The franchised Steak and Ale location covers 5,000 square feet in the hotel, seats 225, and offers a patio. The restaurant also handles food and beverage operations for the hotel, including room service, breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night, catering, and delivery. It even serves as a host kitchen for Bennigan’s.
Day-to-day operations are managed by franchise partner Roy Arnold, CEO of Kansas-based Endeavor Properties. Arnold’s 15-store franchise agreement in the Midwest includes exclusive rights for expansion of Steak and Ale, Bennigan’s, and Bennigan’s On The Fly in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.
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