But as a growing city, there is more than enough room for multiple quality seafood menus. Since its closure, Leo’s has continued to carry the torch for high-end seafood in Grand Rapids. There’s not a lot of seafood to be had, so this was a no-brainer.”įor years, one of Grand Rapids’ favorite restaurants was Charley’s Crab - which for its time was a high-end seafood restaurant, a quintessential date night for many Grand Rapidians. We were already looking for what else we can do here that fits the need and the market. “The city of Grand Rapids, we felt strongly about. “One of the benefits we have is having four different concepts, so we can evaluate a market and determine what to do next,” Gudejko said. Real Seafood Company has locations in Ann Arbor, Bay City, Naples, Florida, and Toledo, Ohio. Thankfully, Mainstreet has multiple concepts already proven in various markets across the Midwest and Florida. Picking what went into the space was not a cakewalk, however. As Mainstreet has a solid relationship with CWD Real Estate Investment, which owns the building, Gudejko said they were able to claim the open space because of the COVID- 19 pandemic. The location was slated to be a Brazilian steakhouse chain, Texas de Brazil, but Gudejko said that ownership group couldn’t make the commitment to Grand Rapids. Gudejko said he had been interested in the new retail space in the redeveloped Fifth Third Building. Mainstreet has multiple concepts, so the Real Seafood Company was the next logical step in Grand Rapids. There are a lot of great people in Grand Rapids.” The community has made it a positive experience to come in and it’s a great market to hire in. “The city has done a great job of welcoming us and a lot of industries in town. “Those both have exceeded our expectations and it’s been a business- friendly environment,” Gudejko said. In 2017, the company opened the Italian-focused Palio on Michigan Street NE, near the edge of the Medical Mile as the company anticipated the accelerating growth of the city’s health care industry. The Chop House has been a staple in the downtown Grand Rapids dining scene since 2004. I feel really strongly about the city and west side of the state,” Gudejko said. “We made the commitment almost 20 years ago with The Chop House. The Ann Arbor-based Main Street operates much like a local company here in Grand Rapids and Mainstreet CEO Kevin Gudejko said it hopes to add to the increasingly vibrant culinary options in Grand Rapids. She was not only their mother, but their friend who always supported and believed in her children’s dreams and ambitions and whose inspiration and culinary talents made these dreams reality.The fact Real Seafood Company is delivering should not be too much of a surprise, as its parent company, Mainstreet Ventures Restaurant Group, has delighted plenty of Grand Rapids diners over the years at The Chop House and Palio. The success is forever attributed to Eric & Norman’s mother, Geneva Sugrue. They adopted a simple philosophy: to provide the best food, the best service and the best atmosphere to their guests with customer satisfaction their top priority.Īfter the unrivaled success of the Big Fish Grill, many successful ventures followed encompassing what the Big Fish Restaurant Group is today. In 1997, Eric and Norman opened the doors to the Big Fish Grill in Rehoboth Beach, DE, their first of many successful concepts. They didn’t realize at the the time, but the skills they had developed separately – Norm’s emphasis on food creation and preparation and Eric’s strength in staff management and customer relations-primed them for success in their own ventures. Working for numerous restaurant corporations in every position from line cook to general manager, Eric & Norman carved their individual pathways in the industry. From the time they could work, brothers Norm and Eric Sugrue chose the restaurant industry.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |