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CK SO.19
from CCR-SO19
Be the Good
Inside Bluegrass Hospitality Group’s restaurant-changing game plan
Brian McCarty and Bruce Drake, co-founders, Bluegrass Hospitality Group (BHG)
Everyone has the ability to do the right thing. This is the mantra that Bruce Drake and Brian McCarty work to live up to every day. As founders of Bluegrass Hospitality Group (BHG), which they started in 1998, the duo has taken every extra step needed to build a brand worthy of the reputation it has forged—business-wise and on the philanthropic side.
Each year for the past 15 Thanksgivings, Drake and McCarty close down their Lexington, Kentucky restaurants to the public to provide a warm meal for people in need. They also partner with other groups to handout things like hats and gloves, toiletries and transportation.
Today, running six unique concepts, BHG continues to be one of the premier restaurant groups in Lexington, serving the community with concepts that include Malone’s, Malone’s Prime Events & Receptions, Harry’s, Aqua Sushi, Drake’s and OBC Kitchen. Commercial Kitchens sat down with McCarty and Drake to get an inside look at how far the brand has come and where it is heading.
Give us a snapshot of Bluegrass Hospitality Group brand? We co-founded Bluegrass Hospitality Group (BHG) in 1998. Housing six unique concepts, BHG has grown to be the premier restaurant group in Lexington, Kentucky.
Located in Lexington are three Malone’s, two Harry’s, Malone’s Prime Events & Receptions, and OBC Kitchen. Aqua Sushi is offered in each of the Malone’s in Lexington. In addition, Aqua Sushi is located inside each of the 12 Drake’s restaurants located in Lexington, Louisville, Florence and Nicholasville (Kentucky), Bristol, Chattanooga, Franklin and Knoxville (Tennessee), Indianapolis (Indiana), Burlington (North Carolina), and Huntsville (Alabama).
Bluegrass Hospitality Group employs more than 1,500 team members. While each concept is unique, the motto stays the same: “100% guest satisfaction, 100% of the time.”
What type of consumer are you targeting? We are a suburban restaurant group that focuses on the attention of mainstream America. Menus are driven toward a wide variety of American food and sushi ranging in price point.
How does the overall design of your restaurants cater to what today’s consumers are looking for? Malone’s offers the experience of the traditional American, prime beef steakhouse without the intimidation factor that can sometimes come with those brands. Our guests run the gamut from business lunches to family celebrations, happy hours to date nights. Combining several brands under one roof, the kitchens are designed to allow the guest a choice of casual, sushi or fine dining menus in each dining room, giving them the flexibility of food choices and price points.
While there are many sports bar concepts in today’s marketplace, Drake’s and Harry’s not only offer the prerequisite TVs and craft beer, they also offer quality wine selections and great food in a professionally designed space.
Is there a location that really shows how the brand interacts with the community and customers? Bluegrass Hospitality Group is committed to supporting local community, giving back in each community one of their restaurants call home. They are proud to support a variety of groups, organizations, schools, charitable organizations, service men and women, and BHG team members.
For the last 15 years, we have closed our Lexington, Kentucky restaurants to the public so that we could open the doors to those in need of warm meal and community on Thanksgiving. BHG partners with several organizations to be able to provide a full Thanksgiving meal, toiletries, hats/ gloves, and transportation to and from the event. Each year, approximately 1,500 guests are served.
Give us a rundown of the market’s layout. BHG currently serves 12 different markets. The one constant between all markets is that the restaurants are in the suburbs. Some of these markets are a bit more progressive. Regardless of how trendy a market may be, we want to have a concept that touches the masses.
What is the biggest issue today related to the construction side of the business? As we continue our efforts to buy land for the Drake’s prototype, construction and development costs continue to rise. This has not changed our growth strategy, yet the added costs have eliminated us from certain markets based on higher opening costs.
What do you see as some of your biggest opportunities moving ahead? As we grow and face challenges that come with growth, the one hurdle that continues to surface is the labor market. Like so many others in our industry, we continue to place an importance on hiring efforts and our retention rate. The industry-low turnover rate within our brands is something we are proud and fortunate to experience. Meeting and retaining great people in our concepts is a must as we continue to grow.
Are you optimistic about what you see today in the marketplace? Yes, we are thrilled with the growth in the casual dining space and we feel our offering will continue to reach the masses.
What is your growth plan? What areas are you targeting? By the end of 2019, four new Drake’s locations will have opened in Chattanooga (Tennessee), Burlington (North Carolina), and Owensboro and Lexington (Kentucky). By the end of 2020, there are plans to open three more Drake’s locations in O’Fallon (Illinois), Clarksville (Tennessee) and Evansville (Indiana), and a Malone’s Steakhouse in Louisville (Kentucky). There also are plans to open three additional Drake’s and one additional Malone’s in 2021.
What trends are you seeing? We are seeing an increase in food sales with a higher emphasis on carry-out, catering and delivery. Currently, we offer delivery in four locations and look to continue to move to most of our locations. As food sales continue to grow, alcohol sales are decreasing.
What is the secret to creating a “must visit” restaurant environment in today’s competitive landscape? The motto at Bluegrass Hospitality Group is “100% Guest Satisfaction, 100% of the time.” It is important that guests consistently receive high-quality product, overall value and over-the-top hospitality in a comfortable setting.
What is today’s consumer looking for? Great food and service at a fair value.
What is the biggest item on your to-do list right now? Elevating the recruitment process. It is imperative to stay up-to-date and follow trends for hiring great people to run our operations. We also are looking to locate ideal real estate for expected growth.
Describe a typical day. There isn’t a “typical day” in this industry. Every day is different, and that’s the best part.
Tell us what makes your brand so unique? The BHG brand is unique in that it is six unique concepts. Each concept is designed to appeal to the masses. That appeal combined with a commitment to the guest experience results in loyal guests, and those guests soon become family. CCR
One-on-One with...
» Bruce Drake and Brian McCarty co-founders, Bluegrass Hospitality Group (BHG)
What is the most rewarding part of your job? The most rewarding part of our job is that we get to touch the lives of 1,500 current team members and thousands of others over the past 21 years. Whether that’s receiving a letter from a previous employee who credits their success to the philosophies they learned at BHG or being able to provide for a team member in need through our emergency family fund, it’s what keeps us going. (Bruce Drake)
Name the three strongest traits any leader should have and why. First, simply put, the strongest traits of any great leader is just doing the right thing, and that comes back to character and action.
Once we try to strive and reach these lofty goals, we must be empathetic and recognize others are different. Different is not bad; it’s just different.
After we do the right thing regularly, and our actions prove that, along with being able to empathize with our team, we must accept that our influences drive the team to higher standards. Our relationship with them must be authentic to get our team to reach for new limits. (McCarty)
What is the best thing a client ever said to you? “The man on the top of the mountain, probably did not land there.” It takes hard work, dedication and perseverance to achieve success and we can never stop improving as we continue to work our way up the steep climb. (Drake)
What was the best advice you ever received? I heard, “Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true,” from Leon J. Seunens often growing up. It has always stuck with me. (Brian McCarty)
How do you like to spend your down time? As restauranteurs, we love the entire experience of the restaurant world and we have always loved visiting restaurants all over the country to better understand food, environments, service and feel of a restaurant. While traveling to these restaurants with our team or family, a round of golf is a perfect way to experience a new city. These trips allow us to grow as restauranteurs while experiencing new places with friends and family. (Drake & McCarty)
A designer’s touch
To give us a snapshot of how Bluegrass Hospitality Group approaches its design and construction strategy, we sat down with Julie Rainey, president of R2 Studio and BHG Building Designer.
Walk us through how and why your restaurants are designed the way they are? In all brands, BHG focuses on energy and guest comfort. Energy is vital. It comes from table spacing, sound systems, music selections and TVs, to name a few. A common complaint in contemporary restaurants is noise. Today’s design trends are open ceilings, hard surfaces and minimal décor, which lead to loud environments.
One example of how we balance energy versus noise is using specific materials in the building. Black acoustical tile ceiling is used in Drake’s to offset all the hard finishes and tamp down noise. The combination of a 12-foot ceiling, black tiles and exposed ductwork running under the ceiling tile have the same effect as an open ceiling with the necessary benefit of noise reduction. We strive for guest comfort. For example, the Drake’s concept originally had all backless seating (backless barstools, backless custom wood booths). That seating was selected to limit the visual clutter of barstool backs and turn up the energy with guests back-toback in the booths. Guests expressed a desire for backed seating, which led to our team working with furniture vendors to add backs to a number of barstools and booths to give guests a wider range of options.
In addition to two staircases and an elevator, we are planning an escalator in our latest Malone’s/Harry’s concept. It is a two-story space currently being designed for Louisville, Kentucky. While the escalator is an expensive addition to the project budget and not required by code, it is there for guest ease and comfort.
Each brand also has its own distinct identity. Malone’s design is warm dark woods and soft brass, lower lighting levels and cozy booths. The décor focuses on individually lit menus signed by some of our local and nationally known celebrity guests. Commissioned, beautiful photographs of two of Kentucky’s age-old industries, tobacco and bourbon, are used as décor and to resonate with guests, many of whom have old family ties to these industries.
Harry’s is an homage to Kentucky’s most famous industry—thoroughbred horse racing. It is fundamentally a sports bar with a pub feel. The focus is on TVs and liquor displays. The design allows guests to have a view of a TV and horse-racing décor from photos of Kentucky Derby winners to racing silks of famous Bluegrass horse farms.
Drake’s is a high energy concept focusing on great food and craft beer. High energy is derived from large bars centrally found in both dining rooms. Large, multi-tap draft beer towers
dominate both bars. Industrial components are metal light fixtures, exposed ductwork and booths made from pipe railing and oak slabs balanced with wood wainscot and a warm color scheme. We partner with our beer, wine and liquor vendors to create unique three-dimensional décor signs representing the numerous brand offerings. OBC Kitchen celebrates Kentucky bourbon, as well as whiskeys from across the country and around the world. The walls are clad with aged wood salvaged from an authentic tobacco barn. The focus is on a large, wooden back bar with a hand-rubbed finish displaying hundreds of bottles each warmly lit to compliment the warm amber glow of the bourbon.
Take us through your construction strategy. BHG has several valued subcontractor partners who not only make new construction easier but are invaluable when doing a quick remodel and/or providing maintenance services. Considering the volume the restaurants produce, it is important to not be down long. Working with contractors who are familiar with the brands flattens the learning curve. We are constantly striving to find materials that will stand up to the high traffic the brands endure. One example is the stamped concrete floor in several of the brands. It looks like wood and has the durability and easier maintenance of concrete.
Fixed tables allow us to control party sizes minimizing stress on the kitchen that can adversely affect ticket-times.
Patios are fully covered and fully conditioned enabling the patios to be seated year-round. They open to the outdoors with operable windows or garage doors. This can affect the humidity levels in the restaurants, so we have a topical treatment applied to the floors, which increases slip-resistance.
