Big Mountain investor buys eateries
MacKenzie River Pizza, Mambo Italiano among restaurants acquired by Bill Foley's new company
A new company formed by Big Mountain stockholder Bill Foley recently purchased four Montana restaurant companies, including three based in Whitefish.
Glacier Restaurant Group LLC announced Wednesday that it has acquired Bozeman-based MacKenzie River Pizza Co., as well as Mambo Italiano, the Craggy Range Bar and Grill and the Cornerhouse Grill, all in Whitefish.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Foley said the four restaurants employ more than 700 people and have combined revenues of just less than $20 million.
MacKenzie River makes up the biggest portion of that. It operates 12 stores across Montana, including branches in Whitefish and Kalispell. The company, which was founded in 1993, employs about 600 people.
Former owner Steve Shuel will continue to run the chain. He told the Bozeman Chronicle that the ownership change should be transparent to customers and employees.
"At the restaurant level, it will be impossible to notice anything," he said.
CM Brands, the company that owns Mambo Italiano, currently operates one restaurant on East Second Street. However, it expects to open its first franchise in Missoula in May, and Foley said it is negotiating a lease in Hayden, Idaho, just north of Coeur d'Alene.
Doug McNicoll, who started Mambo's in 2000, also will remain with Glacier Restaurant. He has taken over operations at the Craggy Range Bar and Cornerhouse Grill (both of which Foley already owned), Foley said.
Together, McNicoll and Shuel have been named co-chief operating officers of the corporation.
Foley said he formed Glacier Restaurant in part because he increasingly is spending more time in Montana and wants to transition from the public sector back to the private sector.
He is chairman and chief executive officer of Fidelity National Financial, a publicly traded title insurance firm. He was previously chairman and CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee's, Carl's Jr., and La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill franchises.
It's possible Glacier Restaurant will grow to where an initial public-stock offering could be made, Foley said, but for now the company will focus on expanding privately.
"I think all three brands - Craggy Range, MacKenzie and Mambo's - are franchise-able," Foley said. "For resort towns or ski towns, these concepts work great. We're working towards expanding into Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Spokane, Bend [Ore.] - not the high-end, glitzy resort areas, but the secondary, family-oriented markets where people go to have fun."
Foley has been a part-time Whitefish resident since 2000. He currently spends about five months a year in Montana.
He purchased a large block of Big Mountain/Winter Sports Inc. stock from Dick Dasen in 2004 and has added more since then. He is the largest stockholder, owning almost 50 percent of the company.
"My other major investment in Montana is a working cattle ranch outside of Deer Lodge," he said. "We have about 80,000 acres there. We're doing a small development in the middle of it. It's about 1,000 acres, with a golf course and planned-unit development."
Foley also acquired some property on the east side of Whitefish several months ago, but said he doesn't have plans for any other land projects in this area.
"I look for areas where big acreages are available at reasonable prices," he said. "The land values in the Flathead are a little high for me."