Glacier Restaurant Group expands again

Glacier Restaurant Group has more than doubled its number of employees and locations with the recent acquisition of a Midwest restaurant company.

The restaurant group, formed in 2007 by nationally known business magnate Bill Foley of Whitefish, acquired the Max & Erma’s chain in late January, securing more than 1,700 new employees, 27 corporate locations and 20 franchise locations.

Prior to the acquisition, the Whitefish-based restaurant group had 1,400 employees across 29 locations.

“The decision to bring it over was a matter of it being a great fit with our restaurant portfolio,” said Ryan Fuller, chief operating officer at Glacier Restaurant Group.

Glacier Restaurant Group initially acquired Bozeman-based MacKenzie River Pizza Co., as well as Mambo Italiano, the Craggy Range Bar and Grill and the Corner House Grille (later renamed Latitude 48), all located in Whitefish.

Max & Erma’s is a grill pub, a burger-and-a-beer-style restaurant with a focus on family atmosphere. Locations for the Columbus, Ohio-based restaurant chain span from South Dakota to Mississippi to Virginia. Fuller said the restaurant is known for its eclectic atmosphere with local and antique memorabilia featured as decor.

“The demographic crosses over quite a bit with our own concepts, definitely family-oriented,” Fuller said. “That’s who we are.”

This isn’t the restaurant group’s first venture into the Midwest. Glacier recently built two MacKenzie River locations in Indiana — one in Indianapolis and the other in Carmel.

This isn’t the first time Foley has been involved in a Max & Erma’s purchase. In January, Columbus Business First reported Foley spoke about reviving the burger chain in 2010 when it was acquired by American Blue Ribbon, a subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial Inc., a Florida-based title insurer of which Foley is chairman.

That means Max & Erma’s was already part of a restaurant group, but now belongs to a smaller one. Fuller said the new relationship should result in a more hands-on management and attention to the Midwest restaurants.

The acquisition may be a saving grace for Max & Erma’s, which closed 13 restaurants about a week before being picked up by Glacier Restaurant Group. Two more Ohio restaurants have closed since the chain came under Glacier, but its former owners said that plan was in place before the acquisition.

The acquisition has caused plenty of activity within Glacier Restaurant Group.

“It’s obviously something that, strategically, we had to plan for well before the acquisition took place,” Fuller said. “To be the parent company to that restaurant, we’ve had to increase our infrastructure by more than double the amount of corporate employees.”

Fuller said the next step in bringing Max & Erma’s into the fold will be transitioning the new company into Glacier’s systems, including operations and accounting.

“We’ll be able to learn from each other and the GRG umbrella gets better,” Fuller said. “There’s going to be a lot of synergies that will make both parties better.”

The closest Max & Erma’s to the Flathead Valley is in Aberdeen, South Dakota, about 963 miles away from Whitefish. Fuller said there isn’t a plan in the works to bring a Max & Erma’s to Montana yet, but added, “we’ll certainly be looking for opportunities once the dust has settled.”

For more information on Glacier Restaurant Group, visit www.grgfood.com.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.