Ted's Montana Grill: media tycoon lassos crowds with casual 'bison' concept

Nation's Restaurant News,  May 12, 2003  by Jack Hayes

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Unbroken by the collapse of his AOL-Time Warner portfolio, once topping $8 billion, 64-year-old media mogul Ted Turner is turning to his 14-month-old casual-dining venture, Ted's Montana Grill, with hopes of building a new fortune.

In that challenge, Turner has partnered with casual-steakhouse pioneer George McKerrow Jr., the 52-year-old founder of Atlanta-based LongHorn

Steakhouse, who, like his mentor, has won and lost in business by thinking big and taking risks.

Since their concept's debut in Columbus, Ohio, in January 2002--only four months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks--the partners have opened eight Ted's Montana Grills and expect to finish the year with at least 15 restaurants grossing between $2 million and $2.5 million.

"I hear from customers that Ted's is a really good concept," says Augustine Matos, manager at The Boulevard Grille, a popular casual-dining venue in downtown Columbus. "And I guess they're right because I see a second one under construction here already," he adds.

"George McKerrow is a great operator and Ted Turner has a lot of buffalo to sell, so I really have no doubt they'll do well with their bison brand," says Randy Rayburn, a veteran independent operator from Nashville, Tenn. The fourth Ted's opened last year within a mile of Rayburn's long-established Midtown Cafe and Sunset Grill restaurants. "But how many units the partners will windup with is anybody's guess," he notes.

Elaborating on plans, Turner and McKerrow predict their Atlanta-based group will build 24 Ted's in 2004 and another 36 units in 2005.

"And if I'm still alive after we get all of those built, we'll open a bunch more," Turner jokes. "People all over the world are fascinated by the American West--yipee-ki-yo!" he yodels. "Get along little bison!"

As their chain continues to grow, Ted's owners intend to establish a greater multistore presence in Atlanta, Denver and central Ohio, as well as toeholds in Birmingham, Ala.; Lexington, Ky.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Tallahassee, Fla. They also plan to enter the Northeast and the West Coast, according to McKerrow.

Currently, there are three Ted's operating in greater Atlanta, two in the Denver market, two in central Ohio and one in Nashville, Tenn. Four more Atlanta locations, as well as the Lexington, Ky., store, will open by the end of summer.

"This level of accomplishment can only come from the team's confidence that we're together with commitment," McKerrow says. "Not many organizations are willing to do things the way we have."

Ted's Montana Grill is designed to mimic the classic saloons of the Old West, including such authentic venues as the tavern built by Buffalo Bill Cody at the Hotel Irma in Cody, Wyo., in 1902, according to McKerrow.

"You can find these old American taverns in New York, Boston and Washington, but for the feel we've created at Ted's you have to go out West to a place like the old Montana Bar [in Columbus, Mont.,] or the Tadich Grill in San Francisco, operating since 1849," he explains. "We've got that same level of authenticity."

An Old West enthusiast, Turner was born in Cincinnati, the hometown of America's singing cowboy, Roy Rogers. He became enamored with heroes, including those of the 19th century, and remembers reading about the plight of the American bison when he was a boy.

McKerrow also is an Ohio native.

"When you come through the door at Ted's, you step back in time," Turner says, boasting that the art pieces adorning the restaurants' walls are replicas of original American West landscapes that hang in his home. Those works were painted by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran and were extremely popular in the late 1800s. "I wanted to share them with the public," he says.

In addition to artwork other signature features of the 3,800-square-foot Ted's prototype are its pressed-tin ceilings and hickory floors. But the essence of the brand is the American bison-focused menu, showcasing 20 7-ounce buffalo burger entrees priced from $7 to $10.75 as well as roast bison strip loin, barbecued bison short ribs, roast bison prime rib and a roast bison French dip sandwich on Boudin sourdough.

Offering all of its bison burger choices with a beef or "brick chicken" substitute, Ted's menu also features such daily blue-plate specials as pecan trout with slaw and fries; slow-roasted pork with mashed potatoes and buttered carrots; roast turkey with dressing; and meat loaf with "Aunt Fannie's" squash casserole.

Completing the food lineup at Ted's are seven salad choices; four side dishes, including "salt n' pepper" onion rings and Karen's "Flying D" chili; three desserts, including Edy's signature shakes and malts; and daily soups.

Atlanta Journal and Constitution dining critic John Kessler raves about the concept's "good food and fine detailing." He likes not only the Boraxo powdered hand soap in the men's rooms but also "the glass bottles .of Coke, the brass coat hooks beside each booth, the stubby wide-mouth bottles of Heinz ketchup--the dozens of small, quality details that Ted's reintroduces to the vernacular of low-key restaurants."