McMenamins: Prosperous times for company that turned a truck stop into profitable pubs

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 28, 2002 by Shari Weiss

No one who knows the McMenamins seems willing to predict what the future holds for their company, except that it is likely to continue its unorthodox but successful evolution. With the partners' knack for seeing beyond what most others see, they now are beginning to redevelop an old school in Bend, Ore. It is likely to follow along the lines of their Kennedy School, which had housed an elementary school for 65 years and was turned into a bed-and-breakfast community spot with 35 guest rooms, a soaking pool, a gymnasium, a movie theater, a brewery and many small bars.

Mike McMenamin acknowledges that preservation has become vitally important to his organization: "It factors into our whole thought process. The ability to see a project as being alive makes anything possible. We don't really spend time thinking about the competition. We are like the John Wooten philosophy: If you do your job right, that's all that's important."

RELATED ARTICLE: Company name: McMenamins Inc.

Headquarters: Portland, Ore.

Year founded: 1974

Chain name: various, including Edgefield, The Grand Lodge, Blue Moon Tavern & Grill, The Black Rabbit, Kennedy School

Market segment: includes pubs, casual dining, movie theaters, one fine-dining restaurant, several hotels, wineries and microbreweries

Units: 52, all company owned

Chain's annual sales: approximately $60 million

Average annual sales per unit: ranges from $500,000 for a small pub up to $11 million for Edgefield

States of operation: Oregon, Washington

New-market targets: central Oregon

Top executives: Mike McMenamin, president; Brian McMenamin, vice president; D.J. Simcoe, co-chief operating officer; Lars Raleigh, co-chief operating officer; Larry Dortumund, chief financial officer

Target demographic: an entire community

Per-person check average: $26 at a pub; about $150-$225 per hotel guest