Restaurateurs sing sad tune about Branson; overdevelopment sparks competition

Nation's Restaurant News, June 12, 1995 by Carolyn Walkup

BRANSON, Mo. -- Although busloads of upbeat country and pop music fans continue to clog this tiny Ozark Mountain hamlet's Country Music Boulevard nine months of the year, many restaurant owners are singing sad songs.

The small town in the Ozarks that ranks as one of the country's top motor coach destinations, according to the American Bus Association and United Bus Owners of America, counted 28,229 restaurant seats at the end of 1994, more than twice as many as the 13,763 seats it tallied in 1992. The number of tourists in 1994, 5.8 million, rose only 3.6 percent over the figure for 1993, according to statistics compiled by the Ozark Marketing Council.

"Branson is overbuilt. Everybody jumped on the bandwagon. Now the bandwagon is overloaded," said Keith Dunn, president of McGuffey's, which operates four restaurants in Branson.

"In two years restaurant seats have increased 30 percent and hotels and theaters 60 percent. Ten major chains opened within 40 days last summer," Dunn said.

We used to do $40,000 a week in the winter. Now we do $25,000 or $30,000 a week. Business is much more chopped up," said Dunn, who closed a diner last year after a music theater next door went dark.

B.T. Bones Steakhouse, a Texas roadhouse-themed restaurant with live bands and dancing, has experienced business drop-offs each year since opening in 1992, according to Robert Stiff, company president. "There are about the same number of people coming to town, but there are twice as many restaurants," he said.

National dinnerhouse and family restaurant chains now operating in Branson, which has a year-round population of just 4,000, include Applebee's, The Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday, Lone Star Steakhouse, Country Kitchen, Bob Evans, Western Sizzlin', Golden Corral, Cracker Barrel, Shoney's and Captain D's Seafood. Most Branson restaurants, though, are independents.

"`It's been a tough market the last couple of years," said Kathy Phelan, Bob Evans Farms' regional vice president. The company decided to open a restaurant in Branson in 1992 because of the tourism push, she said.

The Bob Evans store in nearby Springfield, Mo., also has seen business decline since Branson tourists no longer need to stay in Springfield hotels, Phelan said. However, business at the Branson store, located at the expressway exit, is starting to pick up again, and she hopes that trend will continue.

Since opening in Branson a year ago, Applebee's has found Branson to be "a highly competitive and rather unusual market. The competition is not only for restaurant business but for labor," said Sue Carroll, Applebee's spokeswoman

"It's actually a nine-month season. Between January and March, it slows down considerably. We have the ability to handle a large number of guests at one time, before the shows begin and after they let out. When it's busy, it's very, very busy, and when it's not, it's not," Carroll said.

Outback Steakhouse is one chain that has not opened a restaurant in Branson. After looking at the market, the company that concluded it's too seasonal, according to Chris Sullivan, chairman and chief executive.

Branson's Outback Steak & Oyster Bar is unrelated to Outback Steakhouse. Sullivan said that Australian-themed independent approached him about buying it, but he wasn't interested.

Pasta House, the St. Louis-based casual Italian dinner house, just opened its Branson location in late March. Before opening, the company concluded that Branson was reaching saturation with certain kinds of restaurants, such as buffets and steak houses, but that it lacked Italian and other ethnic restaurants, said Chris Jordan, general manager.

"Now, niche markets will be getting filled. We market to two groups -- motor coach tours and the locals," Jordan noted. "We're doing a big push for the locals. You have to take care of the locals in this town."

The locals include all of the employees of the theaters and other tourist businesses in town. "They come from all over the country and appreciate good food," Jordan said.

Initial business has been fabulous," according to Jordan, who added that motor coach customers are swinging more toward full-service restaurants because they are getting tired of buffets.

Several owners of bus companies that frequent Branson continue to prefer buffets, however, because they are fast. "You have to eat as fast as you can because the traffic is so bad," said Philip Breazeale, owner of Memphis-based Americoach Tours.

Buffet business is "booming" this year at The Stage Door Canteen at the Lawrence Welk Champagne Theatre, said Bill Kitchin, food and beverage director of the restaurant that is part of the company headed by the late Lawrence Welk's son and grandson. The World War II era-themed restaurant can seat up to 260 buffet customers and still have 100 seats left for it la carte diners.

Buffet service that is so prevalent in Branson helps to solve one of the industry's biggest problems here -- an acute labor shortage. Beginning wages are typically $8 an hour for cooks and $6 to $7 for dishwashers.