The New Face Of Magnum Hospitality

Feb. 12, 2016

For the last 17 years, Fred Moore, Mary Palmer and Jim Cartwright have been the owners and faces of Magnum Hospitality, the popular northern Michigan restaurant group that includes Pearl’s New Orleans Kitchen in Elk Rapids, Red Mesa Grill in Traverse City and Boyne City, and Cafe Sante in Boyne City.

In November, ready to move to retirement or other projects, the trio sold their shares in the company to an investment group headed by Steve Rossi, an Escanaba native and long-time Michigan restaurateur. Handpicked to lead Magnum to its next stage of growth, Rossi hopes to preserve the legacy built by Moore, Palmer and Cartwright, while also expanding the company’s market presence and locations.

When Rossi took the reins three months ago, one of his first orders of business was meeting with staff and reassuring them — as well as customers and vendors — that he wasn’t going to be the stereotypical “new owner coming in” making sweeping changes. Instead, Rossi said he wants to protect the unique concepts of Pearl’s, Red Mesa and Cafe Sante, working “side-by-side” with staff to analyze small tweaks that could improve each restaurant.

Aside from minute menu adjustments — a tweak of a dessert here, the slight alteration of an entree there — the restaurants have essentially remained unchanged through the transition. Almost all of Magnum’s 200–300 employees (the figure varies seasonally) have also stayed with the company, including key management personnel at each restaurant.

“It’s all about the people and culture,” Rossi said of Magnum’s recipe for success. “The last thing we would want to do is upset that.” “People” and “culture” — along with “customer service” — are words Rossi frequently sprinkles throughout conversation.

They’re concepts that have come to define his decades in the restaurant business, an industry he “accidentally” got his start in while a student at the University of Michigan.

“One of my housemates was dishwashing at [restaurant] The Brown Jug and, the day before the Ann Arbor Art Fair, he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident,” Rossi recalled. “He asked me to cover for him. I met the owner, five minutes later I had an apron on, and I spent the next four days washing dishes. And I fell in love with the business.”

Rossi worked his way up to become manager of the restaurant, eventually opening a second Brown Jug location in a joint partnership with the company’s owners. That location closed a few years later, but Rossi remained passionate about continuing in the industry, going on to wait tables and manage an Applebee’s location before finding his next investment opportunity in another national franchise.

“For seven years, I was a managing partner at Outback Steakhouse in Ann Arbor,” said Rossi. “We were very successful with that location and, in 2005, I was promoted to Joint Venture Partner [at the company].”

The promotion put Rossi in charge of 12 Outback Steakhouse locations throughout Michigan, including the Traverse City location.

“So, for the next several years, until 2012, I would come to Traverse City once a month,” said Rossi. At the same time, restaurant investors Mark and Barbara Wibel — who have a home in Harbor Springs and were frequent patrons of Cafe Sante — held ongoing discussions with Moore about opportunities to work together.

An idea to expand the Red Mesa Grill concept to other markets never got off the ground, but talks eventually expanded to include the idea of purchasing the entire Magnum Hospitality group. As discussions grew more serious, the couple — seeking an anchor ownership partner who could take the lead on operations and management — brought Rossi on board.

“When the opportunity presented itself, I didn’t hesitate,” said Rossi. “Honestly, I should have done [something here] 10 years ago. I love it here. I already knew and loved Traverse City, and it’s been a blast exploring Petoskey and Harbor Springs.”

Rossi spent his first months on the job becoming intimately acquainted with the operations of each restaurant, familiarizing himself with employees, business partners and other stakeholders. He also hopes to jump into the kitchen at each of the restaurants at some point so he can learn the company’s recipes and menus firsthand.

But, even while familiarizing himself with Magnum’s day-to-day workings, Rossi has one eye on the future.

When it comes to expanding the company in new directions, Rossi said that “whether it be acquisitions, or the creation of new concepts, or the replication of existing concepts, those are all on the table and all very exciting.”

“We have, and will continue, to meet with people to look at potential properties to bring into the family,” Rossi said.

The owner said he’s identified “one and possibly two” properties in northern Michigan that Magnum is interested in purchasing, as well as a third property in Grand Rapids.

“We also love the downtown restaurant scene in Traverse City,” said Rossi. “It has a great energy we think we could complement very well. We’d love Magnum to be a part of that at some point.”

For the restaurant group’s previous owners, seeing Magnum take flight under its new leader is a “bittersweet” moment, according to Moore.

“The employees are my family…and it’s really hard to walk into the restaurants and use the front door,” he said. Moore also said he’s confident in Rossi and excited for the potential career opportunities Magnum’s expansion could provide his former staff.

“I would be very excited to see [the company] grow and open new locations,” Moore said. “We didn’t have the energy to do it… but now there is that chance. I expect very good things.”