Restaurant puts down steaks at The Lakes

Source: Muskegon Chronicle
When Tom Brann opens his company's seventh restaurant in front of The Lakes Mall later this week, he might be found in the kitchen grilling steaks or greeting customers as host. That probably won't be the case with the top executive of Olive Garden or Red Lobster when they open next door later this summer. Brann's Steakhouse & Grille is a uniquely West Michigan restaurant that will be going toe-to-toe with some of the largest restaurant chains in America.

Brann's prides itself on affordable, quality food in a relaxed atmosphere. It is an independently owned bar/restaurant that competes directly with national chains such as Applebee's, Chili's and Ruby Tuesday's _ all recent entrants into the Muskegon market. Brann's remains family owned and operated nearly 50 years after John Brann opened a steakhouse in Burton Heights on Division Street just north of 28th Street in Grand Rapids. The elder Brann and his brother, Tom, began in the restaurant business in the 1940s with the adjoining Porterhouse Room and Stag Bar in downtown Grand Rapids.

Founder John Brann's three sons, Tom, Mike and John Jr., along with business partner Tom Doyle, own the growing group of Brann's Steakhouses. Each continue to work in their own restaurant and consider themselves "co-workers" as well as owners, Tom Brann said. "We are on the frontlines," Tom Brann said. "One of us can be found washing dishes, another seating customers and another cooking on any given night."

The senior John Brann established the group of restaurants with a signature item, the sizzler steak. The affordable, working-man's steak dinner was created by his father, Tom Brann said.

Brann took a "bottom butt steak" and prepared it with special seasonings and garlic butter, serving it on a hot platter to give customers the "sizzle." The thick-cut, boneless steak with no fat trimmings has been copied ever since the mid-1950s, Tom Brann said.

Today, the sizzler remains the top selling Brann's menu item at $8.99, including salad, choice of potato and a yeast roll with honey butter. Tom Brann said the sizzler will be the best seller in the new Muskegon restaurant. The sizzler resurrected the original, struggling John Brann's Steakhouse and led to expansion of the business. The elder John Brann is retired today, leaving the business in the 1980s.

Tom Brann began working in his father's restaurant as a bus boy in 1969 when he was a junior at East Grand Rapids High School. In 1971 at age 19, he expanded the Brann's name to a new location further south on Division near 44th Street.

His brothers, John, Jr. and Mike, opened up another Brann's on Leonard near the expressway in downtown Grand Rapids. The next expansion was in the late 1970s with the Alpine Brann's, where partner Doyle first joined the business as a bus boy.

The group includes restaurants at Division and 44th operated by Tom; Leonard operated by John Jr.; 28th Street in Cascade operated by Mike; Grandville operated by Doyle; Holland and Portage. The company also has a banquet hall and catering business on Division in Grand Rapids.

With the opening of the new Brann's Steakhouse in Portage just south of Kalamazoo, the restaurant was transformed into a "steakhouse and grille." Brann said the "steakhouse" label gave the wrong impression of a high-priced restaurant. Since then, all of the outlets have expanded their menus beyond steaks to include burgers, chicken, burritos, salads and pasta.

"We think we are offering our customers the best of both worlds in one restaurant," Tom Brann said.

Dave Lahay will be the initial manager of the Muskegon restaurant. The management team includes Mark Grant and John Weesies from Portage, Jeff Hoekstra from the catering group and Linden Peterson, a manager trainee from Muskegon. Peterson is a graduate of Muskegon Catholic Central and Central Michigan University with a degree in economics. The Muskegon restaurant has been in the works for about two years. Tom Brann said he has wanted to enter Muskegon since the Portage outlet was built in 1997. Muskegon's growth, residents' familiarity with Brann's and Muskegon's presence in the West Michigan advertising market were key factors, he said. The company first looked at sites at Sherman and U.S. 31 but decided to wait until The Lakes Mall became a reality, Lahay said. The mall will open Aug. 15. The Brann's construction began in November by Nugent Builders of Grand Rapids.

"We are here because of the mall," Tom Brann said. The site is on the north side of the main entrance off Harvey Street in Fruitport Township. "This is one of the best locations we've been able to get. This should be an 'A' store."

The Muskegon restaurant is 6,000 square feet with 260 seats that includes a separate bar area. There also is an outdoor patio for 48 customers. The restaurant will open with a crew of 100.

Tom Brann said his company's goal is to have eight new restaurants open by 2004. The company next will look at expanding outside of West Michigan with a restaurant in Northville, a Detroit suburb.

"We are taking the restaurant out of the womb of West Michigan and see how our concept does," Tom Brann said. "We think it will be strong."
Source: Muskegon Chronicle