Branson restaurateurs to launch Pasghetti's

Branson restaurateurs Nolan and Babette Fogle plan to open a 1930s-themed dining attraction early next month, designed with a 15-foot meatball on a 50-foot fork outside the entrance.

Branson's Pasghetti's Restaurant & Attraction is scheduled to open to the public May 4, following a May 1 ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3129 W. Highway 76.

Nicolle Warner, marketing and human resources manager for Fogle Enterprises Inc., said the roughly $5 million, 18,000-square-foot restaurant on two stories is designed to look like an Italian avenue, with an open-air street and brick facade. It also will double as an attraction, with trolley cars, a working Ferris wheel, wine cellar, rooftop and street dining, a speakeasy and faux subway station among its amenities. The restaurant will serve standard Italian cuisine such as lasagna, chicken marsala, and spaghetti and meatballs.

“They felt like Branson needed a different type of attraction to try to help bring people to to town,” Warner said of the Fogles.

Warner said the Fogles purchased the property along Highway 76 in late 2013, demolished former hotels and a restaurant, and began construction on their new concept in February 2014. She declined to provide the purchase price or name former property owners.

The owners of Fogle Enterprises, the restaurateurs last fall added a CiCi's Pizza franchise to their slate of operations, which also includes The Great American Steak and Chicken House, The Fall Creek Steak and Catfish House, and The Burger Shack, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.[[In-content Ad]]