Branson company adds second Montana Mike's restaurant

Paul Rasmussen, president and chief operation officer of Branson-based ITEC, said the company opened its second Montana Mike’s “because of the success of the first one. It went over well.”

In 2005, ITEC opened a Montana Mike’s franchise at 3225 W. Highway 76 in the former Country Kitchen. Rasmussen said that with its revenue of nearly $3 million in 2006, the West Highway 76 restaurant is the highest-grossing restaurant for franchiser Stockade Cos. of Hutchinson, Kan.

ITEC has followed the same trend as many other franchisees by opening in vacant restaurant spaces.

“The concept was started about 10 years ago (with the idea to find) restaurants closed in small towns and convert them to Montana Mike’s,” Rasmussen said.

ITEC owns the only two Montana Mike’s franchises in Missouri. There are also 22 locations in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

Rasmussen said that ITEC, which also owns and operates Branson’s IMAX Entertainment Complex, initially had no plans to open another restaurant. Rasmussen stumbled upon his first Montana Mike’s restaurant in January 2005 in Kansas while traveling with his son to Denver. He liked the portion size and quality of the food and thought the restaurant would fit well in Branson.

“The general concept is reasonable prices, very large quantities and high-quality food,” he said. “One of the things we have is our on-site meat cutters, and we age the meat. We can better control the quality.”

While ITEC’s first Montana Mike’s reaps the benefits of tourists on Branson’s strip, the north-side location is near residential areas.

“We’ll do more business with the locals,” Rasmussen said.

The new restaurant has seating for 225 diners, but renovations are expected to be finished by Aug. 1 and will add another 100 seats. The good condition of the building, which is leased from Clyde Lorance, has allowed the company “to open the restaurant with minimum investment,” Rasmussen said. The restaurant has about 60 employees, including General Manager Megan Rice. [[In-content Ad]]