Springfield private equity firm Westward Alliance LLC last month purchased an 80 percent stake in Aviary Cafe and Creperie LLC.
Ryan O’Reilly, founder of Westward Alliance and a member of the O’Reilly Automotive Inc. founding family, is now exploring franchise opportunities for the 4-year-old restaurant concept started in 2011 by Mark and Debbie Burgess.
“We’re starting to consider markets outside of the Springfield area: Joplin, Bentonville, Kansas City, that kind of thing,” O’Reilly said. “It very much reminds me of O’Reilly Auto Parts in that it’s a very team-oriented type of place.
“Expanding that to different markets is an easy thing when you have a team approach to the corporate culture.”
Aviary Cafe
got its start downtown and last year opened a second location at the south-side Farmers Park development. O’Reilly had owned a 30 percent stake in the company until the Jan. 1 closing of the majority stake for undisclosed terms, he said.
O’Reilly said Debbie Burgess - who has stayed on as creative director - designed both Aviary restaurants with antiques, an idea he felt could be replicated in other markets with a locally sourced vibe.
“I like that it can have this chameleon approach anywhere it goes,” said O’Reilly, who also owns a 25 percent stake in Mark Burgess’ flight company OzAir Charter Services.
Burgess said the rapid growth of the business - which now employs around 80 - necessitated additional capital and a majority owner who could give it additional attention.
“It got to be more than we could handle on our own. He comes from the O’Reilly background of customer service and building small companies into big companies,” Burgess said of O’Reilly. “It’s at the stage right now that it needs to go really big, and that’s something that Ryan has interest in doing through his holding company.”
O’Reilly said the downtown location also would expand conceptually, noting the 400 E. Walnut St. eatery would likely later move toward a dinner and drinks type of concept.
Burgess said he and his wife now own 10 percent of the business, with the remaining 10 percent owned by executive chef
John Allen. The Burgesses, Allen and Westward Alliance serve as the board of directors for the company.
Mark Burgess said General Manager Jeff Anderson - the former GM of Cantina Laredo and The Tower Club - was hired about a month ago to lead day-to-day operations.
