Restaurant industry has healthy appetite

When it comes to restaurants, Springfield has a lot on its plate.

Gary Leonard, president of the Missouri Restaurant Association and owner of the Steak n Shake restaurants in Springfield, said there's no doubt in his mind that the restaurant industry in Springfield has grown quite a bit in recent years.

"As you look on South Glenstone, we had the proliferation of chain restaurants that started coming in about six years ago Applebee's, T.G.I. Friday's, Cheddar's, Amarillo Grill ... Springfield used to be a secondary market, and once we reached critical mass (in population) that's when we hit the radar map for all those restaurants, and that's when they came to Springfield."

According to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, as of March the city of Springfield had a total of 899 food service sites, which are schools, restaurants and taverns. In September 1997, there were 843 sites, said Ron Lawson, public health investigator-3 with the Health Department.

Growth in Springfield's restaurant industry occurred for several reasons, Leonard said, including Branson's increasing popularity.

Sharon Tuck, director for the Missouri Restaurant Association's southwest region, which includes Springfield, agreed. She added that the local colleges and universities also have had a positive effect on the local food service industry.

Tuck said one unique thing about restaurants in Springfield is that many of them are run by second-generation restaurateurs, including Gary Leonard, who was introduced to the restaurant industry while working for his father.

Springfield has "a lot of second-generation restaurateurs, which is very unusual a lot of the time in our industry because of the chains," Tuck said.

In addition to the chain restaurants, there are also many independent eateries in the city, and Leonard said the revitalization of Springfield's downtown plays a big role in bringing independent restaurants to the city.

"What you see as you go across the country is, as downtowns become revitalized, restaurants have been a big part of any area's revitalization. (Restaurateurs) are some of the earliest people to come in and be the risk-takers and take the chances, and that's where you see most of the independent growth in restaurants," he said.

Leonard said the low unemployment rate in the area has the same effect on the restaurant industry that it has on other types of companies it can be hard to find good workers. But he said he's proud of the employment practices of his industry.

"We give opportunities where other people haven't. (Restaurants) have more minorities; we have more women in management than any other industry," he said.

"My experience is that good people want to work for good managers. If you've got good managers, you tend to have good staff and you tend to have good retention. If you don't have those things, whether you're General Motors or Steak n Shake, you're going to have a staffing problem," Leonard added.