Ryan?s to open on East Kearney

South-Carolina-based Ryan's Family Steak Houses Inc., which operates a restaurant at 2501 S. Campbell in Spring-field, is building a second Springfield location at 1950 E. Kearney. According to Chuck Hoskins, director of real estate for Ryan's, the new 10,800-square-foot eatery should be completed and open by spring 2002.

"Springfield's a great market. Our first store ... has been doing well historically," Hos-kins said.

The South Campbell store opened March 13, 1990, Hoskins said, and the new store will differ in appearance and in the way it is operated.

"We have a new concept we call display cooking, where the kitchen is basically open to the public ... you can't walk back there, but it's visible, it's behind glass. And instead of ordering your entree, your steaks and so forth, you just walk up to the window, to the grill, and they'll give you a steak right off the grill," he said.

Hoskins added that all new stores built by Ryan's are constructed to utilize the display cooking concept, and to date, there are about 45 Ryan's restaurants using that method.

The South Campbell restaurant employs about 100 workers, and Hoskins said the employee base at the new eatery will be similar.

"During our largest shift, we have about 45 to 50 people working," he said.

The East Kearney location was chosen so that it would have some separation from the first store, but Hoskins said the corporation also likes to develop stores near retail operations, such as the Kmart close to the site.

Ryan's has an in-house construction department that is handling the design and construction of the new restaurant. Hoskins said once the new Ryan's is open, it will represent an investment of more than $2 million by the corporation.

Ryan's was founded in South Carolina in 1978 and there are now 333 Ryan's stores in operation, including about 15 in Missouri. Of those, Hoskins said, 23 Ryan's restaurants are franchised, while the remaining 310 stores including the two in Springfield are owned by the corporation.

Ryan's Family Steak Houses is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol "RYAN."