EMERGING BRANDS
LIFE AFTER DIVORCE FOR THE PARENT OF MAPLE & ASH
THE OWNERS OF THE TOP-GROSSING CHICAGO STEAKHOUSE ARE REBRANDING UNDER MAPLE HOSPITALITY GROUP AND PLAN TO UNLEASH AGGRESSIVE GROWTH IN 2025. BY LISA JENNINGS A s the dust settles from a long again this year and together report- ed $59 million in sales in 2023 with an average check of $160 per per- son.
uled to launch in December and will have several tiers as options to join, though details are not yet available. The growth push follows what had been years of litigation over ownership of Maple & Ash and its family of brands. Maple & Ash was developed ini- tially in 2015 by Lasky and former partner David Pisor under Chica- go-based What If Syndicate. But a legal battle over ownership erupted in 2022. A group of investors later got involved with their own lawsuit, which is ongoing. Early last year, however, Lasky and Pisor settled with an agreement to split the brands and go their sep- arate ways, what Grant calls “the divorce.” Pisor got Etta, Café Sophie and other brands that he later put un- der the banner Etta Collective. That company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, and was sold to Jo- hann Moonesinghe, founder of the restaurant tech firm InKind. Lasky, meanwhile, took Maple
and painful “business di- vorce,” the partners behind one of the highest grossing independent restaurant con- cepts in the country are ready to turn the page. Danny Grant, Jim Lasky and Matt Winn, the partners behind the Maple & Ash steakhouse in Chica- go and Scottsdale, Arizona, have rebranded under the newly created Maple Hospitality Group. And the group is ready for some aggressive growth across the coun- try, with three restaurants sched- uled to open next year, including a flagship Maple & Ash planned for Miami that will be twice the size of the original in Chicago. Anoth- er Maple & Ash location is also ex- pected to open in Boston later in the year. Maple & Ash is a perennial con- cept on the Restaurant Business Top 100 Independent Restaurant list. Both locations—Chicago and Scottsdale, Arizona—are on the list
Maple Hospitality Group also has two concepts in Dallas that will like- ly grow: Monarch, is a wood-fired modern Italian restaurant, and Kes- saku is a Japanese sushi and sake lounge. Eight Bar, a more casual sis- ter brand that so far has been paired with Maple & Ash, is also on deck for growth as a separate concept. New “passion project” concepts are being developed by the group in Santa Barbara, California, and New York City—though Grant, who is also the group’s chef, said they are not ready to reveal what they have in the works there just yet. And in addition to all that, Ma- ple Hospitality Group is launch- ing an exclusive membership club that will offer priority reservations, access to special events, and ser- vices like airport transfers direct to the restaurants and wine or tequi- la-tasting trips. The club is sched-
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS JANUARY 2025
PHOTO COURTESY: JOHN COLE
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