As the dust settles from a long and painful “business divorce,” the partners behind one of the highest grossing independent restaurant concepts in the country are ready to turn the page.
Danny Grant, Jim Lasky and Matt Winn, the partners behind the Maple & Ash steakhouse in Chicago and Scottsdale, Arizona, have rebranded under the newly created Maple Hospitality Group.
And the group is ready for some aggressive growth across the country, with three restaurants scheduled to open next year, including a flagship Maple & Ash planned for Miami that will be twice the size of the original in Chicago. Another Maple & Ash location is also expected to open in Boston later in the year.
Maple & Ash is a perennial concept on the Restaurant Business Top 100 Independent Restaurant list. Both locations—Chicago and Scottsdale, Arizona—are on the list again this year and together reported $59 million in sales in 2023 with an average check of $160 per person.
Maple Hospitality Group also has two concepts in Dallas that will likely grow: Monarch, is a wood-fired modern Italian restaurant, and Kessaku is a Japanese sushi and sake lounge. Eight Bar, a more casual sister 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.
Danny Grant, chef and partner, Maple Hospitality Group. | Photo courtesy of Maple Hospitality Group.
And in addition to all that, Maple Hospitality Group is launching an exclusive membership club that will offer priority reservations, access to special events, and services like airport transfers direct to the restaurants and wine or tequila-tasting trips. The club is scheduled 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 initially in 2015 by Lasky and former partner David Pisor under Chicago-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 separate ways, what Grant calls “the divorce.”
Pisor got Etta, Café Sophie and other brands that he later put under the banner Etta Collective. That company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, and was sold to Johann Moonesinghe, founder of the restaurant tech firm InKind.
Lasky, meanwhile, took Maple & Ash, Monarch and Kessaku and, with Grant and Winn, returned to their plans for expansion, which had been on hold.
Giving up the once-four-unit Etta concept hurt, said Grant.
“Etta was my baby. It was very personal to me. It was sad to let go,” he said. “But, as you make decisions and look to the future, those are the hard ones you need to make.”
Since the separation, Maple Hospitality has added the new Eight Bar to the first floor of the original Maple & Ash in Chicago.
The more casual Eight Bar is an option for diners who want to swing by on a whim, where Maple & Ash is more of special occasion that requires booking well ahead and “tidying up.”
“Maple & Ash is more a planned, celebratory evening out. Eight Bar can be, ‘What should we do tonight? Oh, let’s go to Eight Bar,’” said Grant. “I can take off my tie and roll up my sleeves.”
In Miami, both concepts will open together, with Eight Bar on the first floor and Maple & Ash upstairs.
Grant said it is being designed to become the “crown jewel” of the group. The location is almost twice the size of the unit in Chicago. The Miami Maple & Ash will be about 5,500-square feet in a new development across the street from the stadium where Miami Heat play basketball, so people can pop in after a game.
“Miami will be the biggest restaurant that we’ll, quite possible, ever open—though whenever I say ‘ever,’ I end up saying later, ‘Well, I was wrong there,’” said Grant.
The location will also include extra space for the members club events or special activations.
And the availability of space gave Grant the opportunity to create the kitchen of his dreams, he said. “This will be a new toy I can really push the limits on.”
There, for example, he will have the chance to develop a menu specifically for Eight Bar, diving into the Japanese and French influences that Grant said has long held a sweet spot in his heart.
Miami Maple & Ash’s menu will also include more dishes “on the delicate side” that fit with the climate and clientele, he added. “Sometimes when you’re grilling, it eats a little heavy. So we’re looking at using steamers and cooking things a bit more gentle.”
The menu at Maple & Ash in Chicago. | Photo courtesy of Matt Haas.
Fundamentally, Grant said the group has its house in order. Now it has a second chance to refine the vision and fix missteps.
“Any kind of divorce, whether business or personal, is not enjoyable in any capacity. But having that behind us is huge,” said Grant. “And anytime you do something the second time around, you do it better.”