April 1, 2015 Updated Apr 1, 2015 at 4:21 PM CDT

Duluth, MN (NNCNOW.com) -- This protest might have happened on April Fools Day, but it was no joke.

Nearly 20 protesters held their ground for five hours to protest the construction at the Dunkin' Donuts site in Duluth on Wednesday.

Construction began last week at the site located at 104 W Central Entrance near Miller Hill Mall.

The restaurant will be owned and operated by Donco, LLC, which is headquartered in Hinkley, Minn.

The company hired Mark Haug Construction, based out of Pine City, Minn., to do the construction work; however, a construction worker tells us that Haug is not unionized.

The protesters were picketing because non-local construction workers were hired, and because Haug is not unionized, according to a construction worker.

The construction workers say they will not be surprised if the protesters are back at it on Thursday.

The company's CEO says they plan to open six more shops in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin over the next two to three years.

Dunkin' Donuts has told us the following in response to the protesters:

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Nearly 20 protesters demonstrate outside Duluth's Dunkin' Donuts construction site

Construction resumes Monday on the Beaverdale Streetscape project in Des Moines.

City officials said the work will run April 6-17. It's starting about 9 a.m. Monday.

Street closures will be part of the construction so work can be completed on underground storm sewers.

City officials said a 100-foot section of Beaver Avenue will be closed in the 2700 block. Urbandale Avenue is expected to remain open during the construction.

Two-way traffic will be routed onto the east side of Beaver Avenue while work is being performed on the west part of the roadway starting April 17.

Construction on the nearly $1.8 million streetscaping project started in May 2014. The improvements are being made from Beavercrest Drive and north to near Christopher's Restaurant along Beaver Avenue. A big goal of the project is to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment.

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Construction resuming on major metro street Monday

Winston-Salem, North Carolina (PRWEB) March 31, 2015

Red Hot & Blue Restaurants, Inc. President, Randy McCann, confirmed that the national barbecue restaurant chain is opening a new location this month in Cary, North Carolina.

Two years in planning, building and designing, the Cary Red Hot & Blue restaurant is located in the Waverly Shopping Center at the corner of Tryon and Kildaire Farm Roads and is slated to open in April 2015. Red Hot & Blue is a full-service, casual-themed barbecue restaurant and full service caterer. Red Hot & Blue smokes barbecue on premise fresh daily, the old-fashioned waylow and slowover hickory logs so the enticing aroma envelopes your senses as you enter the restaurant. The menu features delicious hickory-smoked meats including: award-winning ribs, authentic Memphis-style barbecue, hickory-smoked chicken wings, smoked sausage, fresh beef burgers, Southern-fried seafood, salads and Southern homemade sides and desserts. The atmosphere is steeped in legendary and contemporary blues music and delivers a large dose of Southern hospitality in a fun and entertaining dining environment.

The location in Cary will mark the third Red Hot & Blue restaurant to open in North Carolina. There currently are two other Red Hot & Blue locations in the North State in Raleigh at 6615 Falls of Neuse Road and Winston-Salem at 613 Deacon Boulevard. In addition, there are 10 restaurants in the Washington DC area, 6 restaurants in Texas and one in Missouri and New Jersey. Red Hot & Blue is currently seeking new franchise/owners to open locations throughout the United States. Franchise information is available at: http://www.redhotandblue.com/central/franchise

Todd Chriscoe is the Operating Partner at the soon-to-be-opened Red Hot & Blue restaurant and is a North Carolina native who grew up with barbecue in his blood. Chriscoes father and family friends held regular pig-picking events. So even as a young man it has been second nature to Chriscoe to stoke a hickory fire, to cook the porklow and slowto seal in the delicious smoked flavor of authentic barbecue.

The process to bring fresh smoked BBQ to the residents in Cary was a labor of love. Chriscoe, Bill Holt and Stephen Bell discussed opening a second Red Hot & Blue franchise in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area for several years. Currently, Holt and Bell own/operate the Red Hot & Blue restaurant at 6615 Falls of Neuse Road in Raleigh, NC. When a property became available at the new Waverly Place Shopping Center in Cary, NCthe discussions immediately materialized into construction plans.

Robert Friedman, Publisher of Attorney At Law Magazine in the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle community was excited when he heard that Red Hot & Blue was opening a new restaurant close to his home. Friedman said, "The North Raleigh Red Hot & Blue serves incredible BBQ. Now they're bringing people of Cary a treat (again)! Waverly Place in Carythe onceand future home of Red Hot & Blue for great Memphis BBQ in NC."

Since the day construction began, numerous dedicated Red Hot & Blue fans have stopped by the new location asking when the BBQ will start smoking on the pits and we are pleased to announce that everything is in place to serve the Cary community in April, said Red Hot & Blue President, Randy McCann.

More information is available at: [http://www.redhotandblue.com/cary

About Red Hot & Blue Restaurants, Incorporated: Red Hot & Blue Restaurants, Inc. was named in the top 3 Best Barbecue Chains in America according to The Daily Meal article originally published on March 5, 2014. Editor Dan Myers sifted through regional preferences to funnel the most popular chains in his list of 10 Best Barbecue chains in America. Criteria for selection was based on: local renown, consistency of food across all the locations, adherence to traditional barbecue techniques like low and slow on-premise smoking, atmosphere and most importantly, if the food tastes good. The full article may found online at: http://www.thedailymeal.com/10-best-barbecue-chains-america/3414

Link:
Red Hot & Blue BBQ Restaurant Set To Open in Cary, NC in April

A new restaurant due to open in the US is claimed to be the largest in the country to be built using shipping containers. The Smoky Park Supper Club in Asheville, North Carolina, is constructed from 19 containers and was built by shipping container construction firm SG Blocks.

The Smoky Park Supper Club sits on a 1.8 acre (7,284 sq m) site on the side of the French Broad River, allowing customers to arrive by car, foot, bike or boat. The site was formerly brownfield and so required a thorough clean-up operation prior to the start of construction.

SG BLocks vice president of sales and business development David Cross tells Gizmag that it takes 8,000 kWh of energy to melt down used shipping containers and only 500 kWh to reuse them for construction. He estimates that, in using shipping containers, the construction of the Smoky Park Supper Club saved a potential 142,500 kWh of energy.

In order to reuse the containers, they must first be stripped of any exterior coatings. They can then have fresh coatings applied and be prepared for installation.

It took three days to install the 19 containers used to construct the Smoky Park Supper Club. Cross says the build could have been completed in one-and-a-half days, but that it was decided to take more time and progress methodically. In addition, the extra time taken helped to minimize the increase in traffic caused by the transportation of the containers.

The project, including initial contact and design, started in 2011, with the build being completed in May last year. The restaurant is due to open this (northern) spring, with the time since installation having been taken to complete the post-build work.

The video below is a timelapse of the Smoky Park Supper Club being built.

Sources: Smoky Park Supper Club, SG Blocks

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Biggest shipping container restaurant in US gets ready to take its first booking

The long wait for a waterfront restaurant on the underdeveloped East River is coming to an end.

After months of delays, Industry Kitchen will open in mid-April at 70 South St., near Maiden Lane and Pier 15, Side Dish has learned.

Super Storm Sandy stopped construction on the 5,000 square-foot restaurant from Merchants Hospitality Group in 2012.

The indoor/outdoor 300-seat concept, designed by hotshot ShoP Architects, was chosen by the citys Economic Development Corporation to help develop the lagging waterfront.

The city wants to open up the riverfront to residents, with plans to develop a public beach, parks and other forms of recreation, especially along the neglected section from the Brooklyn Bridge north to 38th Street.

Industry Kitchen will be a rare high-end eatery on that once-industrial stretch underneath the elevated FDR Drive.

The views will include the city skyline, the harbor and the Williamsburg and Brooklyn bridges.

The executive chef is Marco Arnold. From an open kitchen, Arnold will oversee seasonal American cuisine fresh pastas, grilled meats, fish, vegetables, salads and pizzas from two large custom-made wood-burning ovens.

Custom cocktails and craft beers are also part of the menu. Desserts will include a caramelized chocolate pizza extravaganza and there will also be a brunch menu featuring sunny side up eggs onpizza.

The spot is the latest from owner Abraham Merchant, who lives nearby in Battery Park City and has a long list of well-known eateries, including Philippe by Philippe Chow, Clinton Hall,SouthWest NY, Merchants NY Cigar Bar and Merchants River House.

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East Rivers Kitchen set for April

Maketto. Such a tease.

The seemingly forever-in-progress restaurant/market from Toki Underground's Erik Bruner-Yang and DURKL's Will Sharp hasbeen on local "Most anticipated openings" lists for three years in a row. But there's finally an opening date: April 10, 2015, with a pre-party on April 4.

We've added that 2015 in the date because this is not the first time we've been told that Maketto will open in April.

In fact, there have been many overly optimisticpredictions of Maketto's opening date over the past few years, many of which were our own.

2012

June 4, 2012: "As of right now, it is hard to tell, but the goal is early next year." -- Erik Bruner-Yang in Eater

August 8, 2012: "[Maketto]is aiming for a Spring 2013 opening." -- Shilpi Paul, DC Urban Turf

2013

March 25, 2013: "On the weekends, Bruner-Yang envisions a full dim-sum menu and a farmers market in the open-air space out back. He expects all this to happen in six months, too, although demolition just recently began." -- Tim Carman, The Washington Post

July 8, 2013: "Maketto, DURKL's Will Sharp and Bruner-Yangs modern mixed-retail and restaurant marketplace located at 1351 H Street NE, is not set to open until late 2013." -- H Street Great Street

Excerpt from:
Every Maketto opening-date prediction since 2012

The sixth hole of the newly refurbished St. Mark Executive Golf Course at the Lakehouse Hotel & Resort in Lake San Marcos.

LAKE SAN MARCOS A new restaurant and an upgraded executive golf course will debut this week in Lake San Marcos at the Lakehouse Hotel & Resort.

The Tap In Tavern, a 70-seat eatery that will serve 25 microbrews, and the revamped golf course are the latest improvements undertaken by Eat Drink Sleep, the company that took over hospitality operations three years ago at the 50-year-old resort community on San Marcos southern border.

Brett Miller, CEO for Eat Drink Sleep, said his company has been gradually but steadily modernizing the buildings and grounds of the communitys hotel, restaurants and golf courses. Because of the dilapidated condition of some of the rundown properties, it has taken quite a bit of time and money.

Two years ago, the company revamped the resorts 250-acre hotel property. The newly renamed Lakehouse Hotel & Resort was honored in 2014 as one of the Top 25 Hotels in the U.S. in the TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Awards.

Since then, the focus has been on improving the resorts recreation and dining offerings, said Miller, whose company also runs the upscale Tower23 Hotel and JRDN Restaurant in Pacific Beach.

Lake San Marcos has two 18-hole golf courses, which have been collectively renamed the St. Mark Golf Club. The full-length 7,000-yard course was renovated first, with the addition of new water hazards and an overhaul of the greens. On Tuesday, the renovated St. Mark Executive Golf Course will reopen at 1556 Camino del Arroyo, San Marcos.

The renovation, which cost more than $1.75 million, includes a new 2,700-yard, par-58 design, new tee boxes, a new putting green, a golf simulator machine and updated clubhouse.

As part of that renovation, the old pro shop was gutted and converted into the Tap In Tavern, which Miller said should open either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Miller said he hopes the restaurant will become a popular community gathering spot.

Link:
New restaurant at Lake San Marcos

Joseph Voll and Robert Dunn were business partners in a pair of restaurants in Connecticut called Macdaddys Macaroni & Cheese Bar. One restaurant was held in what would be known shorthand as the Monroe LLC, and the other similarly as the Fairfield LLC. A third company without a restaurant, the Management LLC, provided operational services to both Monroe LLC and Fairfield LLC.

Voll and Dunn owned all three LLCs as 50%-50% members, with the idea that profits would flow up from Monroe LLC and Fairfield LLC into the Management LLC, which would then distribute the profits equally to Voll and Dunn.

Voll was a construction general contractor, and he contributed the moneys and labor to build the first restaurant, which would go into Monroe LLC. For his 50%, Dunn contributed the concept, menus, and operational support. Dunn then was working as an investment broker, but soon agreed to give up that job and work at Monroe LLC on a full-time basis.

The first Macdaddys opened on July 4, 2011, but even before the concept was proven to be viable on a long-term basis, Voll and Dunn started looking for a second location only a few months later. The two decided on a location, and cut a deal with the property owner whereby Voll, Dunn, the property owner and his wife (the latter two, the Swansons, taking profits in lieu of rent), would all be 25% owners in the second company, being the Fairfield LLC. Certain licensing fees and royalties would also be paid to Management LLC, which was owned only by Voll and Dunn.

Apparently, there was not enough profit to sustain Dunns financial needs, and so beginning in January, 2012, Voll started loaning him $4,000 per month.

The second Macdaddys finally opened in September, 2012, and it was to be run by the Swansons. However, about the time that Macdaddys opened, the Swansons had some medical emergency and were unable to manage that restaurant, so Dunn started managing both Macdaddys. (At some point, apparently, the Swansons ceased to be members in Fairfield LLC, leaving only Voll and Dunn as the remaining 50%-50% members).

Unbeknownst to Voll, investment banker Dunn had never run a restaurant successfully, and he also had sticky fingers. Only 10 days after the July 1, 2011, opening of the first Macdaddys, Dunn started taking unauthorized withdrawals from Monroe LLC, depositing $21,150 in cash into this TD Bank account from July, 2011, to February, 2012, and depositing another $17,600 in cash into his Jordans Future, LLC (named for his daughter), from August, 2011, to May, 2012. Dunn disguised the payments as management fees or consulting fees, etc., on the checks, which were never authorized by the Monroe LLC or Voll.

Dunn also took another $5,750 in unauthorized draws from Monroe LLC, and further used Monroe LLCs assets to barter for goods and services for his home, including lawn care services and firewood deliveries, for $6,320. A later reconciliation of Monroe LLCs books against its point-of-sale system showed a cash shortfall of $39,425 between June, 2012 and November 15, 2012. Dunn also diverted the insurance proceeds from Hurricane Sandys damage into a second bank account that he opened in the name of Monroe LLC but didnt tell Voll.

The rest is here:
The MacDaddy Of All Intra-Member Charging Order Versus Levy Disputes In Voll

DETROIT -

A new restaurant is opening this summer in Detroit's First National Building.

Central Kitchen + Bar is slated to start serving in July.

The opening was announced Thursday by local entrepreneurs Dennis Archer, Jr. and Christopher Brochert with partner and general manager, Ken Karam, and the restaurant is expected to bring approximately 50 new jobs to citys central business district.

We could not be more excited to help breathe life back into this space and open our doors in the heart of the city, said Archer, Jr. We have incredible partners from Bedrock to our design and culinary teams with a shared commitment to growing the citys food scene in a way that is inclusive and accessible to every kind of diner.

The design plans to include nearly 130 seats, 24 of which will be patio seating with views of Cadillac Square and Campus Martius Park.

Construction began on March 16 and will continue until the opening in July.

The restaurant is currently accepting applications for bartenders, servers, hosts, kitchen staff and management-level positions.

For more information on Central or employment opportunities, please visit http://www.centraldetroit.com.

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New restaurant coming to Detroit's First National Building

Phoenix, Ore. -- Construction can be a sign of growth, but for some local business owners, development on the Fern Valley Interchange in Phoenix has meant just the opposite for their revenue. Owners say they're hurting as a result of the construction, but they also see future potential.

Starting a new family run restaurant is challenging in and of itself, but when you add nearby construction to the mix, it can be a real struggle.

Natesha and Joe Martinez, owners of Joe's Restaurant in Phoenix on Highway 99, know this all to well.

"We are stressed to the max of course," says Natesha.

They opened their doors early last year, around the time construction on the Fern Valley Interchange began.

"We started thinking should we sell, should we get out now? I knew, wowthis is going to be challenging," she explains.

Martinez fears construction is keeping patrons from sitting in her many open tables.

"People just kind of avoid this area and do a loop around the area," she says.

It's a similar story for the Shoppes at Exit 24. Amy Hastings, owner of Ladybug Outdoor Gardens says long time customers don't mind the traffic, but new business is down.

ODOT says business owners can put up their ownsigns to show they are operating through construction. Doing so may be a good idea, as the brunt of the construction hasn't even begun.

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Construction hurts business