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KFAN the Restaurant isn’t your typical sports
bar
by Rich Timlen
Grab a seat in the skyboxes, watch the Golden
Gophers or Minnesota Twins on one of the 45 wide-screen plasma TVs and sit down
with a cold beer and a porterhouse steak. Oh, and if you have a very
understanding fiancee she might even agree to have a wedding reception in one of
the two banquet halls at KFAN The Restaurant.
The 24,000 sq.ft. eatery isn’t your typical sports bar. It boasts of its banquet
rooms, one of which can be divided, so called “Skyboxes,” its 200-person staff
and its top-notch food, which includes items like “The Franchise,” a 16-ounce
porterhouse honoring Minnesota Timberwolves broadcaster Chad Hartman, as well as
wood-fired pizzas and pasta dishes, grilled chicken, seafood and a $20 Kobe beef
burger. Also, the restaurant will have a live broadcast from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
from a hosted radio booth at the location. KFAN is being operated by Grand
Management, which runs a chain of Sidney’s and Decoy’s restaurants in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area. An on-site KFAN store will sell sweatshirts,
T-shirts and other branded merchandise.
The restaurant opened in December at a site formerly occupied by Lido’s Italian
Market & Café Bar. The restaurant’s developers expect to do at least $10 million
a year in business. If the concept does well, the company plans a nationwide
expansion, with future markets listed as Seattle, WA; Cleveland, OH;
Indianapolis, IN; San Antonio, TX; New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA.
The restaurant was the idea of Mick Anselmo with Clear Channel Communications,
Inc., which owns KFAN and more than 1,200 other U.S. radio stations. Anselmo
wanted to expand the company’s identity by something other than advertising.
KFAN is an all-sports station that broadcasts local and national talk shows, as
well as live games. The station’s programming is also simulcast on 10 other
Clear Channel stations in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
The company will most likely receive competition from ESPNZone, which features a
sports theme with game rooms and broadcasts of ESPN shows. ESPN currently
operates eight locations nationwide, with its first site at Baltimore’s Inner
Harbor. However, KFAN executives are planning on basing their locations around
the communities whereas ESPN caters to tourists. And, unlike ESPN, the sites
offer banquet halls, which can accommodate high school and college sports
banquets, weddings and business meetings. The restaurant has the Roseville Room,
which is on the lower level and can seat up to 80 people. For business
luncheons, the room has full audio and video hook-ups, including power point
capability with laptop hookup. The audio/video amenities include a 130-inch
projection screen, wireless microphones, streaming video, a podium, a dry erase
board, as well as a plasma TV with VCR/DVD players.
The Twin Cities Room is located on the lower level and can hold up to 250
guests. This room can also be divided into two smaller rooms that can
accommodate 150 and 100 people, has a reception lounge, coat check and a
full-service bar and a dance floor. The meal options including wait service that
can circulate with appetizers to full-course dinners.
The Minneapolis and St. Paul Suites is located on the second floor, and offers
views of the bar and the KFAN broadcasting booth. Each suite can hold up to 25
people or can be combined to hold 50.
The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. until 2 a.m. from Monday through Saturday
and from 11 a.m. until midnight on Sunday.
For more information, contact Sarah Goldenstein, KFAN The Restaurant, 2801
Snelling Avenue, Roseville, MN 55113; 651-287-1307 or 651-287-9100, Fax
651-287-1344.
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