Headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. is an upscale, modern, and casual restaurant chain. Trading on the NASDAQ Global Market, the Company features affordable, high quality, family favorite menu items. In addition to food, they also have their own on-site brewery in each location. Founded in 1997, Granite City has a current market capitalization of $8.10 million.
The Company opened their first restaurant in St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1999. From there, they proceeded to open their next restaurant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in December of 2000. Next in line was their Fargo, North Dakota location, which opened in November of 2001. Today, Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. operates 25 restaurants in eleven Midwestern states.
The Company’s focus is on made-from-scratch recipes, which they serve to their patrons in generous portions. They also serve handcrafted beers in the moderate price point range. They produce unique styles and flavors of beers to distinguish themselves from the traditional brewing giants in the United States. Their beer lineup includes Duke of Wellington, their English Ale, and Broad Axe Stout, their authentic Irish beer. The beer line up also includes Brother Benedict Bock, or “The Bennie”, their German style lager, Northern Light Lager, or “The Northern” their American standard classic lager, as well as their Two-Pull! Specialty Brew a blend of their Northern Light and Mai Bock beers.
The Company has their patented brewing process called Fermentus Interruptus™. This process, allows Granite City to ship sweet liquid called “wort”, from their central brewing facility to individual stores. At the stores, the fermentation process begins and completion of the brewing takes place. They use Fermentus Interruptus at all of their locations, which makes micro brewing for multiple locations more efficient.
In July of this year, Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. opened their newest restaurant. The new Granite City Food & Brewery is in the South Bend/Mishawaka, Indiana area and is approximately 8,800 square feet. This new location contains seating for 250 guests and features their more than 85 menu items prepared from their made-from-scratch recipes.
Last month, Granite City announced the promotion of Darius Gilanfar to the role of Chief Operating Officer. He will now oversee Field Operations, Purchasing, and Kitchen Management. Mr. Gilanfar came on board as the SVP of Operations in September of 2007. He has over 20 years of combined restaurant experience with The Cheesecake Factory, Brinker International, and Barnes & Noble’s Starbuck’s Division.
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