City Group Hospitality has acquired Beausoleil Restaurant & Bar, a contemporary Louisiana-style eatery in Bocage.
The hospitality group announced the acquisition from the Juban Restaurant Group on Facebook Aug. 4, saying there are plans to reopen the restaurant and that the group has retained longtime operator and part owner Jeff Conaway on staff. Based at Beausoleil, Conaway will work as City Group Hospitality’s director of culinary operations.
While the name and basic concept will remain the same, there will be some menu changes, says Stephen Hightower, managing partner of City Group Hospitality, though he notes the much-loved truffle oysters will stay on the menu. He hopes to reopen the restaurant within the next month and a half.
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“City Group hopes to retain many of the current staff with a fresh culture installation of hospitality, an interior remodel, and a revitalization of the Beausoleil menu,” Hightower says.
The acquisition expands the group’s portfolio to six businesses, which consist of Rouj Creole, City Pork Brasserie & Bar, City Pork LSU, City Pork Catering and City Slice Pints & Pizza.
Michael Boudreaux, managing partner of the Juban Restaurant Group, says the decision to sell the restaurant was not related to its recent closure or to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
For the past year he says they’ve been considering selling the business to Hightower, who Boudreaux says he’s known for several years. It worked because he knew Hightower was looking to expand his portfolio of restaurants.
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“We knew we only had a year left on the lease and we’ve been talking about different opportunities,” Boudreaux says, adding that there are no plans to sell the other three restaurants in the Juban Restaurant Group, which include Juban’s, Adrian’s and Christina’s.
“We’re gonna pass through (these times),” Hightower says. “We will someday become normal again, and if we don’t, I’m not gonna change my career, we just have to adapt and survive.”
This story originally appeared in Daily Report‘s Aug. 4, edition. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.