P-Beau’s, a Denham Springs restaurant closed for about a year after a fire, will reopen in the coming weeks, says Peter Sclafani, partner with Making Raving Fans Hospitality Group.
The group also plans to bring its SoLou concept to new markets and may look to revitalize other existing brands, he says. MRF recently parted ways with Juban’s, which it helped to reopen in 2022.
Sclafani says he initially thought P-Beau’s could be reopened a few weeks after the small fire, which happened overnight while the restaurant was closed, but the smoke damage was more significant than he first realized. He doesn’t have a firm reopening date but is shooting for the first week of November.
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Sclafani also says the group would like to expand SoLou along the Interstate 10 corridor from Houston to Jacksonville, Florida over the next 10 years, adding that he is currently negotiating a potential lease in an undisclosed location. He mentions Lafayette, Metairie and the Mississippi Gulf Coast as potential early targets for expansion, though if a great spot came open in Florida, they might jump on it.
Following the success of the Juban’s revamp, MRF is considering other management opportunities. Sclafini says he is also a partner in Phil’s Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant, which is not an MRF restaurant, so he has deep experience with refreshing familiar businesses.
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“You don’t want to completely change an iconic brand,” he says. “How do we take something that people know and love, but make it more relevant for today?”
Revitalizing familiar brands is a mini-trend in the Baton Rouge hospitality scene; you can read more about that in Business Report.
This story originally appeared in an Oct. 23 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.