The
Milwaukee Athletic Club has contracted
Benson’s Restaurant Group, the operator of several popular downtown restaurants, to head up catering and event management for portions of its historic venue at 758 N. Broadway.
Benson's announced the new partnership on Friday, saying it marks a "significant investment" in its growing catering and events division. Under the multi-year agreement, which begins this month, Benson's will oversee all operations for the MAC's event spaces and ballroom, which are available for public event rentals.
Benson's is leasing the event space from the MAC and will establish a full catering kitchen on-site. The team will absorb the MAC's current event sales and event staff and fulfill all current event contracts, according to a news release.
The club's members-only rooftop restaurant as well as the public Elephant Room bar will remain under Milwaukee Athletic Club management.
[gallery columns="2" size="full" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="546596,546533"]
Benson's Restaurant Group is a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based
Marcus Investments. Its restaurant properties include
Onesto,
Blue Bat Kitchen,
Smoke Shack and
The Edison, all in the Third Ward,
AJ Bombers on North Water Street downtown and
The Bridgewater Modern Grill in Bay View.
The group was formerly known as Hospitality Democracy, founded in 2000 by restaurateurs Angie and Joe Sorge. Marcus Investments fully acquired the business in 2018 and rebranded it as Benson's in 2022. Since the rebrand, the group has opened two new restaurant locations (The Bridgewater and The Edison).
"Benson’s is thrilled to bring our culinary creativity and exceptional service to the Milwaukee Athletic Club,” said
David Marcus, CEO of Marcus Investments. “We are excited to build on the venue’s already stellar reputation by introducing our own distinctive flavors and unparalleled event expertise.”
[caption id="attachment_547112" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Tony Janowiec of Interstate Development Partners and Josh Jeffers of J. Jeffers & Company, pose for a photo in the rooftop bar of the newly restored Milwaukee Athletic Club building, 758 N. Broadway.
Photo by Cara Spoto[/caption]
The agreement with Benson's comes roughly three years after the MAC
completed a major $65 million renovation to its century-old, 13-story building and business restructuring. The project, which faced several obstacles including disruption by the COVID-19 pandemic, was led by developer of
Josh Jeffers, founder and CEO of Milwaukee-based
J. Jeffers & Co., and
Tony Janowiec, founder and CEO of Milwaukee-based
Interstate Development Partners. Jeffers and Janowiec are part of a group of investors that now oversees the club's management and operations.
Earlier this year in a letter to members, obtained by BizTimes, Janowiec explained the profitability challenges the MAC's public events arm was facing due to high overhead costs and said the club was searching for a third-party operator to take over those operations. In a more recent letter (also obtained by BizTimes) announcing the partnership with Benson's, Janowiec said the club considered several options and chose Benson's for its "well-established record of delivering consistently high-quality experiences."
He also noted that the club's signature events, including family holiday brunches, wine dinners, Boxing Night, Cigar Club, will continue and expand under Benson's management. Benson's will have in-house staff members at the MAC, and MAC event staff will have the option to work at other Benson’s locations during slower periods.
