Pieces of this news continue to emerge, notably that chef Greg Auten, part of the partnership that took over from originator Jim Ballentine, says he is returning to Plaza-Midwood's Penguin, and that the current plan is for a partnership that will do much renovation and refining, then franchise it, while the original stays the property of the Ballentine family. (Ballentine opened the iconic place in the mid 1950s, and his family has owned it, and the Penguin name and logo, continuously since then.)
The story so far: Facebook posts and Twitter tweets, confirmed with a manager at the restaurant, announced the Penguin would no longer be operated as it's been, as of Oct. 24.
A lengthy conversation with Auten and Martin Sprock, formerly of Raving Brands, brought this:
Ballentine's family, which owns the building, approached Sprock about two months ago, says Sprock. He had talked to them a few years ago, asking if they'd be interested in allowing him to franchise the operation. As founder of Raving Brands, a holding company which has Flying Biscuit and Monkey Joe's, among other concepts, he was interested in the Penguin. At the time, the Ballentines refused, he says.
Auten, who has cooking experience at Providence Cafe and Alexander Michael's, says he left the Penguin about five months ago, because he wanted "to have more of my own thing." He pursued opening Pinky's, at the corner of Freedom Drive and Morehead Street.
Pinky's will now become the second Penguin, according to plans, say both Auten and Sprock, shooting to open in mid October.
Current Penguin operators Brian Rowe and Jimmy King announced in April that they had become partners in the sale of the Diamond nearby, which closed for extensive renovations.
Discussions seem to be continuing -- Sprock said he had a meeting this morning with the Ballentines, and I've been told other meetings are going on. Stay tuned!
Monday, September 20, 2010
More on Penguin: Greg Auten returns
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32 comments:
Franchise is a Latin term meaning never, ever as good as the original.
Why do people always feel the need to screw up something good?
Good luck with that.
There goes the shark...
Whatever happened to the Penguin Uptown at Ally Cats? Not as good as the original... and it closed.
Refine it and franchise it? Might as well just turn it into a Five Guys then. This makes me sad. Better get a full-blown hemi before it's too late.
I am utterly disappointed and a bit angry to read this. I am a restauranteur and when asked just two days ago what is my favorite restaurant in Charlotte my reply was "the Penguin". I have been a long time customer and promoter of the place. Raving Brands is an unscrupulous franchise company that destroys good restaurants. A good example of this is the Flying Biscuit which was a wonderful Atlanta based restaurant before they took them over and ruined the concept. This is a greedy move that will lead to the demise of one of our BEST places in Charlotte. I really cannot believe that I am reading this, hopefully the deal won't go through.......
My wife and I had lunch at The Penguin a couple of time. Bojangles is better.
What's so good about the Penguin? We ate there ONCE. The hamburger meat was gray and pretty gross. The french-fries were good...but then again, Crinkle-Cuts right out of the bag are always good.
The place is going to die. No one who supported Jimmy and Brian over the years will set foot in there again.
The Penguin SUCKS. Ate there once -- rude service, lackluster food. Good riddance. What I'm *really* upset about is the Diamond. What's this about extensive renovations? I liked the 60s/70s look!!
Haters stay in Ballantyne and out of my neighborhood!
The place was a vacant shell before Brian & Jimmy got it. Built it up from nothing, and now it's leveraged out from under them. It's a raw deal and the neighborhood will not let it go unnoticedpunished. Neighborhood joints run by neighborhood people for neighborhood people!
I say see what happens. If they are going to bring back the chef that made it what it is now, then they certainly aren't going to change it into something else that won't survive. People are always afraid of change. Well, folks, this doesn't look like change as much as it is going back to what it once was. Welcome home, Greg!
Going back to what it was would be recognizing it as a unique place, awesome in its individualism, and letting it continue to flourish!
Even scarier that the franchisers were involved with the Flying Biscuit shenanigans. Fake-indie-arty will always be glaringly obvious.
I was panicking when I first heard the news of the ownership change, but this may not be that big of a deal. There will be two Penguins now with Greg back at the helm in the kitchen, and I hate that Brian and Jimmy got the shaft, but now they get a chance to start their own place free of the old ownership. Having a few competing restaurants in midwood could actually make the neighborhood even cooler.
Repetition may be the sincerest form of flattery, but quirky places like the Penguin don't do well with mass marketing.
Please leave the original concept alone, a gigantic part of the charm is the originality of the staff and the eclectic mix of the patrons.
When you go mass market you tend to focus too much on the blandness that will appeal to a larger population. The Penguin is not McDonalds.
Jimmy and Brian are the Penguin, and the neighborhood knows that. Where they go will be THE place to go drink cheap beers and get a burger. The recipes aint complicated, but the atmosphere can't be duplicated.
Come on, Charlotte loves a franchise or chain. Don't believe me? Look in any Pf Changs, Salsarita, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bonefish, Cookout Carrabas, Chickfila, FroYo, Pinkbery, ect.ect.(I could go on and on and on) parking lot. You might have trouble finding a spot.
I just read a blogger who said, even the Panthers are starting to have that franchise feel to them. Charlotte loves a franchise. Give the people what they want. Chain gang unite.
what's wrong with ballantyne? :)
Most of Charlotte might like a franchise, but not the real people in Plaza Midwood. And I don't mean the people who move to PM from the yuppy suburbs just because it's trendy.
There was an Italian salumeria in my old neighborhood in Brooklyn. You may recognize the name, Sbarro. It was franchised, but the family got to keep the original. To see it, and then the franchises is a stark contrast. Anyone who's been to one knows what I'm talking about. The old original is about as close to what you find in Italy as you can get in the U.S.. The franchises are turnpike service area trash. Leave the real deal alone is the moral of the story.
I love how people in PM think they are so trendy. Take a shower and mow your grass! I guess its a trendy area when its not safe to walk after dark unless your armed. Losers!
To all of the people posting on this board who think this is just "hipsters" not wanting their hangout to go into the hands of "the man" and franchise:
The real deal seems to be when Mr. Auten sold his interests in the (real) Penguin to the other partners, he may have, with the other constituents, already formed an alliance to leverage and sell the Penguin brand, take wholesale ownership of the intellectual property that was forged over 10+ years by King/Rowe/Auten, and force his partners out with no compensation or recourse. That is dirty, backstabbing B.S..
that's what this community cannot tolerate, should it prove to be accurate. That is the real issue. That is why we are boycotting.
I thought Charlotte just imported franchises. Will Penguin be our first export?
It's all that damn Guy Fieri's fault.
If they take away the character of the Penguin by franchising it, I will NEVER eat there again. What a shame to destroy a one and only original by duplication. Shame on the owners! Shame!
Just seems people here in Charlotte feel it HAS to be good if it has more then one location.
The first location of a "brand name" may start off as the best when it hits its popularity mark. Sadly, when they open others under that "brand name" even the original suffers greatly. It's never the same.
They are benefiting from the names popularity. More then one location, does not impress me but it seems to do the trick for the majority here.
Seems people here in Charlotte think it HAS to be good if it has more then one location.
The original location of a "brand name" might start off to be the best, but sadly, even the original location suffers greatly and is never the same.
They are simply benefiting from the "brand name" popularity.
More then one location does not impress me but it seems to do the trick for the majority here. SAD.
For any of you that think that Greg coming back to the penguin is a good idea...you have no idea. Funny thing is, ask any employee that has worked at the bird in the last 5 years and they will tell you the minute Greg stepped back from the kitchen and Jason took over things had never run so smoothly....and this is straight from the source.
Why all the hatefull comments? Jim Ballentine opened The Penguin in 1954- and operated the place for 50 years though good and bad times. A lot of people respected that man for his hard work. No one ever left that place hungry- even if you didn't have a dime on you. When Jim retired, he handed these new guys the keys to one of the longest established restaurants in Charlotte. Even let them keep the original phone number. The new guys even commented in the newspaper how amazing it was to have customers waiting in line the first day they opened the door... and how they wanted to continue in the tradition of Jim Ballentine's original Penguin. Yes they've brought in a new crowd- but I never go in there I don't see someone from back in the day. And plenty of that old crowd lamented when the Penguin lost Jim. So all you, stop the hate. Three guys few of you knew in 2000 have become famous standing on the shoulders of a heroic WWII Vet named Jim Ballentine. Jim never took well to fighting at the Penguin. Show some respect.
As a resident of Plaza Midwood, I am saddened by all of you people that DON'T live in our neighborhood trying to hurt any local business here. Greg AND Jimmy should both have successful restaurants, that's what is good for us...not you "hipsters" that come and go and do nothing but complain (and pee on our lawns).
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