FORT WAYNE — Salvatori’s Restaurant Group plans to have a new name and will hide copper coins in its eponymous restaurants in September while celebrating its 20th anniversary.
The group’s new name will be Summit Restaurant Group, or SRG, Jeremy McClain, one of the partners, told Rotary Club of Fort Wayne on Aug. 24.
“Salvatori’s isn’t going anywhere, though,” he said.
The Leto family opened the first Salvatori’s Authentic Italian Eatery restaurant in New Haven in 2006 and added a second location on Fort Wayne’s west side at 10337 Illinois Road in 2012. The Bourounis and Valdez families took over the restaurants in 2018.
Panos and Stephanie Bourounis, who also attended Aug. 24’s Rotary meeting, along with McClain, now own several restaurants in Fort Wayne and Garrett, many of them local icons: Powers Hamburgers, Paula’s on Main & Paula’s Seafood Market, Shorty’s Steakhouse in Garrett, Acme Bar and Grill and the Village Tap & Nick’s Martini Bar.
New to the fold is SRG Catering. “Which we believe will be able to bring the best of each of these restaurants when you combine the talent of the chef of Paula’s and the talent of the chef at Shorty’s Steakhouse and the culinary knowledge that we have at Salvatori’s and be able to bring that to a business lunch, a wedding, a celebration, a gathering small or large.”
It will allow each of the restaurants to thrive for decades to come, he said.
Acquiring and continuing iconic restaurants
“Summit Restaurant Group was born over the last year out of the need to really expand the identity of Salvatori’s,” McClain said.
For the partners, growth means more than adding new restaurants, which Salvatori’s definitely has. They now have seven locations in that brand alone, including one each in Auburn, Warsaw and Bluffton.
“Sometimes growth in our business means not letting a history restaurant, or something that has become the fabric of Fort Wayne, disappear,” McClain said.
Powers Hamburgers, 1402 S. Harrison St., founded in 1940, was run for many years by the Powers family. Stephanie Bourounis, who has been in the restaurant industry since she was 15 years old and later left a career in nursing to help operate Salvatori’s, like McClain was born and raised in Fort Wayne. “Powers Hamburgers to her was a place that when she got an A on a report card, Grandpa loaded her up in the car and said, ‘Let’s go to Powers Hamburgers and sit around the dining room and get a slider together, and spend time together. Let’s create some memories,’” McClain said.
When longtime owners Michael and Gloria Hall decided to sell in 2024, they turned to the Salvatori’s group.
“At the time, we were operating eight Italian restaurants and the thought of operating a hamburger shop wasn’t something we were thinking about,” McClain said.
But Stephanie Bourounis wanted to make sure the restaurant with 80 years of history didn’t disappear. The group wants to make ensure that institutions of Fort Wayne like Powers continue for generations to come, said McClain, who joined the Salvatori’s group as a partner/owner. in early 2022. He began in restaurant operations in 1997 and has 30 years of experience in leadership after working with a local oil and retail convenience chain 2008-2022.
When the leadership team at Paula’s on Main experienced a death in the family and they decided to retire, they reached out to Panos, whose father had opened Cosmos Restaurant. Panos eventually owned his first store at age 23.
“Many of us have celebrated special occasions, graduations, marriages, a lot of special moments in our lives have been celebrated at Paula’s,” McClain said. “…They weren’t simply selling a business. They were deciding who they thought believed could take on the responsibility again to help write the next chapter.”
The owners of Shorty’s Steakhouse, who already had a relationship with the Bourounises through networking and consultancy, reached out to them about taking over the restaurant.
Acme Bar & Grill, 1105 E. State Blvd., founded in 1941 and carrying the motto “Where Neighbors Meet,” closed a couple of times after the 2020 pandemic.
“We believe that all that’s needed is somebody to come along and give it some resources, and give it the opportunity that it needs to be successful,” McClain said. “And it’s been a longtime staple in the city of Fort Wayne.”
Each time, the goal is to keep 100% of the staff, he said. They do make some changes. For example, the team acquired Village Tap & Nick’s Martini Bar, 1235 E. State Blvd., a number of months ago. When it was Nick’s Rib Room for decades it had white tablecloth formal place to celebrate. The ribs are still smoked fresh and the barbecue sauce made daily, but it is now more of a neighborhood gathering spot, McClain said.
Part of Fort Wayne’s fabric
Like Rotary, which has a 115-year history of bringing people together to serve the community, “That idea of stewardship, service and preserving institutions, building something that matters, that resonates with us strongly at Salvatori’s,” McClain said.
Both groups are in the people business. “We achieve that through food, but really food is just a platform that allows us to connect to others, that allows us to serve others, and it allows us to create opportunities for our people,” he said.
The group has about 450 full-time employees and it wants to continue to invest, whether that means opening a new restaurant or saving a longtime one, McClain said.
“We don’t want to make these other restaurants Salvatori’s,” he said. “…When we go into these restaurants and we bring them resources, our goal (is) we want to honor the rich legacy and the tradition that has made Paula’s Seafood what it is. How can we maybe refine it a little bit. How can encourage, equip and empower the team to deliver an even higher level of hospitality,” he said.
That could involve better quality ingredients. In one, it meant creating a partnership program to encourage staff to stay in Fort Wayne.
Asked about rising food prices, at Paula’s in particular, McClain said the group does have limited providers with fresh seafood flown in four times a week, but the group is working with the providers to get the best prices. At Paula’s the group is actually taking a lower percentage of profit to keep its offerings. Paula’s continues to keep crab legs on the menu while any restaurants, even those in larger cities, have stopped offering them due to rising costs. “We’re hopeful that’s temporary,” McClain said.
September celebration
The group will be hiding copper coins in each of the Salvatori’s restaurants throughout September with winners getting a chance at eating at Salvatori’s for a year, Stephanie Bourounis said.
However, don’t go tearing open the walls, Panos Bourounis laughed. They will be hidden “in plain site” with clues on social media. The copper reflects the Copper Lager made for the restaurant by Hop River Brewing.
Dining and Cooking