Mike Cunningham is the man behind Cunningham Restaurant Group and restaurant concepts like Mesh, Stone Creek Dining Company, BRU Burger Bar and more.
Writer / Jon Shoulders Photographer / Brian Brosmer
In an industry as challenging and unforgiving as the restaurant business, Indianapolis-based Cunningham Restaurant Group (CRG) is still thriving after two decades, with an ever-expanding selection of successful restaurant concepts including Mesh, Boulder Creek Dining Company, Vida and BRU Burger Bar in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington. Founder, CEO and company visionary, Mike Cunningham, says a thorough understanding of day-to-day restaurant logistics, as well as an innate sense for customer hospitality, are crucial to stay successful in such a difficult field with so many competitors. And he should know because his understanding began when he was in the third grade.
State Technical and Community College, he had worked his way up to assistant manager with the Ground Round Grill & Bar burger chain. Cunningham’s foray into entrepreneurship came at age 22 when Ed Sahm, one of his Ground Round colleagues, decided to open his own independent restaurant and pub – Sahm’s on 116th Street in Fishers – and needed a manager. A few years later, Cunningham was debuting his own concept – a frozen yogurt and café shop called the Big Chill - which would expand to five locations beginning in the mid-1980s.
“This is a business I’ve been in my whole life, so I understand when things are not being done right and know how to adjust and fix things,” Cunningham says. “A lot of people think it’s all fun and good times, but this industry is hard work, and there are many moving parts that can go wrong every The youngest of nine children, Cunningham single day. You have to surround yourself was washing dishes at the local Skyline Chili with people who care and want to strive for down the street from his Cincinnati home perfection day in and day out.” by age eight to help make his large family’s ends meet — an experience that later gave By 1997 Cunningham had observed the way to multiple restaurant cooking jobs rise of TCBY and several other affordable through high school. By the time he had frozen yogurt chain competitors and obtained an associate degree in hotel and decided to sell his Big Chill stores to return restaurant management from Cincinnati to the full-service restaurant game. He INDY METRO / JULY 2017 / TownePost.com
found a prime location in Brownsburg and opened Boulder Creek Dining Company, offering modern fare and a rustic, mountainlodge setting, now in its 21st year and still thriving. CRG was off and running. “The challenge then, and what the challenge will always be, is finding good people that want to take care of others and have that hospitality gene,” he says. “To make guests feel like they’re home when they’re in your restaurant, that’s what sets you apart.” Avon-based, Italy-inspired Charbonos followed a few years after the opening of Boulder Creek, and CRG continued to gain momentum, steadily expanding and adding new establishments to its portfolio including six Stone Creek Dining Company locations in Indiana and Ohio and Moerlein Lager House in Cincinnati. Cunningham has continued to sharpen his command of all things culinary and currently oversees 21 restaurants in four cities, with two new Indy eateries scheduled to open this fall in the Ironworks Hotel on East 86th Street – Rize, a health-conscious breakfast and lunch spot that will offer catering, and Provision, an upscale lunch and dinner concept. “It was a slow, methodical growth over 20 years, and it used to be one (restaurant)