Business

Hinsch’s successor looks for new franchisee

July 28, 2016 Meaghan McGoldrick

BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/file photo

Share this:

Unlike its predecessor Hinsch’s, Stewart’s seems to be sticking around.

On Wednesday, July 26 news broke via social media that Stewart’s All American — the newest incarnation of Ridge mainstay Hinsch’s, which first opened in 1915 and changed over to the chain in 2015 — is in the market for a new franchisee.

While some worried that the market listing foreshadowed the end to yet another chapter in the Hinsch’s history book, Lee Moudatsos, who owns and operates the local franchise alongside his father, Mike, assured this paper that the 86th Street eatery will, in fact, remain a Stewart’s.

“We’re looking for a new franchisee,” Lee told this paper, stressing that he also holds the title of director of operations for Stewart’s. “We’re opening a lot of stores right now — we’ve got about seven new ones coming — so I can’t really be here as much as I’d like to. So, I’m looking for someone to run it for us.

“We’re going to make sure that it stays a Stewart’s,” Moudatsos reaffirmed.

According to national business brokering firm EatZ & Associates, the Ridge restaurant’s asking price is set at $850,000.

Hinsch’s originally opened as Reichert’s before business owner Herman Hinsch took over in 1948. It was shuttered suddenly on September 29, 2011, by another former owner John Logue, whose decision was spurred by current economic conditions, customers’ changing eating patterns and [the Logue family’s] desire to retire early. Roger Desmond and partners Gerard Bell and Bill Gardell then took over before passing the torch to the Moudatsos’ (who, Desmond told this paper, is a “never-say-die guy.”)

Stewart’s is located at 8518 Fifth Avenue.