Deni and Patrick Reilly, who opened the Front Porch as a pop-up last spring through their consulting group Majestic Hospitality, have issued a statement regarding the news that the restaurant will not reopen.
The announcement is not a surprise, says Deni Reilly. She says they had basically detached themselves from the deal when the Riverfront Development Corp. (now the Memphis River Parks Partnership) was between leadership. Carol Coletta took over for the retiring Benny Lendermon earlier this year.
We’re proud of what we accomplished during our pop-up last summer. We created a fun, relatable restaurant that Memphians across all walks of life embraced and enjoyed, making the Riverfront not just more accessible, but a lively place to interact with your neighbors and experience, up close the Mighty Mississippi.
We created The Front Porch brand for the then RDC, now MRPP. They own the brand, and all the recipes, plate builds, inventory control, marketing tools, employee handbooks, and training guides, along with all our recommendations on how to make The Front Porch a long term viable amenity for park patrons. There are some significant infrastructure upgrades and minor concept tweaks that we recommend be undertaken to make it a permanent ammenity, including but not limited to new carpet, rebuilding the bar, and more functional furniture. The absence of natural gas, while not ideal, is not a major hurdle to running a successful food and beverage operation, which we proved last summer with our kitchen upgrades, staff management, and menu design.
The MRPP, as everyone knows, is undergoing significant restructuring, and has our commitment to help them in any way we can including, if they so choose, opening The Front Porch as they implement their new vision.
We’re most proud that The Front Porch pop up was able to help facilitate a shift in culture at Beale Street Landing from a mindset of custodial oversight and crowd management to one of welcoming hospitality and customer service, something we feel should be an integral part of the fabric of the Riverfront as the front porch of this great city. We look forward to a continued embrace of this culture shift by the new MRPP leadership, and are excited to see and perhaps be a part of the new things on the horizon for our beautiful Riverfront.
