Universal Appeal

Bismarck Tribune:

They’d had all the other themes for a McDonald’s in town: rock and roll, cowboys, play centers. Their next theme would’ve been out of this world.

But the owners of several McDonald’s themed franchises never got to turn their idea into a burger joint. Instead, McDonald’s, seeing the success of the franchises, approached the franchise owners with a deal.

‘We were doing very well at that point,’ said Gene Holwegner (photo), one of the 3 franchise owners of 7 McDonald’s restaurants in the area. ‘They offered to buy them back.’

In 1994, McDonald’s bought the restaurants back. The idea of a space-themed restaurant was still stuck in the original owners’ heads, though.

‘People have always been intrigued with aliens,’ Holwegner said. ‘The other themes were already in Bismarck-Mandan.’

So for 2 and a half years, Holwegner, Mort Bank and Dave Glaser crafted what would soon become the only successful franchise to come out of Bismarck: Space Aliens Grill and Bar.

They thought they’d try the theme out in Bismarck, but took a long, hard look at their target market.

‘Our base demographic was pretty broad,’ Holwegner said.

They took into account the facts of Bismarck’s population, he said. ‘Our niche is a little different,’ Holwegner said, noting that it’s a smaller city with an older base, but also with families and young adults.

So they designed the restaurant to include everyone: games for kids, a ‘Bar from Mars’ for young adults and an appealing menu for everyone, Holwegner said. Read on.