THIS APRIL, THREE powerhouses of the St. Louis restaurant scene—Kurt Kller of Taco Buddha, Ben Hillman of Hi-Pointe Drive-In and Lewis & Clark Capital, and Mike Johnson of Sugarfire Smokehouse and Hi-Pointe Drive-In—announced the launch of Gastronauts Food Group, a new restaurant group that is setting up Hi-Pointe Drive-In and Taco Buddha to expand beyond St. Louis. The idea behind Gastronauts, they explain, is to build upon their strengths to create something bigger than the sum of the parts.
What does Gastronauts mean for your two popular restaurant concepts?
Gastronauts is the connector, and [local private equity firm] Lewis & Clark Capital is the backer behind it. Taco Buddha and Hi-Pointe Drive-In are separate; Kurt [Eller] is over Taco Buddha, and Mike [Johnson] is still over Hi-Pointe, not vice versa. I've known Mike for a while now; we became partners
