Anthony’s purchases Churchill’s Steakhouse in Spokane

The restaurant that started featuring lobster and steak in Bellevue in 1973 has added another Spokane location to its list. Anthony’s Restaurants has purchased Churchill’s Steakhouse, which will continue to operate under the same name and menu.

Anthony’s parent company, Mad Anthony’s Inc., announced Monday that it had acquired Churchill’s, located at 165 S. Post St., after it’s owners, Bill and Renie Alles, agreed to sell the 17-year-old business as part of their move toward retirement.

“We had a really good run,” Bill Alles said. “The community treats us so well. We just had such a loyal following. I’ve made so many of my lifelong friends at that restaurant.

“I used to be very hands-on with my staff and I haven’t been able to do it for the last year,” the 72-year-old Alles continued. “I thought it best that we find a new leadership group to help grow the staff, their careers and do things on their behalf.”

Anthony’s was founded in 1973 and has more than 30 locations. It currently owns and operates an Anthony’s in Coeur d’Alene and Anthony’s at Spokane Falls, where customers can order salmon while overlooking the Spokane River at 510 N. Lincoln St.

Previously, the chain owned Anthony’s Beach Cafe, which was located on the South Hill. It opened in October 2014 in the then-new Target complex. That restaurant closed two years later in December 2016.

“Churchill’s Steakhouse exemplifies the core values we hold dear at Anthony’s,” Amy Burns, president and CEO of Anthony’s Restaurants, said in a news release. “Their commitment to family, quality, community, and outstanding service aligns perfectly with our own vision. We are excited to lead Churchill’s Steakhouse into the future.”

Details of the transaction were not disclosed, said Kirsten Elliott, who is the marketing director for Anthony’s.

Elliott pointed out that customers should see little change after the transition, which should occur in August.

“It will be part of the Anthony’s family of restaurants, but it will remain Churchill’s Steakhouse,” she said. “The menu will not change. They have such a good program, we will carry on that tradition. It’s what they are known for.”

Alles said he and his wife, Renie, decided earlier this year that it was time to move forward. Their children have their own careers so the couple knew that a new owner was needed.

After a discreet marketing effort by Kiemle Hagood, the owners of Mad Anthony’s Inc. made an offer.

Alles said he once walked away from the negotiations, but it progressed after a face-to-face meeting with Bud Gould, who founded Anthony’s in 1973 in Bellevue and is the father of Burns, the CEO.

“They are principally a seafood company. They do have another steakhouse in the Tri-Cities,” Alles said. “They are a family company. Their people have a great amount of longevity. I felt very good about that.”

Most of the staff, at least those positions that are not redundant, will remain at Churchill’s. Customers can expect to see the same faces and food, Alles said.

Anthony’s “has a good employee benefits plan. From everything I can gather, they take good care of their employees,” Alles said. “That matters a lot to me.”

Unlike a string of restaurant owners in Spokane who survived the pandemic only to step away from the time-consuming profession, Bill Alles said the shutdown and its aftermath had little to no effect on the couple’s decision.

“Could we have been absentee owners? Yeah,” he said. “Would it have slipped? Probably. I didn’t want to be that guy. We are not in a place where we were being forced to sell.”

The run was not without it’s adversity. Churchills survived a three-alarm fire at the Joel Building in July 2008 that drowned Chuchill’s basement bar and caused smoke damage to the restaurant on the first floor of the building.

“Maybe I’m just stubborn,” Alles told The Spokesman-Review in 2010 after a 19-month renovation. “But we believe in Spokane and we believe in this market and we believe that Spokane should have a destination steakhouse.”

Alles said its time to seek more relaxing pursuits.

“We’d been through a fire, flood and a pandemic,” he said. “I wanted out before locusts showed up.”