When the ribbon was finally cut, more than a thousand people had shown up to indulge themselves in a hometown chili frenzy. At the time, Skyline's marketing director claimed he was afraid the chain would become too popular and grow too quickly along the East Coast.
Lambert Lambrinides, son of the founder and then chairman of the company, conceded that growth had been stagnant. Kagler to the post. Kagler had been president of the large grocery chain Kroger. Apparently Kagler's fiery personality had led to conflicts with Kroger's chairman, and Kagler had resigned from Kroger in Skyline was of course a much smaller company than Kroger, and unlikely to be able to compensate Kagler at the level to which he had been accustomed.
But the little company must have appeared a challenge to Kagler. Skyline cut back, getting out of markets such as Washington, D. The company sold off some facilities and built a new commissary and warehouse, replacing the existing plant, which was 30 years old. Kagler upped advertising and promotions in markets closest to Cincinnati, hoping to revive the chain in the Ohio region before pushing again for a bigger national presence.
And Skyline still reigned over Cincinnati chili parlors. A New York Times September 5, food reviewer called a trip to Skyline "a rite of citizenship" for people new to the city. Although rival chili chain Gold Star had as many as 70 outlets within Cincinnati compared with about 80 nationwide for Skyline , Skyline was still apparently what people thought of when they thought "Cincinnati chili. After Kagler took over, Skyline had not opened new franchises, and the number of stores held steady through the mids.
In the company began to look to expand again. Skyline hoped to put more restaurants into those markets, which also would open the way for more sales of its frozen grocery items in those cities. Research had helped hone the Skyline formula. The company found that its restaurants with table service, rather than cafeteria-style service, tended to do better.
The company decided to stay away from strip malls and mall food courts in favor of freestanding locations. Then in the three Lambrinides sons all retired, along with William Kagler. Kagler stayed on as head of franchise planning, but the chief executive position went to the former chief operating officer, Kevin McDonnell.
Sales and earnings were on the rise by , and McDonnell hoped that a cautious, less ambitious expansion plan would work this time around. The company seemed to have stabilized. Meritage was a publicly traded company that owned hotels and restaurant chains. It had recently taken on debt to buy a chain franchise of the Wendy's hamburger restaurant in western Michigan.
Meritage was not profitable and had little cash flow with which to pay its heavy debt load. Among Meritage's creditors was a well-known Cincinnati financier named Carl Lindner. Lindner was in a position to take over Meritage if it could not pay him back. Meritage made a second offer for Skyline shortly after its first was rejected. This aroused speculation that Lindner was trying to get hold of Skyline through Meritage. Meritage withdrew its second offer in April Next, Skyline management got together with Fleet Equity Partners, a private, Rhode Island-based equity group, and put together a new buyout deal.
Despite noises from Meritage that it would make a third offer for Skyline, board members and stockholders quickly approved the Fleet Equity buyout. Skyline became a private company again in , 11 years after it went public.
By the late s, Skyline had about 70 units in and around Cincinnati and 45 more in other nearby markets. By , the chain was ready to expand again. But it planned to move slowly, staying within miles of its home base. The company hoped to put 40 Skylines in Columbus, Ohio over the early s, and then to build up similar mass in other cities in its orbit, such as Indianapolis and Louisville.
Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. Manage followed notifications. Close Followed notifications. Please log in to use this feature Log In. Don't have an account? Sign Up Today. Feature your organization or business's social media posts on newsrecord. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. There was an error processing your request. Any visitor to Cincinnati is virtually obligated to try a bowl of Skyline Chili. It's far and away the city's most famous regional dish , but it's not the only Cincinnati-grown brand to make a name for the city.
Cincinnati has a way of making homegrown customs turn famous. Graeter's , founded by the son of German immigrants, serves up egg custard-based gourmet ice cream crafted using the French pot process, and is known for its extra-chunky chocolate chips. LaRosa's , with its secret-ingredient sweet sauce and melted provolone topping, is another local mainstay.
Neither Graeter's nor LaRosa's has reached Skyline's level of notoriety. If the three form a triangle, Skyline is the indisputable peak, heading up Cincinnati's regional food tradition. Still, locals rejoiced when the three iconic tastes of Cincinnati, all points of pride for locals, opened under one roof in What building is that?
It's appropriately named Trifecta. A celebrity isn't truly famous until they've been parodied on SNL , and no nostalgic sitcom can be deemed a classic without the requisite spinoff or reboot.
Perhaps no food has truly made its mark until it's inspired spinoffs of its own, like a craft cocktail. At Downtown Cincinnati's cocktail bar Metropole, nestled in the 21c Hotel also a working art gallery , Skyline Chili was reimagined as an adult drink during 's Restaurant Week. Mixologist Travis Salee came up with the comfort food-inspired cocktail, telling the Cincinnati Enquirer , "It's just a comforting Cincinnati favorite. Whiskey and sweet vermouth formed the drink's base, while house-made bitters, chili powder, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, cloves, and even dark chocolate rounded out the very Cincinnatian cocktail.
Dubbed the Manhattan Skyline, the drink was an homage to the complex blend of seasonings in the Queen City's famous chili. As Cincinnati's local food scene expands, more Skyline-infused mashups are sure to hit the breweries and hotspots.
Skyline Chili might be the unofficial cuisine of Cincinnati, but it's actually made headway in other areas, too. The chain has expanded to include over restaurants in four states, with the majority of those being in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Skyline's popularity in states close to Ohio make sense — Ohio expats to surrounding states have to get their Skyline fix, after all.
But Skyline's cultlike fandom, it appears, knows no bounds. New locations have been popping up to serve a growing group of Cincinnati chili lovers in an unexpected spot: Florida. Skyline openings in Sunshine State cities like Fort Lauderdale, Naples, and Fort Myers have inspired lines around the block and explosive excitement on social media.
Florida is an especially favorite vacation hotspot and for folks from Ohio which stands to reason that it could also be a favorite retirement spot , meaning it's actually a pretty logical expansion location.
Many of Skyline's biggest fans might be growing older and moving south, but they can't give up their beloved childhood chili. It has Greek roots Facebook. The secret ingredient sparked rumors Facebook.
Their chili is controversial—and not universally liked Facebook. There's a certain way to eat it Facebook. You can get Skyline Chili many different ways Facebook. It's not the original Cincinnati chili Facebook.
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