Ground Round returning to Massachusetts; owners want to make it a 'local destination'

The Ground Round, a well known family-friendly restaurant, will return to Massachusetts early next year. 

Joe and Nachi Shea are the new co-owners of the rights to Ground Round, a once-widespread chain that started in the Bay State in the late '60s. 

The couple is aiming to launch the Ground Round in January, Joe Shea told FOX Business in an interview. It will be located in Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury is located northeast of Worcester. The town is home to more than 38,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  

Their plans to revive the Ground Round were earlier reported by local media outlets.

Shea said many people missed the restaurant brand — and that made him and his wife want to bring it back to the area. 

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"People would talk about it, about missing it, about what a great place it was, and when enough people said it, I said, ‘Enough people are talking about this, why can’t that happen?’ I just always thought going back years and years and years with the amount of people talking about it, that it would just be a good idea that would be welcomed. And I think it’s turning out to show true, so we’re really excited about it," he told FOX Business.

Their opportunity to become the owners of the Ground Round intellectual properties came about after the CFO of the former ownership group reached out to them last year, according to Shea. Before that, he said they had sought to be franchises for years but "could never get any responses."

Now, as they ready the Ground Round to launch, Shea said they will be "bringing back some of the food items that people really liked," such as the burgers, baby back ribs, ice cream sundaes in plastic baseball caps, fried dough triangles and unlimited popcorn. 

He and his wife have also been looking into some form of the Ground Round’s old "pay what you weigh" deal. He said they were considering something "optional" and "off to the side," but also noted they "haven’t fully figured out exactly what they want to do."

The restaurant’s decor will have both traditional and modern aspects, Shea said. 

"We’re looking to blend some parts of the past, whether it be decoral photos, some things that kind of remind people of it, maybe some stained-glass lamps and lights and so forth," he added. "But we’re in 2024, going into 2025, so we can’t have it look exactly like it was 25, 30 years ago. It’ll be more modern aspects with it too, obviously, with the way things are decorated and the overall look for it."

It can be found where a longtime local restaurant that shuttered in early November used to be, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

They dove right into renovations after taking over the lease, and the process has been moving along "pretty well," according to the co-owner. 

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"The tiling and the bathroom renovations are all done. The bars, I’d say, are 90% done. The painting is like 99% done. Next will be outfitting the kitchen," he said.

When the Ground Round opens its doors, Shea said they’re looking to make it a "local destination and not this cookie-cutter place that the large chains are."

The couple currently don’t have plans to open other Ground Rounds, according to Shea.

"We’re focusing on food, making sure that it’s done right, done well," he said. "And then, you know, if in the future it makes sense to do that, we’ll look at it. But right now, we have zero plans to expand."

The Sheas have big hopes for the Ground Round. 

"The biggest one is having it be that place that everyone went to, that you didn’t really have to think about where to go. You went to the Ground Round," Shea told FOX Business. "You know that the food was always going to be food and solid. The atmosphere was fun, whether you were an adult or a kid or had families, it just had something for everyone."

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"That’s what we’d like to do. It’s that warming, inviting place that you just always feel welcome. You walk in and you feel like this is home," he said.

Ground Round had over 200 locations at one point in time and has belonged to various owners over the course of the brand’s history. It went bankrupt in the early 2000s, with its footprint subsequently decreasing over the years to just a few restaurants, the Boston Globe reported. 

The Sheas’ restaurant will mark the first Ground Round in Shrewsbury in about two decades, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.