By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Hoffman House Supper Club will have a new feel starting next month that’s designed to give customers a more casual in-house dining experience.
The 65-year-old upscale eatery will merge its menu and some of its space with Scoreboard Sports Bar, the casual bar and restaurant connected to Hoffman House at 7550 E. State St. near Holiday Inn.
Owner Michael Prosser said top menu items from the fine-dining side of the establishment — prime rib, fish fry, shrimp, fried bread and salmon — will remain on a new menu that merges Hoffman House and Scoreboard.
One notable option leaving is the popular salad bar.
“Besides that, all the most important customer favorites are being kept from that formal menu,” Prosser said.
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The changes are expected to take effect July 1. The Hoffman House name and branding will remain as the restaurants merge.
“I’m making some big adjustments, expanding into the dining room with this more casual theme, putting booths into the bar, and just changing the overall structure of our in-house dining to be the more casual side of things,” said Prosser, who started working at Hoffman House at age 8 in the coat check when his father, Bob, ran the business. He’s done just about every job at the restaurant since.
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Prosser said the catering side of Hoffman House has been growing in recent years, and he’s focused on continuing to grow that part of the business. He said he recently bought a building in Janesville, Wisconsin, that will help his company cater more events in more territory.
In the past year, he said Hoffman House Catering handled more than 1,000 events.
“That’s where a big, significant chunk of our business is,” he said.
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He expects the new merged, more casual restaurant to attract new customers.
“It’s going to be a more appealing approach,” Prosser said. “In my opinion, it’s going to be better movement forward for more customers, to garner even more of a customer base.”
The original Hoffman House restaurant was founded in 1946 by seven Hoffman brothers in Madison, Wisconsin, upon their return from military service.
Hoffman House opened in Rockford in 1958 as a small dining room and lounge inside Don Carter Lanes. It moved to its current location in 1975.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.