Craft & Crew Hospitality has agreed to purchase Galaxy Drive-In in St. Louis Park from “eatertainment” auteur Steve Schussler, according to C&C co-owner David Benowitz. The restaurant had been listed for sale for just under $1 million. C&C operates six local table-service restaurants including The Block in St. Louis Park.

Schussler, who created Rainforest Café and has created several highly successful restaurants at Walt Disney World, opened Galaxy in 2009 as his first local venture. A dramatic re-concept of the dingy but beloved circa 1951 Wagner’s Drive-In on Highway 7, it was a sort of a Jetson’s environment for classic American drive-in food. Unfortunately, Schussler could never find the right operator for the eatery, which suffered from mediocre word-of-mouth and the inherent limitations of a seasonal business. It has opened and closed several times since 2009, but did not operate this year.

C&C’s plan includes a partial renovation to create a “pergola” covering that will allow for year-round dining. Benowitz said he plans to change the name to “Wells’ Roadside.” The updated drive-in will be modeled after Gott’s Roadside, a loved chain of burger outposts in northern California. The menu will consist of burgers, sandwiches, and ice cream, plus beer and wine, and will be operated as a quick-serve concept with a digital ordering platform, not table service. Benowitz said some of the Galaxy structure and iconography will be removed, and colors will be changed, but won’t be made unrecognizable to fans of the building.

Benowitz said he and partner Luke Derheim had been looking for a site to open a seventh restaurant, but interest rates and the volatile economics of sit-down restaurants made them reluctant to pull the trigger on anything. Benowitz had talked to Schussler as early as 2018 about Galaxy and restarted conversations in spring 2023. Pivoting C&C to a quick-serve concept, which use less labor and land, and tends to have better margins in the current restaurant economy, was not a goal. Benowitz believes the Wells’ Roadside idea has multi-unit potential and hopes to open several over the coming years.