Great Falls, Mt - 23 June, 2006 -

Two local businessmen plan to open a national franchise pizza and pasta restaurant late this year at the Twilite Center in west Great Falls. The restaurant, Boston's The Gourmet Pizza, is expected to employ between 120 and 150 workers, counting managers and some part-time kitchen staff and waiters, said owners Dan Binstock and Gary L. Knudson. ADVERTISEMENT Binstock and his wife, Paula, own Fuddruckers restaurant in Great Falls. Knudson, an engineer and property developer, is president of the Twilite LLC Business Park. "These are really fabulous restaurants that not only serve great pizza, but also pasta, ribs, sandwiches, buffalo wings and salads, and they're moderately priced," Knudson said. "Some local friends who eat at Boston's restaurants whenever they go to Lethbridge or Spokane said they're excited we're bringing one to Great Falls." The Boston's concept combines a lively restaurant seating about 105 with a separate sports bar with big screen TVs that seats 55, said architect Phil Korell, a major stockholder who adapted the company prototype design for the Great Falls location. Along with plentiful landscaping, there also will be a large outdoor patio for use during warmer months. "We're very excited to bring this unique and fun concept to Great Falls," Binstock said. "Boston's has something for everyone." "It will be the nucleus of the Twilite Center, perched on a high site where both diners and sports bar users will have a great night view of the city and a daytime view of the Highwood and Little Belt mountains," Korell said. The restaurant will be 6,300 square-feet, with diners entering from the ground-level parking lot. The building will have another 6,300 square-feet on a lower level that can be leased for retail or office space, Korell said. The Boston's restaurant will have an all-beverage liquor license, which Binstock initially obtained for Fuddruckers. That restaurant now has a beer and wine license. "Our Boston's will not be a casino," Knudson stressed, "but will have a smaller game room with a pool table and a few video and gambling machines." The partners are talking to potential contractors and hope to start work by mid-July, Knudson said. They hope to open the restaurant by mid-December. Boston's got its start in Canada and has about 200 restaurants there now. It opened its first restaurant in the United States in 1998. It opened its U.S. headquarters in Dallas in 2002, according to Tom Womack, a company spokesman. "They are looking to open another 20 to 25 this year," Womack said. "So they are on a pretty substantial growth curve." Knudson and Binstock, operating as Boston's of Montana, have the franchise for the whole state. They are looking for sites to build on in Kalispell and Billings, Knudson said. He added the area near the Twilite is under-served by restaurants. "I supported earlier efforts to bring restaurants here and finally decided to try myself when I found a partner with good restaurant experience," he said, referring to Binstock. Knudson recalled attempts to attract Denny's, Frontier Pies, the Cheesecake Caf and the Tomato Street pasta restaurant from Spokane. Korell said the north and west side of Great Falls is growing, with several subdivisions in the Skyline and Henderson Heights area, providing a potentially good market for the restaurant.

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