Twenty-five years ago, the couple who would bring arguably "the world's best hamburger" to a ramshackle little neighborhood bar in a largely nondescript, quasi-industrial section of Benton Harbor, played their cards right. Because several years later, when they heard the scuttlebutt and saw the early blueprints for the pipe dream called Harbor Shores, nobody ever actually stepped forward to try to buy their North Shore Inn. More importantly, they didn't try to sell it, either. Fast forward to 2016 and Tom and Nancy Howe are making certain that the tradition and reputation they have built at the corner of North Shore Drive and Higman Park Road will remain for years to come.
The Howes have quietly admitted to the close knit world of regular customers that they have sold the place and will move into retirement by the end of September. While the deal was signed late in the spring, the formal closing will not take place until the end of summer. The spirited couple has hand-picked their successor and she is the new owner of the North Shore Inn.
Anne-Elise Lansdown, a marketing and advertising guru who grew up in St. Joseph as Anne-Elise Fettig, is headed toward sole ownership of the eclectic bar and grill which has gained local, state and even regional renown for a truly remarkable hamburger that is anything but fast food.
She tells me today that she is excited beyond compare. "My family grew up as regular customers of the North Shore, and we have known Tom & Nancy for years." In recent months as some health issues have slowed Tom down a bit, the Howes approached the Fettig family and offered to sell the business to them. They didn't hesitate for a moment. Anne-Elise's brother, Jay Fettig, was already close to opening up his new North Pier Brewing Company right across the street, and she has been itching "to get involved in the community" of Michigan's Great Southwest.
Anne-Elise calls the North Shore, "a very special part of the community," and pledges to keep as much of the heritage intact going forward as possible, adding, "we'd be crazy to do anything to mess up the best burger in town." She says they will only work hard to build on that tradition and share it with even more customers in the future.
Lansdown is an accomplished marketing professional who earned her bachelor of arts degree in economics and French at Vanderbilt University in 2006 and went on to obtain her MBA in Marketing from the University of California, Berkeley's Walter A. Haas School of Business in 2012. On her way she copped a 1st Place prize for the 2010 Elite 8 Marketing Case Competition at UC-Berkeley.
While attending Vanderbilt, Anne-Elise interned at the Boys & Girls Club of Benton Harbor, before moving on to The Boston Consulting Group in Chicago and Amsterdam. After nearly four years with The Boston Group she moved to San Francisco as a Director Marketing Manager for the firm Minted. She stepped away from that role two years ago when she gave birth to her daughter.
She is moving next week to Chicago and has lined up an experienced manager for the North Shore Inn, where she hopes to retain the full team of long time employees who have helped make the landmark bar and grill the success that it is.
Today, the North Shore Inn is at a major crossroads within the Harbor Shores Resort complex with hole 13 of the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Club high on the hill behind the Inn and hole 14 across North Shore Drive just beyond the Inn's parking lot. The Howes bought the more than 125 year old road house in the winter of 1991 and have polished the gem of a business, preparatory to the turnover to Anne-Elise who meets with the staff personally next week to plan for the smooth transition.
The Howes couched the news of the transition into a regular Facebook posting on "weekend specials" last week saying they were "passing the torch to a new owner to 'make a go of it,' and encouraging folks to stop by before they 'sign-off'" in September.
Tom & Nancy will be around through the end of September, when their chapter will be finished and a new one begins. They never thought twice about the decision to not place the Inn on the open market. They knew exactly who they wanted to be the next generation owner, and Anne-Elise says she is honored to be the one, promising to always "maintain the charm" that is the North Shore Inn.
It should make for a dynamic corner with a little sibling rivalry for business with Jay on one corner and Anne-Elise on the other. Since Jay's new North Pier Brewing doesn't serve food anyway, it could be the beginning of a spectacular new partnership right in the heart of Harbor Shores, and a win-win for everyone…including us…the general public. Stay tuned.
