Milwaukee-based Bartolotta Restaurants will manage the food service operations at the corporate headquarters campus for Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s Corp.
The Bartolotta Restaurants will manage food service at Kohl’s main corporate headquarters building as well as Kohl’s nearby Innovation Center building.
Two cafeterias at the main headquarters building will be closed and will be replaced by a new 27,000-square-foot dining space. That project is expected to be complete by next fall.
“As part of our commitment to being an employer of choice in southeastern Wisconsin, Kohl’s provides amazing benefits and services to our associates,” said Kohl’s spokeswoman Jen Johnson. “As another example of those efforts, Kohl’s is pleased to confirm that we will be partnering with The Bartolotta Restaurants to manage the food service operations at Kohl’s corporate campus. Known for its quality dining experiences, outstanding service and hospitality, Kohl’s will also be remodeling our associate dining environment in partnership with Bartolotta’s, which we look forward to opening in fall 2016.”
In addition to numerous restaurants in the Milwaukee area, Bartolotta Restaurants operates the Downtown Kitchen restaurant inside the U.S. Bank Center in downtown Milwaukee.
Downtown Kitchen opened about a year ago. U.S. Bank wanted to add the restaurant because some tenants in the building were unhappy about the food service there, said Joe Bartolotta, co-owner of The Bartolotta Restaurants.
A Kohl’s executive who had lunch at Downtown Kitchen was impressed and that started the process to bring Bartolotta Restaurants to the Kohl’s headquarters, Bartolotta said.
“You spend a lifetime building a business, you never know what direction it is going to go,” he said.
Bartolotta said Kohl’s is making a significant financial investment to improve its food service for its employees. Bartolotta said his firm will raise the quality of food served and the level of hospitality provided to Kohl’s employees. He also said the operation at Kohl’s will be significantly larger than Downtown Kitchen at the U.S. Bank Center.
“We are going to feed a lot more people here,” he said.
