Union Joints

What Union Joints does

Union Joints is a privately held, Michigan-based restaurant development and management company founded in 1995 in Clarkston. It operates a portfolio of 13+ distinct restaurant concepts, each housed in a repurposed historic Michigan structure (former bus garages, gas stations, fire halls, lumber yards), including The Clarkston Union, Union Woodshop, Vinsetta Garage, Fenton Fire Hall, Bunkhouse Burgers, Gran Castor, Union Assembly, Union Rec, Mom's Spaghetti, Lincoln Yard, Little Yard, Honcho, Pump House, and Eat on Cho. Locations span Clarkston, Birmingham, Troy, Fenton, Ann Arbor, and Detroit, with a one-time Los Angeles activation by Mom's Spaghetti for the 2022 Super Bowl.

The company generates revenue through three streams: dine-in restaurant food and beverage sales across its portfolio (transaction-based pricing per concept), off-premise catering services operated under the Union Catering brand (professional services model for events and private functions), and retail merchandise sales, including branded products such as Mom's Spaghetti pasta sauce. Distribution runs through physical restaurant storefronts, direct online ordering via unionjoints.com, gift cards, and a dedicated catering sales channel. The company sells directly to individual diners, event organizers, and corporate catering clients, with horizontal segmentation around consumers seeking distinctive dining experiences in architecturally significant spaces.

The competitive model is built on adaptive reuse of historic real estate, each property producing a non-replicable dining destination, and a portfolio-of-concepts strategy that crosses burger (Bunkhouse Burgers), Latin fusion (Gran Castor), Americana comfort (Clarkston Union), Detroit urban (Union Assembly), college-town (Union Rec), and celebrity-tied (Mom's Spaghetti) identities. Marketing is anchored in earned media (New York Times, Detroit Free Press, Condé Nast, Eater, Food & Wine, Food Network) and the celebrity association with Eminem through Mom's Spaghetti, which has also generated retail pull-through. There is no disclosed external funding, no parent company, and no public listing; the business appears to be founder/family-operated.

Name

Union Joints

Legal name

Union Joints

Website

https://unionjoints.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Union Joints is a privately held Michigan restaurant group founded in 1995 that operates 13+ distinct dining concepts in repurposed historic buildings across the state, serving individual diners, catering clients, and retail customers through dine-in, online ordering, events, and branded merchandise.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Restaurant Management

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Limited-Service Restaurants (722513), Food Service Contractors (722310)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Brasseries, Bistros & Trattorias (THAFACAI)

Keywords

• Restaurant management services
• Multi-brand hospitality
• Historic building restaurants
• Off-site catering services
• Dining establishment operator

Headquarters

HQ city

Clarkston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Restaurant Food and Beverage Sales: The company generates revenue primarily through dine-in restaurant operations across their portfolio of 13+ restaurant concepts in Michigan, including The Clarkston Union, Vinsetta Garage, Bunkhouse Burgers, Union Assembly, Mom's Spaghetti, and others. Each restaurant operates its own menu and pricing.
2. Catering Services: Union Joints operates Union Catering as a separate service offering, providing off-site catering for events and private functions.
3. Retail Merchandise: The company sells branded merchandise and food products, including Eminem's Mom's Spaghetti pasta sauce which sold out within hours of launch.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Union Joints develops, owns, and operates a portfolio of 13+ distinct restaurant concepts across Michigan, each housed in a unique historic building (former bus garages, fire halls, gas stations, lumber yards). The company also runs Union Catering for off-site events and sells branded merchandise including Mom's Spaghetti pasta sauce.

Product overview

Union Joints is a Michigan-based hospitality group and restaurant collection founded in 1995, operating as a multi-brand restaurant company with distinct concepts unified by their presence in unique, historically repurposed buildings. The portfolio includes the founding Clarkston Union, burger concepts (Bunkhouse Burgers), themed restaurants (Union Woodshop, Vinsetta Garage, Fenton Fire Hall, Honcho), fusion cuisine (Gran Castor), a Downtown Detroit venue (Union Assembly), Eminem-associated Mom's Spaghetti, the reimagined Union Rec (former Fingerle Lumber Company), Birmingham's Lincoln Yard and Little Yard, catering services, and Eat on Cho. Each restaurant operates independently with its own identity while sharing the common philosophy of giving historical buildings new life as dining destinations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Clarkston Union The founding restaurant of Union Joints, established in 1995 in Clarkston, Michigan. Serves as the original concept that launched the hospitality group.
• Bunkhouse Burgers A burger-focused restaurant concept with a rustic Americana theme, part of the Union Joints portfolio.
• Union Woodshop A restaurant concept with a woodworking theme, part of the Union Joints portfolio of unique dining establishments.
• Vinsetta Garage A restaurant located in a converted gas station, recognized by Condé Nast as one of the coolest gas stations in the world.
• Honcho A restaurant concept operated by Union Joints.
• Gran Castor A Latin American fusion restaurant concept in Troy, Michigan, offering bold fusion cuisine.
• Mom's Spaghetti A restaurant concept inspired by Eminem, featuring spaghetti and pasta sauce that sold out within hours of launch; expanded to Los Angeles for the 2022 Super Bowl.
• Union Rec A restaurant concept reimagined from the former Fingerle Lumber Company building in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• Lincoln Yard A restaurant concept in Birmingham, Michigan, that brought new life to an old bus garage, named Restaurant of the Year 2025 by Detroit Free Press.
• Little Yard A sibling restaurant to Lincoln Yard in Birmingham, Michigan.
• Union Catering Off-site catering services offered by Union Joints for corporate events, weddings, and private functions, requested through unioncatering.com.
• Eat on Cho A restaurant concept in the Union Joints portfolio.
• Fenton Fire Hall A restaurant concept housed in a repurposed fire hall building.
• Union Assembly A large restaurant in Downtown Detroit's District Detroit near Comerica Park, featuring spacious seating with city views.

Quantifiable outcome

• Mom's Spaghetti pasta sauce sold out within hours of launch
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises: Chicago-based multi-concept independent restaurant group (RPM Steak, Beatrix, Bub City, etc.). Operates a similarly diverse portfolio of casual to upscale concepts under one holding company, making it a strong model-comparable peer.
• Union Square Hospitality Group: Danny Meyer's NYC-based multi-concept hospitality group (Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Shake Shack spin-out). Directly comparable on multi-brand independent ownership, design-forward dining, and reputation for concept creation.
• Mainstreet Ventures: Ann Arbor, Michigan-based multi-concept restaurant group operating distinctive full-service concepts across the state. Most directly comparable peer: same region, same multi-brand independent operating model serving Michigan diners.
• B.R. Guest Hospitality: New York-based independent multi-concept restaurant group (Blue Water Grill, Atlantic Grill, Strip House). Comparable on multi-brand full-service operator model and reputation-driven dining destinations.

Broad incumbents

• Hillstone Restaurant Group: National multi-brand full-service restaurant group (Hillstone, Houston's, Bandera, South Beverly Grill). Comparable on multi-concept casual-to-upscale portfolio management, though operates at materially larger scale.

Emerging players

• Crafted Restaurant Group: Multi-concept restaurant operator focused on adaptive reuse and distinctive venues in select markets. Comparable on the historic-building adaptive-reuse thesis and multi-brand independent model, though smaller and geographically narrower.
• 50 Eggs Hospitality Group: Multi-concept restaurant group (Yard House, Swine Southern Table & Bar) operating distinctive dining concepts. Comparable on multi-brand operator model and emphasis on destination dining experiences, though U.S. Southeast-focused.

Regional players

• Big Boy Restaurants International: Iconic Michigan-originated casual dining chain. Comparable on Michigan heritage and restaurant scale, but differs in being a single legacy brand rather than a multi-concept developer.
• Schostak Family Restaurants: Michigan-based family-owned restaurant operator running multiple concepts across the state. Comparable as a Michigan-anchored multi-brand restaurant operator, though more chain-oriented in its portfolio mix.
• The 474 Group: Ann Arbor-based hospitality group operating multiple independent restaurant concepts in Michigan. Comparable on regional multi-concept independent operator profile, with overlapping Michigan footprint and dining positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Union Joints