When the Sybergs go to work, they’re not camped out in an office or studying spreadsheets. They’re unloading a delivery truck, greeting regulars, checking in with cooks, or pitching in to help wherever needed. It’s a philosophy that’s guided the family-owned restaurant group for five decades.
This year, the Syberg’s brand celebrates its 50th anniversary, a milestone that began with Richard Syberg supporting six children by working full-time at Pope’s Cafeteria and part-time at Schnucks before launching Syberg’s Family Style Catering in 1976. Four years later, on March 17, 1980, the family transformed the former Cavanaugh’s restaurant at 7802 Gravois into the flagship Syberg’s.
“I was 18 and I cooked,” Kirk Syberg recalls. “My brother Rick, who as 22, managed the restaurant. All six kids worked there. My two sisters waited tables. Our aunt and grandmother worked there. It was family through and through.”
Over the years, the Syberg family has spawned more than a dozen restaurants under several concepts, including numerous Syberg’s locations, Helen Fitzgerald’s Irish Grill & Pub, Twisted Tree Steakhouse, Twisted Tavern, and The Mexican STL. Multiple generations of the Syberg family remain involved, including the family’s 92-year-old matriarch. “That includes Rick, Brett, and myself,” Kirk says. “My sisters, Deb and Fawn work at some of the stores, and my other brother Dennis is one of our chefs. My son oversees information technology; a nephew serves as a regional manager. It goes on and on.”
That sense of family extends well beyond relatives. Many longtime employees have built careers with the company. The chief financial officer once tended bar at the original Gravois restaurant, the controller helped open the Maryland Heights location more than two decades ago, and the same employee has driven the Blues shuttle from the downtown Syberg’s location for more than 30 years. “We managed to create this big ol’ family,” Syberg says with a laugh. “We just kept sucking everybody in along the way.”
Growth Through The Years
After outgrowing the original kitchen because of the booming catering business, an opportunity with Drury Hotels led to the company’s second location on Market Street in 1990. Drury executives had become familiar with Syberg’s through its catering operation and invited the family to open a restaurant in the former Holiday Inn they had purchased downtown.
Two years later came Helen Fitzgerald’s, named after the Syberg’s maternal grandmother. “People ask why it’s been so successful,” Kirk says. “I credit my brother Brett for building Helen’s into what it has become and to our grandma for keeping an eye on it. We say she sprinkles gold dust on the place.”
The 15,000-square-foot Maryland Heights location followed in 2003 and remains the company’s highest-volume restaurant, seating nearly 700 guests. Locations followed in Chesterfield, Arnold, St. Peters, Wentzville, and O’Fallon, Illinois.
In July 2016, the Syberg family took a chance with Twisted Tree, a concept that grew from a partnership with the Abbadessa family and their legendary Pear Tree Restaurant in outstate Missouri. Its hallmarks were aged beef, signature French fried onion rings, batter-fried lobster, and a family-style salad with two signature house dressings.
“We ended up taking over the hotel that Twisted Tree was in, along with the foodservice there,” Syberg says, “so the corner has become a spot for breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, drinks, banquets, and happy hour. It morphed from something great to something incredible.”
He credits the team of restaurant veterans—managers Jimmy Kristo (formerly of Jimmy’s Café on the Park) and Brooke Curtis, sommelier Will Kunderman, and executive chef Tyler Layton—with the ongoing success of the restaurant.
Twisted Tavern, now with two locations, followed as a more casual companion. Today, much of the company’s attention is focused on continuing to refine and grow The Mexican STL, a 370-seat upscale restaurant in Crestwood. “We have a lot of time and money invested in it,” Syberg says. “I liken it to Twisted Tree. It took a lot of time for us to tweak it and figure out what it was, for guests to figure out what it was. And now look at it.
“We’re growing, but cautiously,” Syberg adds. “We have to remember that more isn’t necessarily better.”
The Downtown Location
The downtown Syberg’s location quickly became a gathering place for sports fans after opening in 1980, particularly when the Rams arrived in 1995. “That was a major moment for the city and us,” Syberg recalls. “It was the city’s first NFL team since the football Cardinals left in 1987. We ran shuttles to The Dome and to the baseball Cardinals’ games, but that Syberg’s became known as “Blues Fans Central.” The same shuttle driver, Kevin, has transported guests to and from Blues games for more than 30 years.
“The Blues fans are our crowd,” Syberg adds. “We’ve always connected with them, sometimes in strange ways. My brother Brett bought a Harley Davidson Blues bike, which was weird, because none of us ride motorcycles. It’s hanging in the restaurant. It’s probably 20-plus years old and never been ridden.”
Another artifact comes via Dave Sisler, a former pro baseball player who became a stockbroker at AG Edwards, eventually becoming its vice chairman. “He was one of our best customers, who would drink one Miller Lite almost every day and then leave,” Syberg says. “When he retired, I understood he was given a tour golf bag with a depiction of him sitting at Syberg’s bar with a Miller Lite in his hand. I heard the story but never saw the bag. The bag shows up at an estate sale, a guy bought it, gave it to me, and it’s hanging in the restaurant, too.”
The artifacts will need to find another home on July 18, when the restaurant will close. “Our lease has expired and it’s time for us to find our home for the next 36 years,” Syberg says, adding that changes in downtown office traffic following the pandemic contributed to the decision. “We don’t have the office workers, the foot traffic, we once did,” he says. “We’d love to find a place nearby that maybe offers different opportunities. We’re not in any rush, but we would like to remain a presence in the area.” He adds that the closure affects only the downtown location and that employees have been offered positions at the company’s other restaurants.
“We really hope that past and present customers can visit us downtown one more time before we close on the 18th,” Syberg says.
The Syberg’s Secret
For many St. Louisans, the Syberg’s experience begins with the chicken wings.
Kirk credits his brother Rick with developing the restaurant’s signature mustard-forward wing sauce decades ago. Inspired by the traditional Frank’s RedHot-and-butter recipe popular at Culpepper’s, Rick experimented by substituting Durkee Famous Sauce, a distinctive, tangy, mustard-based condiment. When the product became too expensive, the family reverse-engineered its own version, Syberg’s Secret Sauce, which is still produced exclusively for the restaurants today.
Equally important, Syberg says, has been the company’s decades-long relationship with Kuna Foodservice.
“We buy a top-line jumbo wing, and the quality never varies,” he says. “That relationship, plus the fact that they’re now a full-line distributor, has made both of us stronger over the years.”
The company has seen a few concepts come and go—including Syberg’s on Laclede’s Landing, Cartoon’s Pizza, and Que Pasa—but Kirk believes that the reason the business has thrived for over five decades is remarkably simple.
“The family philosophy is taking care of people,” he says. “Employees, guests, vendors—everyone involved.”
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