Malo, the Latin-inspired restaurant that is housed in the former Des Moines Social Club complex, will reopen next month under new management, its owner announced today.

Todd Millang said he and two new partners will reopen the restaurant on Friday, May 3, under the same name and in the same location at 900 Mulberry St.

The restaurant has been managed by Orchestrate Hospitality since 2014 and will close on Saturday, for just a week, so that deep cleaning and minor repairs can be completed before it reopens the following week, he said.

Millang told the Business Record that he’s been able to retain most of the staff and will work to fill a few positions before Malo reopens.

Millang formerly partnered with Paul Rottenberg and George Formaro on Malo. Millang said on Tuesday that he has bought them out. Formaro will consult as needed for the new venture, Millang said.

Rottenberg and Formaro decided not to renew their lease with Millang, who also owns the building.

According to Millang, he’s brought on Juvencio Ramirez, owner of Viva Mexican restaurant at 6101 Grand Ave., and Callin Prieskorn, who has been part of the local restaurant scene for 25 years, as general manager.

Millang has known Ramirez since Ramirez was a teenager working for his uncle when they opened a restaurant in the former KFC building on Grand Avenue that Millang owned. Ramirez later took over the restaurant when his uncle returned to Mexico and eventually bought the building from Millang, who said he later brokered a second location for Ramirez.

Millang is also a senior vice president at brokerage firm CBRE.

“He’s always wanted to elevate what he delivers to the market so we were having a conversation and were able to figure out terms, and then we found a super strong general manager,” Millang said.

Millang said it wasn’t until last week that all the pieces for Malo to reopen fell into place.

Millang owns the former Des Moines Social Club building, which he purchased from the city after the shutdown. Since then, Des Moines Firefighters Union Local 4 moved into the back area of the building, providing them a home and a revenue source for renting it out as event space. The front part of the building is now home to Invision Architecture, which Millang said is a good fit because of its focus on historic rehabilitation.

He said he’s excited to continue Malo, calling the restaurant a “great concept” with a “wonderful staff.”

His top priority is taking care of the staff and relieving any uncertainty or anxiety they may have, Millang said.

His second priority is delivering a top-quality product, he said.

“Those two things led my approach here,” Millang said. “I want to make sure I take care of the staff. I don’t want to lead them on and not feel very confident that I can deliver what we’re going to do. Secondly, I do not want to reopen Malo and not deliver on the same level of food quality and service that I’ve come to expect and enjoy the last few years.”

Malo will reopen with the same hours for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Millang said he hopes to eventually restore Sunday hours too, but that won’t happen, “until we have a solid plan to properly execute on it.”

The decision to reopen comes with the challenge of navigating the current downtown business climate with many downtown employees still working a hybrid or remote schedule, said Millang, who also owns Johnny’s Hall of Fame and RoCA.

Millang, who calls himself a business person who owns restaurants and not a restaurateur, said the restaurant business is always challenging but became increasingly so following the pandemic.

“It’s such a tough business. You have to execute on everything and you get thrown 100 curveballs constantly, from the inputs to the labor market,” he said. “The thing that is still tough is the amount of people working downtown. A lot of people are working downtown, but they’re working two to three days a week. It’s hard to prepare if people are going to be around.”

But the challenges aren’t dimming Millang’s excitement over reopening Malo.

“I love the concept,” he said. “We have a great staff. I love the space. I’ve always loved the space.”

Millang joined Rottenberg and Formaro as a partner in Malo in 2018. A few tweaks were made to the menu along with a remodel, creating what Millang calls Malo 2.0. Now, with fresh faces and new energy, he refers to the reopening as Malo 3.0.

“It’s that new lens to look at,” he said. “There’s some things we want to improve on but the biggest priority is just making sure that we deliver what the Des Moines market has come to expect.”