Family dispute doesn’t affect Owen Brennan’s

Despite family squabbles that have shuttered a famous New Orleans eatery, Owen Brennan’s Restaurant in Memphis is open and doing just fine, says Jim Baker, licensee of the restaurant.

Owen Brennan’s, which opened at 6150 Poplar in the Regalia Shopping Center in East Memphis in 1989, is named after Owen Edward Brennan, founder of Brennan’s on Royal Street in New Orleans.

That eatery has closed due to legal problems, but does not affect the Memphis restaurant.

The local establishment is a totally separate operation, and Baker and his family own sole rights to Bakco, which operates as Owen Brennan’s Restaurant.

“It’s a sad situation in New Orleans with some of the family members there going against each other and legal problems surrounding their restaurant, but that has absolutely no bearing on our place in Memphis,” Baker said.

“But now I’m getting all kinds of calls and e-mails from people wondering if we’re closing and because we have a lot of out- oftown customers, we want to assure them that we’re fine and we’re not going anywhere. The troubles with the restaurant in New Orleans aren’t connected to us.”

For more information on the Memphis business, visit brennansmemphis.com.

Construction shifts Methodist entrance

Beginning Monday, Methodist University Hospital will move its main entrance to Bellevue Avenue while a new emergency department is under construction, officials said.

The current emergency room entrance on Eastmoreland will remain open at the hospital at 1265 Union. However, the main entrance is temporarily being relocated to a new circle drive created off Bellevue. A marked walkway for pedestrians will be at Eastmoreland and Bellevue.

Methodist University is adding 93,000 new square feet, 6,200 renovated square feet and 16 new treatment areas, bringing the total to 54 in the emergency department.

Norris is named to workforce board

Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) to the Tennessee Workforce Development Board.

The board works to foster a competitive economic environment through an innovative and collaborative workforce development system involving public and private sectors and promoting Tennessee as a place where people choose to live and work.

“Economic development and a properly trained workforce to sustain it are critically important,” Norris said in a statement. “I’ve communicated with a number of businesses ready to expand in Tennessee who need qualified employees right away. We are capable of meeting that need, but better communication and coordination between departments, schools and opportunities are key to our success.”

Waste Management is trashed by BBB

In what may be a little embarrassing for one of the nation’s largest waste disposal companies, Houston-based Waste Management Inc. is working with the Better Business Bureau to restore its accreditation with the BBB.

The board of the Houston Better Business Bureau, where complaints about the company are funneled, revoked Waste Management’s accreditation on May 24 for failing to meet several standards and not cooperating with the BBB to address underlying causes leading to patterns of customer complaints.

BBB and Waste Management officials said the company is working to restore its accreditation.