Business is booming at Horseshoe Hill despite the arrest earlier this month of the restaurant’s chef and “face” – Grady Spears – on a family violence charge, said his business partner, Chuck Bush.
Fort Worth police arrested Spears on July 2 after being called to his house for allegedly assaulting his wife. (Spears needs to get tips from Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan on how to improve his mughot. That’s one sad-looking mug on the usually chipper and handsome Spears.)
Bush said the arrest was “blown out of proportion” by news media and that he still backs his celebrity chef.
“I’m still a partner of his and a big supporter,” Bush said. “It hasn’t had a negative impact on anything.”
Sales receipts at the restaurant have remained strong, Bush said.
“I have not seen a downturn in it since that incident,” he said.
Bush has spoken with Spears and wife Wendy Mann-Spears since the arrest but has not discussed the alleged assault.
“If they want to tell me what happened, I’ll be more than happy to listen,” Bush said. “But I don’t ask questions. That’s their personal business.”
Fort Worth police records indicate that Mann-Spears, who married Spears in 2015, was the victim in the assault.
After her husband’s arrest, Mann-Spears wrote a Facebook post describing Spears as a “wonderful soul” who abhors violence but acted out of character because he had not taken some medication correctly.
On July 5, The Dallas Morning News reported that a planned food hall in Fort Worth severed ties with Spears after his arrest.
Spears rose to fame as the former chef and co-owner at the beloved downtown restaurant Reata and its predecessor in Alpine, parlaying that recognition into cookbooks, television appearances, and a string of restaurants, many of them ending with Spears and his investors at odds.
In 2016, his current investor, Bush, bought a controlling interest in Horseshoe Hill, a chicken-fried steak restaurant in the Historic Stockyards (“Biscuits and Grady,” Dec 28, 2016). Although honeymoons can be short for Spears and his investors, Bush reports no problems.
“I am pleased with Horseshoe Hill,” Bush said. “Business-wise, financially, I could not be more pleased. It’s been a very good opportunity for me, and I think I can speak for Grady as well.”
