LITTLE ROCK — The 14th Whole Hog Cafe is planned for early next year in Cherry Hill, N.J., as the chain now has its sights set on the Northeast.

The idea is “to open some franchises in select markets up here in the Northeast between Washington and Boston,” said Chris Maynes, chief financial officer of Whole Hog Cafe Inc. “By no means are we going to open a hundred locations or anything like that.”

Maynes, 40, makes it clear that the original Little Rock restaurant will remain the flagship and headquarters of the chain.

He is brother of Kathy Blasingame, whose husband, Ron Blasingame, was co-founder of the first Whole Hog in 2000 at its current location, 2516 Cantrell Road.

Since then, 12 have been added: one in west Little Rock, in the food court at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, and in North Little Rock, Bryant, Conway, Bentonville, Fayetteville and Fort Smith. There are also locations in Springfield, Mo., Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M., and New Orleans.

Most were opened between 2006 and 2009, the year Ron Blasingame died, leaving his widow as the major stakeholder. Maynes, who has a master of business administration degree from Penn State, pitched in to help his sister.

He and his sister hail from New Jersey, though she moved to Little Rock about 30 years ago. She and Blasingame, whom she later married, were partners in an office equipment leasing business.

In the late 1990s, Ron Blasingame, Steve Lucchi and Mike “Sarge” Davis were into competitive barbecuing. If there were any doubts about their claim on porcine mastery, the barbecue enthusiasts won the whole hog category at the 2002 Memphis in May World Championship.

Kathy Blasingame hadn’t been that involved in Whole Hog. “The whole organization was kind of in shock when Ron died. So she needed help.”

After five intensive months in Little Rock immersing himself in the business, the plan was laid, Maynes said.

Davis is still “very actively involved in the business,” Maynes said. Back is Lucchi, who had sold out to Blasingame in 2004, Maynes said.

The New Jersey restaurant will open early next year in the land of the Philly cheese steak sandwich and pizza, Maynes said.

“We think we’ll bring something unique,” he said.

In terms of decor - if that’s not too chichi of a word for the Whole Hog style - “we’re trying to duplicate the Little Rock stores as much as possible.”

The November issue of Arkansas Life magazine is the first under the editorship of Katie Bridges. A Northwest Arkansas native, Bridges recently returned to Arkansas from Washington where she served as assistant editor at Washingtonian magazine, one of the largest city magazines in the country, while pursuing a master’s degree in journalism at Georgetown University.

Bridges will oversee the print and online editions. She lives in Little Rock with her husband, Hunter. The magazine is published by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Inc., which publishes this newspaper.

Bridges succeeds Katherine Whitworth, who had taken a job with the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain. She is a coordinator of programs, including civic engagement and philanthropy, for the institute.

Montego Cafe has hired about 15 people and is looking for 25 more, said owner Brad McCray, who plans to open the nightclub and restaurant toward the end of the month.

McCray signed a lease with Scott Reed, owner of the building at 315 Main St. in Little Rock, which had been Porter’s Jazz Cafe, the ill-fated effort that lasted only a year before closing its doors in September.

McCray is redoing the decor to reflect a Jamaican theme, adding touches such as coarse-weave panels depicting Bob Marley and other reggae musicians.

“We’d like to start training our staff mid-November,” Mc-Cray said, adding that those wishing to apply should call (501) 372-1555.

The club is among the projects that seek to transform the moribund Main Street between Third and Seventh streets. Many of the buildings there have been vacant for years but are historically significant.

Reed and two partners have bought four buildings in the 500 block, which will become Main Street Lofts, a mixed-use project. Moses Tucker Real Estate and Doyle Rogers Co. are converting 324 Main into the Mann, which will be office, retail and living space.

If you have a tip, call Jack Weatherly at (501) 378-3518 or e-mail him at [email protected]

Business, Pages 69 on 11/04/2012