Beef O'Brady's

Last updated
Beef O'Brady's
Company typePrivate
Industry Restaurants
Founded1985;39 years ago (1985) in Brandon, Florida
FounderJim Mellody
Headquarters
Tampa, Florida
,
United States
Number of locations
151 (2019) [1]
Area served
United States
Key people
RJ Del Rio (CEO)
OwnerFamily Sports Concepts Inc. [2]
Website www.beefobradys.com

Beef O'Brady's (styled as Beef 'O' Brady's Family Sports Restaurant) [3] is an American restaurant franchise, established in 1985 by Jim Mellody in Brandon, Florida, [4] and headquartered in Tampa. [5]

Contents

History

Jim Mellody moved from his native Pennsylvania to Florida in 1971, and tried numerous restaurant ideas before hitting on the concept of a family-friendly Irish pub (serving no hard liquor). He founded Beef O'Brady's in 1985. [1] In 1998, Mellody sold most of his interest to Family Sports Concepts Inc., headed by Chuck Winship, but retained an interest in 13 locations. [6] [7] [8] Franchising started in 1998, [1] and by August 2000, it had grown to 40 locations. [6]

When Mellody died in November 2002, the chain had grown to 88 locations within seven southeastern states. [4] [7] [9] After Mellody's death, what had been his remaining interest in the company was bought out, [10] and by December 2005 there were 183 locations in 19 states. [8] As of 2009, Mellody's daughter still ran the original Brandon location. [10]

In early 2010, CEO Chuck Winship retired and was replaced by Chris Elliott, a former executive of Cinnabon and Church's Chicken; at that time, the company had approximately 245 locations, down from a high of approximately 270. [11] As of September 2019, the number of locations had dropped to 150, with 26 of those company-owned and operated. [12]

Bowl game

In 2009, the company became the title sponsor of the St. Petersburg Bowl, an annual college football bowl game held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. [13] That year's game was officially named the "St. Petersburg Bowl presented by Beef 'O' Brady's". [14] The game was then renamed as the "Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl" for four years (2010–2013). [15] In 2014, the game reverted to one of its former names, and in 2017 became the Gasparilla Bowl once again, which was original called the MagicJack Bowl prior to that.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Beef O'Brady's Family Sports Pub". entrepreneur.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Family Sports Concepts Inc". bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Beef 'O' Brady's Family Sports Restaurant". beefobradys.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Restaurant Owner Founded Beef 'O' Brady's". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. November 26, 2002. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  5. ↑ "In its 30 years, Beef 'O' Brady's evolves into a defining Tampa Bay franchise". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  6. 1 2 Meadows, Andrew (August 12, 2000). "Beef 'O' Brady's 'Bama bound". The Tampa Tribune. Retrieved February 19, 2010.[ dead link ]
  7. 1 2 "Jim Mellody, founder of the Beef 'O' Brady's family sports pub chain". Nation's Restaurant News . November 26, 2002. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  8. 1 2 Park, Carolyne (December 16, 2005). "Beef 'O' Brady's market push" . Memphis Business Journal. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  9. ↑ Michael Sandler (November 25, 2002). "Jim Mellody, who founded Beef 'O' Brady's". St. Petersburg Times . Archived from the original on July 15, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  10. 1 2 Margaret Cashill (January 29, 2009). "Owner operators advance 'family' philosophy" . Tampa Bay Business Journal. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  11. ↑ Sasso, Michael (July 3, 2010). "Beef O'Brady's leader steps down to pursue MBA". The Tampa Tribune . p. 29. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019– via newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Romeo, Peter (September 12, 2019). "For Beef 'O' Brady's, Rejuvenation is a Process". restaurantbusinessonline.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  13. ↑ "St. Pete Bowl gets new title sponsor". St. Petersburg Times . December 9, 2009. p. 18. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019– via newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Beef 'O' Brady's Signs on as Title Sponsor of St. Petersburg Bowl". St. Petersburg Bowl. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  15. ↑ "'O' No! Beef 'O' Brady's to drop sponsorship of local bowl game". Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
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