Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen

Last updated
Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen
FormerlyCheddar's Casual Cafe (1979–2015)
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Restaurant
Founded1979;45 years ago (1979) in Arlington, Texas
FoundersAubrey Good
Doug Rogers
Headquarters
Orlando, Florida
,
U.S.
Number of locations
185 company-owned and franchise locations (Jan. 2024)
Key people
John Wilkerson (President)
Revenue$751 million (2023) [1]
Number of employees
23,000 (2023)
Parent Darden Restaurants (2017–present)
Website cheddars.com

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, formerly known as Cheddar's Casual Cafe, [2] is an American restaurant chain based in Irving, Texas. Founded in 1979 [3] , the company has more than 170 locations in 28 states as of 2018.

Contents

History

In 1979 by Aubrey Good and Doug Rogers opened the first Cheddar's Casual Cafe in Arlington, Texas. [4] The name was proposed by a 5th-grade class when the founders asked for restaurant name suggestions. [5] The chain reached 10 locations by 1995.

By 2003, Cheddar's generated $150 million in revenue from 42 restaurants in 13 states [6] and Brazos Private Equity Partners made an initial investment to grow the company that year. In August 2006, when the company generated $245 million in revenue from 55 restaurants in 15 states, Oak Investment Partners and L Catterton Partners jointly purchased Cheddar's. [6] [7]

In August 2007, the company recruited Kelly Baltes from Darden Restaurants to serve as CEO. [8]

In October 2014, Ian Baines was brought on as President and CEO of Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, after serving as CEO and President at Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation. Throughout his career, he has held various roles of increased responsibility with Darden Restaurants and Brinker International, Inc. [9]

In 2015, the company changed its name to Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen. [10]

In 2017, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen acquired forty-four franchised units located in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia from their "largest franchisee" Greer Companies, who is based in Kentucky. This brought their portfolio up to 164 corporate owned restaurants. [11]

On March 27, 2017, Darden Restaurants announced its intent to acquire Cheddar's from shareholders such as L Catterton and Oak Investment Partners for $780 million plus another $10 million for transaction-related expenses. [12] On March 28, 2017, when Darden announced it that had acquired Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Darden became the biggest gainer that day on the S&P 500. [13] The acquisition was completed on April 24, 2017. [14]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Cheddar's Completes Conversion from Casual Café to Scratch Kitchen". Fsrmagazine.com. July 5, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Cheddar's Completes Conversion from Casual Café to Scratch Kitchen". Fsrmagazine.com. July 5, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  3. ↑ Company Overview of Cheddar’s Casual Café, Inc, Business Week.
  4. ↑ The Untold Truth Of Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Mashed.
  5. ↑ "Our Story". cheddars.com. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  6. 1 2 Brazos Partners Sells Cheddar's, Dallas Business Journal.
  7. ↑ Catterton, Oak firms buy Cheddar's from Brazos, Nation's Restaurant News.
  8. ↑ Cheddar’s Casual Café Names New Chairman, PRIME Newswire.
  9. ↑ [ dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Cheddar's Gets New Name, Logo - restaurant development + design". Rddmag.com. August 10, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Acquires Largest Franchisee". Finance.yahoo.com. January 5, 2017. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  12. ↑ Arnold, Kyle. "Darden buying value-oriented Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen chain". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  13. ↑ Badkar, Mamta (March 28, 2017). "Olive Garden-owner Darden shares poised for best day since '09". Financial Times . Retrieved April 3, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Darden Restaurants finalizes $780M purchase of Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
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