 | |
| Company type | Private subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Country style food |
| Parent | Captain D's |
| Website | grandys |
Grandy's Country Cookin' (shortened to Grandy's) is a homestyle cooking and comfort food restaurant chain based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Walter E. Johnson and Rex E. Sanders had met working together as teenagers at a restaurant in Oak Cliff, Dallas. In the early 1960s, they opened a fried chicken stand on Grand Avenue, which expanded. In 1969, Host International purchased the 14 outlets to use for their expansion of Jim Dandy Fried Chicken. After launching and selling a successful chain of restaurants, the two young men created Grandy's, hoping to combine the efficiency of fast food with the ambiance of a full-service restaurant. Johnson and Sanders waited until a non-compete clause before renaming the chain to Grandy’s in 1977. [1]
Under the ownership of Saga Foods, Inc. a multi-concept restaurant firm who acquired Grandy's in 1983, [2] Grandy's experienced its greatest growth surge, primarily in the 1980s, having at its zenith almost 200 stores. A buyout of Saga by Marriott Corporation led to a sell off of the Grandy's chain, along with other concepts owned by Saga, to American Restaurant Group. [3] In the late 1990s, Grandy's, now over 20 years old, began to close older locations and remote markets that were underperforming. They retreated to the core markets of Texas and Oklahoma with a strong presence in southern Indiana and northern Kentucky.
The Asia Pacific operations of Grandy's was operated by MBf American Foods Ltd, incorporated in Hong Kong, in turn owned by MBf Holdings Berhad of Malaysia. Its offices were in Kuala Lumpur with a training center located in Petaling Jaya. Grandy's first Malaysian outlet was at Subang Parade, opened in December 1988. MBf American Foods planned to have 50 outlets in Malaysia opened by late 1989 and open an outlet in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore in April 1989. [4]
In 2000, American Restaurant Group sold Grandy's and three other subsidiaries to Spectrum Restaurant Group. [5] [6]
Spectrum filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and put Grandy's up for sale. [7] Souper Salad acquired Grandy's in 2007. [8] Souper Salad filed for bankruptcy in 2011. [9]
On December 19, 2011, Grandy's was acquired by Captain D's for an undisclosed amount.[ citation needed ]
As of May 2019, Grandy's had 38 restaurants, almost half being in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. In December 2020, the original location in Lewisville, Texas closed, leaving a total of 27 restaurants. By October 2021, that number had fallen to 24, franchised across six states. [10] As of April 2024, the company operates 23 locations in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. A location opened in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 2020 but closed 6 months later. [11]
KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC, is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's second-largest restaurant chain after McDonald's, with over 30,000 locations globally in 150 countries as of April 2024. The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.
Marie Callender's is an American restaurant chain. Its headquarters are in the Marie Callender's Corporate Support Center in Mission Viejo, Orange County, California. As of April 2024, the company operates 24 locations in California, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah.
Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Newtown Township, Pennsylvania. Since 2020, it has been owned by Engage Brands, LLC, a company of Rohan Group. Also, frozen meals and side dishes are sold nationally under the Boston Market brand name in food markets. The chain was known for rotisserie chickens, and later branched out into other meats such as turkey, meatloaf, and ham. A common meal had a meat with a few sides such as potatoes, cream spinach, mac n' cheese, and accompanied by a corn bread. Stores sometimes had seasonal specials and they also had a line of sandwiches. It was popular in the 1990s and early 21st century but by the 2020s was in a rapid decline, and by 2024 there was only a couple dozen stores left.
Captain Ds, LLC. is an American fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in seafood and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The chain was founded as Mr. D's Seafood and Hamburgers by Raymond L. Danner Sr. on August 15, 1969, in Donelson, Tennessee. The chain is currently owned by private-equity firm Centre Partners. Captain D's currently has more than 500 locations in the United States.
Kenny Rogers Roasters is a chain of chicken-based restaurants founded in 1991 by country musician Kenny Rogers and former KFC CEO John Y. Brown Jr., who was a former governor of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Brown had been an early investor in Kentucky Fried Chicken from 1964 to 1971. During his successful music career, Rogers had appeared in several commercials for the Dole Food Company before founding this restaurant chain.
Sizzler USA Restaurants, Inc., doing business as Sizzler, is a United States–based restaurant chain with headquarters in Mission Viejo, California, with locations mainly in California, plus some in the nearby states of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, and Oregon, as well as Puerto Rico. It is known for steak, seafood, and salad bar items.
CBC Restaurant Corporation, doing business as Corner Bakery Cafe is an American chain of cafes that specialize in pastries, breads, breakfast dishes, gourmet sandwiches, homemade soups, salads, and pasta. Corner Bakery Cafe is considered to be a part of the fast casual market segment of the food service industry, offering a somewhat higher quality of food and atmosphere than a typical fast food restaurant, and offering limited table service.
Cici Enterprises, LP, doing business as Cicis Pizza and also known as simply Cicis, is an American chain of buffet restaurants based in Coppell, Texas, specializing in pizza. The company was founded in 1985, and started franchising by 1987. In November 2015, the company began a new marketing campaign which included the renaming of the company to Cicis, and a redesigned logo and website.
Black-eyed Pea is an American restaurant chain, with outlets primarily in Colorado.
Steak and Ale is an American chain of restaurants that was influential in the growth of casual dining. Founded in 1966, it achieved major success in the 1970s and 1980s before declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding and closing its remaining 58 locations on July 29, 2008. The first new Steak and Ale restaurant since then opened on July 8, 2024, in Burnsville, Minnesota, with more planned for the Midwest and Texas.
Souper Salad is an American restaurant chain based in Dallas, Texas. It is an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant serving fresh salads, made-from-scratch soups, homemade breads, and more. All locations are in the Southwestern United States, with the majority located in Texas. The chain is privately owned and has been in operation since 1978. As of October 2022, the chain had 3 locations.
Bush's Chicken is a fast food restaurant serving fried chicken. The company is headquartered in Waco, Texas and has over 75 franchise locations in Central, North, South, and West Texas. The chain serves fried chicken, fried okra, fries, mashed potatoes, corn nuggets, jalapeño poppers, yeast rolls and macaroni and cheese. Bush's Chicken also sells sweet and unsweet iced tea by the gallon jug.
Chicken George was a fast food restaurant chain based in Baltimore, Maryland. The first restaurant was established by Theodore Holmes in November 1979 in the Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore. The company later expanded to a total of six restaurants in Baltimore, and also branched out to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. Franchise restaurants were also existent in Atlanta, Los Angeles and in other cities. In September 1991, the company filed for bankruptcy to be dissolved.
Chicken Salad Chick is a fast casual restaurant chain and franchise of chicken salad restaurants based in Atlanta, Georgia. To date, the chain consists of over 270 franchise restaurants and stores in 20 different U.S. states.
Sweet Tomatoes, operating as Souplantation in Southern California, is a United States–based chain of all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurants. The first location opened in 1978 in San Diego, California, where the company was headquartered. The company was incorporated as Garden Fresh Corp. in 1983. The company went public in 1995 but was taken private in 2004. The company, owned by Garden Fresh Restaurant Corporation, temporarily closed its 97 locations in March 2020 in response to government mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 7, 2020, the closure was made permanent and the company filed for liquidation. However, one restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, reopened after one firm bought the assets of the company, with no word yet on whether other locations will be reopened.
4FINGERS is a Singaporean multinational chain of fast casual restaurants that specialises in crispy Asian style fried chicken.
Koo Koo Roo was an American fast casual restaurant chain specializing in charbroiled chicken founded in 1988 by Los Angeles-based restaurateurs Mike and Ray Badalian. The name "Koo Koo Roo" was an onomatopoeic reference to the crow of a rooster. After a series of expansions and ownership changes, in which Koo Koo Roo struggled for profitability throughout the 1990s, the last location in Santa Monica, California, closed in 2014.
El Pollo Loco, Inc., is a restaurant chain based in the United States, specializing in Mexican-style grilled chicken. Restaurant service consists of: dine-in and take-out, with some locations offering drive-through options. The company is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, and operates about 500 company-owned and franchised restaurants in the Southwestern United States.
Salad and Go is an American drive-thru restaurant chain that specializes in salads, wraps, and breakfast. The brand is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, with a second office in Addison, Texas, and two food production facilities in Phoenix and Dallas. Salad and Go is a privately held company with more than 100 locations operating across four states, including Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada.