Out West Restaurant Group

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Out West Restaurant Group
Formerly
  • T-Bird Restaurant Group
    (1994-2017)
Company type Private
Industry Restaurants
Genre Casual dining
Founded1992;33 years ago (1992)
Founder
  • Thomas J. Shannon Jr.
Headquarters
San Diego, California (formerly La Jolla, California)
,
United States
Area served
 California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico
Key people
David Goronkin (CEO), [1] Mike Wong (CFO), [2] Steve Muhlbaum, Marilyn Wineman [3]
Products Australian themed American cuisine
Revenue US$ ~4.2 million (annually)
Website Out West Restaurant Group

Out West Restaurant Group Inc. is an American Private Equity Firm that operates and franchises the West Coast Branch of the national Australian-themed steakhouse chain Outback Steakhouse, based in San Diego, California. The company currently operates Outback locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Contents

History

Out West Restaurant Group was founded by Thomas J. Shannon Jr. in 1992, under T-Bird Restaurant Group. The company would separately operate a select number of Outback Steakhouse locations, exclusively in California. T-Bird operated out of their original headquarters in La Jolla, California. [4]

Before 1992, all Outback locations were corporately owned by Bloomin' Brands and were mostly located on the East Coast of the United States. Under Shannon's leadership, T-Bird grew to operate over 60 Outback locations in California, and even resulted in the California Restaurant Association Educational Foundation named Tom the "Restaurateur of the Year, 2002." [5] Initially, T-Bird did not operate any Outback restaurants. The first Outback location owned by T-Bird opened in 1994 in Upland, California. After this, many other Outback restaurants opened in the Metropolitan LA area.

In 2009, Mike Wong was named EVP and CFO of Cerca Trova Restaurant Concepts, the company that would ultimately take over T-Bird in 2018. [6]

In October 2015, T-Bird, and its 62 Outback locations, were acquired by H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm based in Miami, Florida. This buyout resulted in the company's stock ultimately going private, leaving its exact financial status largely unknown. [7] [8]

In 2018, the now privately owned T-Bird merged with now struggling Cerca Trova Restaurant Concepts, and created a new company, which would be named Out West Restaurant Group Inc, due to their large footprint of Outback restaurants located on the West Coast. This newly formed company moved from its La Jolla base to its new headquarters in San Diego, California. This new company then started to acquire Outback locations in many other states, including Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, while also growing their already large footprint in California. Out West now operates over 100 locations in their five respective states, all in the West Coast, and is the largest franchise of Bloomin' Brands locations in the world. [9]

References

  1. ↑ "David Goronkin". Pitchbook. 2018.
  2. ↑ "Mike Wong". Out West Restaurant Griup. 2018.
  3. ↑ "Vice President of Human Resources". Out West Restaurant Group. 2018.
  4. ↑ "Out West Restaurant Group Overview". PitchBook. 2015.
  5. ↑ "Thomas J. Shannon, Jr". Irish America. 2011.
  6. ↑ "Mike Wong". Out West Restaurant Group. 2018.
  7. ↑ "H.I.G. Capital Completes Acquisition of T-Bird Restaurant Group, Inc". H.I.G. Capital. 7 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Private-equity firm buys Outback Steakhouse Franchisee". Kelsey Squire. 7 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Out West Restaurant Group, Inc". H.I.G. Capital. October 2015.
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