Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse

Last updated

Ponderosa Steakhouses
Bonanza Steakhouses
Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry Casual dining, Buffet
Founded1965
Headquarters Plano, Texas
Number of locations
88
ProductsSteak, salad, seafood
Parent Homestyle Dining LLC [1]
Website pon-bon.com
A Ponderosa Steakhouse in West Branch, Michigan. Ponderosa too.jpg
A Ponderosa Steakhouse in West Branch, Michigan.

Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse are a chain of buffet/steakhouse restaurants that are a part of Homestyle Dining LLC based in Plano, Texas. [2] Its menu includes steaks, seafood, and chicken entrées, all of which come with their buffet for a nominal charge. A lunch menu is also served.

Plano, Texas City in Texas, United States

Plano is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located approximately twenty miles north of downtown Dallas. The city of Plano is a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Plano lies mostly within Collin County, but includes a small portion that extends into Denton County.

Contents

Unlike other chains with two names, such as Checkers and Rally's, which uses only one of the names in a given region, restaurants in a given region could be named either Bonanza or Ponderosa. This is because Bonanza and Ponderosa were separate companies, which were later merged under the Metromedia Restaurant Group.

Checkers and Rallys fast food company

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., is one of the largest chains of double drive-thru restaurants in the United States. The company operates Checkers and Rally's restaurants in 28 states and the District of Columbia. They specialize in hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, and milkshakes.

The Metromedia Restaurant Group was a United States casual dining company that operated and franchised more than 800 restaurants under the names Steak and Ale, Bennigan's, Bonanza, Ponderosa, The Plano Tavern, The Southlake Tavern and the 29 Degree Tavern. The company was headquartered in Plano, Texas. It was part of the Metromedia Company, which was privately owned by businessman John Kluge until his death and is related in lineage to the former entertainment company of the same name.

The names of the restaurants were derived from the classic TV series Bonanza , which was set at a place called Ponderosa Ranch.

<i>Bonanza</i> 1959-1973 American western/cowboy television series

Bonanza is an NBC television western series that ran from 1959 to 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, Bonanza is NBC's longest-running western, and ranks overall as the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television, and within the top 10 longest-running, live-action American series. The show continues to air in syndication. The show is set in the 1860s and it centers on the wealthy Cartwright family that live in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe. The series initially starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon and later featured Guy Williams, David Canary, Mitch Vogel, and Tim Matheson. The show is known for presenting pressing moral dilemmas.

The Ponderosa Ranch was a theme park based on the popular 1960s television western Bonanza, which housed the affluent land, timber and livestock-rich Cartwright family. The amusement park operated in Incline Village, Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, from 1967 until 2004. Portions of the last five seasons of the TV series and three TV movies were also filmed at that location.

History

A Bonanza steakhouse in Marquette, Michigan in 2011. This location has since closed. Bonanza, Marquette, MI.jpg
A Bonanza steakhouse in Marquette, Michigan in 2011. This location has since closed.

In 1963, Dan Blocker, who played Eric "Hoss" Cartwright on Bonanza, [3] started the Bonanza Steakhouse chain. The first Bonanza opened in Westport, Connecticut. Sam Wyly and his brother Charles Wyly bought the small Bonanza restaurant chain three years later. The company grew to approximately 600 restaurants by 1989, [4] when the Wylys sold it to Metromedia. [5]

Dan Blocker actor

Bobby Dan Davis Blocker was an American television actor and Korean War veteran. He is best remembered for his role as Hoss Cartwright in the NBC Western television series Bonanza.

Westport, Connecticut Town in Connecticut, United States

Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is 52 miles (84 km) northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 26,391 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, and is ranked 19th among America's 100 Richest Places as well as third in Connecticut, with populations between 20,000 and 65,000.

Samuel E. Wyly, known as Sam Wyly, is an American entrepreneur and businessman, author, philanthropist, and major contributor to conservative candidates. In 2006, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $1.1 billion. He was nine years on the Forbes 400. Wyly's memoir, 1,000 Dollars & an Idea, was published in September 2008. He is of Scots, Irish, Welsh and English descent. His forebears came to America in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s. His last book was The Immigrant Spirit: How Newcomers Enrich America, and his May 2018 book is Dallas Got It Right!, co-authored with Laurie Matthews and Andrew Wyly.

In 1965, Dan Lasater, Norm Wiese and Charles Kleptz founded Ponderosa in Kokomo, Indiana, moving the headquarters to Dayton, Ohio, in 1971. [6]

Kokomo, Indiana City in Indiana, United States

Kokomo is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. Kokomo is Indiana's 13th-largest city. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard County. Kokomo's population was 46,113 at the 2000 census, and 45,468 at the 2010 census. On January 1, 2012, Kokomo successfully annexed more than 7 square miles (18 km2) on the south and west sides of the city, including Alto and Indian Heights, increasing the city's population to nearly 57,000 people.

Dayton, Ohio City in Ohio, United States

Dayton is the sixth-largest city in the state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2017 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 140,371, while Greater Dayton was estimated to be at 803,416 residents. This makes Dayton the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Ohio and 63rd in the United States. Dayton is within Ohio's Miami Valley region, just north of Greater Cincinnati.

Ponderosa began operations to Canada by at least 1971 and remained in Canada until 1986, when the post-recession US appeared to present a more viable market for expansion. After closing most Canadian Ponderosa restaurant locations [7] , the company returned to generating US restaurant franchises in 1986, reversing a previous freeze on new US franchises in the move to Canada. At that time, 36 Canadian Ponderosa locations were acquired by General Mills Restaurant Group which converted them to Red Lobster restaurants. [8] In the meantime, Bonanza maintained a presence in Canada. [9]

In 1988, Ponderosa was sold to Metromedia. [6]

In 1997, Ponderosa and Bonanza united under the Metromedia Family Steakhouses organization to form a single restaurant concept marketed under either the Ponderosa or Bonanza brand. MFS was a forerunner company of the former Metromedia entertainment conglomerate founded by John Kluge.

The chain's parent company, Metromedia Steakhouses Company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008, although it planned to reorganize around franchise operations and a profitable core of company-operated restaurants. [10] [11] It emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 under the name "Homestyle Dining LLC". [12]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Management Moves: Homestyle Dining LLC, Sage Restaurant Group". Fsrmagazine.com. July 20, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  2. ↑ Richard K. Miller & Associates (2006). The Restaurant and Foodservice Market Research Handbook. Richard K. Miller & Associates. p. 168. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Dan Blocker". IMDb.com. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  4. ↑ "The 400 Richest Americans: #354, Samuel Wyly", Forbes magazine, September 21, 2006
  5. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; Ponderosa To Buy Rival". The New York Times .
  6. 1 2 Stephens, Caleb. "Local Ponderosa restaurants fall from six to two", "Dayton Business Journal", April 18, 2003.
  7. ↑ Mazerolle, Brent (November 7, 2010). "Last Ponderosa set to close". Winnipegfreepress.com. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  8. ↑ Deanne Brandon (November 1, 1985). "General Mills Restaurants - 11.01.85 - SI Vault". Orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved 2012-10-08.
  9. ↑ "Mystery of Bonanza safe cracked". Saskatoon StarPhoenix. April 29, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  10. ↑ SOURCE: Metromedia Steakhouses Company, L.P.
  11. ↑ "Parent of Ponderosa, Bonanza steakhouses files for bankruptcy " "Dallasnews.com", October 22, 2008
  12. ↑ Plano-based Metromedia Steakhouses Company emerges from Chapter 11, renamed Homestyle Dining LLC "Pegasus News", October 16, 2009
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