Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar

Last updated
Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar
TypePrivate
Industry Restaurants
Founded1975;48 years ago (1975) in New Albany, Indiana
FoundersGeorge R. Keller
Linda Keller
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio
Key people
Mathew Higgins President and CEO
Products Steak, chicken, and seafood cooked in a Southwest Mesquite style
Revenue$61 million (2006)
$60 million (2006)
Website tumbleweedrestaurants.com

Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar (formerly Tumbleweed Southwest Grill) is a chain restaurant based in Louisville, Kentucky. It serves an American-Mexican cuisine in a combination Tex-Mex and Southwest style. Tumbleweed's menu includes Continental food, encompassing such foods as chicken and steak. The other major style of cuisine is a Mexican-themed menu, including burritos, chimichangas, chili con queso, and house salads.

Contents

History

Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar serves Southwest-style foods. George R. Keller and his wife Linda opened the original restaurant in 1975 in New Albany, Indiana (directly across the Ohio River from Louisville), across the road from New Albany High School. Then in 1978, Linda converted her parents' Hillside Manor restaurant and bar on Mellwood Avenue in Louisville into a Tumbleweed. This location became the flagship for what was to become a chain of restaurants. Shortly after, the restaurant began expansion to become a regional chain.

In 1995, the Kellers sold the business to sixty local area investors for US$9.8 million and an additional US$1 million in a clause not to compete against the company's new owners. The company then became a publicly traded company to help fuel its expansion in the Midwest and overseas markets. John Butorac Jr., took over as president of the company, he was also the former vice president for Chi-Chi's. [1]

In 2002, Terrance Smith, CEO of the establishment, was seeking ownership of the company with two other investors. [2] However, on December 18, 2007, Terrance Smith resigned as president and CEO after seven years when the views of the company's board of directors began to diverge from his views. [3] Matthew Higgins became the new president and CEO of the company, with his twin brother, Michael Higgins, as COO. [4] Tumbleweed filed for bankruptcy in 2009. [5] At the time of filing, the firm had 37 company-owned or franchised locations left in the states of Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky and had one licensed location each in Germany and Kuwait. The company was able to emerge from bankruptcy the following year. [6] Still, the company was not performing as well as it would like and was forced to close 8 out of 32 remaining locations in the tri-state area in 2014 after previously withdrawing from overseas operations. [7] Locations in Illinois and Wisconsin closed in 2008 after the local franchise owner filed for bankruptcy. [8] As of 2022, the restaurant operates 16 locations in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, [9] including company-owned and franchise locations.

International

In 1999, Tumbleweed began to expand overseas [10] and had several overseas locations by 2006. [11] The company had a restaurant on an American Army base located in Vilseck, Germany, that was known for its slow service. [12] All of these locations were closed before 2014. [7]

Sedona Grill

In 2007, Tumbleweed Restaurants decided that it wanted to expand into the upscale restaurant field by opening a separate chain called Sedona Grill with the first location being opened in Lima, Ohio in early 2007. [13] The original plan was to have five locations opened by the end of the year. Ultimately, only one other location was opened, also in Ohio, before the company finally closed the money-losing operation at the beginning of 2008. [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long John Silver's</span> Restaurant chain

Long John Silver's is an American chain of fast-food restaurants that specializes in seafood. The brand's name is derived from the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, in which the pirate Long John Silver is one of the main characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baja Fresh</span> American Tex-Mex restaurant chain

Baja Fresh is an American chain of fast-casual Tex Mex restaurants founded in Newbury Park, California in 1990 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and is owned by Canadian franchisor MTY Food Group. The chain emphasizes fresh ingredients, each restaurant featuring a self-serve salsa bar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taco Bueno</span> U.S.-based fast-food restaurant chain

Taco Management LLC, doing business as Taco Bueno, is a U.S.-based, quick service restaurant chain specializing in Tex-Mex-style cuisine. The company is headquartered in Farmers Branch, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. Its first location opened in Abilene, Texas in 1967. The food chain has locations in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uno Pizzeria & Grill</span> American franchised pizza restaurant chain

Uno Pizzeria & Grill, or more informally as Uno’s, is a United States-origin franchised pizzeria restaurant chain under the parent company Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation. Uno Pizzeria and Grill is best known for its Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Ike Sewell opened the first Pizzeria Uno in 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qdoba</span> Restaurant chain

Qdoba is a chain of fast casual restaurants in the United States and Canada serving Mexican-style cuisine. After 15 years as a wholly owned subsidiary of Jack in the Box, the company was sold to a consortium of funds led by Apollo Global Management in March 2018. At the time of the sale, Qdoba had more than 700 locations in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. In October 2022, Qdoba was acquired by Butterfly Equity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Pablo's</span> American Tex-Mex restaurant chain

Don Pablo's was an American chain of Tex-Mex restaurants founded in Lubbock, Texas, in 1985. The menu featured Tex-Mex items, made-from-scratch salsa, tortillas and sauces, and a range of other Mexican specialties. At one time, this chain had as many as 120 locations throughout the United States and was the second largest full-service Mexican restaurant chain within the United States during the late 1990s, second only to Chi-Chi's. The chain had 34 restaurants in 14 states when it was acquired in 2014 by Food Management Partners. By October 2016, the chain was reduced to 12 restaurants in 9 states, 6 restaurants in 4 states by July 2018, 5 restaurants in 3 states by September 2018, and later 3 restaurants in 3 states by November 2018. The remaining restaurants in the struggling chain gradually and quietly closed over the next seven months until the last restaurant in Deptford Township, New Jersey, finally closed on June 23, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chi-Chi's</span> Mexican restaurant chain

Chi-Chi's can either refer to a defunct Mexican food restaurant chain founded in the United States in 1975, which continued in Europe only as a single restaurant after the North American owner declared bankruptcy and folded in 2004, or to its namesake brand of Mexican food grocery products produced and marketed when the original North American restaurant chain owner sold the rights to use its name on said products in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sizzler</span> American 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 Washington, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Oregon and Puerto Rico. It is known for steak, seafood, and salad bar items.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rax Roast Beef</span> American fast food chain, founded 1967

Rax Roast Beef is a regional U.S. fast food restaurant chain specializing in roast beef sandwiches. The company has been through many iterations, declaring bankruptcy more than once, rising to as many as 504 locations in 38 U.S. states in the 1980s and falling to fewer than 20 locations on more than one occasion. As of 2022, Rax is based in Ironton, Ohio, and has fewer than ten franchisee-owned restaurants still in operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Roadhouse</span> American chain steakhouse

Texas Roadhouse is an American steakhouse chain that specializes in steaks in a Texan and Southwestern cuisine style. It is a subsidiary of Texas Roadhouse Inc, which has two other concepts and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. As of August 2021, the chain operates about 627 locations in 49 U.S. states and 29 international locations in 10 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Druther's</span> American fast food restaurant

Druther's is a restaurant, formerly a chain of fast food restaurants that began as Burger Queen restaurants started in Winter Haven, Florida in 1956, and then based in Louisville, Kentucky from 1963 until 1981. The name was a play on the word "druthers", and the mascot was a giant female bee named Queenie Bee. In 1981, Burger Queen changed to Druther's restaurants, although the changes were mostly cosmetic. One reason given for the name change was to eliminate the perception that they specialized in only hamburgers when they also had fried chicken and a serve-yourself salad bar. Druther's featured a character named "Andy Dandytale" on its kids meal items. The chain's slogan was "I'd Ruther Go to Druther's Restaurant."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Louisville, Kentucky</span>

Since it earliest days, the economy of Louisville, Kentucky, has been underpinned by the shipping and cargo industries. Today, Louisville, Kentucky is home to dozens of companies and organizations across several industrial classifications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tijuana Flats</span> American restaurant chain

Tijuana Flats Tex-Mex is a privately-held American restaurant chain serving Tex-Mex cuisine. It has over 135 locations throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Indiana. Tijuana Flats restaurants are fast-casual hybrids with fresh food, hot sauce bars, art murals and off-beat culture. Customers order at the front counter and are served after taking a seat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pancheros Mexican Grill</span> Restaurant chain in the United States

Pancheros Mexican Grill is a chain of fast casual Tex Mex restaurants in the United States serving Mexican-style cuisine. The chain was founded in 1992 by Rodney Anderson when he opened two units: one in Iowa City, Iowa, and one in East Lansing, Michigan. There are currently 72 units throughout the country. Pancheros is known for making their tortillas on site, at the time the order is placed. In 2006, Sports Illustrated voted Pancheros the most popular place to eat when bars in Iowa City close.

Kahala Brands is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada-based MTY Food Group Inc. of Montreal, Quebec. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Kahala is one of North America's largest holding company of franchise fast food restaurant companies. In May 2016, the publicly traded Canadian MTY Food Group announced a friendly takeover deal with the Kahala Brands. MTY agreed to pay about US$300 million to acquire Kahala. The two companies generated near $2 billion in revenues in the previous year. Jeff Smit was chosen to lead the US operations of MTY.

Maggie Rita's Tex-Mex Grill & Bar is a Tex-Mex restaurant in Houston. For several years, Maggie Rita's was a restaurant chain with a license co-owned by Carlos Mencia and Santiago Moreno of Suave Restaurant. In January 2013, Moreno closed the last two locations they owned. Tony Shannard owns the only remaining Maggie Rita's restaurant, which is situated in Houston's JPMorgan Chase Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint</span> American restaurant chain

Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint is a fast casual restaurant chain serving pizzas, salads and sandwiches with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

La Bamba West, Inc., doing business as La Bamba Mexican Restaurant and La Bamba Burritos, is a fast casual restaurant chain that was started in 1987 and is based in Champaign, Illinois. Their locations remain open late at night, serving Tex-Mex cuisine under the slogan "burritos as big as your head". The restaurants are located predominantly in college communities within the American Midwest.

Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill is a chain of fast casual Tex Mex restaurants in the United States serving Mexican-style cuisine. Restaurant service consists of: dine-in, take-out, online ordering, 3rd Party Delivery with some locations offering Drive Thru options. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and operates over 80 company-owned and franchised restaurants throughout United States.

References

  1. Kleber, John E., ed. (2001). The Encyclopedia of Louisville. University Press of Kentucky. p. 894. ISBN   9780813128900 . Retrieved 2012-01-24 via Google Books.
  2. "Tumbleweed Southwest Grill. (Just In)" . Alacra.
  3. "Smith resigns as Tumbleweed CEO". Louisville Business First. December 18, 2007.
  4. Profile: Twins Matt and Mike Higgins Louisville Business First. May 24, 2013.
  5. "Tumbleweed chain seeks Chapter 11". WHAS-TV . October 13, 2009.
  6. "Tumbleweed, CFS emerge from Chapter 11 with new owners, vision". Louisville Business First. April 19, 2010.
  7. 1 2 "Tumbleweed closes restaurants, refocuses brand". Louisville Business First. January 14, 2014.
  8. Hajewski, Doris (December 1, 2008). "Tumbleweed restaurants close in Wisconsin". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel .
  9. "Locations". Tumbleweed Restaurants.
  10. "Louisvillians to take Tumbleweeds around the world". Louisville Business First. May 11, 1998.
  11. "International Locations". Tumbleweed Restaurants. Archived from the original on 2006-12-30.
  12. Robson, Seth (February 1, 2007). "After Hours: 2nd Cavalry gets a sports bar to call home". Stars and Stripes .
  13. "Hot idea: Tumbleweed Inc. goes upscale with new Sedona Grill concept" . Louisville Business First . May 21, 2007.
  14. "Adios, Sedona ... Tumbleweed is sticking with its Southwest roots" . Louisville Business First . February 25, 2008.
  15. Crea, Joe (January 16, 2008). "Sedona Grill closes in Sheffield Village". Cleveland Plain Dealer .