Camille's Sidewalk Cafe is an American former international restaurant franchise headquartered in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, specializing in healthful, "fast casual" cuisine. In 2003 Camille's had more than 100 locations, and as of May 2013 had 36 locations in the United States. Camille's was ranked #37 in Entrepreneur magazine's top 50 new franchises. Camille's Sidewalk Cafe was founded in 1996 by David Rutkauskas, his wife Camille and father Otto, with the first location (a kiosk) opening in the

Woodland Hills Mall Woodland Hills Mall is a 1+ million square foot, super regional shopping mall located at 7021 S. Memorial Drive in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. It was originally developed jointly by Target Corporation, Dayton-Hudson Corporati ...

in Tulsa in October of that year. In January 2008, the company reached an agreement with

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

to include Camille's restaurants in new Wal-Mart supercenters, with as many as 200 such locations opening 2018. Stand-alone Camille's locations in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

were scheduled to open in 2008, with 21 under development in Puerto Ric

In 2008, the company launched 3 cafes in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

and 2 in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

. The Rutkauskas' company, Beautiful Brands, also owns other franchise concepts including FreshBerry, a

frozen yogurt Frozen yogurt (also known as frogurt or by the tradename Froyo; ) is a frozen dessert made with yogurt and sometimes other dairy and non-dairy products. Frozen yogurt is a frozen product containing the same basic ingredients as ice cream, but c ...

chain. According to a May 14, 2013 article in the ''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is an American daily newspaper. It serves the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the sta ...

'', the chain peaked at 107 restaurants in 2009. In the years that followed, two-thirds of the chain's locations have been closed, leaving 36 locations in the United States, and the chain has faced vocal criticisms from some franchisees as well as a lawsuit over the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

ern franchise rights. The original company-owned store in Woodland Hills Mall closed at the end of 2012.Kyle Arnold
"Camille's empire copes with setbacks"archived copy
''

'', May 14, 2013.

References

American companies established in 1996 Restaurants established in 1996 Companies based in Tulsa, Oklahoma Restaurant franchises Restaurant chains in the United States 1996 establishments in Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-stub