Carino's Italian is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

-based chain of Italian food casual dining restaurants. Headquartered in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, the concept is owned by Fired Up, Inc., which was founded in 1997 by partners and former Brinker International executives Norman Abdallah and Creed Ford III. Carino's Italian operated as Spageddies, prior to its 1997 acquisition by Fired Up . Spageddies, in turn, was founded in 1992 by Brinker International . The company filed for bankruptcy protection on March 31, 2014, and again declared bankruptcy in 2016. The filings were concurrent with the closing of several Carino's locations; while Carino's once owned or franchised more than 170 restaurants across the United States, as of July 23, 2018, only about 55 Carino's locations still operate.

References

Regional restaurant chains in the United States Italian-American culture in Texas Companies based in Austin, Texas Italian restaurants in the United States 1968 establishments in Texas Restaurants established in 1968 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 {{US-restaurant-stub