Corner Bakery Cafe (CBC Restaurant Corporation) is an American chain of
cafe
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
s that specialize in pastries, breads, breakfast dishes, gourmet sandwiches, homemade soups, salads, and pasta. Corner Bakery Cafe is considered to be a part of the
fast casual
A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate concep ...
market segment of the food service industry, offering a somewhat higher quality of food and atmosphere than a typical
fast food
Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...
restaurant, and offering limited
table service
The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...
.
History
Corner Bakery Cafe was founded by
Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises
Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) is a restaurant group currently comprising 120 or more restaurants mainly located in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded by Rich Melman and Jerry A. Orzoff in 1971.
History
The first restauran ...
, a Chicago-based restaurant group. It was sold to
Brinker International
Brinker International, Inc. (or simply Brinker) is an American multinational hospitality industry company that owns Chili's and Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant chains. Founded in 1975 and based in Dallas, Texas, Brinker currently owns, opera ...
, and then in 2005 to
Il Fornaio (America) Corporation.
Roark Capital Group
Roark Capital Group is an American private equity firm with over $33 billion in assets under management. The firm is focused on leveraged buyout investments in middle-market companies, primarily in the franchise/multi-location, restaurant and fo ...
bought Il Fornaio in 2011. In 2020, the Corner Bakery Cafe was purchased by Pandya Restaurant Growth Brands, LLC, a subsidiary of the Rohan Group of Companies. Mike Hislop is the chairman of the board. Mike came on as COO after the sale to CBC Restaurant Corporation.
Jim Vinz, the previous president & COO, had been with the company in various capacities since 1995, and was promoted to COO in 2005 and president in 2006.
The cafe has 192 locations nationwide, with large numbers in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
On February 23, 2023, Corner Bakery Cafe filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
.
See also
*
List of bakery cafés
This is a list of notable bakery cafés. A bakery (or baker's shop) is an Business, establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baking, baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries a ...
References
External links
Corner Bakery Cafe
Restaurants established in 1991
Bakery cafés
Restaurant chains in the United States
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Fast casual restaurants
Restaurant franchises
Restaurants in Dallas
Private equity portfolio companies
Bakeries of the United States
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023
1991 establishments in Illinois
American companies established in 1991
Coffeehouses and cafés in the United States
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