Grandy's Country Cookin' (shortened to Grandy's) is a

homestyle cooking Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high Calorie, caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple Food preparation, preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an ...

and

comfort food Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual, or it may app ...

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

chain based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

History

Grandy's was founded in 1972 by Walter E. Johnson and Rex E. Sanders, who became friends while working together as teenagers at a

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

cafeteria. After launching and selling a successful chain of restaurants, the two young men created Grandy's, hoping to combine the efficiency of

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 ...

with the ambiance of a full-service restaurant. Under the ownership of Saga Foods, Inc. a multi-concept restaurant firm who acquired Grandy's in 1983, Grandy's experienced its greatest growth surge, primarily in the 1980s, having at its zenith almost 200 stores. A buyout of Saga by Marriott Corporation led to a sell off of the Grandy's chain, along with other concepts owned by Saga, to American Restaurant Group. In the late 1990s, Grandy's, now over 20 years old, began to close older locations and remote markets that were underperforming. They retreated to the core markets of

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 ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

with a strong presence in

southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. In 2000, American Restaurant Group sold Grandy's and three other subsidiaries to Spectrum Restaurant Group. In July 2004, Steve Butts and Brian Bowen left Grandy's, leaving the restaurant chain without an executive to lead the chain. Monty Whitehurst took over, without experience running a restaurant chain. Within 12 months, the chain lost 18 stores and same store sales dropped 32%. Also under Whitehurst, many of Grandy's locations were exposed on local television stations for failing health inspections. This caused sales to drop and closing a number of units. Spectrum filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in 2006 and put Grandy's up for sale.

Souper Salad Souper Salad (stylized as Souper!Salad!) is an American restaurant chain based in Dallas, Texas. It is an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant serving fresh salads, made-from-scratch soups, homemade breads, and more. All locations are in the Southw ...

acquired Grandy's in 2007. Souper Salad filed for bankruptcy in 2011. On December 19, 2011, Grandy's was acquired by

Captain D's Captain D's is an American fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in seafood and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The chain was founded as Mr. D's Seafood and Hamburgers by Raymond L. Danner Sr. on August 15, 1969, in Donelson, ...

for an undisclosed amount. In 2013 several of the restaurants were shut down due to failed health inspections. In September 2016, USRP closed eight stores by not renewing leases that Grandy's, Inc. signed in 1996. In 2018, the original chicken restaurant in Denton, Texas that the founders opened and rebranded as the second Grandy's closed. This left the city of Denton without a Grandy's. As of May 2019, Grandy's had 38 restaurants, almost half being in the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...

. In December 2020, the original location in Lewisville, Texas closed, leaving a total of 27 restaurants. By October 2021, that number had fallen to 24, franchised across six states.

Location states

(15) *

(4) *

(2) *

(1) *

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

(1) * Georgia (1)

References

External links

* {{Sun Capital Partners Fast-food chains of the United States Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1972 Poultry restaurants Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2006 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011 1983 mergers and acquisitions 2000 mergers and acquisitions 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2011 mergers and acquisitions 1972 establishments in Texas

History

Location states

See also

References

External links