Red Lion Beef Corporation, doing business as Lion's Choice, is an American

fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...

chain based in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, serving

roast beef sandwich The roast beef sandwich is a sandwich that is made out of sliced roast beef or sometimes beef loaf. It is sold at many diners in the United States, as well as fast food chains, such as Arby's and Roy Rogers Restaurants. This style of sandwich o ...

es and other menu items. The company was founded in 1952 and opened its first restaurant in

Ballwin, Missouri Ballwin is a southwestern suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 31,103 as of the 2020 census. History Ballwin was established in 1837. The community was named for John Ball, who settled a ...

, on October 26, 1967, which remains open today. As of May 2021, there are 62 Lion's Choice restaurants in St. Louis and Kansas City. In addition to

es, Lion's Choice offers

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

sandwiches,

ham sandwich The ham sandwich is a common type of sandwich. The bread may be fresh or toasted, and it can be made with a variety of toppings including cheese and vegetables like lettuce, tomato, onion or pickle slices. Various kinds of mustard and mayonnais ...

es,

Italian beef An Italian beef sandwich, originating in Chicago, is composed of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, simmered and served on a long French roll. The sandwich's history dates back at least to the 1930s. The bread itself is, at the diner's prefe ...

sandwiches,

French dip A French dip sandwich, also known as a beef dip, is a hot sandwich consisting of thinly sliced roast beef (or, sometimes, other meats) on a "French roll" or baguette. It is usually served plain but a variation is to top with Swiss cheese, onions, ...

sandwiches,

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

s, soups, salads, side dishes, and desserts.

History

Lion's Choice was founded in 1967 by Marv Gibbs, a graduate of

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

who worked as a chemical engineer for

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...

, and Arthur Morey. The first restaurant opened on October 26, 1967, in

. The location served roast beef sandwiches, ham sandwiches, and turkey sandwiches for 69 cents each. The restaurant was originally named Brittany Beef but quickly changed to Red Lion Beef House. Two years later, Lion's Choice opened its second store in

Creve Coeur, Missouri Creve Coeur is a city located in mid St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, a part of Greater St. Louis. Its population was 18,834 at the 2020 census. Creve Coeur borders and shares a ZIP code (63141) with the neighboring city of Town and ...

, and changed its name to Lion's Choice, after they could not trademark the name because the Red Lion name was already being used by

Red Lion Hotels Corporation Red Lion Hotels Corporation, doing business as RLH Corporation, is an American hospitality corporation that primarily engages in the franchising, management and ownership of upscale, mid-scale and economy hotels. Red Lion, headquartered in Denve ...

. In 2013, the founders sold the company to Millstone Capital Advisors and BlackRock Holdings, equity groups led by St. Louis real estate developers Bob Millstone and Mark Disper, for an undisclosed amount. Under the new ownership, in 2015, Lion's Choice opened a restaurant in

Ellisville, Missouri Ellisville is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States within Greater St. Louis. It is a western outer-ring suburb of St. Louis. The population was 9,985 at the 2020 census. In 2009, ''Money'' magazine ranked Ellisville #25 on the ann ...

, its first in ten years. In May 2017, Lion's Choice named Mike Kupstas, a longtime veteran of the foodservice industry, as its new CEO. Prior to this appointment, Kupstas held senior executive and marketing positions at

Panera Bread Panera Bread is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The company operates as Saint Louis ...

Long John Silver's Long John Silver's (formerly known as Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppes and sometimes abbreviated as LJS) is an American chain of fast-food restaurants that specializes in seafood. The brand's name is derived from the novel ''Treasure Island' ...

and

Red Lobster Red Lobster Hospitality LLC is an American casual dining restaurant chain headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company has operations across most of the United States (including Puerto Rico, Guam) and Canada, as well as in China, Ecuador, Hong ...

. In September 2017, Lion's Choice launched its first food truck. The truck makes roast beef sandwiches, fries, and custard on board. In addition to other popular food-truck locations, the truck makes stops at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

home soccer games and

Scott Air Force Base Scott Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in St. Clair County, Illinois, near Belleville and O'Fallon, east-southeast of downtown St. Louis. Scott Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the U ...

. In July 2018, Lion's Choice broke ground on two new locations in the

Kansas City metropolitan area The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

, which are scheduled to open in November 2018. Furthermore, three more new locations in the Kansas City area are expected to open in 2019.

Products

Sandwiches A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

Lion's Choice specializes in

es. The company describes the meat as "roasted beef" because of the amount of time the meat is prepared. The roast beef sandwich comes in three sizes: Original, Large and King (double the beef of Original). In addition to roast beef sandwiches, the menu includes hickory-smoked

es, smokehouse

pulled pork Pulled pork is an American barbecue dish, more specifically a dish of the Southern U.S., based on shredded barbecued pork shoulder. It is typically slow-smoked over wood (usually outdoors); indoor variations use a slow cooker. The meat is th ...

sandwiches, roasted turkey breast sandwiches,

sandwiches, and

. Lion's Choice also serves

Sides

As sides, Lion's Choice offers

french fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

coleslaw Coleslaw (from the Dutch term ''koolsla'' meaning 'cabbage salad'), also known as cole slaw, or simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly either vinaigrette ...

baked potato A baked potato, known in some parts of the United Kingdom (though not generally Scotland) as a jacket potato, is a preparation of potato. It may be served with fillings, toppings or condiments such as butter, cheese, sour cream, gravy, baked be ...

es, and veggie sticks (

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, lea ...

sticks,

broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering head, stalk and small associated leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Broccoli is cl ...

florets, and

grape tomato A grape tomato is a class of tomatoes believed to be of southeast Asian origin, shaped similarly to the oval plum tomatoes but having the small size and sweetness of cherry tomatoes. Grape tomatoes produce small and typically oblong fruits. In ...

es). The french fries are skin-on, gluten free, and without any added salt, and the baked potato can be loaded with any combination of the following: butter, chives, cheddar, bacon bits, broccoli, or chili.

Soups and salads

Lion's Choice offers a variety of soups and salads. Its salads include a side salad; "LC Seasonal", which has carrots, walnuts, dried cranberries, tomatoes and blue cheese topped with bistro dressing; "Butcher Block Cobb", which has roast beef, turkey and ham, paired with blue cheese, shredded cheddar, greens, tomatoes, and carrots topped with bistro dressing. In addition to seasonal/daily featured soups, Lion's Choice's soups include chicken noodle soup, cream of broccoli soup, and hearty chili (with roast beef).

Desserts

Lion's Choice serves

frozen custard Frozen custard is a cold dessert similar to ice cream, but made with eggs in addition to cream and sugar. It is usually kept at a warmer temperature compared to ice cream, and typically has a denser consistency. History Egg yolks have been integ ...

cones, which come in mini and regular sizes and can optionally be dipped in chocolate. The restaurant also serves

milkshakes A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, fruit syrup, or whole fruit into a thick, sweet, cold mixture ...

, cookies (chocolate chip, macadamia nut, or sugar), sundaes, root beer floats, and concretes.

Awards

It was the Missouri state winner for the

National Restaurant Association The National Restaurant Association is a restaurant industry business association in the United States, representing more than 380,000 restaurant locations. It also operates the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. The associ ...

's Restaurant Neighbor Award in 2006. The restaurant chain was named Best Fast Food by the ''

Riverfront Times The ''Riverfront Times'' (''RFT'') is a free progressive weekly newspaper in St. Louis, in the U.S. state of Missouri, that consists of local politics, music, arts, and dining news in the print edition, and daily updates to blogs and photo galler ...

'' in 2008. In 2014, the ''Riverfront Times'' named it the Best Chain Restaurant, and the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

'' named it their Best Local Restaurant Chain.

References

External links

Official website
{{Fast-food chains of the United States Companies based in Missouri Restaurants in Missouri Restaurants established in 1967 Fast-food chains of the United States Regional restaurant chains in the United States 1967 establishments in Missouri Roast beef restaurants in the United States