Chevys Fresh Mex is an American chain of Mexican-style casual dining restaurants located in the United States. The chain was founded in 1986 by Warren Simmons in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

. The chain's headquarters are currently located in

Cypress, California Cypress is a city in northwestern Orange County, California. Its population was 50,151 as of the 2020 census. History Cypress originally was nicknamed "Waterville" due to the preponderance of artesian wells in the area, but was incorporated ...

. The chain is owned by Xperience Restaurant Group.

History

The chain was founded in 1981 by Warren Simmons, with his first restaurant in

. It grew to 37 restaurants across California by August 1993, when it was

acquired ''Acquired'' is a podcast by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal about business history and strategy. As of 2024, the podcast has more than 600,000 monthly listeners. History Gilbert and Rosenthal worked together at Madrona Venture Group and ini ...

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

subsidiary

Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...

. When PepsiCo exited the restaurant business in 1997, Chevys was sold to the investment group

J.W. Childs Associates J. W. Childs Associates limited partnership, L.P. (JWC) is an American private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions for Middle-Market Companies, middle-market growth companies. JWC places particular emphasis ...

. In 1999, Chevys purchased

Rio Bravo Cantina Rio Bravo Cantina was a Tex-Mex style Mexican restaurant serving the southern United States and Michigan from its opening in 1985 until its closure in 2004. The company relaunched in August 2015, only to close again 18 months later. The Rio Bra ...

, a poorly-performing chain of Tex-Mex restaurants with 66 locations across the United States, from Applebee's International for $59 million. Business was poor at the Rio Bravo locations, and in 2003 Chevys' executives filed for

Chapter 11 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, w ...

bankruptcy protection. For the next year and a half, Chevys operated as debtor in possession under Chapter Eleven. In January 2005, Chevys and Fuzio Universal Pasta were acquired by Real Mex Restaurants, Inc., the

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

-based parent company of

El Torito El Torito (Spanish language, Spanish for "the little bull") is an American Restaurant chain, chain that serves Mexican food. El Torito operates 25 restaurants all in California. El Torito is one of several Mexican cuisine restaurant chains ope ...

Restaurants and Acapulco Mexican Restaurants. The acquisitions gave Real Mex Restaurants claim as the largest operator of full-service Mexican restaurants in the United States. Real Mex subsequently passed through bankruptcy in 2011–2012, and was acquired by Xperience Restaurant Group in 2018. 14 more underperforming Chevys Fresh Mex restaurants, mostly in northern California, were closed on December 26, 2016. Among these were the Redding, Chico, South Lake Tahoe, Modesto, and Fresno locations in California. In 2021, Xperience Restaurant Group began the expansion of the Chevys Fresh Mex restaurants with a new location in Orlando, FL near the Mall at Millenia and plans to open a flagship location on the Las Vegas strip, near the T-Mobile arena across from Park MGM, that will hold seating for 400 guests.

Restaurants

As of April 2024, the company operates 18 locations in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') 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 border ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Many of these locations are owned by the company; however, some are

franchisee Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busines ...

-owned. Franchised Chevys locations, a handful of restaurants in California, and a single unit in Orlando, Florida remain after the October, 2018 bankruptcy and asset sale.

References

{{Reflist Mexican restaurants in the United States Companies based in Alameda, California Companies based in Orange County, California Restaurants established in 1981 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018 Taco Bell Former PepsiCo subsidiaries

History

Restaurants

See also

References