Coco's Bakery is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

chain of Shari's Cafe & Pies and

casual dining Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the US, while categor ...

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment 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 Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

s operating in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

. As of October 2024, the company operates 5 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 ...

. It began as The Snack Shop in 1948 in Corona del Mar, California, and had switched owners multiple times. Two of them are franchised (Upland, and Rancho Cucamonga) USMC-100416-M-3215R-001

History

In 1948, ''The Snack Shop'' along the Pacific Coast Highway in Corona del Mar, California, was purchased by John and Audrey McIntosh. John and Audrey decided to purchase the restaurant after he had worked there for two weeks. In partnership with his brother-in-law Bill McIntyre, they grew the Snack Shop concept to many more units and then in 1960 expanded the business into Reuben's in Newport Beach. Then in 1965 they expanded the Snack Shop concept to Coco's and the Reuben E. Lee, ultimately converting all Snack Shops to Coco's. As the name implies, the

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

-restaurants feature

pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), fruit preserves ( jam tart ...

s. After the conversion of the Snack Shops to Coco's locations, as well the newly expanded Reuben's steakhouse franchise that were co-located on Coco's properties, the entire operation was sold to W. R. Grace and Company, a New York chemical conglomerate, as part of its Restaurant Services Division. During this period of Grace ownership, Grace also added local Mexican restaurant chain El Torito, Carrows and many others. After years of poor performance, W. R. Grace spun off 145 restaurant locations in a leveraged buyout to Restaurant Enterprises Group, a company composed of Grace managers. On May 24, 1996, Coco's and Carrows were later sold to Flagstar, the parent company of Denny's. On July 12, 1997, Flagstar 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, w ...

. On February 15, 2001, Coco's and Carrows new owners, FRD Acquisition Co., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In 2002, Coco's, along with its sister chain

Carrows Carrows was a subsidiary of Shari's Cafe & Pies and casual dining restaurant that served breakfast and lunch/dinner in California, United States. History Carrows was started by David G. Nancarrow in Santa Clara, California, in 1970 as the Carrow ...

, was purchased by Catalina Restaurant Group, headquartered in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is north of downtown San Diego and south of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of ...

. In 2006, Catalina Restaurant Group was bought by Japanese company Zensho Co., Ltd., which has operated Coco's Japan for many years. In 2015

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

-based Food Management Partners acquired

-based Catalina Restaurant Group Inc., parent of the Coco's and Carrows concepts, from Zensho Co., Ltd. See also (Coco's Japan Co., Ltd). In September 2018, it was announced that Shari's Cafe & Pies had taken over Carrows and Coco's.

Competition

, Coco's Bakery Restaurant compete with other local casual restaurants with an in-store bakery (or a sales counter), such as Hof's Hut, Polly's Pies and Marie Callender's restaurants.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.cocosbakery.com/ Companies based in Carlsbad, California Economy of the Southwestern United States Regional restaurant chains in the United States Fast-food chains of the United States Bakeries of the United States Restaurants established in 1948 Bakery cafés Fast-food franchises Restaurants in San Diego County, California 1948 establishments in California Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1997 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001