Houston's Restaurant is part of a group of upscale American

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 ...

restaurants, owned by Hillstone Restaurant Group, whose main corporate headquarters is in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. There are 39 Hillstone locations in 11 states.

Company profile

The first Houston's restaurant was launched by current owner and CEO George Biel, Joe Ledbetter and Vic Branstetter in 1977 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Bransetter sold his shares in 2006, and Ledbetter in 2011, leaving George Biel sole owner of the company. The corporate company, Hillstone Restaurant Group, Inc. (formerly Houston's Restaurants, Inc.), was founded in 1976 and owns the following restaurants: Gulfstream, Bandera, Rutherford Grill, Palm Beach Grill, Cherry Creek Grill, Los Altos Grill, Woodmont Grill, R+D Kitchen, Hillstone, the Honor Bar, Honor Market, South Beverly Grill, East Hampton Grill, White House Tavern, and Houston's. As of 2020, the group owns and operates 44 restaurants under 15 different names in the United States.

Name change of certain locations

Since 2009, several Houston's locations around the US have changed their names to Hillstone. The company maintains the changes are in keeping with a long-term strategy of disassociating from the chain image to remain a niche player in the industry. The practice of changing restaurant names is not a new strategy for the company, which has similarly converted several Banderas to locally named Grills, all predating state and federal regulations. The company states that the name change was based on rebranding with a focus on more regional and less standardized fare, though as of 2023 the menus are for the most part the same across the different brands.

References

{{Reflist Steakhouses in the United States Restaurants established in 1977 Companies based in Beverly Hills, California Restaurant chains in the United States