Type Private subsidiary Area served United States Website grandys.com Number of locations 50 | Industry Restaurant Products Country style food Founded 1972 Parent organization Captain D's | |
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Headquarters Nashville, Tennessee, United States Profiles | ||
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Grandy's Country Cookin' (shortened to Grandy's) is a homestyle cooking and comfort food restaurant chain based in Nashville, Tennessee. Known for their homestyle meals, Grandy's specializes in a hearty country breakfast while the lunch and dinner meals feature fried chicken, country fried steaks, catfish and eight homestyle vegetables complemented with fresh-baked biscuits, dinner rolls, and their much heralded "Sinnamon" rolls.
Contents
Grandy s franchise video
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 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 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 and Oklahoma with a strong presence in southern Indiana and northern Kentucky.
In 2000, American Restaurant Group sold Grandy's and three other subsidiaries to Spectrum Restaurant Group. Spectrum filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and put Grandy's up for sale. Souper Salad acquired Grandy's in 2007. Souper Salad filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and sold Grandy's to Captain D's.
In July 2004, Steve Butts and Brian Bowen left Grandy's and thus leaving the restaurant chain without an executive to lead the chain. That started the loss of sales and number of units.
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.
During the G8 meetings of 2004, held on Sea Island, Georgia, the Brunswick, Georgia store had the exclusive contract to provide food for the Secret Service, BATF, Georgia State Patrol, and other law enforcement agencies protecting the leaders. Then-president of the US George W. Bush visited the command center and personally thanked all of the catering staff for their work.
As of January 2016, Grandy's is franchised in seven states, with 50 restaurants. Half of these locations are in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.