Industry Tex-Mex restaurant Website Official Website Type of business Restaurant | Key people Ray Schoenbaum Founder Founded 1985 | |
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, United States | ||
Rio Bravo was a Tex-Mex style Mexican restaurant serving the metro 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.
Contents
The Rio Bravo concept began in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, the first restaurant opening in the Buckhead section of Atlanta in May 1985. The concept was created by Ray Schoenbaum in conjunction with Innovative Restaurant Concepts Inc (or IRC).
On February 11, 1999 Applebee’s sold the Rio Bravo concept to Chevys Fresh Mex [1]. After Chevy's purchase the menus between both chains were merged for supply and marketing purposes. Rio Bravo was famous for their cheese dip and salsa. Both of these were changed after the purchase. The drastic across the board changes in the menu contributed to the decline of the chain.
On November 6, 2014, Ray Schoenbaum confirmed that the Rio Bravo concept is set to return to the Atlanta metropolitan area in 2015.
On February 15, 2017, Ray's Rio Bravo permanently closed.
Cinco de Mayo vs. Music Midtown 2000 and 2001
Music Midtown, an Atlanta music festival that ran until 2005, was traditionally held on the first weekend in May. This conflicted with Rio Bravo's annual Cinco de Mayo parties in 2000 and 2001. In 2000 Cinco de Mayo was on a Friday and 2001 it was on a Saturday. In December 2002 Chevy’s converted or closed all Rio Bravo restaurants.
Locations
Besides suburban Atlanta, the chain also operated in Metro Detroit including locations in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, and Taylor, Michigan, and Orlando, Florida, Tallahassee, Florida, Asheville, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee.