| Type | Wholly owned subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Casual dining, Buffet |
| Founded | 1965 |
| Headquarters | Kokomo, Indiana |
| Number of locations | 225 |
| Products | Steak, salad, seafood, soft drinks |
| Parent | Metromedia Restaurants, Inc. |
Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse are a chain of buffet/steakhouse restaurants. They are two of the most franchised subsidiaries of Metromedia Restaurant Group.
Unlike other chains with two names like Checkers/Rally's, which uses only one of the names in a given region, restaurants in a given region could be named either Bonanza or Ponderosa. This is because Bonanza and Ponderosa were separate companies, which were later merged under Metromedia - so the names overlap depending on who had restaurants where prior to merger.
The names of the restaurants are derived from the classic TV series Bonanza, which was set at a place called Ponderosa Ranch.
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In 1963, Dan Blocker, who played Eric "Hoss" Cartwright on Bonanza[1], started the Bonanza Steakhouse chain. The first Bonanza opened in Westport, CT. Sam Wyly and his brother Charles Wyly bought the small Bonanza restaurant chain three years later. The company grew to approximately 600 restaurants by 1989,[2] when the Wylys sold it.
In 1968, Dan Lasater, Norm Wiese and Charles Kleptz founded Ponderosa in Kokomo, Indiana.[3] Norm Wiese was a local auto dealer for Oldsmobile and GMC Trucks.[4] Ponderosa began operations to Canada in 1977, amid little apparent demand in the US, and remained in Canada until 1984, when the post-recession US appeared to present a more viable market for expansion. After closing all Canadian restaurant locations, the company returned to generating US restaurant franchises in 1985, reversing a previous freeze on new US franchises in the move to Canada.
In 1997, Ponderosa and Bonanza united under the Metromedia Family Steakhouses organization to form a single restaurant concept marketed under either the Ponderosa or Bonanza brand.
In late July 2008, the S&A Restaurant Group, a Metromedia Restaurant Group subsidiary, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy, and closed over 300 company-owned Bennigan's and Steak and Ale restaurants. The company said that company-owned locations would not reopen, that franchise locations would not be affected, and that the company would continue operations of Bonanza and Ponderosa Steakhouse chains owned by a different subsidiary, Metromedia Steakhouses Co. LP. Metromedia Restaurant Group also shut down the ponderosasteakhouses.com and bonanzasteakhouses.com websites, perhaps as an alternative to reconfiguring the sites to remove former parent company content. As of December 17, 2008 the Ponderosasteakhouses.com and Bonanzasteakhouses.com websites have returned.
On October 22, 2008, Metromedia Steakhouses Company, L.P. and certain affiliates, which operate a chain of restaurants under the Ponderosa(R) Steakhouse and Bonanza(R) Steakhouse brands, announced the filing of voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware. The company planned to reorganize around franchise operations and a profitable core of company-operated restaurants, stressing that it would continue operating in business as usual. Bob Hoffman, company President, emphasized that the filing will have a positive long-term impact on the Company's domestic and international operations.[5] [6]
In October 2009, the company emerged from bankruptcy under the name Homestyle Dining LLC.[7]
Ponderosa's menu includes steaks, seafood, and chicken entrées, all of which come with the buffet, and a choice of potato. A lunch menu is also served. Patrons may choose a dinner entrée at any time, the lunch menu also includes sandwiches and specially-priced lunch portions of dinner entrées. Sandwiches typically include simply a choice of potato, whereas entrées include access to the buffet.
The chain features Pepsi products and has a proprietary steak sauce recipe.
Buffets at the restaurants are typically divided into four different sections:
Before 1984, restaurants did not offer a hot food bar, but marketed a long salad bar as "The World's Biggest, Best Salad Buffet", as advertised on TV by then-company-president Gerald Office. The company later introduced a "Hot Spot" soup and salad buffet, which for a brief trial facilitated promoting a breakfast menu in selected locations.
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