Shoney's

Shoney’s is a privately held restaurant chain that operates primarily in the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It is named after Alex Schoenbaum, who was the owner of the original chain of Big Boy restaurants in the southeastern United States in the 1950s. The corporate entity is Shoney’s North America Corp., and David Davoudpour is chairman and chief executive officer. Davoudpour acquired Shoney’s in 2006 through Royal Hospitality Corp. in Atlanta. He is founder and chairman of Royal Hospitality. As of early 2011, there were approximately 230 company-owned and franchised Shoney’s restaurants in 18 states, stretching from Maryland to Florida in the east and from Missouri to New Mexico in the west.

History

The Shoney’s brand history began in 1947 when Alex “Shoney” Schoenbaum opened the Parkette Drive-In next to his father’s bowling alley in Charleston, West Virginia. Schoenbaum later acquired a Big Boy franchise in 1951, and his first restaurant bearing the Shoney’s name came in 1953 - chosen through an employee/customer contest.

In 1969 Shoney’s created a fast-food seafood concept called Mr. D’s, named after Ray Danner, co-founder of Shoney’s, Inc. The name was later changed to Captain D's and grew to more than 100 restaurants. The company (Shoney’s, Inc.) went public in 1971 and was listed as “SHO” on the New York Stock Exchange. At various times, the corporate portfolio also included a lodging chain (Shoney’s Inns), four casual dining concepts (Fifth Quarter, The Sailmaker, Barbwire’s and Pargo’s), and Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken.

In 1984 a dispute arose between Big Boy and Shoney’s franchise holders about territory restrictions and Shoney’s ultimately gave up its rights to the Big Boy name. As a result, the Big Boy sandwich was renamed the “All-American Hamburger” and Shoney Bear was created as a corporate mascot.

At its peak in 1998, the restaurant chain operated or franchised over 1,300 restaurants in 34 states. None of those businesses remain a part of the Shoney’s restaurant enterprise today.

In 2000 the company went bankrupt and was acquired by Texas-based investment group Lone Star Funds two years later. On January 1, 2007, Lone Star announced that the Shoney's chain — at this point down to 282 restaurants — was being sold to David Davoudpour, founder and CEO of Atlanta, Georgia-based Royal Capital Corporation, the largest franchisee of Church's Chicken restaurants. Davoudpour set up a new company, Shoney's North America Corp., as a subsidiary of Royal, and currently serves as chairman and CEO. Lone Star had originally planned to sell the chain to Centrum Properties, a Brentwood, Tennessee investment group, but Centrum later sued to get out of the deal.

As part of his revitalization efforts, Davoudpour has established an aggressive quality improvement process that includes a new menu, new restaurant prototypes and rebuilds, and a new Executive and Operations team focused on adding unique twists to the Southern comfort food menu for which Shoney’s is known.

References

External links

• Shoneys.com