| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Genre | Restaurants |
| Founder(s) | Sonny Tillman |
| Headquarters | Gainesville, Florida, United States |
| Number of locations | 138 |
| Area served | Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee |
| Key people | Sonny Tillman, John Yarmuth |
| Owner(s) | Bob and Jeff Yarmuth |
| Website | www.sonnysbbq.com |
Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q is a large barbecue restaurant chain. It was founded by Sonny Tillman in Gainesville, Florida in 1968. Bob and Jeff Yarmuth, franchisees in the Orlando area, purchased the company in 1991 and moved the headquarters to Maitland, Florida. It has 138 restaurants in nine Southern states.
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On September 25, 2008, Greater Atlanta Bar-B-Q (the only Metro Atlanta franchisee of Sonny's) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for ten locations, four of which were closed completely, raising concerns about another restaurant's viability after Metromedia Restaurant Group closed its Bennigan's and Steak and Ale restaurant chains. Yet as of the first week of June in 2009, they came out of bankruptcy completing Chapter 11 requirements.[1] On October 15, 2008, all three Sonny's locations in the Greater Daytona Beach Area, Florida are closed.[2] Also, as of December 1, 2009, the Tifton, Georgia restaurant became known as The Smokehouse Restaurant due to disputes with Sonny's over imagery and icons in the restaurant itself and on employees' clothing.[3]
U.S. Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky is a brother of the franchisors and a silent partner in 16 restaurants.[4] Royalties from his interest in the corporation provide most of his personal income.[5] As a result, Yarmuth has pledged to donate his congressional salary to charity.