Steak and Ale

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Steak and Ale
Former type Private
Industry Dining
Fate Filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Founded February 26, 1966
Defunct July 29, 2008
Headquarters Plano, Texas, U.S.

Steak and Ale was an American chain of casual dining restaurants, operated by S&A Restaurant Group. Steak and Ale was founded as an independent restaurant chain in Dallas, Texas, on February 26, 1966, by Norman E. Brinker. The remaining 58 locations closed as part of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding on July 29, 2008.[1]

Popular menu items at Steak and Ale included the signature herb roasted prime rib, kensington club, New York strip, filet mignon and spicy grilled chicken pasta. The restaurant featured unlimited salad bar or a choice of soup with most of its entrees on the dinner menu. It also featured honey wheat bread and drink refills for free. Steak and Ale also offered a lunch menu with many items for $6.99. The restaurant also featured wine samples for only 25 cents.[2]

History

Restaurant pioneer Norman Brinker founded Steak and Ale in 1966 in Dallas. The chain, with its dimly lit dining rooms, has billed itself as offering an upscale steak experience at lower prices. It was seen as a model for the casual-dining steakhouse chain, and many executives there went on to run other large chains.[3]

It remained an independent chain until 1976, when Pillsbury purchased it and folded it into its restaurant group with Burger King, Bennigan's and other stores. At the time, the company had 113 locations of Steak and Ale and Jolly Ox (the name Steak and Ale used in markets that didn't allow a reference to liquor in a restaurant name).

In 1982, Pillsbury spun off the company and Bennigan's into the independent S&A Restaurant Corp. Steak and Ale grew as one of the first chain dinner houses to its height in the late 1980s with 280 locations, before competition that the brand helped inspire eroded its market presence. In 1988, Metromedia purchased the company. In 1993, the company was merged with the Metromedia Steak Houses chains Bonanza and Ponderosa, and all three chains were operated under the S&A Restaurant Group brand.

The S&A Restaurant Corp bankruptcy in July 2008 also affected the Bennigan's restaurant chain, also owned by that company; all of the company-owned stores closed the same day as the Steak and Ale restaurants. Franchised Bennigan's locations remained open.[4]

The MetroMedia Company also owns the Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouse chains, which are not affected by the bankruptcy filing; they are operated by a different subsidiary of the company.

Even though the Steak & Ale brand was previously corporate-owned and closed in its entirety during the bankruptcy, the investment firm Atalaya Capital Management intends to acquire the brand and its trademark with the intent of leaving an option open in the future for franchisees to open independently-operated Steak & Ale restaurants.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Owners abruptly close Plano-based Bennigan's chain". The Dallas Morning News. 2008-07-29. 
  2. ↑ http://voices.yahoo.com/all-steak-ale-restaurants-nationwide-disappear-1776863.html?cat=22
  3. ↑ Dining Chains Shut Doors http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121734771456393641.html
  4. ↑ Bankruptcy announcement.
  5. ↑ http://washington.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2008/10/20/daily32.html.  Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

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