#1990s #1998 #LoneStarSteakhouse #commercial #defunct #WAVY #steakhouse #saloon
(c)1998
The last of the "pre-Labor Day" upload batch consists of this ad for Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon, which was near its peak at this point before falling dramatically.
Despite the Texas-theming; the chain began in 1989 in Winston-Salem by one-time Pizza Hut franchise owner Jamie B. Coulter. 4 more locations opened in 1991 (during which it gained an atmospheric emphasis similar to Texas Roadhouse); followed by an IPO in March 1992. The chain grew rapidly (at one point; being the highest-ranked restaurant - and 6th-ranked company overall - in a 1994 Fortune magazine ranking of the fastest-growing companies in America) before reaching its peak of 267 locations in 1998.
Then, things declined almost as quickly as it grew; as turbulence in management set in during the late 1990s; with the stock price plummeting from $46 a share in 1996 to $6 in 1998, leading to a proxy fight that saw Coulter ousted as chairman while remaining CEO, with the chain starting a process in 2002 to go private. Eventually in 2006; the chain was acquired by unrelated Lone Star Funds in Dallas, going private and rapidly shifting from a Texas Roadhouse-style atmosphere to a more upscale approach. However, the chain was then rocked by the Great Recession and began closing chunks of locations, dropping to 152 by early 2014 and 78 by the time Lone Star was acquired by Day Star Restaurant Group acquired the chain in December 2015.
Unfortunately, the departure of Day Star's founder, Scott Smith, in March 2016 following a dispute with Jean Stupec and Kimberly Anderson (who came aboard when Lone Star went private) worsened matters as Lone Star began closing restaurants at a pace similar to Kmart during this time, dropping from 64 by the start of 2016 to 16 (among the closures: the original location in Winston-Salem). In February 2017, Lone Star filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (later converted to Chapter 7 liquidation) and by October 2019 the last Lone Star location in the continental United States - a location in Knightdale, NC - closed its doors, leaving Lone Star (as of 2021) with just a single location in Guam (once more with the Kmart parallel; as the biggest - and probably lone profitable - location remaining Kmart store is also in Guam).
15 сен 2024
