Bennigan's

Infobox Defunct company
company_name = Bennigan's
company_
slogan =
company_type = Private
fate = Filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.
Predecessor =
successor =
foundation = 1976
defunct = July 29, 2008
location = Plano, Texas
industry = Dining
revenue = profit $734 Million
operating_income =
net_income = profit $79 Million
products =
key_people =
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =

Bennigan's Grill & Tavern, commonly known as Bennigan's, is a tavern-themed casual dining restaurant chain with locations throughout the United States, and in 14 countries and 15 territories outside the continental U.S. In late July 2008, all company-owned restaurants—about 150—were closed when the owner, S&A Restaurant Group, filed for Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code (liquidation) bankruptcy. Nearly half of all restaurants in the chain are franchises, and remain open.

S&A Restaurant Corp also owns the Steak and Ale chain of restaurants, some of the restaurants in the chain are franchises, and remain open while all remaining company owned locations were closed.

Products

Bennigan's features a menu with typical American fare and Irish twists, including appetizers, sandwiches, and steaks. Its most popular menu items over many years include the Monte Cristo sandwich, Broccoli Cheese Soup, Broccoli Bites, and Death by Chocolate. Restaurants also feature a full bar, with many varieties of beer available. While the premise of the restaurant was an Irish Pub, the only Irish offerings were chicken, steak and hamburgers served with a Guiness glaze and sauce and green menu lettering.

History

Bennigan's was established in 1976 in Atlanta, Georgia. By the early 1980s Bennigan's had become one of the best known of the new style mid-range casual dining franchised "fern bar" eating and drinking establishments in the United States.

In 1983, chairman and founder Norman E. Brinker led an exodus of senior management from S&A and Bennigan's, purchasing a small regional restaurant concept, Chili's. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_v19/ai_3764865] Bennigan's continued to grow rapidly across the United States, as well as opening locations in fourteen countries.

Bennigan's was a part of Pillsbury's restaurant division when Pillsbury was acquired by Grand Metropolitan in 1989 (Grand Met later merged with Guinness in 1997 to become Diageo). Grand Metropolitan was also a major liquor distributor, holding rights to Bombay, J&B and other spirits. "Tied house" laws prohibiting liquor distributors from owning liquor retailers meant Grand Met had to liquidate S&A from their recently acquired Pillsbury assets. S&A management, underwritten by Metromedia led the leveraged buyout of S&A in 1991. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n33_v23/ai_7865531]

In the early 1990s Bennigan's embarked on a major cost-cutting strategy that significantly lowered their food quality. Menu items that had been made fresh in store were contracted out to frozen food purveyors. And while most restaurants serve USDA Prime or Choice grades of steaks, Bennigan's opted to serve lower cost and quality USDA Select and Standard grades of steaks, experimenting with a butter injection method of transferring flavor through fat molecules, rather than utilizing the natural fat marbling found in higher grades.Fact|date=July 2008

The deterioration of food quality in addition to the failure of Bennigan's executives to update and evolve the restaurant concept over twenty years led to significant sales and customer visit declines. Bennigan's consistently lagged behind its contemporaries, Chili's and T.G.I. Friday's. John Owens, a Morningstar analyst, described Bennigan's as one of the "weakest of the major players." Rapid expansion amongst many chains lead to a lack of distinction among customers and a drive to cut prices. [http://www.beepcentral.com/story.aspx?story=24955] Bob Goldin, an executive vice president of the restaurant industry consulting group Technomic, said that many chains like Bennigan's featured "the same kind of menu, décor, appeal." This translated into a lack of brand loyalty. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/business/30restaurant.html?_r=1&oref=login]

In 2006 Bennigans closed most of its New England locations. [http://www.courant.com/business/hc-ap-bennigans0729,0,2131633.story]

Corporate closure

On July 29, 2008, the web site of WBBM-AM news radio (Chicago) reported that the Bennigan's chain had closed due to bankruptcy. The website cites calls to several area Bennigan's locations in which managers and employees told reporters that the closings were company-wide, having been informed by their own supervisors early on the morning of July 29, 2008. There are reports of shutdowns in Chicago [http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/1079580,bennigans072908.article] , New Jersey [http://in.reuters.com/article/consumerproducts-SP/idINN2926606720080729] , Texas [http://houstonist.com/2008/07/29/bennigans_erin_go_broke.php] , Florida [http://www.theledger.com/article/20080729/NEWS/731617856/1410&title=Lakeland_Bennigan_s_Closes__Shut_Down_May_be_NationwideDead link|date=August 2008] , Colorado [http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=96673&provider=top] , Kansas [http://cjonline.com/stories/072908/bre_bennigans.shtml] , Virginia [http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-now-bennigans.j29,0,7480212.story] and New Mexico [http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/content/view/8110/2/] . Phone calls went out for many employees that morning notifying them of their job loss, but others reported showing up to work to find a "Closed" sign hanging on the door [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFXQtX_0bjIbMqy-KJO6B6c-mFSQD927OVOG0] . Later that day, sister station WBBM-TV reported on its web site that only company-owned stores were closing, and that franchised locations remain open. [cite news|url=http://cbs2chicago.com/local/bennigans.restaurant.shutdown.2.782428.html|title=Bennigan's Restaurants Shut Down Nationwide; Independent Franchise Locations Remain Open|date=2008-07-29|publisher=WBBM/CBS2Chicago.com] Franchisees in states including Michigan [http://www.mlive.com/businessreview/tricities/index.ssf/2008/07/as_bennigans_corporate_files_c.html] announced their plans to keep the stores open in their territories.

Other reports indicate that the massive shutdown only remains within the national borders of the United States, allowing international locations to remain open.Who|date=September 2008

The "Wall Street Journal" reports that both Bennigan's and Steak and Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and have shut down. According to the news report, they are not expected to reopen. [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121734771456393641.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news] Many formerly corporate-owned stores have been placed up for auction. [cite news|url=http://www.rejournals.com/news/211331-suburban-bennigans-locations-to-be-auctioned|title=Suburban Bennigan's locations to be auctioned|date=2008-09-11|publisher=REjournals.com|accessdate=2008-09-26]

References

External links

* [http://www.bennigans.com/ Official website] Dead link|date=August 2008
* [http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/29/news/companies/bennigans_bankruptcy.ap/index.htm?iref=topnews/ Bankruptcy announcement, July 2008]