There’s going to be a very rude awakening for a lot of types of restaurants if they’re not aware yet how drastically things have changed. There is going to be an apocalyptic shakeout. On the plus side, the bullsh** will be the first to go.” – celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain
Notable Bankruptcies
| COMPANY | TYPE | STATUS |
| Max and Erma’s | Chap. 11 | Columbus, Ohio-based casual dining chain filed in October. |
| Tavern on the Green | Chap. 11 | New York City landmark Tavern on the Green filed in September. |
| Oceanaire Inc. | Chap. 11 | 12-unit fine-dining seafood chain filed in July and shuttered four units. |
| Boston Blackies | Chap. 11 | Chicago-based chain filed Chapter 11 documents for each of its eight restaurants and its parent company in November. |
| ARG Enterprises | Chap. 11 | Parent of Black Angus steakhouses filed in January. |
| Tailor | Chap. 11 | New York City independent filed in May and closed. |
| Eateries Inc. | Chap. 11 | Oklahoma-based parent of Garfield’s Restaurant and Pub chain filed in May. |
| Santa Fe Holding Company Inc. | Chap. 11 | Parent the Santa Fe Cattle Co. casual-dining chain filed in July. |
| Damon’s Grill | Chap. 11 | Sister chain of Max and Erma’s filed in October. |
Notable Deals
| TARGET | BUYER | PURCHASE PRICE ($ IN MILLIONS) | DEAL CLOSE |
| Landry’s Restaurants Inc. | CEO Tilman Fertitta | $1,200.0 | Pending |
| Diedrich Coffee | Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. | 290.0 | Pending |
| Baker’s Square and Village Inn | American Blue Ribbon Holdings LLC | 55.0 | April |
| Gloria Jean’s Coffees | Praise International North America | 3.1 | April |
| La Senorita | Hacienda Mexican Restaurants | 2.6 | April |
| Cheeseburger in Paradise | Investor group, chain management | 2.0 | September |
| Pat & Oscar’s | Management Team | Undisclosed | January |
| Church’s Chicken | Friedman Fleischer & Lowe LLC | Undisclosed | July |
| Flat Top Grill | Walnut Group | Undisclosed | August |
| Canyons Burger Company | Growth Concepts | Undisclosed | September |
| Timothy’s World Coffee | Bruegger’s Enterprises Inc. | Undisclosed | November |
TOP 100 GROWTH COMPANIESOut of the 100 companies ranked in NRN’s June 29 Top 100 report (FYE=fiscal-year-end date; Revenues=corporate, from U.S. foodservice operations, in millions; Growth=percentage change in domestic foodservice revenues, latest year vs. preceding year)
| RANK | COMPANY | FYE | REVENUES | %GROWTH |
| 1 | DineEquity Inc. | Dec. ‘08 | $1,344.4 | 461.57% |
| 2 | Blackstone Group LP | Dec. ‘08 | 1,130.0 | 320.07 |
| 3 | gategroup | Dec. ‘08 | 554.0 | 167.63 |
| 4 | Texas Pacific Group | Dec. ‘08 | 520.0 | 151.21 |
| 5 | LRI Holdings Inc. | July ‘08 | 531.0 | 74.38 |
| 6 | F&H Acquisition Corp. | Dec. ‘08 | 347.0 | 73.50 |
| 7 | Bain Capital LLC | Dec. ‘08 | 3,656.6 | 66.21 |
| 8 | Aramark Holdings Corp. | Sept. ‘08 | 6,740.0 | 58.40 |
| 9 | Sun Capital Partners Inc. | Dec. ‘08 | 2,450.7 | 51.09 |
| 10 | Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. | Dec. ‘08 | 1,737.5 | 45.53 |
TOP 100 GROWTH CHAINSOut of the 100 chains ranked in NRN’s June 29 Top 100 report (FYE=fiscal-year-end date; Sales=U.S. systemwide from foodservice, in millions; Growth=percentage change in domestic sales, latest year vs. preceding year)
| RANK | COMPANY | FYE | SALES | %GROWTH |
| 1 | Chipotle Mexican Grill* | Dec. ‘08 | $1,331.5 | 22.27% |
| 2 | Buffalo Wild Wings* | Dec. ‘08 | 1,229.4 | 20.85 |
| 3 | Zaxby’s | Dec. ‘08 | 664.1 | 18.00 |
| 4 | Subway | Dec. ‘08 | 9,637.5 | 17.17 |
| 5 | Panera Bread | Dec. ‘08 | 2,447.0 | 16.25 |
| 6 | Papa Murphy’s* | Dec. ‘08 | 581.0 | 16.06 |
| 7 | Panda Express | Dec. ‘08 | 1,197.0 | 15.54 |
| 8 | Levy Restaurants* | Sept. ‘08 | 575.0 | 15.00 |
| 9 | Chick-fil-A | Dec. ‘08 | 2,962.3 | 12.17 |
| 10 | Costco | Aug. ‘08 | 492.0 | 11.82 |
SECOND 100 GROWTH COMPANIESOut of the 100 companies ranked in NRN’s July 22 Second 100 report (FYE=fiscal-year end date; Growth=percentage change in domestic foodservice revenues, latest year vs. preceding year; Revenues=corporate, from U.S. foodservice operations, in millions)
| RANK | COMPANY | FYE | REVENUES | %GROWTH |
| 1 | Rita Restaurant Group | Dec. ‘08 | $125.0 | 941.67% |
| 2 | ERJ Dining | Dec. ‘08 | 313.0 | 247.78 |
| 3 | Falfurrias Capital Partners | Dec. ‘08 | 220.0 | 238.46 |
| 4 | Susser Holdings Corp. | Dec. ‘08 | 148.3 | 65.51 |
| 5 | Argonne Capital Group LLC | Dec. ‘08 | 219.0 | 54.23 |
| 6 | Potbelly Corp. | Dec. ‘08 | 213.0 | 20.41 |
| 7 | Zaxby’s Franchising Inc. | Dec. ‘08 | 152.9 | 19.64 |
| 8 | Seminole Tribe of Florida | Dec. ‘08 | 210.0 | 16.67 |
| 9 | Roark Capital Group | Dec. ‘08 | 115.1 | 16.38 |
| 10 | Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. | Dec. ‘08 | 133.9 | 16.23 |
SECOND 100 GROWTH CHAINSOut of the 100 chains ranked in NRN’s July 22 Second 100 report (FYE=fiscal-year end date; Growth=percentage change in domestic sales, latest year vs. preceding year; Sales=U.S. systemwide from foodservice, in millions)
| RANK | COMPANY | FYE | SALES | %GROWTH |
| 1 | Five Guys Burgers and Fries | Dec. ‘08 | $295.3 | 74.32% |
| 2 | A&W All American Food** | Dec. ‘08 | 300.0 | 50.00 |
| 3 | Wingstop | Dec. ‘08 | 255.4 | 23.44 |
| 4 | Restaurant Associates | Sept. ‘08 | 400.0 | 23.08 |
| 5 | Potbelly Sandwich Works | Dec. ‘08 | 213.0 | 20.41 |
| 6 | Qdoba Mexican Grill | Oct. ‘08 | 399.2 | 18.49 |
| 7 | BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery* | Dec. ‘08 | 376.5 | 18.14 |
| 8 | Johnny Rockets | April ‘09 | 265.0 | 14.72 |
| 9 | Pei Wei Asian Diner | Dec. ‘08 | 278.2 | 14.49 |
| 10 | Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery | Dec. ‘08 | 200.0 | 12.36 |
