ORLANDO Fla. With almost half its units shuttered and the rest up for sale, Smokey Bones Barbecue & Grill is continuing to tinker with its menu, perhaps in an attempt to make it more attractive to potential buyers. The Darden Restaurants-owned barbecue chain, which had been trying to reposition itself as more of a broad-menu grill concept, has added a ribs item and said it is working on possible other additions.
The 73-unit chain said the new brown Sugar Glazed Baby Back Ribs is the first limited-time offering in its eight-year history.
Smokey Bones spokesperson Joe Chabus confirmed that the chain is still for sale. When asked if the new offering was an attempt to increase the brand's attractiveness to potential buyers, he deflected the question. “We are just taking a popular recipe – our slow hickory-smoked Baby Back Ribs – and making it more successful,” he said.
Chabus said that company chefs are testing other items as possible LTO's, the first phase of what he described as an effort to improve and expand the company’s barbecue offerings.
One party that has expressed interest in acquiring the brand is Robert Emerson, formerly chief executive and majority shareholder of North Country BBQ Ventures LLC, the largest franchisee of Famous Dave’s of America Inc. Emerson said he sold his stake in the 11-unit franchise to raise capital for a possible acquisition of Smokey Bones. He recently told Nation's Restaurant News that the chain needs to upgrade the food to ‘barbecue competition level’.
Darden Restaurants said in May that it was shutting down the struggling Smokey Bones restaurant division by closing 54 units and selling the remaining 73. Darden also operates the Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 casual-dining concepts. It posted a net loss of $55.1 million for the quarter ended May 27 because of a $245 million pre-tax charge for the discontinuation of the Smokey Bones business and the closing of nine Bahama Breezes.
The company also recently said it continues to look for another concept to add to its casual-dining portfolio.
