O’CHARLEY’S

'O'Charley's' is a casual dining restaurant in the United States, with about 240 company-owned locations in 16 states as well as five franchised O'Charley's restaurants in Michigan, one franchised O'Charley's in Ohio, three joint venture O'Charley's restaurants in Louisiana, and one joint venture O'Charley's restaurant in Wisconsin. O'Charley's is part of its parent company O'Charley's, Inc. Enterprise, a multi-concept restaurant company that operates or franchises a total of 363 restaurants under three brands including O’Charley’s, Ninety Nine Restaurant, and Stoney River Legendary Steaks.

Contents

History

Awards

Menu

In the Media

Recipes

External links

History

Charlie Watkins, the founder of O'Charley's, opened the company's first restaurant in 1969. Watkins ran his lone O'Charley's for the next 15 years. Watkins sold his restaurant in 1984, marking the beginning of O'Charley's era of steady expansion and the arrival of the company's second leader.
Watkins sold his restaurant to David K. Wachtel, whose professional life had been spent in the restaurant business. For 23 years Wachtel had worked for Shoney's, a Nashville, Tennessee-based family dinner house chain. Wachtel eventually became president and chief executive officer of the restaurant company, resigning his twin posts in 1982. Wachtel was intent on developing O'Charley's into a restaurant chain and, in less than three years, he accomplished much toward expanding the dining concept that he had acquired. In mid-1987, the 12th O'Charley's opened in Lexington, Kentucky, occupying a site formerly used by the Bennigan's chain of restaurants. While the Lexington grand opening was under way, Wachtel was working on plans to convert two more Bennigan's units into O'Charley's by the end of the year--one in Huntsville, Alabama and the other in the company's headquarters city of Nashville.
Quickly, Wachtel had developed one restaurant into a small regional chain that operated as a casual-theme dining concept featuring fresh fish, cut and aged meats, hamburgers, and fresh baked products. In July 1990 O'Charley's went public with an initial public offering (IPO) of shares. The conversion to public ownership represented the second tool used by Wachtel to speed expansion. O'Charley's made its debut in the public spotlight just before tensions in the Persian Gulf flared and the United States implemented Operation Desert Storm. Further, a national economic recession was under way, exacerbating the effects of O'Charley's ill-timed IPO.
In the wake of O'Charley's July 1990 offering, per restaurant sales and profits plunged, falling to among the lowest in the restaurant industry nationwide. At the same time, investors decided to risk their dollars elsewhere, and O'Charley's stock price fell to roughly two-thirds of its initial value.
Five new restaurants were opened in 1990 and another five debuted in 1991, entrenching the company's presence in Atlanta; Jackson and Memphis, Tennessee; and Brandon, Florida. By mid-1992, O'Charley's was a 37-unit chain with restaurants clustered in eight states, having blanketed the southeastern United States in less than a decade. Three more restaurants were slated for openings by the end of 1992 and another five units were scheduled to be developed in 1993, as Wachtel steadily added more links to his fast-growing chain. Part of the renewed optimism regarding the company's expansion plans was attributable to the first financial results recorded after the menu and pricing changes were made in 1991. For the first fiscal quarter of 1992, O'Charley's reported a 30 percent jump in sales and a more encouraging 37 percent gain in profits, convincing management that the switch to a smaller menu had been the right move.
In June 1992, O'Charley's signed a letter of intent to form a partnership to purchase Logan's Roadhouse restaurant, a casual steakhouse restaurant with a grill in public view, concrete floors, muraled walls, and buckets of peanuts in a "honky-tonk" atmosphere. Under the terms of the deal, the partnership called for the establishment of a minimum of five additional Logan's Roadhouse restaurants during the ensuing five years, with the second unit targeted for its grand opening in Nashville in August 1992. O'Charley's became a 20 percent owner in the partnership with the remaining 80 percent belonging to a small group of investors that included Wachtel and senior vice-president and chief operating officer, Charles F. McWhorter, Jr..
Slightly less than a year after Wachtel signed the Logan's Roadhouse agreement, he began to fade from the foreground at O'Charley's. In May 1993, Wachtel relinquished day-to-day control as president and chief executive officer to devote more time to other business projects, but continued to serve as chairman of O'Charley's. In his place, Gregory L. Burns was named president and selected to the additional post of chief financial officer, while McWhorter climbed the corporate rungs to the chief executive position. Although the orchestrator of O'Charley's resolute expansion for the previous nine years had stepped aside, the pace of expansion did not slacken in his absence.
In December 1993, Burns and McWhorter announced the formulation of a growth strategy designed to carry the 45-unit chain into the ranks of the country's largest regional dinner-house chains. In 1994, the company planned to open at least eight new O'Charley's restaurants, situating the new units primarily in southeastern markets such as Cookeville, Tennessee; Louisville and Paducah, Kentucky; and Palm Harbor, Florida. It was a year expected to be filled with news of new restaurant openings, but as the calendar flipped to 1994 other headlines grabbed the attention of both those inside and outside the company. In February 1994, Wachtel resigned as chairman of O'Charley's, citing his "pressing commitments" with other business interests, the most notable of which was the 300-unit Western Sizzlin' budget steakhouse chain he had acquired in 1993. Wachtel's full departure from O'Charley's made room for advancement for Burns and McWhorter. Burns was named chief executive and co-chairman and McWhorter was tapped as president and co-chairman. One month after Wachtel's resignation, the company received devastating news when it was announced that four former O'Charley's employees had filed a federal lawsuit charging the restaurant chain with racial discrimination practices against African Americans in the company's hiring, assignment, and promotion procedures. Burns flatly denied the charges, saying the lawsuit was "without merit and the company intends to defend it vigorously."
Brighter news for O'Charley's management arrived in 1995 when the company's involvement in the Logan's Roadhouse partnership turned into a source of cash to fund expansion during the year. The partnership completed an IPO in July 1995, netting O'Charley's $11 million, or more than half of the money needed to open the 11 new restaurants scheduled for grand openings in 1995. Meanwhile, to Burns's and McWhorter's consternation, the attorneys for the plaintiffs in the racial discrimination lawsuit were seeking to win class-action status, which threatened to broaden the scope and deepen the damage of the lawsuit. The attorneys were successful in winning class-action status.
O'Charley's agreed to settle the racial discrimination lawsuit it had been facing since 1994. In agreeing to settle the suit, and pay what eventually would amount to $6.2 million, Burns was adamant in his denial that there was any truth supporting the charges, declaring, "We agreed to this settlement because of the significant distraction the lawsuit has had on management and the uncertainty it has caused in the marketplace." One month after the settlement was announced, another management shakeup occurred when McWhorter resigned as president after his six-year tenure at the company. His departure left Burns in full power, occupying the posts of chief executive officer, president, and chairman of the board. The settlement of the lawsuit struck a decisive blow to O'Charley's profit total for 1996. After recording $10.6 million in profits for 1995, which had been inflated by the money gained through the sale of its stake in Logan's Roadhouse, O'Charley's registered a $1.15 million loss for 1996 on an 11 percent gain in sales to $164.5 million.
With its problems in the past, O'Charley's looked to significantly expand in the following years. By 1999 store count had surpassed 106 units. Led by Burns, the company began to entertain the idea of a growth-through-acquisition strategy. The firm made a play for the J. Alexander's chain in 1999 but its attempts were rebuffed by the J. Alexander's board of directors. At the same time, O'Charley's itself opted to turn down a buyout offer made by Wachtel, who believed the chain's shareholders would best be served by taking the chain private through a management-led leveraged buyout.
Undeterred by the failed acquisition attempt in 1999, O'Charley's forged ahead with its growth plans and made several key moves in the early years of the new millennium. The company added the upscale Georgia-based Stoney River Legendary Steaks chain to its arsenal in 2000, planning to open three new locations each year until 2005. O'Charley's then took its strategy one step further with the purchase of the casual-dining Ninety Nine Restaurant & Pub, an 80-unit chain with locations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut. Announced in late 2002 and completed in early 2003, the deal bolstered the company's holdings by nearly 40 percent and gave it a solid foothold in the northeastern U.S. market. Burns commented on the deal in a January 2003 company press release stating, "The remarkably similar operating philosophies and strategies of O'Charley's and Ninety Nine as well as the wealth of new locations available in Ninety Nine's core market create a unique opportunity to sustain the historic growth of the Ninety Nine concept and diversify the growth of O'Charley's Inc."
During 2002, O'Charley's opened 24 new restaurants, bringing its total store count to more than 180 locations. The company was named to Forbes's "200 Best Small Companies in America" list for the third consecutive year in 2002, a testament to its successful expansion efforts during a considerable downturn in the U.S. economy. With sales and profits climbing steadily, management remained focused on strengthening its position as a multi-concept operator. The company also was looking into franchise options as a vehicle for future growth.

Awards

Named to Forbes's "200 Best Small Companies in America" list for the third consecutive year in 2002.

Menu

The menu features a wide selection of appetizers, salads, steaks, sandwiches, burgers, entrees and desserts.
There are moderately priced menu items such as steak, chicken, pasta, and seafood.

In the Media

Due to a decrease in sales, O'Charley's has recently eliminated its "Kids Eat Free" promotion.

Recipes

Here is the recipe for the famous O'Charley's Baked Potato Soup.

★ O'Charley's Baked Potato Soup

External links

★ O'charley's.com