Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Casual dining chain's growth brings it inland

Mr Roger K. Olsson | 11.08.2007 06:17 | Analysis | Other Press | London | World

Giuen News



Friday, August 10, 2007


Aug. 9, 2007 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
After a recent $68 million cash infusion, the casual-dining chain Houlihan's is embarking on a national expansion, with the Inland region among places slated to get some of an expected 22 new restaurants in California and Arizona by 2015.

Kansas-based Houlihan's recently signed an agreement with franchise market developer SunPacific Partners LP for its western expansion, with an option to open three additional California locations. The company has more than 70 franchised and corporate-owned restaurants in the works nationwide.

The Southern California Houlihan's will open throughout Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties, with new Central California sites stretching from Bakersfield to the Sacramento area. Company spokeswoman Jenifer Gulvik said Wednesday the exact locations of the new restaurants were not yet available.

The privately held Houlihan's has 92 restaurants nationwide, most of them franchised, and officials expect to open 30 new locations in the next two years. There are two restaurants in Northern California.

The company also recently announced a deal with Northeast Casual Food LLC to open 12 new restaurants in Florida and another 12 in northeastern states. That's in addition to 30 new corporate-owned sites in various stages of development across the country.

The expansion plans follow a May infusion of more than $68million from Minnesota-based private-equity firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison as well as a restaurant finance subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:GWF) (NYSE:JWF) (NYSE:WSF) (NYSE:WPF) (NYSE:WFC)

The cash will help Houlihan's build newly designed '21st century' restaurants . A company statement said the revised-style Houlihan's feature s new architecture, interior design, and uniforms and menu items and include s patio-style dining and a revamped centerpiece bar.

Ron Paul, president of Chicago-based restaurant consulting firm Technomic, said the company in recent years has seen its customer base eroding, similar to what has happened with other casual-dining chains such as Applebee's, Chili's and TGI Friday's.

Style and design have also been problems for Houlihan's and similar-themed casual-dining stalwarts.

'People have gotten tired of the same old format with the wall memorabilia and the fern bar,' Paul said. 'They've seen that, been there, done that.'

While he hasn't seen the new Houlihan's design, Paul said it appears the company is moving to ward join ing an upscale casual-dining trend that aims to appeal to dinner-hour crowds in less of a hurry and willing to spend more on quality meals in a relaxed atmosphere.

Even as its expansion plans in the past year have gone much slower than the company projected, Paul said the new Houlihan's format appears to be gaining traction with potential franchisees. 'They wouldn't be investing money in it if they didn't support the concept,' he said.


HOULIHAN'S UPDATING DESIGN

Houlihan's Restaurants Inc.

Established: 1972

Headquarters: Leawood, Kansas

Revenues: Not disclosed (privately held)

Locations: 92 in 20 states; more than 70 planned, with new Inland sites to open by 2015

Information: www.houlihans.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-0174-18827079


Delivered by Newstex LLC
via theFinancials.com

Giuen Media
Advertising Agency
Sales and Promotion
 http://giuen.wordpress.com


Mr Roger K. Olsson
- e-mail: rogerkolsson@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.adbrite.com/mb/commerce/purchase_form.php?opid=377909&afsid=1

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech