Shrimp and burgers are the hot items in OC’s chain gang.
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was the fastest-growing privately held restaurant chain based in Orange County last year, followed by Johnny Rockets, with 1999 sales up 84% and 32%, respectively.
Overall sales at the 12 largest privately owned restaurant chains in Orange County were up an estimated 10.1% last year to $1.44 billion, according to figures compiled from the restaurants by Chicago-based Technomic.com, a food-service research and consulting company. The sales figures are for stores in the United States as they were reported by the companies or estimated by Technomic.
Topping the OC list is Marie Callender’s Pie Shops Inc., Orange, with $322.4 million in 1999 system-wide sales, up 7.4% from its reported 1998 sales of $299.9 million. The company was sold last year for an undisclosed amount to new owners, New York-based Castle Harlan Inc.
Laguna Hills-based Del Taco Inc. ranked second on the list, reporting $280 million in system-wide sales last year for its 344 units, up 7.6% year-to-year.
The Galardi Group, which operates two concepts, Wienerschnitzel and Hamburger Stand, ranked third with total sales of $171 million last year (an 8.2% increase) at its 318 units that includes 297 Wienerschnitzel stores and 21 burger outlets. In the past year the company grew its marketing budget from 5% to 6% of sales, and same-store sales were up 5% last year, compared with 9.2% in 1998 and 6.6% in 1997. Wienerschnitzel plans to open another 20 new stores this year, said Tom Amberger, marketing director of the chain. The company’s Hamburger Stand stores are primarily operated in Denver with a few in California. The chain recently changed its name from Original Hamburger Stand.
Irvine-based Claim Jumper, which ranks fourth, added two units last year and grew its sales 11.8%, to $136 million.
Under its new CEO and chairman, Michael Shumsky, Johnny Rockets, Irvine, grew its U.S. sales by a whopping 32% last year to $114 million, adding 25 new 1950s-style diners for a total of 125 stores. The company has outlets in 28 states and eight countries.
In N’ Out Up
In N’ Out Burger was No. 6 with sales up an estimated 10% last year to $111 million. The family-owned 142-store hamburger chain added eight outlets last year.
At No. 7 is Winchell’s Donut House. The company did not release its sales, but Technomic estimates the 250-unit chain at $72 million last year.
Shakey’s Pizza Parlors, Irvine, was eighth and grew an estimated 4.4% last year to $70 million in annual sales for its 92 outlets. It closed three stores last year.
Newport Beach-based Ruby’s Restaurant Group, which operates 30 units, ranked No. 9 with an estimated $45 million in sales.
Rusty Pelican Restaurants in San Clemente sold off more than a dozen of its restaurants over the past three years to fund the growth of its wholly owned subsidiary Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., co-developed by Paramount Pictures, the studio that produced the blockbuster movie “Forrest Gump.” Two Rusty Pelicans remain, the landmark original store on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach and the other in Glendale.
Bubba Gump’s Reach
There are three Bubba Gump outlets in Hawaii, and one each in San Francisco, Monterey, New Orleans, Chicago, Colorado, Charleston, S.C., and Miami. Although there are no OC stores, the company has signed a lease for a 7,500-square-foot Long Beach location at Queensway Bay. That outlet is scheduled to open by the end of the year.
Bubba Gump ranked 10th in OC last year, with $43.2 million in sales. Last year the company added four new stores and sales were up 84% from $23.5 million in 1998. Gordon Miles, Gump’s chairman, estimated 2000 sales will be $55 million to $58 million.
No. 11 is East Side Mario’s Restaurants, which is headquartered under Marie Callender’s in Orange. It operates 21 company-owned restaurants in Southeastern and Western states and Canada. The chain has been downsizing since it was purchased as an 89-unit chain in February 1997 by Marie Callender’s former owner, Wilshire Restaurant Group. The chain had 36 units in 1998, but 12 units were closed and it reported sales were down 17.6% to $36.8 million.
Finally, at No. 12 is San Clemente-based Pick Up Stix, with 45 outlets and sales of $36 million for the year, up 24%. The company, which operates stores primarily in Southern California, is opening eight to 10 stores annually. It has five locations in Nevada and plans to enter the Phoenix market next year.
