Yard House USA Inc. officially opened the doors to its Times Square location in New York and founder Steele Platt voiced his excitement.
The now retired former chairman and CEO of the Costa Mesa-based restaurant company, which had sales of $426.6 million last year across 85 locations, reflected on Yard House’s latest expansion news.
“When I was going to University of Denver and majoring in hotel and restaurant management, one of my goals/aspiration/ dream/prediction was to create a national restaurant brand that would have multiple locations throughout the United States and eventually open up a store in Times Square in NYC. Well, this week Yard House opened its doors in Times Square!! Thank you Darden Restaurants and the thousands of Yard House team members for making my ‘dream’ come true,” Platt wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Platt started Yard House in 1992, developing everything from the business plan and design to the restaurant’s music playlist. He grew the business to 50 locations with over $400 million in sales and sold a partial stake in the company to TSG Partners in 2007 for $180 million.
Restaurant operator Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI), parent to Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse among other concepts, bought Yard House in 2012 for $585 million.
