Bob Evans Restaurants

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Bob Evans Farms, Inc.
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: BOBE
Industry Restaurant
Founded Rio Grande, Ohio (1946)
Headquarters New Albany, Ohio, U.S.
Key people
 Bob Evans, Founder
Saed Mohseni, CEO
Products Bob Evans Restaurants
Bob Evans Sausage
Owens Country Sausage
Mimi's Cafe
Revenue DecreaseUS$1.669 billion (FY 2012)[1]
IncreaseUS$107 million (FY 2012)[1]
IncreaseUS$72.85 million (FY 2012)[1]
Total assets DecreaseUS$1.066 billion (FY 2012)[1]
Total equity DecreaseUS$657 million (FY 2012)[1]
Number of employees
 46,818 (Apr 2012)[1]
Slogan Down on the farm
Website http://www.bobevans.com/

Bob Evans Restaurants is an American national chain of restaurants operated by Bob Evans Farms, Inc., a food service, processing, and retail company based in New Albany, Ohio. The company is named after its founder, Bob Evans (1918–2007).[3] Its food processing and retail enterprise products are manufactured and sold under the Bob Evans and Owens Country Sausage brand names.

Overview

A typical Bob Evans restaurant

The Bob Evans chain has over 600 locations in 24 states, primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, and upper Southern states. All locations are corporately owned, not franchised.

The restaurants offer a theme of country living, and a close connection to farms. Breakfast is served at the restaurants all day long.

The company also offers pork products to the retail grocery market, as well as other prepared food products to the grocery and food service segments. Baked goods, snacks, greeting cards, and small gift items are also sold at some Bob Evans restaurants.

History

File:BobEvansFarmRioGrandeJuly2007.JPG
The Bob Evans Farm in Rio Grande, Ohio with a Bob Evans restaurant (left)

The Bob Evans Restaurant chain started from a single truck stop diner near the Bob Evans Farm in Rio Grande, Ohio in 1946.

The restaurant chain started up after Bob Evans began processing and packaging his own sausage for his diner. Truck drivers and other patrons began telling him that his sausage was superior. He did not have the capacity to fill large orders. As a result, he contracted with his cousin Tim Evans of Evans Packing Co. to package Bob Evans Sausage products. Bob made his way across the Southern Ohio Hills seeking some of the best cuts of meat. He was very well known in the town of Gallipolis, Ohio, where at the local Meat Market & Grocery Store he and Earl Nance created sausage recipes. Evans tried to sell his sausage to area restaurants, but they turned him down, saying that customers wouldn't pay more for quality. Evans felt differently and opened his own restaurant on his farm in Rio Grande in 1962.

Another relative, Dan Evans, served as CEO until his retirement in 2000.[3]

File:Bob Evans Restaurant, Lynchburg, VA IMG 4095.JPG
Bob Evans outlet in Lynchburg, Virginia

The company acquired Texas based Owens Country Sausage in 1987. The company branded its otherwise identical restaurants in Texas as Owens Restaurants due to trademark issues. By January 2006, all Owens restaurants were closed.[4]

The company operated a Mexican-themed restaurant called Cantina del Rio in the mid-1990s, a move which Bob Evans called "a disaster" in 2003.[5]

The Evans family controlled daily operations of the company until 2000 when Dan Evans retired as CEO. After Dan's retirement, Stewart K. Owens (a former officer of the Owens Country Sausage company and later president of BOBE) assumed control of Bob Evans Farms Inc. as CEO. In 2001 he became Chairman of the Board. Company profits faltered under Owens' tenure. In August 2005, after corporate profits had dropped in eight of the previous nine quarters, Owens announced his resignation. After operating for several months under interim CEO Larry Corbin, the company hired Steven Davis, former president of Long John Silver's, as CEO in May 2006.

In July 2004, Bob Evans Farms purchased the California-based Mimi's Cafe restaurant chain (operating under SWH Corporation) for US$182 million.[6][7] Mimi's Cafe had 144 locations throughout the U.S. at the time. They featured casual dining and American food with a French emphasis and decorative elements. Bob Evans Farms sold Mimi's Cafe to the U.S. branch of Groupe Le Duff in 2013.

On August 17, 2009, Bob Evans opened a prototype restaurant in Xenia, Ohio.[8] This restaurant has a more farm-like feel and resembles the Bob Evans farm.

CEO Steven Davis resigned in December 2014.[9]

As of Q4 2015, the chain announced its intention to sell 145 properties to Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. for a total price of $200 million. The net proceeds are expected to be approximately $165 million and the deal is expected to close in Q2 2016.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Bob Evans Farms Announces Closing of Eight Remaining Owens Restaurants, press release
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ FundingUniverse – Company Histories – SWH Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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