@ajsadauskas One thing I was curious about.
Is the Lone Star Rib House in Parra any way connected to the '90s American Texas-themed peanuts on the floor restaurant chain?
Or is it the product of someone opportunistically registering the trade mark after the US chain after the US chain left the country?
Well, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole.
And the surprising answer is, as best I can tell, through a chain of corporate acquisitions, it is actually connected to the US Lone Star chain, which went bankrupt in 2017.
The background: The US Lone Star chain began in 1989. In 1993, it opened its first Australian store in Parramatta: https://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2016/03/31/lone-star-steakhouse-saloonderelict-parramatta-nsw/
According to a 2003 filing, US Lone Star sold its Australian restaurants to its Australian managers, Robert Lapointe and Tim Smith:
"Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon, Inc. ("Lone Star" or "the Company") announced
today that it has entered into a definitive sales agreement that will result in
the divestiture and discontinuance of its Australian operations. Under the terms
of the agreement, Lone Star will sell the majority of its restaurant assets to a
new company owned by Robert Lapointe and Tim Smith, current management of the
Australian operations. The sale is expected to close prior to the end of fiscal
2003."
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/883670/000092189503001044/ex991to8k_12232003.htm
In 2010, the Australian Lone Star restaurants were sold to another steakhouse chain, called Outback Jack's:
"Outback Jacks Bar & Grill, the franchise steakhouse chain, has signed an agreement to acquire the five Lone Star outlets across Sydney over the next 12 months.
"Colby Smith, general manager of operations, told Franchising "Outback Jacks is expanding across Sydney by taking over all of the remaining Lone Star stores, such as Blacktown, Chullora, Warwick Farm, Tuggerah & Glendale. The sites will remain operating as Lone Star until OBJ's secures a franchisee where we will then completely re-badge both the interior and exterior of the stores as Outback Jacks.""
https://web.archive.org/web/20100409071143/http://www.franchise.net.au/Article/Outback-Jacks-takes-over-Lone-Star-in-Sydney/514908.aspx
Sometime around 2011-ish, the original site of the first Lone Star in Parra was sold to property developers, who tore it down to build an apartment high-rise on the site. Because Parramatta.
While Outback Jack initially rebadged the remaining Lone Stars as Outback Jack stores, by 2019 it was rebranding some of its stores back to Lone Star Ribs. (That would include its new Parra location in the old ANZ building in Church St.)
https://franchiseexecutives.com.au/lone-star-rib-house-and-outback-jacks-support/
So there we have it folks. Just like KMart, the Australian arm of a US chain gets brought out by different owners, and manages to outlive its American parent.
#restaurant #food #foods #LoneStar #FastFood #steak
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