Remember Bennigan’s? In Tulsa, it was located near 71st and Yale and shut down without warning in 2008. It was not the only location that disappeared, and not the only brand of restaurant that went missing.
Bennigan’s was never really dead. It was just the corporate arm that pulled the plug on life support. Bennigan’s was owned by S&A Restaurants, the same firm that operated the Steak & Ale chain, and both were part of a bankruptcy shutdown three years ago. While Steak & Ale is still absent from the market, Bennigan’s may be making a comeback.
In chain-restaurant operations, there are company owned stores and franchisees. Steak & Ale was entirely corporate owned and the Chapter 7 filing provided the death knell for the brand. Bennigan’s – on the other hand – had a number of franchisee owned locations that were caught in the corporate collapse.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Lake Worth, a new Bennigan’s location opened on Monday evening, the first new store since the 2008 closings.
Company officials say they intend to re-establish the brand in Texas, with the possibility of moving back into former territories.
The Irish-themed restaurant was a Tulsa staple for years, part of the chain originally established by Norman Brinker in 1976. The bar and grill, casual dining, restaurant market was hard hit by the economic downturn, and the staid Steak & Ale concept was late in making changes. Efforts to upgrade locations were insufficient to bring back the brand’s competitive edge, and Bennigan’s fell along with the steak chain. Franchisees were caught off-guard but were not part of the bankruptcy, and struggled to stay afloat.
Officials at the Lake Worth location are encouraged by the amount of interest shown by customers leading up to the Monday opening, and hope that it spells a bit of four-clovered good luck for the Irish themed re-emergence.
