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Beef O'Brady's
Company typePrivate
IndustryRestaurants
Founded1985; 39 years ago (1985) in Brandon, Florida
FounderJim Mellody
Headquarters
Tampa, Florida
,
United States
Number of locations
151 (2019)[1]
Area served
United States
Key people
RJ Del Rio (CEO)
OwnerFamily Sports Concepts Inc.[2]
Websitewww.beefobradys.com

Beef O'Brady's (styled as Beef 'O' Brady's Family Sports Restaurant)[3] is an American restaurant franchise, established in 1985 by Jim Mellody in Brandon, Florida,[4] and headquartered in Tampa.[5]

History

Jim Mellody moved from his native Pennsylvania to Florida in 1971, and tried numerous restaurant ideas before hitting on the concept of a family-friendly Irish pub (serving no hard liquor). He founded Beef O'Brady's in 1985.[1] In 1998, Mellody sold most of his interest to Family Sports Concepts Inc., headed by Chuck Winship, but retained an interest in 13 locations.[6][7][8] Franchising started in 1998,[1] and by August 2000, it had grown to 40 locations.[6]

When Mellody died in November 2002, the chain had grown to 88 locations within seven southeastern states.[4][7][9] After Mellody's death, what had been his remaining interest in the company was bought out,[10] and by December 2005 there were 183 locations in 19 states.[8] As of 2009, Mellody's daughter still ran the original Brandon location.[10]

In early 2010, CEO Chuck Winship retired and was replaced by Chris Elliott, a former executive of Cinnabon and Church's Chicken; at that time, the company had approximately 245 locations, down from a high of approximately 270.[11] As of September 2019, the number of locations had dropped to 150, with 26 of those company-owned and operated.[12]

Bowl game

In 2009, the company became the title sponsor of the St. Petersburg Bowl, an annual college football bowl game held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.[13] That year's game was officially named the "St. Petersburg Bowl presented by Beef 'O' Brady's".[14] The game was then renamed as the "Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl" for four years (2010–2013).[15] In 2014, the game reverted to one of its former names, and in 2017 became the Gasparilla Bowl once again, which was original called the MagicJack Bowl prior to that.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Beef O'Brady's Family Sports Pub". entrepreneur.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  2. ^ "Family Sports Concepts Inc". bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  3. ^ "Beef 'O' Brady's Family Sports Restaurant". beefobradys.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Restaurant Owner Founded Beef 'O' Brady's". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. November 26, 2002. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  5. ^ "In its 30 years, Beef 'O' Brady's evolves into a defining Tampa Bay franchise". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  6. ^ a b Meadows, Andrew (August 12, 2000). "Beef 'O' Brady's 'Bama bound". The Tampa Tribune. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  7. ^ a b "Jim Mellody, founder of the Beef 'O' Brady's family sports pub chain". Nation's Restaurant News. November 26, 2002. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  8. ^ a b Park, Carolyne (December 16, 2005). "Beef 'O' Brady's market push". Memphis Business Journal. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  9. ^ Michael Sandler (November 25, 2002). "Jim Mellody, who founded Beef 'O' Brady's". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  10. ^ a b Margaret Cashill (January 29, 2009). "Owner operators advance 'family' philosophy". Tampa Bay Business Journal. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  11. ^ Sasso, Michael (July 3, 2010). "Beef O'Brady's leader steps down to pursue MBA". The Tampa Tribune. p. 29. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Romeo, Peter (September 12, 2019). "For Beef 'O' Brady's, Rejuvenation is a Process". restaurantbusinessonline.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  13. ^ "St. Pete Bowl gets new title sponsor". St. Petersburg Times. December 9, 2009. p. 18. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Beef 'O' Brady's Signs on as Title Sponsor of St. Petersburg Bowl". St. Petersburg Bowl. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  15. ^ "'O' No! Beef 'O' Brady's to drop sponsorship of local bowl game". Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
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