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Beef O'Brady's
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
Chris Elliott (CEO)
OwnerFamily Sports Concepts Inc.[2]
Websitewww.beefobradys.com

Beef O'Brady's (styled as Beef 'O' Brady's Family Sports Restaurant)[3] is a restaurant franchise in the United States, 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 (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 its original name, and in 2017 became the Gasparilla Bowl.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Beef O'Brady's Family Sports Pub". entrepreneur.com. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  2. ^ "Family Sports Concepts Inc". bloomberg.com. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  3. ^ "Beef 'O' Brady's Family Sports Restaurant". beefobradys.com. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Restaurant Owner Founded Beef 'O' Brady's". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. November 26, 2002. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  5. ^ "In its 30 years, Beef 'O' Brady's evolves into a defining Tampa Bay franchise". Tampa Bay Times. 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. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  8. ^ a b Park, Carolyne (December 16, 2005). "Beef 'O' Brady's market push". Memphis Business Journal. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  9. ^ Michael Sandler (November 25, 2002). "Jim Mellody, who founded Beef 'O' Brady's". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
  10. ^ a b Margaret Cashill (January 29, 2009). "Owner operators advance 'family' philosophy". Tampa Bay Business Journal. 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. Retrieved December 23, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Romeo, Peter (September 12, 2019). "For Beef 'O' Brady's, Rejuvenation is a Process". restaurantbusinessonline.com. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  13. ^ "St. Pete Bowl gets new title sponsor". St. Petersburg Times. December 9, 2009. p. 18. 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". Retrieved June 18, 2014.
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