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Thompson Hospitality buys Austin Grill chain

Tex-Mex chain now has the opportunity to grow and expand in and beyond the local region, COO says

Friday, Nov. 3, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo J. Adam Fenster⁄The Gazette Austin Grill president and COO Chris Patterson said his restaurants'dedication to environmental causes, including the use of 100 percent wind power for its energy, will not change with the sale of the company to Thompson Hospitality of Herndon, Va.

Patterson, president and COO of the Austin Grill chain of Tex-Mex restaurants with headquarters in Gaithersburg, has only good things to say about the recent sale of the chain to Thompson Hospitality of Herndon, Va.

‘‘It’s a great opportunity for us because they have the financial support that the former company didn’t have,” said Patterson, a Gaithersburg resident who has been running the Austin Grill chain since 2000.

‘‘It will give us an opportunity to grow the brand, something we’re excited about,” he said. ‘‘[Previous ownership] wanted to do that, but just didn’t have the financial strength.”

Thompson Hospitality has annual revenues of more than $200 million, said its CEO, Warren Thompson.

Austin Grill, established with a restaurant in Washington, D.C., in 1988 by its founder and former owner, Rob Wilder, has grown to six restaurants with annual revenue of $16 million. The chain also has locations in Bethesda, Silver Spring, Baltimore, and two in Northern Virginia, with another restaurant to open next year in the new Rockville Town Center.

Wilder received an undisclosed ‘‘cash out” payment as part of the sale and will not be continuing as part of the management, according to Patterson and Thompson.

Patterson said his vision of spreading the Austin Grill brand includes possibilities for stores ‘‘between New York and Raleigh, N.C.,” in the long term. For now he says, there are ‘‘plenty of locations” to build more Austin Grills in the Baltimore-Washington region. Patterson said that with Thompson Hospitality’s business on college campuses, the company would be planning to develop a ‘‘scaled-down” Austin Grill model for college locations.

Patterson would not disclose the price Thompson Hospitality paid for Austin Grill, saying ‘‘we have an agreement not to disclose that.”

Patterson said Austin Grill’s administration — five employees — would stay intact. ‘‘The management team was part of the deal,” Patterson said. He added that the chain’s offices would be moving to Thompson Hospitality’s headquarters in Herndon later this year.

Patterson said Austin Grill would continue its environmental practices, such as using only wind-generated electricity.

Thompson said it was time for his company to acquire a brand such as Austin Grill.

‘‘Over the last two years we’ve been looking for a restaurant group that we could buy and gain control of a brand,” Thompson said. ‘‘We believe we’re at the point in our lifestyle where we should control a brand rather than continue as just a franchise operation.”

Thompson Hospitality, besides Bob’s Big Boy and other restaurants, has franchise agreements to operate Pizza Hut, Checkers and Chick-Fil-A restaurants on college campuses.

‘‘We think Austin Grill represents a unique opportunity,” Thompson said. ‘‘It’s been around for years and been successful and has an exceptional management team that will continue in place. We believe we can put our resources behind the brand and make it a successful national concept.”