Camille's Sidewalk Cafe

Camille's Sidewalk Cafe
Private
Industry casual dining restaurant
Genre Restaurant
Founded 1996
Founder David and Camille Rutkauskas
Headquarters Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Number of locations
 107 restaurants (2008) 29 restaurants in the USA (March 22 2013)
Area served
 United States
Key people

David Rutkauskas, Chairman and CEO

Camille Rutkauskas, President
Website www.camillescafe.com

Camille's Sidewalk Cafe is a restaurant franchise headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, specializing in healthful, "fast casual" cuisine. At one time Camille's had more than 100 locations, and as of May 2013 had 36 locations in the United States.

Camille's Sidewalk Cafe was founded in 1996 by David Rutkauskas, his wife Camille and father Otto, with the first location (a 250-square-foot (23 m2) kiosk) opening in the Woodland Hills Mall in Tulsa in October of that year.[1] In January 2008, the company reached an agreement with Wal-Mart to include Camille's restaurants in new Wal-Mart supercenters, with as many as 200 such locations opening 2018.[2] Stand-alone Camille's locations in Puerto Rico were scheduled to open in 2008, with 21 under development in Puerto Rico.. In 2008, the company launched 3 cafes in Bahrain and 2 in Dubai.[3]

The Rutkauskas' company, Beautiful Brands, also owns other franchise concepts including FreshBerry, a frozen yogurt chain.[4]

According to a May 14, 2013 article in the Tulsa World, the chain peaked at 107 restaurants in 2009. In the years that followed, two-thirds of the chain's locations have been closed, leaving 36 locations in the United States, and the chain has faced vocal criticisms from some franchisees as well as a lawsuit over the Middle Eastern franchise rights. The original company-owned store in Woodland Hills Mall closed at the end of 2012.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Kyle Arnold, "Camille's empire copes with setbacks", Tulsa World, May 14, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Camille's Sidewalk Cafe joins Wal-Mart", The Oklahoman, January 8, 2008.
  3. ↑ "International Expansion: Camille's Expands in Mideast". Chain Leader. 2009-01-22. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  4. ↑ Arnold, Kyle (December 15, 2009). "In the Raw goes nationwide". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2009-12-15.
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