K-Bob's Steakhouse

K-BOB'S
Franchise
Industry Restaurants
Founded Clovis, New Mexico (1966)
Founder Gabreil E. Parson and Jo Ann Parson Bowen
Headquarters Houston, Texas, USA
Number of locations
 11[1]
Area served
 New Mexico
Texas
Canon City, Colorado
Products Steaks, Chicken, Catfish, Vegetables, Salad, Desserts
Owner Edward Roy Tinsley IV Morgan Booth
Parent K-BOB'S Steakhouse Holding Company LLC
Website www.k-bobs.com
The K-Bob's outlet in Raton, New Mexico

K-BOB'S is a regional restaurant chain that operates in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The company was founded in 1966 in Clovis, New Mexico,[2] by Gabe E. Parson. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1989 and emerged from in 1991 under the new ownership and management of Edward Tinsley III. Tinsley relocated the company headquarters from Dallas to Albuquerque,[3] and then later to Santa Fe.[4] In August 2015, Tinsley sold the company to a private equity fund founded by his son (Edward R. Tinsley IV) and son-in-law (Morgan Booth). Tinsley retained 4 stores in the New Mexico market as a franchisee. Today, Tinsley IV and Booth operate the company out of its current corporate headquarters in Houston.

Emerging from bankruptcy

In the late 1970s, an investor group purchased K-BOB'S. The new management team of Luther Lyle Walker and Robert E. Cotton, moved from the original focus of simple buffet-style, reasonably priced family foods to a more metropolitan fare. According to Vernon P. O’Rourke, then the vice-president of two K-Bob's in Texas, Walker and Cotton "went yuppyish is the way I describe it ... They took on almost every fad they possibly could."[3]

At one point during the 1980s, there were nearly a hundred K-BOB'S restaurants across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado. There was a lack of cohesion among the franchisees, most of whom had never met one another or had the opportunity to exchange ideas. The company then "made decisions that appeared successful until economic times got tougher. They were working in the boom time, but when it ended, tough mistakes began to haunt them", said Tinsley in a 1992 interview with Robin Lee Allen of Nation’s Restaurant News.[3]

According to the Dallas attorney Robert M. Nicoud, Jr., who represented K-Bob's, Inc., in bankruptcy court, the company "overexpanded and found itself in a position where it had to do whatever it could to keep cash coming in the door to keep operations going ... Eventually, they were carrying too heavy a debt load, and the general economy just turned around on them."[3]

In October 1989, K-Bob's, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 from more than a hundred creditors. According to court papers, the company owed more than $38,000 to secured creditors, including the Internal Revenue Service, and $2.2 million to unsecured creditors, some of which were disputed.[3] "I'm not sure the case would have gone anywhere if Tinsley had not come along", said Nicoud.[3]

In April 1991, after a year of negotiations, the bankruptcy court transferred the assets of K-Bob's, Inc., to K-Bob's USA, Inc. The latter was required to pay debts to the former over a 10-year period. Since the purchase, Tinsley has concentrated on the roots of his company. He personally met his franchisees and launched a monthly corporate newsletter called The T-Bone Tribune.[3]

When the federal minimum wage increased in 1997 from $4.75 to $5.15 per hour, The Wall Street Journal reported that Tinsley had prepared for the additional expense by selectively raising menu prices.[5]

K-Bob's Steakhouse in Tinsley's hometown, Lamesa, Texas

References

  1. ↑ http://www.k-bobs.com/location/texas/
  2. ↑ "K-Bob's Company Information". kbobsusa.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Robin Lee Allen, "K-Bob's rises up out of Chapter 11 ashes"". Nation’s Restaurant News, February 10, 1992. 1992. Retrieved July 8, 2009.
  4. ↑ Mexico, New (March 10, 2009). "K-Bob's sales increase, expansion sought". Albuquerque Business Journal. Retrieved July 8, 2009.
  5. ↑ Christina Duff, "New Minimum Wage Makes Few Waves", The Wall Street Journal, November 20, 1996.
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