Bennigan's, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is an Irish pub-themed casual dining restaurant chain. It was founded in 1976 in Atlanta, Georgia, by restaurateur Norman E. Brinker as one of America's original casual dining concepts. It was notable for its Monte Cristo sandwich, which included several meats batter-dipped, fried, and coated with powdered sugar.[1]
The chain was managed by the restaurant division of Pillsbury until Pillsbury was acquired by Grand Metropolitan in 1989. Due to laws preventing liquor manufacturers from also operating liquor sellers, the chain was sold to Metromedia. At its peak, it had over 300 restaurants, but failure to update, grow, and differentiate the brand, degrading quality, and shifting consumer preferences, led to a fall of sales. It filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2008 and closed most of its restaurants. It was then acquired by a private equity company. It was acquired by CEO Paul Mangiamele in 2015.
Bennigan's currently operates 21 brick-and-mortar locations and 21 delivery-only "Bennigan's On The Fly" concepts.