OUR HISTORY & STRUCTURE

Over 48,000 Employees in 34 States FLYNN RESTAURANT GROUP

Greg Flynn, founded Flynn Restaurant Group (FRG) in 1999 with the acquisition of eight Applebee’s in Washington State. Since then the company has grown at over 20% a year and in the process has become
the largest restaurant franchise and one of the 20 largest foodservice companies of any kind in the United States.

While the company’s initial focus was growing within the Applebee’s system, it has since added three other leading brands starting with Taco Bell in 2013, followed by Panera in 2015, and most recently Arby’s in 2018.

Today, through its four wholly-owned subsidiaries, Apple American, Bell American, Pan American, and RB American, FRG owns over 460 Applebee’s, 270 Taco Bells, 130 Panera cafes, and 360 Arby’s, representing $2.4 Billion in Sales and directly employing more than 48,000 people in 34 states.

Going forward the company plans to continue its aggressive growth by building and acquiring additional restaurants as well as opportunistically expanding into other brands and businesses.

In addition, all Brands are supported by the Support Center, which is located in Independence, Ohio. Accounting, Human Resources, Information Technology, Marketing, Payroll, Purchasing, Real Estate, and Training departments are housed at the Support Center, with field representatives available in the markets.

Apply for a Position within the FRG Support Center

Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood Applebee's

The first Applebee’s opened in 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia as T.J. Applebee’s Edibles & Elixirs, a neighborhood bar and restaurant. “I had five partners, mortgaged my house and borrowed $50,000 to open the first restaurant”, said Bill Palmer, the founder of the Applebee’s concept, who together with his investors watched their dream become a reality. Palmer sold the Applebee’s concept to W.R. Grace in 1983 but remained one of the company’s most active franchisees.

Applebee’s quickly made a name for itself in the restaurant industry thanks to the resolve of Gustin. He believed he could aggressively franchise a casual dining restaurant, a restaurant that offers table service and a full bar. At the time, only fast food franchising was predominant.

Applebee’s pioneered casual dining’s use of smaller restaurant facilities and more recently created a prototype casual dining restaurant for use in smaller communities with populations of 25,000. Applebee’s also led the implementation of market penetration strategies in the casual dining segment, creating a presence in a specific area, and then filling in the market afterward.

Applebee’s localizes each restaurant to reflect the neighborhood in which it operates. Each restaurant’s décor reflects local hometown heroes ranging from local athletes and celebrities to firefighters and other notables. The menu offers a wide range of choices from appetizers and salads to steak, chicken and ribs.

Apple American Group

Founded in 1998 by Chairman and CEO Greg Flynn, Apple American Group LLC currently owns and operates over 458 Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurants in 23 states.

With $1.2 billion in sales and directly employing over 26,000 people, Apple American is the largest Applebee’s franchise, and is one of the two largest franchises of any concept in the United States.

Apple American Group LLC is built on a decentralized business model, which means that each geographic area is led by a Market President. Reporting to the Market President are Area Directors, who are multiple unit operators, responsible for the overall functions of the restaurants in their areas. Reporting to the Area Directors are the General Managers, who are the chief restaurant managers responsible for the overall running of their restaurant. Aiding in the management of the restaurant are Assistant Managers, who are responsible for running of their departments (Kitchen, Carside, Service, Bar) and who help with every-day management responsibilities. Rounding out the store leadership are key employees, team leads, and neighborhood experts.

Apply for a Position with Apple American Group

Live Mas Taco Bell

Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell, who first opened a hot dog stand called Bell’s Drive-in in San Bernardino, California in 1946 when he was 23 years old. In 1950, he opened Bell’s Hamburgers and Hot Dogs in San Bernandino’s West Side barrio. According to Gustavo Arellano, author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conqured America, Bell watched the long lines of customers at a Mexican restaurant called the Mitla Cafe, located across the street, which attracted a dedicate customer base of its hard-shelled tacos. Bell began eating there regularly, attempting to reverse-engineer the recipe, and eventually won the confidence of the proprietors such that they allowed him to see how the tacos and other foods were prepared. In late 1951 or early 1952, he took what he had learned and opened anew stand, this time selling tacos under the name of Taco-Tia.

Over the next few years Bell owned and operated several restaurants in southern California including four called El Taco. Bell sold the El Tacos to his partner and built the first Taco Bell in Downey in 1962. In 1962, he sold Taco-Tia. Kermit Becky, a former Los Angeles police officer, bought the first Taco Bell franchise from Glen Bell in 1964, and located it in Torrance. The company grew rapidly, and by 1967, the 100th restaurant opened at 400 South Brookhurst in Anaheim. In 1970, Taco Bell went public with 325 restaurants. In 1978, PepsiCo purchased Taco Bell from Glen Bell.

Taco Bell is now operated by Yum! Brands which was created on May 30, 1997, as Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., an independent company resulting from the spin-out of PepsiCo’s former fast food division. Today, there are over 6,500 Taco Bells in the United States and 16 foreign countries.

Bell American Group

In December 2012, Flynn Restaurant Group, led by CEO Greg Flynn and CFO Lorin Cortina, acquired its first Yum! Restaurants by purchasing Southern Bells which had 76 units in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. At this time, Bell American Group was created. Eight months later in August of 2013, Bell American had their second acquisition bringing on an additional 65 restaurants located in Missouri and Illinois which formed the Bell Missouri market. In June of 2014, Bell American experienced another acquisition and purchased 31 restaurants in North Carolina, creating the Bell Carolina market. Two additional purchases in March 2015 added another 9 restaurants to the Bell Carolina group. In March 2016, the Bell Great Lakes market was created due to an acquisition in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Then in July 2016, another 9 restaurants in northern Indiana were added to the Bell Missouri market.

Bell American now operates over 280 restaurants in 9 states. With our commitment to continued growth, Bell American is currently also developing new restaurants within its existing markets. Bell American Group is proud to empower their operations teams through a unique, scalable management structure that allows Market Coaches a large measure of local control so that they have the flexibility and autonomy to run their businesses as franchise owners.

Bell American Group is passionately committed to growth, quality, service, and to honoring the spirit of “Live Mas”.

Apply for a Position with Bell American Group

Food As it Should Be Panera Bread

During the first part of the 20th century, most Americans were still baking their bread at home or getting it from their neighborhood bakery. With the advance of industry came the highway system and the migration to the suburbs. The neighborhood bakery gave way to packaged bread on supermarket shelves. Amidst all the progress, though, something was lost. The warmth and comfort of fresh-baked bread and the fellowship of the neighborhood bakery faded in significance.

It was the recognition of the importance of fresh-baked bread to people’s lives that led two dedicated men to cross paths. In 1987, Ken Rosenthal stepped off a plane in his hometown of St. Louis, carrying a cooler with a starter for a tangy, robust sourdough bread recipe from San Francisco. He opened the first Saint Louis Bread Co. in Kirkwood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. The handcrafted bread sold in this modern version of a neighborhood bakery-cafe became an instant favorite of St. Louisans and visitors to
the city.

As the concept evolved, Saint Louis Bread Co. provided customers not only with great breads, bagels and pastries, but also with made-to-order sandwiches, freshly tossed salads and soups served in sourdough bread bowls. Company-owned fresh dough facilities produced and distributed all the breads and bagels for the bakery-cafes. Hot and cold espresso beverages helped round out the menu, and contributed to the warm, friendly atmosphere that made Saint Louis Bread Co. a growing success.

A few years later, in 1993, Ron Shaich, CEO of Au Bon Pain, and his colleagues discovered St. Louis Bread Co.’s 20 bakery-cafes and the answer to what they felt was a much larger need. In 1999, Shaich decided to sell the Au Bon Pain bakery-cafe business unit and focus on building the Saint Louis Bread Co. concept into a national brand, under the name Panera Bread (derived from the Latin word Panera, which means “time of bread”). The name change reflected the vision and focus of the expanding company: the time of bread was dawning in America. In the St. Louis area, the hometown favorite continues to be known as Saint Louis Bread Co.

In June of 2009, Panera Bread purchased Paradise Bakery & Cafe Inc. and operates it as a separate brand.

Today, Panera Bread enjoys tremendous success, ranking as one of the top growth companies in the food service industry. Along with the original sourdough, Panera Bread offers many other varieties of bread, helping fulfill the company’s mission of putting “a loaf of bread in every arm.” Panera Bread bakes more bread each day than any other bakery-café operation in the nation, serving millions of customers each week, and baking tens of millions of loaves of the highest quality bread in the country.

Pan American Group

Pan American Group LLC is a franchisee of Panera Bread. Pan American Group LLC is built on a decentralized business model, which means that each geographic area is led by a Director of Operations. Reporting to the DO are Area Directors, who are multiple unit operators, responsible for the overall functions of the café’s in their areas. Reporting to the Area Directors are the General Managers, who are the chief Cafe managers responsible for the overall running of their café. Aiding in the management of the Cafe are Assistant Managers, who are responsible for running of their departments and who help with every-day management responsibilities. Rounding out the cafe leadership are Shift Supervisors and Bakery Managers.

Apply for a Position with Pan American Group

We Have the Meats Arby's

Arby’s was founded in 1964, but the concept for a roast beef sandwich franchise was rooted years earlier when Forrest Raffel and his brother Leroy bough an uncle’s restaurant equipment business in the 1950s.

The small company rapidly grew but despite their success the brothers quickly sensed the potential of fast food and decided to develop a franchise operation based on something other than hamburgers.

A late-night excursion to a small Boston sandwich shop one rainy Halloween was the inspiration for the Raffels, who joined determined huddle of patrons to await the main attraction – a 69-cent roast beef sandwich.

With that the idea was born – Forrest and Leroy dcided to call it “Arby’s” which stand for R.B., the initials of Raffel Brothers.

The first restaurant opened in Boardman, OH on July 23, 1964, serving roast only beef sandwiches, chips, and soda. Today, there are more than 3,300 restaurants worldwide.

RB American Group

Founded in 2018, RB American Group owns and operates over 360 Arby’s restaurants in Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wyoming.

With over $400 million in sales and 8,000 employees, RB American is the largest Arby’s franchise and one of the largest restaurant operators in the Unites States.

RB American is built on a decentralized model, which means that each geographic market is led by a Director of Operations. Reporting to the DO are Area Directors, who are multi-unit operators, responsible for the overall function of the restaurants in their areas. Reporting to the ADs, are General Managers, who are the restaurant leads responsible for the overall running of their unit.

Apply for a Position with RB American Group