Nostalgic Restaurant Series #2 - DON PABLO'S
Founded in 1985 in Lubbock, Texas Don Pablo's was a chain of Tex-Mex restaurants.
In 1995, with 51 restaurants open, DF&R Restaurants Inc. (company that owned the chain) sold Don Pablo's to Georgia-based Apple South who, at the time, was one of the largest franchisees of Applebee's.
To years later (1997), Apple South divested all of its franchised operations to focus on the Don Pablo's chain, changing its company name to Avado Brands.
"Things did not go as well as Avado had originally planned, and it filed for bankruptcy in 2004. At that time, it had 106 Don Pablo's. Avado exited bankruptcy a year later with 96 Don Pablo's in operation. After spending two years trying to revitalize the brand, Avado filed for bankruptcy for the second time in September 2007 and subsequently closed or sold about half of its 90 locations." [Wikipedia]
In 2008, 41 Don Pablo's locations were sold to Rita Restaurant Corporation who tries to revitalize the brand. That also did not go as planned and, in 2014, the now 34 unit chain was acquired by Food Management Partners, a Texas-based company. In October of 2016, Rita Restaurant Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with only 12 restaurants remaining.
Over the next 10 years, locations slowly closed with the final location in New Jersey closing its doors in June 2019.
