Black Angus Steakhouse has temporarily shuttered more than half its restaurants across the Western U.S. due to the coronavirus and resulting business restrictions.The Sherman Oaks-based chain now has 15 restaurants operating in California, Arizona, Washington and Hawaii. It owns a total of 35 locations across those states and Nevada.
California closures include Black Angus restaurants in Burbank, Ventura, Bakersfield, Dublin, Vallejo, Monrovia, Montclair, Whittier, Lakewood, Ontario, Buena Park, San Bernardino, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Temecula, Escondido, El Cajon and Chula Vista.Locations in Northridge and Lancaster are still open for takeout and delivery.In an email to the Business Journal, a representative from Black Angus cited “the challenges of operating during the pandemic and recent shelter in place mandates across some states,” as reasons for the closures.“Our intention is to reopen all locations in a safe manner, with timing dependent on guidelines provided by local governments and the CDC,” the email added.
Black Angus has already closed several locations permanently amid the pandemic, including in Milpitas, Phoenix and Lakewood, Wash.Black Angus was founded in 1964 by Stuart Anderson, a rancher from Seattle. Anderson grew it to 12 locations, marketing it as a ranch-to-restaurant operation, before selling the company to Saga Corp. in 1972. In 1987, hospitality giant Marriott Corp. bought Saga and sold several of its restaurant chains to American Restaurant Group, which ran Black Angus for decades. At its apex, the brand had 103 restaurants in 13 states and revenue of more than $240 million. But the chain had a problem: debt, to the tune of more than $200 million. In 2004, American Restaurant Group filed for Black Angus to reorganize under Chapter 11. Five years later, American Restaurant Group itself filed for Chapter 11, and sold the 69 remaining Black Angus restaurants to Versa Capital Management Inc., which still owns them.The chain moved its headquarters to Sherman Oaks in May 2016.
Black Angus Trims Open Locations
