Daniel M. Snyder, the entrepreneur and owner of the Washington Redskins, has agreed to acquire Johnny Rockets, the 1950s-inspired restaurant chain.
Mr. Snyder’s deal for Johnny Rockets, which started in 1986 as a corner restaurant serving burgers and malts on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, is his first major entrance into the food business.
“We think it’s a big-time brand,” Snyder said, his voice filled with excitement. “You can see the business rocketing, no pun intended, in the future.”
He has ambitious expansion plans, anticipating opening 1,000 new restaurants in the next five years. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t have 15 or 20 Johnny Rockets in Dubai,” he said.
One of the first steps will be establishing a series of smaller restaurants, called Johnny Rockets Express, in airports, malls and urban areas. He also envisions opening Johnny Rockets restaurants inside FedEx Field in Washington, where the Redskins play, and inside Six Flags theme parks.
“The thing about Dan is he always keeps you guessing,” said Mark Shapiro, the chief executive of Six Flags, who left his job as ESPN’s programming director to work for Mr. Snyder. “If you had polled 100 C.E.O.’s about what Dan would buy next, this would not be on the list.”
Mr. Shapiro, who says the Oreo cookie shake is his favorite Johnny Rockets menu item, added: “Anything he touches, as long as you got the patience, turns to gold.”
2 comments:
they need to make Mac and Cheese
"anything he touches, if you have patience, turns to gold?" Guess you just to have to be patient with the Skins and in 20 or 30 years they'll be good again.
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