 | |
| Company type | Wholly ownedsubsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Casual dining,buffetFranchising |
| Founded | 1965; 61 years ago (1965) |
| Headquarters | Plano, Texas |
Number of locations | 15 in U.S.; 36 worldwide (2026)[1][2] |
| Products | Steak, salad, seafood |
| Parent | FAT Brands |
| Website | pon-bon.com |
Ponderosa Steakhouse andBonanza Steakhouse are a chain of buffet/steakhouse restaurants that are a part ofHomestyle Dining LLC based inPlano, Texas.[3] Its menu includes steaks, hamburgers, seafood, and chicken and potato entrées, all of which come with their buffet. A lunch menu is also served.
Unlike some other chains with two names which use only one of the names in a given region, restaurants in the same locale could be named either Bonanza or Ponderosa. This is because Bonanza and Ponderosa were separate companies, which were later merged under theMetromedia Restaurant Group.
The names of the restaurants were derived from theTV seriesBonanza, which was set at a place calledPonderosa Ranch.
In 1963,Dan Blocker, who playedEric "Hoss" Cartwright onBonanza, started the Bonanza Steakhouse chain.[citation needed] The first Bonanza opened inWestport, Connecticut.Sam Wyly and his brotherCharles Wyly bought the small Bonanza restaurant chain three years later. The company grew to approximately 600 restaurants by 1989,[4] when the Wylys sold it to Metromedia.[5]
In 1965, Dan Lasater, Norm Wiese and Charles Kleptz founded Ponderosa inKokomo, Indiana, moving the headquarters toDayton, Ohio, in 1971.[6]
Ponderosa began operating in Canada by 1971 and until 1986, when its focus moved to post-recession US, had nearly 150 locations across the country. After closing most Canadian Ponderosa restaurants,[7] the company returned to generating US restaurant franchises in 1986, reversing a previous freeze on new US franchises in the move to Canada. At that time, 36 Canadian Ponderosa locations were acquired by General Mills Restaurant Group which converted them toRed Lobster restaurants.[8] In the meantime, Bonanza maintained a presence in Canada.[9] The last Canadian location closed in November, 2010.[10]
In February 1988, Ponderosa was sold toMetromedia Restaurant Group.[6] In September 1989, Metromedia acquired rival Bonanza, combining the two chains.[11] In 1997, Ponderosa and Bonanza united under the Metromedia Family Steakhouses (MFS) organization to be marketed under the Ponderosa or Bonanza brands. MFS was one of founderJohn Kluge's companies using theMetromedia name.
After itsS&A Restaurant Group division was forced into an involuntaryChapter 7 liquidation by its lender,GE Capital, in August 2008, and closed over 300 company-ownedBennigan's andSteak & Ale restaurants,[12] the chain's parent company, Metromedia Steakhouses Company, filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008, although it planned to reorganize around franchise operations and a profitable core of company-operated restaurants.[13][14] It emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 under the name "Homestyle Dining LLC".[15]
The chain engaged Trinity Capital LLC as its financial advisor in 2016 and was sold in late 2017 toFAT Brands, the owner ofFatburger, Buffalo's Cafe and Hurricane Grill & Wings. FAT Brands has approximately 300 locations open, with another 300 under development in 32 countries.[16][17]
In 1989, there were almost 700 Ponderosa locations. By 2003, there were fewer than 400 locations. As of December 2024, only 12 Ponderosa locations and three Bonanza locations currently remain open in the US.[18][19][20][21][22]
On January 26, 2026, parent company FAT Brands filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to shed billions of dollars in debt. The company listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion.[23]