verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message longhorn steakhouse type wholly owned subsidiary industry restaurant genre steak house founded atlanta georgia 1981 1981 founder george mckerrow jr. headquarters 1000 darden center drive orlando florida u.s. 32837 number of locations 435 2014 area served united states puerto rico saudi arabia qatar malaysia key people clarence otis jr. ceo chairman of darden products steaks chicken burgers salads parent darden restaurants inc. formerly operated by rare hospitality website longhornsteakhouse.com footnotes references 1 2 a longhorn steakhouse in westland michigan . longhorn steakhouse is an american casual dining restaurant chain that is owned and operated by darden restaurants inc. headquartered in orlando florida . 2 as of 2015 longhorn steakhouse generated 1.5 billion in sales in its 480 locations . 3 contents 1 history 2 theme 3 menu 4 references 5 external links history edit longhorn steakhouse was founded in 1981 by george mckerrow jr. and his father . mckerrow was a former manager at victoria station a san francisco based concept with railroad cars used as dining areas that was popular in the us during the 70 s and 80 s. the first location originally called longhorn steaks restaurant & saloon opened on peachtree street in atlanta georgia . it was a former antique store then an adult entertainment business . the walls were still painted black and some of the booths were divided by recycled black partitions . he filled it with steer heads and western paraphernalia . the longhorn featured top quality steaks grilled in a butter sauce . it was across from a very popular restaurant harrison s on peachtree . harrison s was the favorite hangout of atlanta journal and constitution columnist ron hudspeth and lewis grizzard . hudspeth regularly featured quotes from pete the barkeep at harrison s. harrison s had a very limited bar menu . so regulars ventured over to the longhorn for a quality steak after a night of drinking . however in january 1982 a sudden snow storm that became known as snowjam 82 trapped the area s commuter population within the city limits and mckerrow offered 1 drinks and menu specials to the stranded motorists . hudspeth featured it in his column . this helped turn the struggling restaurant around . 4 by 1990 the franchise expanded further south . it primarily has locations throughout the eastern united states . 2 it also has a few locations in the midwest southwest and puerto rico . citation needed in august 2007 longhorn steakhouse formerly owned and operated by rare hospitality international inc. was purchased by darden restaurants inc. 5 theme edit longhorn steakhouse has a western texan theme . each location is decorated with oil paintings photos and selected western memorabilia that support this theme . citation needed menu edit the restaurant is best known for serving various kinds of steak including its flo s filet . 6 in addition to steak the menu also includes ribs chicken salmon lobster shrimp and salads . appetizers include their texas tonion and wild west shrimp ; and side dishes are also served . the restaurant offers a full bar with draft and bottled beer wine and several signature margaritas . citation needed a lunch menu that includes soups salads sandwiches and hamburgers is available . 2 references edit darden 2011 annual report pdf . darden restaurants inc. retrieved april 12 2012 . a b c d darden restaurants inc. may 29 2011 . fy 2011 10 k . u.s. securities and exchange commission . retrieved april 12 2012 . darden 2015 annual report pdf . atlanta s had a hearty appetite for restaurants . atlanta business chronicle . september 22 2008 . retrieved april 12 2012 . nichola groom august 16 2007 . update 3 darden to buy rare steakhouse chains . thomson reuters . retrieved april 12 2012 . about longhorn . longhorn steakhouse . retrieved april 12 2012 . external links edit official website darden restaurants inc. website parent company v t e darden restaurants inc. holdings olive garden longhorn steakhouse the capital grille yard house bahama breeze seasons 52 eddie v s prime seafood divested smokey bones york steak house red lobster defunct china coast retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title longhorn steakhouse & oldid 740489005 categories companies based in orlando floridarestaurants established in 1981theme restaurantsdarden restaurants brandsrestaurant chains in the united statessteakhouses in the united states1981 establishments in georgia u.s. state hidden categories articles needing additional references from april 2012all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from april 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran aisnorsk bokm l edit links this page was last modified on 21 september 2016 at 11 17 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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