jump to navigation search tumbleweed tex mex grill & margarita bar type private industry restaurants founded 1975 in new albany indiana founders george r. keller linda keller headquarters louisville kentucky united states key people mathew higgins president and ceo products steak chicken and seafood cooked in a southwest mesquite style revenue 61 million 2006 net income 60 million 2006 website www.tumbleweedrestaurants.com tumbleweed tex mex grill & margarita bar formerly tumbleweed southwest grill is a chain restaurant based in louisville kentucky the original location was in louisville on mellwood avenue adjacent to the fischer packing company plant . it had been a tavern frequented by the plant workers for many years before adding food service and occasional live music . contents 1 history 2 cuisine 3 international 4 sedona grill 5 references history edit tumbleweed tex mex grill & margarita bar serves southwest style foods . the original restaurant opened in 1975 in new albany indiana just across the ohio river from louisville . george r. keller and wife linda started the chain across the road from new albany high school . then later in 1978 linda would utilize her parents hillside manor restaurant and bar to turn it into a tumbleweed . this location in louisville became the flagship for the restaurant chain . shortly after the restaurant expanded to locations across the river . it now operates over 30 locations restaurants in indiana kentucky and ohio 1 including company owned and franchise locations . locations in illinois and wisconsin closed in 2008 after the local franchise owner filed for bankruptcy . 2 in 1995 the kellers sold the business to sixty local area investors for us 9.8 million and an additional us 1 million in a clause not to compete against the company s new owners . the company then became a publicly traded company to help fuel its expansion in the midwest and overseas markets . john butorac jr. took over as president of the company he was also the former vice president for chi chi s. 3 in 2002 terrance smith ceo of the establishment was seeking ownership of the company with two other investors . 4 however on december 18 2007 terrance smith resigned as president and ceo after seven years when the views of the company s board of directors began to diverge from his views . 5 matthew higgins became the new president and ceo of the company with his twin brother michael higgins as coo . 6 financially the company that the higgins from smith was not doing very well so tummbleweed was forced to file for bankruptcy in 2009 . 7 at the time of filing the firm had 37 company owned or franchised locations left in the states of indiana ohio and kentucky and had one licensed location each in germany and kuwait . the company was able to emerge from bankruptcy the following year . 8 still the company was not performing as well as it would like was forced to close 8 out of 32 remaining locations in the tri state area in 2014 after previously withdrawing from overseas operations . 9 cuisine edit an example of queso . tumbleweed serves an american mexican cuisine in a combination tex mex and southwest style . they specialize in a chili con queso . 10 tumbleweed s menu includes continental food encompassing such foods as chicken and steak . the other major style of cuisine is a mexican themed menu including burritos chimichangas and a variety of house salads . international edit in 1999 tumbleweed began to expand overseas 11 and had restaurants located in the following places by 2006 . 12 frankfurt germany vilseck germany jeddah saudi arabia amman jordan cairo egypt essex england london england istanbul turkey kuwait city kuwait all locations were closed before 2014 . 9 sedona grill edit in 2007 tumbleweed restaurants decided that it wanted to expand into the upscale restaurant field by opening a separate chain called sedona grill with the first location being opened in lima ohio in early 2007 . 13 the original plan was to have five locations opened by the end year . unfortunate only one other location was opened also in ohio before the company finally closed the money losing operation at the beginning of 2008 . 14 15 references edit locations . tumbleweed restaurants . hajewski doris december 1 2008 . tumbleweed restaurants close in wisconsin . milwaukee journal sentinel . kleber john e. ed . 2001 . the encyclopedia of louisville . university press of kentucky . p. 894 . isbn 9780813128900 . retrieved 2012 01 24 via google books . tumbleweed southwest grill . just in . alacra . subscription required help . smith resigns as tumbleweed ceo . louisville business first . december 18 2007 . 1 dead link tumbleweed chain seeks chapter 11 . whas tv . october 13 2009 . tumbleweed cfs emerge from chapter 11 with new owners vision . louisville business first . april 19 2010 . a b tumbleweed closes restaurants refocuses brand . louisville business first . january 14 2014 . menu . tumbleweed restaurants . louisvillians to take tumbleweeds around the world . louisville business first . may 11 1998 . international locations . tumbleweed restaurants . archived from the original on 2006 12 30 . hot idea tumbleweed inc. goes upscale with new sedona grill concept . louisville business first . may 21 2007 . subscription required help . adios sedona ... tumbleweed is sticking with its southwest roots . louisville business first . february 25 2008 . subscription required help . crea joe january 16 2008 . sedona grill closes in sheffield village . cleveland plain dealer . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title tumbleweed tex mex grill % 26 margarita bar & oldid 731860425 categories companies based in louisville kentuckymexican restaurantsnew albany indianarestaurants established in 1975restaurants in indianarestaurants in kentuckyrestaurants in louisville kentuckyhidden categories pages containing links to subscription only contentall articles with dead external linksarticles 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