radar aimed gun turret see village inn codename . village inn type subsidiary industry restaurants founded 1959 founder james mola and merton anderson headquarters nashville tennessee united states number of locations 212 owner american blue ribbon holdings website villageinn.com village inn is a casual dining restaurant chain in the united states . its restaurants are known for their breakfast menu items including buttermilk pancakes skillets crepes omelettes and eggs . also they feature a variety of salads sandwiches burgers melts and dinner items . their pies have won numerous awards from the american pie council apc citation needed . as of september 2015 village inn operates 212 restaurants in these states alaska arizona arkansas colorado florida illinois iowa kansas minnesota missouri nebraska new mexico north dakota oklahoma oregon texas utah virginia washington and wyoming . 1 village inn s parent company american blue ribbon holdings is based in nashville tennessee . contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit one of the restaurants in colorado springs colorado . village inn was founded by james mola and merton anderson who opened the first village inn pancake house in denver in 1958 . 2 they incorporated as village inn pancake house inc. in december 1959 and began franchising in 1961 with dow sherwood opening the first franchised locations in tampa . in 1982 village inn became the publicly traded vicorp restaurants inc. vicorp acquired the poppin fresh pies chain from pillsbury in may 1983 renaming it bakers square . in 1984 vicorp acquired 71 restaurants from ralston purina s continental restaurant systems division and 175 former sambo s restaurants in california florida and arizona . the california locations were converted to bakers square restaurants while the florida and arizona locations were converted to village inn but the conversions led to a decline in profits for the company and 15 of the converted florida locations would close by 1989 . 3 exterior of a village inn restaurant in des moines iowa by the end of the 1980s pancake house was dropped from the name of the chain as village inn began offering lunch and dinner menus in addition to breakfast . during the early 1990s all village inn restaurants underwent a large scale renovation that featured new green mansard roofs and neon signage . in may 2001 the investment firms of goldner hawn johnson & morrison inc. and bancboston capital acquired vicorp and the company has been privately held ever since . 3 in late 1993 vicorp acquired the rights to a small florida chain called angel s diner . they acquired this from eric a. holm . unfortunately he had also sold the rights to golden corral and vicorp was forced to pay golden corral 1 million to secure the exclusive rights . the intent was to convert underperforming village inn and bakers square units to this new concept . after building seven units vicorp realized that the concept was not economically viable and wrote off 11 million on the venture . during this time frame eric holm filed for personal bankruptcy . on april 3 2008 vicorp filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code . vicorp closed 56 company owned restaurants as a result of the move leaving a total of 343 village inn and bakers square locations . 4 in 2009 american blue ribbon holdings a company owned by fidelity national financial and newport global advisors acquired the assets of vicorp including village inn and bakers square . in 2010 village inn locations started updating to the new corporate logo . as of 2011 many if not all locations now sport the new logo . the new one keeps the same shape but the name village inn takes up less of it and is now rendered in a modified neutraface text bold with a yellow half moon or dinner plate along the bottom with little dots running along its border with the letters vi in it . see also edit list of pancake houses references edit village inn restaurants . find your village inn . retrieved 2015 09 30 . vicorp restaurants . village inn history . retrieved 2007 02 04 . a b fundinguniverse.com . vicorp restaurants inc. company history . retrieved 2007 02 04 . milstead david 2008 04 03 . bankrupt village inn shutting down local restaurants . rocky mountain news . eric holm 1995 http articles.orlandosentinel.com 1994 09 24 business 9409240010 1 angel diner holm chapter 7 bankruptcy external links edit village inn website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title village inn & oldid 743428353 categories fidelity national financialrestaurants in denvereconomy of the midwestern united stateseconomy of the western united statesregional restaurant chains in the united statescompanies that filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008restaurants established in 1958restaurant franchisespancake houseshidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from august 2010 navigation menu personal tools not 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