wholly owned subsidiary traded as nyse dri industry restaurant genre fine dining founded providence rhode island 1990 1990 founder edward p. ned grace iii headquarters 1000 darden center drive orlando florida u.s. 32837 number of locations 51 2014 key people eugene lee ceo chairman of darden products steaks parent darden restaurants inc. website thecapitalgrille.com footnotes references 1 2 the capital grille at wayside commons in burlington massachusetts the capital grille is an american restaurant chain of upscale steakhouses owned by darden restaurants . the brand has locations in twenty states and the district of columbia . 2 3 contents 1 history 2 locations 3 lawsuit 4 thanksgiving controversy 5 references 6 external links history edit the original capital grille was founded by edward p. ned grace iii in providence rhode island in 1990 . 4 the opening was curious for several reasons the upscale steakhouse contrasted with the then rundown downtown area of providence and the opening occurred amidst an ongoing recession . grace envisioned the restaurant being popular with business and political elite and proved to be accurate . seven years after opening the original location pulled in over 4 million in annual sales . 4 under the leadership of grace s bugaboo creek steak house inc. the name of grace s other chain the chain expanded to several major markets . by 1996 the capital grille had locations in washington d.c. and boston . in 1997 aided by a 20 million credit line from two banks it expanded with four more locations . 4 bugaboo creek steak house inc. went public in 1994 and later changed its name to rare hospitality international inc. 5 according to the washington business journal the chain was acquired by darden restaurants as a part of a 1.19 billion acquisition of rare hospitality in 2007 . 6 the capital grille operates under the specialty restaurant group division of darden . 7 locations edit as of may 2014 there were 51 locations . 3 lawsuit edit in 2012 employees in five states filed lawsuits against the company alleging racial discrimination and wage violations . the lawsuit alleges that the company favored white workers over people of color for lucrative tipped jobs as well as requiring tipped workers to share their earnings with non tipped workers . 8 thanksgiving controversy edit in 2013 the capital grille in pittsburgh pennsylvania was open for thanksgiving for the first time in its history . capital grille employees at the pittsburgh location and members of the restaurant opportunities center protested having to work on thanksgiving without receiving holiday pay . 9 in addition pittsburgh city council passed a will of council opposing capital grille s decision to force employees to work on thanksgiving without holiday pay . 10 references edit darden 2011 annual report pdf . darden restaurants inc. retrieved april 12 2012 . a b darden restaurants inc. may 29 2011 . fy 2011 10 k . u.s. securities and exchange commission . retrieved april 11 2012 . a b the capital grille restaurant locations . the capital grille . 2011 . retrieved april 11 2012 . a b c robin lee allen may 20 1996 . capital grille an upscale steak house approaching its prime . nation s restaurant news . retrieved april 11 2012 . history of rare hospitality international jeff clabaugh march 18 2009 . capital grille sales fall 19 percent . washington business journal . retrieved april 11 2012 . darden fact sheet pdf press release . darden restaurants inc. retrieved april 11 2012 . lisa fickenscher may 2 2012 . capital grille lawsuit shifts to several states . crain s new york business . retrieved may 9 2012 . wtae news city of pittsburgh legislative information center external links edit official website darden restaurants inc. website 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 the capital grille & oldid 721197524 categories companies based in orlando floridarestaurants established in 1990darden restaurants brandsrestaurant chains in the united statessteakhouses in the united states1990 establishments in rhode island 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 add links this page was last modified on 20 may 2016 at 08 34 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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