wholly owned subsidiary industry restaurants genre casual fine dining founded 1977 founder george biel headquarters beverly hills california u.s. area served united states products american cuisine parent hillstone restaurant group website hillstone.com houston s restaurant is an upscale american casual dining restaurant chain owned by hillstone restaurant group whose main corporate headquarters is based in beverly hills california . there are 51 hillstone locations in 15 states . contents 1 company profile 2 reviews 3 name change of certain locations 4 references 5 external links company profile edit the first houston s restaurant was launched by current owner and ceo george biel joe ledbetter and vic branstetter in 1977 in nashville tn . 1 2 bransetter sold his shares in 2006 and ledbetter in 2011 leaving george biel sole owner of the company . the corporate company hillstone restaurant group was founded in 1976 and owns the following restaurants gulfstream bandera rutherford grill palm beach grill cherry cheek grill los altos grill woodmont grill r d hillstone south beverly grill east hampton grill white house tavern and houston s. 3 as of 2016 the group owns and operates 51 restaurants under 13 different brands in the united states . reviews edit zagat gave the restaurant high marks and remarked on its vibrant modern setting matched with a lively bar scene ; seamless tag team service . 4 name change of certain locations edit since 2009 several houston s locations around the us have changed their names to hillstone . there is speculation that the change was made to avoid federal menu labeling requirements on menus for restaurants with 20 locations or more as a part of the affordable care act . the renaming of locations in new york city may suggest wishing to avoid that city s requirement that chains publish calorie counts on menus . the company maintains the changes are in keeping with a long term strategy of disassociating from the chain image to remain a niche player in the industry . the practice of changing restaurant names is not a new strategy for the company which has similarly converted several banderas to locally named grills all predating state and federal regulations . the company argues that the name change was based on rebranding with a focus on more regional and less standardized fare . 5 6 references edit jack hayes 1992 07 12 . houston s breaks found in the burbs . nation s restaurant news . retrieved 2012 04 05 . http www.hoovers.com company hillstone restaurant group inc rfkjyki 1 1njht4 1njfaq.html http www.hillstone.com restaurants houston s los angeles information menus and reviews from . zagat . retrieved 2012 04 05 . hillstone restaurant group rebranding houston s units nation s restaurant news . nrn.com . 2010 06 23 . retrieved 2012 03 15 . houston s restaurant outsmarts calorie cops crain s new york business . crainsnewyork.com . 2009 11 08 . retrieved 2013 10 09 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title houston % 27s restaurant & oldid 730981846 categories steakhouses in the united statesrestaurants established in 1977companies based in beverly hills californiarestaurants in californiarestaurant chains in the united states 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 22 july 2016 at 03 52 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view