private industry restaurant founded santa barbara california u.s. in 1987 founders mark orfalea pierre dube headquarters austin texas u.s. number of locations 90 1 area served texas oklahoma louisiana kansas missouri california and utah number of employees 2 300 2015 parent tavistock group website freebirds.com freebirds world burrito freebirds for short is a regional chain of fast casual burrito restaurants founded in 1987 in santa barbara california 2 by mark orfalea . the restaurant chain expanded into texas in 1990 under orfalea s leadership . in 1994 mark s college friend and manager of the texas location pierre dube purchased control of the restaurant and gradually expanded the chain to span 19 restaurants in texas . orfalea retained ownership of the original california location and a license to continue using the name in california . the texas freebirds world burrito chain which was headquartered in college station 3 4 was purchased by private equity tavistock group in 2007 . the chain headquartered in the tavistock restaurants offices in emeryville california 4 5 6 has grown to over 60 locations in texas 5 locations in utah and others scattered throughout the midwest states of kansas missouri and oklahoma . contents 1 history 2 business model 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit the freebirds concept was created by mark orfalea in 1987 . originally orfalea designed his restaurant around the roasted chicken concept similar to el pollo loco with the idea to deliver fresh food to uc santa barbara students in the famed isla vista california . when at the end of the day he was left with unused chicken his aunt suggested he marinate the chicken in bbq sauce and use it to make burritos . thus the freebird s burrito was born . the name freebird s stemmed from one of mark s deceased father s favorite songs free bird by lynyrd skynyrd . as mark s father also loved motorcycles from his time riding them in the service in europe during wwii especially harley davidson motorcycles mark paid tribute to his father again by placing the trademark man on a motorcycle crashing through the restaurant wall into the restaurants . with the success of freebirds in isla vista ucsb mark set his sights on expansion selecting after a nationwide tour of college campuses the northgate district at the nearby texas a & m university in college station in 1991 . in part this decision was impacted by the large volume of beer sales at the nearby bar the dixie chicken . at the time of expansion the college station freebirds was being run by bobby parr as manager with the help of david bomer and multiple other friends mark had made during his time at ucsb . pierre dube was one of these friends . after graduation in 1987 pierre had left ucsb to work for mcdonald s restaurant corporation as an accountant . around the time of freebirds expansion into the texas market in 1991 pierre joined the freebirds team leaving mcdonalds to manage mark s restaurant in college station . thus freebird s monster burritos and the supermonster or forearm burrito as it was called by another of the freebirds ca employees made its way into texas . with its fresh food salsa giant bbq chicken burritos sky themed ceilings and crazy motorcycle statue of liberty crashing through the restaurant wall mark invested heavily into the texas market . however it turned out owning two restaurants 1600 miles apart proved difficult . after several years of struggling in the texas market and with the recession hitting california hard in the early 1990s mark offered to sell pierre the texas store . in part this was as attempt to support freebirds college station during difficult financial times . as pierre had elected to stay in texas rather than to return to college station to manage that freebirds mark offered pierre the option to buy into freebirds texas . after the ownership transition and under pierre s skilled leadership and operational skills freebird s texas took the original freebirds concept and duplicated its success within the favorable texas business climate . while orfalea retained ownership of isla vista and concentrated on refining the menu and cementing freebird s as an isla vista landmark pierre was successful in expanding mark s original concept into a successful 19 location multi store chain throughout texas . by 2007 the restaurant chain had 19 locations around texas . on july 25 2007 dube sold the chain to california based tavistock group through its tavistock restaurants division . at the time of the sale tavistock stated that it would be opening an additional 40 freebirds restaurants across the southwestern united states . 7 in addition to adding more texas locations tavistock expanded the restaurant chain into neighboring state oklahoma with the opening of a location in norman oklahoma in january 2008 . 8 9 10 as of april 2010 the chain has expanded to 31 locations and stated that it would have 52 open by the end of 2010 . 8 11 in march of 2015 the headquarters was relocated from emeryville california to austin texas . the company will call its offices at the great hills corporate center in northwest austin its new headquarters . mark orfalea remains the sole owner creator and founder of the original freebirds world burrito located in isla vista california near the campus of ucsb . business model edit freebirds is a privately owned company with all locations except the original freebird s in isla vista owned by parent company tavistock group . 12 the restaurant s primary offering is california style mission burritos which customers order cafeteria style allowing them to customize their meal by choosing burrito size and type of tortilla then choosing its filling from a selection of meats cheeses beans vegetables and sauces . locations also generally offer customizable salads tacos quesadillas nachos and burrito bowls which are burritos without a tortilla . side item offerings include chips salsa and queso . 7 10 13 committed to operating in an environmentally conscious manner the company stocks recycled paper products in its locations and prints its menus on 100 % recycled papers . they also encourage their guests to recycle their burritos foil wrappers by turning them into art work which is then displayed in various freebirds locations . 14 see also edit list of mexican restaurants references edit taylor kate november 16 2015 . a customizable burrito chain that was founded before chipotle is now expanding across america . business insider . retrieved november 17 2015 . http freebirds.com freebirds story phpsessid 9fabde201b17a83519d85192483a0013 contact us . freebirds world burrito . february 7 2003 . archived from the original on february 7 2003 . retrieved may 23 2010 . a b tavistock restaurants swoops in on freebirds . austin business journal . july 23 2007 . retrieved may 23 2010 . welcome to tavistock restaurants . tavistock restaurants . retrieved may 23 2010 . contact us . freebirds world burrito . retrieved may 23 2010 . a b freebirds world burrito chain sold . santa barbara independent . july 25 2007 . retrieved january 6 2008 . a b store locations . freebirds world burrito . retrieved april 27 2010 . timeline . freebirds world burrito . retrieved january 7 2009 . a b parker julianna january 20 2008 . new restaurant gives norman the bird . the norman transcript . retrieved january 7 2009 . ruggless ron april 22 2010 . tavistock to buy fuddruckers koo koo roo parent from ch . 11 . nation s restaurant news . retrieved april 27 2010 . dead link faq . freebirds world burrito . retrieved january 6 2009 . levey kelli july 21 2002 . freebirds world burrito to expand in texas . the bryan college station eagle . retrieved january 7 2009 . nra show to feature eco friendly products . pizza marketplace . networld alliance . april 13 2007 . retrieved january 7 2009 . external links edit san francisco bay area portal texas portal california portal companies portal food portal official website v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title freebirds world burrito & oldid 737174700 categories fast casual restaurantsmexican restaurantsrestaurants in texasrestaurants established in 1987companies based in emeryville californiahidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from september 2010 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 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