chain . for the food see round steak and ground beef . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message ground round grill & bar type casual dining restaurant industry restaurants founded october 25 1969 headquarters freeport maine u.s. website www.groundround.com ground round grill & bar an american casual dining restaurant was founded in 1969 by howard johnson s. 1 as of january 17 2010 ground round is owned by independent owners cooperative llc a group of 30 franchisee owners based in freeport maine . currently ground round has 30 locations in 13 states . ground round was well known in the 1970s and 1980s for its children s parties showing old time silent movies and cartoons on a big screen a mascot named bingo the clown and for passing out whole peanuts where diners were not discouraged from throwing the shells on the floor which became one of the ground round s more endearing qualities that attracted families with small children ; they also often gave diners popcorn with their dinner rather than bread . the newest incarnation of ground round doesn t support such behavior and markets to the adult dining and cocktails crowd although families are still welcome a mascot called the ground round hound an anthropomorphic hound dog appears on the kids menu . in february 2004 the franchisor for ground round filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy ; in the process all 59 corporate owned restaurants almost half of the ground rounds then open abruptly closed their doors . 2 a group of franchisees joined together in order to buy out the parent company at the time ground round inc. and started the ground round independent owners cooperative llc gr ioc . references edit http books.google.com books id vsu6aaaaiaaj & q % 22howard johnsons % 22 % 22ground round % 22 & dq % 22howard johnsons % 22 % 22ground round % 22 & hl en & sa x & ei girjub ngnhv0ghayifg & ved 0cdsq6aewaw the ground round rebound fortune small business february 1 2005 external links edit official website this us based restaurant or restaurant chain article is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ground round & oldid 743163244 categories companies based in mainerestaurants in maineeconomy of the midwestern united stateseconomy of the northeastern united statesregional restaurant chains in the united statesrestaurants established in 1969restaurant franchises1969 establishments in maineunited states restaurant stubshidden categories articles needing additional references from october 2016all articles needing additional referencesofficial website different in wikidata and wikipediaall stub articles 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 edit links this page was last modified on 8 october 2016 at 07 13 . 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