, in 2011. This location has since closed. In 1963,
Dan Blocker, who played
Eric "Hoss" Cartwright on
Bonanza, started the Bonanza Steakhouse chain. The first Bonanza opened in
Westport, Connecticut.
Sam Wyly and his brother
Charles Wyly bought the small Bonanza restaurant chain three years later. The company grew to approximately 600 restaurants by 1989, when the Wylys sold it to Metromedia. In 1965, Dan Lasater, Norm Wiese and Charles Kleptz founded Ponderosa in
Kokomo, Indiana, moving the headquarters to
Dayton, Ohio, in 1971. Ponderosa began operating in Canada by 1971 and until 1986, when its focus moved to post-recession US, had nearly 150 locations across the country. After closing most Canadian Ponderosa restaurants, the company returned to generating US restaurant franchises in 1986, reversing a previous freeze on new US franchises in the move to Canada. At that time, 36 Canadian Ponderosa locations were acquired by General Mills Restaurant Group which converted them to
Red Lobster restaurants. In the meantime, Bonanza maintained a presence in Canada. The last Canadian location closed in November, 2010. In February 1988, Ponderosa was sold to
Metromedia Restaurant Group. In 1997, Ponderosa and Bonanza united under the Metromedia Family Steakhouses (MFS) organization to be marketed under the Ponderosa or Bonanza brands. MFS was one of founder
John Kluge's companies using the
Metromedia name. After its
S&A Restaurant Group division was forced into an involuntary
Chapter 7 liquidation by its lender,
GE Capital, in August 2008, and closed over 300 company-owned
Bennigan's and
Steak & Ale restaurants, the chain's parent company, Metromedia Steakhouses Company, filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008, although it planned to reorganize around franchise operations and a profitable core of company-operated restaurants. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 under the name "Homestyle Dining LLC". The chain engaged Trinity Capital LLC as its financial advisor in 2016 and was sold in late 2017 to
FAT Brands, the owner of
Fatburger, Buffalo's Cafe and Hurricane Grill & Wings. FAT Brands has approximately 300 locations open, with another 300 under development in 32 countries. In 1989, there were almost 700 Ponderosa locations. By 2003, there were fewer than 400 locations. As of December 2024, only 12 Ponderosa locations and three Bonanza locations remain open in the US. On January 26, 2026, parent company FAT Brands filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to shed billions of dollars in debt. The company listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion. ==See also==