Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar facts for kids

Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar

Type	Private
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	1975; 50 years ago (1975) in New Albany, Indiana
Founders	George R. Keller Linda Keller
Headquarters	Louisville, Kentucky , United States
Area served	Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio
Key people	Mathew Higgins (president and CEO)
Products	Steak, chicken, and seafood cooked in a Southwest Mesquite style
Revenue	$61 million (2006)
Net income	$60 million (2006)

Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar is a popular restaurant chain. It started in Louisville, Kentucky. The restaurants serve a mix of American and Mexican food. This style is often called Tex-Mex or Southwest cuisine. You can find many tasty dishes on their menu. These include burritos, chimichangas, and chili con queso. They also offer chicken and steak dishes.

History of Tumbleweed Restaurants

Tumbleweed Tex Mex Grill & Margarita Bar serves food inspired by the American Southwest. George R. Keller and his wife Linda opened the first Tumbleweed restaurant in 1975. It was in New Albany, Indiana, right across the Ohio River from Louisville. The first restaurant was called Tumbleweed Mexican Food. It was located near New Albany High School.

In 1978, Linda changed her parents' restaurant in Louisville into a Tumbleweed. This location became the main restaurant for the growing chain. By 1994, the restaurant chain was renamed Tumbleweed Southwest Grill & Bar.

Changes in Ownership

In 1995, the Kellers sold their business to a group of sixty local investors. The sale was for about $9.8 million. The company then became publicly owned. This helped Tumbleweed grow and open more restaurants. John Butorac Jr. became the new president of the company.

Later, in 2002, Terrance Smith, who was the CEO, tried to buy the company with two other investors. He resigned in 2007. Matthew Higgins then became the new president and CEO. His twin brother, Michael Higgins, became the Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Challenges and Growth

Tumbleweed faced some tough times and filed for bankruptcy in 2009. At that time, they had 37 restaurants. These included company-owned and franchised locations. They were in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. They also had one restaurant each in Germany and Kuwait.

The company successfully came out of bankruptcy the next year. However, they still faced challenges. In 2014, they had to close 8 of their 32 remaining locations. These were in the tri-state area. They had already closed all their overseas restaurants before this.

Restaurants in Illinois and Wisconsin closed in 2008. This happened after the local franchise owner went through bankruptcy. As of 2024, Tumbleweed operates 15 locations. These are in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. This includes both company-owned and franchise restaurants.

Tumbleweed's International Locations

Tumbleweed started to open restaurants overseas in 1999. By 2006, they had several international locations. One restaurant was on an American Army base in Vilseck, Germany. All of these international locations closed before 2014.

Sedona Grill Restaurants

In 2007, Tumbleweed Restaurants tried something new. They wanted to open a chain of more upscale restaurants. They called this new chain Sedona Grill. The first Sedona Grill opened in Lima, Ohio, in early 2007. The original plan was to open five locations that year. However, only one more location opened, also in Ohio. The company closed the Sedona Grill operations in early 2008 because they were losing money.