''Coco's Bakery'' is a subsidiary chain of Shari's Cafe & Pies and

casual dining Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the USA, while categ ...

restaurants operating in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. , the chain operates 16 restaurants in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. It began as The Snack Shop in 1948 in

Corona del Mar, California Corona del Mar ( Spanish for "Crown of the Sea") is a seaside neighborhood in the city of Newport Beach, California. It generally consists of all the land on the seaward face of the San Joaquin Hills south of Avocado Avenue to the city limits, ...

, and had switched owners multiple times. USMC-100416-M-3215R-001

History

In 1948, ''The Snack Shop'' along the Pacific Coast Highway in

, was purchased by John and Audrey McIntosh. John and Audrey decided to purchase the restaurant after he had worked there for two weeks. In partnership with his brother-in-law Bill McIntyre, they grew the Snack Shop concept to many more units and then in 1960 expanded the business into Reuben's in Newport Beach. Then in 1965 they expanded the Snack Shop concept to Coco's and the Reuben E. Lee, ultimately converting all Snack Shops to Coco's. As the name implies, the

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers wh ...

-restaurants feature

pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...

s. After the conversion of the Snack Shops to Coco's locations, as well the newly expanded Reuben's steakhouse franchise that were co-located on Coco's properties, the entire operation was sold to W. R. Grace and Company, a New York chemical conglomerate, as part of its Restaurant Services Division. During this period of Grace ownership, Grace also added local Mexican restaurant chain El Torito, Carrows and many others. After years of poor performance, W. R. Grace spun off 145 restaurant locations in a leveraged buyout to Restaurant Enterprises Group, a company composed of Grace managers. In 2002, Coco's, along with its sister chain Carrows, was purchased by Catalina Restaurant Group, headquartered in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...

. In 2006, Catalina Restaurant Group was bought by Japanese company

Zensho Co., Ltd. is a Japanese holding company which owns several restaurant chains in Japan. The largest is Sukiya serving gyūdon, rice bowls with beef. Restaurant chains The brands owned or licensed by Zensho include: Gyūdon: * Sukiya * Nakau Family ...

, which has operated Coco's Japan for many years. In 2015

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

-based Food Management Partners acquired

-based Catalina Restaurant Group Inc., parent of the Coco's and Carrows concepts, from

See also :ja:ココスジャパン (Coco's Japan Co., Ltd). In September 2018, it was announced that Shari's Cafe & Pies had taken over Carrows and Coco's.

Competition

, Coco's Bakery Restaurant and sister chain Carrows compete with other local casual restaurants with an in-store bakery (or a sales counter), such as Hof's Hut, Polly's Pies and

Marie Callender's Marie Callender's is an American restaurant chain. Its headquarters are in the Marie Callender's Corporate Support Center in Mission Viejo, Orange County, California. As of May 2022, the company has 25 restaurant locations in California, Nevada, ...

restaurants.

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.cocosbakery.com/ Companies based in Carlsbad, California Economy of the Southwestern United States Regional restaurant chains in the United States Fast-food chains of the United States Bakeries of the United States Restaurants established in 1948 Bakery cafés Restaurant franchises Restaurants in San Diego County, California 1948 establishments in California Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001