Miami Grill, formerly Miami Subs Grill, is an American privately held

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

, based in the US state of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The chain has approximately 30 locations, the majority of which are in

Miami-Dade Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous count ...

, Broward, and Palm Beach counties of Florida. The company's menu consists of such items as

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

, philly cheesesteak sandwiches, and Gyros along with items from Arthur Treacher's and

Nathan's Famous Nathan's Famous, Inc. is an American company that operates a chain of fast-food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brook ...

hot dogs, all of which operate co-branding agreements with Miami Grill, and which were corporate siblings of Miami Subs from 1999 to 2007.

History

Founding

The founder of the company, Gus Boulis, helped build the Mr. Submarine, now known as

Mr. Sub Mr. Sub (stylized MR.SUB), called Mr. Submarine before the 1990s, is a Canadian chain of over 200 submarine sandwich shops. The first store was opened in 1968 in Toronto's Yorkville, Toronto, Yorkville neighbourhood, which was then known for ...

, restaurant chain in Canada from a single location to over 200 locations, after which he retired to Florida. In 1980, he opened another restaurant in

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

called Mr. Submarine, which later expanded into Miami Subs Grill, offering a greater variety of food, all cooked to order.

Expansion

Miami Subs Grill built this concept and expanded rapidly in the '90s, starting in

and spreading quickly nationwide, with new restaurant locations, as well as stores in less typical locations, such as schools, highway

rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, Limited-access road, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names ...

s (particularly along

Florida's Turnpike Florida's Turnpike, designated as unsigned highway, unsigned State Road 91 (SR 91), is a controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of Florida, maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). Spanning approximate ...

) and airports. The restaurants featured a distinctive exterior design with

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a Neighborhoods of Miami Beach, Florida, neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south ...

-inspired pastels trimmed with pink and blue

neon light Neon Light or Neon Lights may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Neon lighting, a form of lighting Music Albums * ''Neon Lights'' (album), a 2001 album by Simple Minds EPs * ''Neon Lights'' (EP), a 2021 EP by Annie Songs * "Neon Light" (Blake Shelton son ...

s and interiors decorated in a tropical motif.

Co-branding agreement

A 1998 agreement added Arthur Treacher's

fish and chips Fish and chips is a hot dish consisting of batter (cooking), battered and fried fish, served with French fries, chips. Often considered the national dish of the United Kingdom, fish and chips originated in England in the 19th century. Today, ...

to the Miami Subs Grill concept. A planned merger between the two companies failed, however, when Arthur Treacher's stock value dropped precipitously.

Purchase and sale

In 1999,

purchased the chain for $14.4 million, bringing the Miami Subs Grill and Arthur Treacher's brands under a common corporate umbrella. The chain had approximately 175 outlets at acquisition. However, the chain struggled, due in part to instability in the management ranks, and in 2007, Nathan's Famous announced the sale of Miami Subs to a private investment group, Miami Subs Capital Partner 1 Inc, for $3.3 million.

International expansion and partnership

At the time of the sale, the chain operated in nearly 60 locations, including one in Turkey. 40 additional restaurants were planned in Turkey, but were never completed. Another location was under construction in Romania, where 20 restaurants were planned, but never completed either. On July 24, 2012, Miami Subs announced that an equity stake in the chain was purchased by Armando Cristian Pérez, known by his stage name, Pitbull. In February 2013, Miami Subs announced an agreement to develop new stores in the Middle East GCC countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. However, these stores never came to fruition.

Rebrand to Miami Grill

Starting in 2014, the company decided to change their branding strategy by gradually changing to a new branding concept called Miami Grill.

Future plans

In April 2020, Miami Grill announced plans to eliminate their dining rooms and install two drive-through lanes, a walk-up order window and a mobile order pick-up area to every location, which would accommodate the changing times as fewer people dine in at restaurants.Rob Hurtibise
"Miami Grill unveils 'next generation' concept"
''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', April 22, 2020

References

External links

Miami Grill official website

Miami Grill Franchise website
{{Coord, 26.4083, -80.1033, display=title Fast casual restaurants Fast-food franchises Restaurants in Florida Restaurants established in 1980 Submarine sandwich restaurants American companies established in 1980 1980 establishments in Florida