Mooyah (stylized as MOOYAH) is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

. The chain reached over 100 locations in 20 U.S. states and nine countries in 2016 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. They specialize in

hamburger A hamburger (or simply a burger) consists of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis ...

french fries French fries, or simply fries, also known as chips, and finger chips (Indian English), are '' batonnet'' or '' julienne''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and f ...

, and shakes. They are known for their beef hamburgers which use Angus beef and their French-fries.

History

Mooyah was founded by American veterans Rich Hicks and Todd Istre in 2007 in Plano. In 2013, the first international restaurant opened in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

and was the 50th location opened. In 2016, its 100th location opened in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

. In May 2017, MOOYAH was sold to private equity firms Gala Capital Partners LLC and Balmoral Funds LLC for an undisclosed amount.

Awards and recognition

MOOYAH was ranked on Fast Casual's Top Movers and Shakers list for eight consecutive years since 2009 and is ranked 2nd in Best Fast Casual Restaurant Franchise Company on Franchiserankings.com, a website that ranks franchises by their success. In 2017, Mooyah was named to

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

’s Franchise 500 list, 60th in Best Franchises Company USA, and

Franchise Times ''Franchise Times'' is an American business publication covering franchising in the United States. The magazines has reports on franchising trends and legal issues, franchisor and franchisee success stories, family business matters, and intervie ...

Fast & Serious list that ranks the smartest-growing brands.

References

{{Fast-food chains of the United States 2007 establishments in Texas 2017 mergers and acquisitions Fast casual restaurants Fast-food chains of the United States Fast-food hamburger restaurants Fast-food franchises Restaurants established in 2007 Companies based in Plano, Texas

History

Awards and recognition

See also

References