A couple of weeks ago we covered the "resurrection" of the once-and-future Back Yard Burgers at 301 N. Shackleford Road in west Little Rock, which between the corporate pull-out and subsequent Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2012 had become a Church's Fried Chicken outlet.
Built in the mid-'90s, it was the first Arkansas outlet for the Nashville, Tenn.-based chain; now operated by father-son franchisees Josh and Gifford Powell, it is the first re-entry into the central Arkansas market since David McDougall took over the company as chief executive officer in January 2013, just before it emerged from bankruptcy after restructuring debt and reducing operating expenses.
Back Yard Burgers Inc. had actually announced a couple of days before it declared bankruptcy that it had closed its eight company-owned stores in Arkansas -- four in Little Rock, one in North Little Rock, two in Jonesboro and one in Conway -- and three company stores in Tennessee, allegedly because they were underperforming. The Powells' franchised restaurants in Bryant and Benton and franchise operations in Hot Springs, Fayetteville and Rogers remained open. (The two Northwest Arkansas locations have since closed.)
"They left a couple of franchisees there, including Josh and Gifford Powell," McDougall says, "and I give them tremendous credit for bearing with us and sticking with us." The Powells had previously reopened another former Back Yard Burgers outlet at 2229 S. Caraway Road in Jonesboro.
As for the Shackleford Road rebirth, McDougall says, "I was out there two months ago, and I wasn't familiar with where our restaurants used to be in the Little Rock market. And Josh told me, 'This used to be a Back Yard Burger. Another concept took it over and renovated it, cleaned it up real nice, and now the owner wants to go do something else, and I can get in it.' And I said, 'Yeah, this looks like a pretty good idea.'"
"We've been in the burger business since '74," says father franchisee Gifford Powell. "I was with Wendy's for 18 years, two months and nine days," rising to the rank of regional vice president. He started his relationship with Back Yard Burgers as a customer, and "I came on board with [them] in '96 because they had a better burger."
When the corporation pulled out of Little Rock in 2012, "that really hurt our business," Powell says in an aggrieved tone. "My son and I were equity managers; we owned a portion of the Little Rock market," and he suggests then-corporate bigwigs reneged on an agreement when they tried to buy out the rest of the stores corporate was closing.
Their franchise outlets at 2810 N. Reynolds Road, Bryant, and 1420 Military Road, Benton, survived; the latter is still open, the former they recently closed -- "We sold that one to Popeye's," he says. "We're trying to get back into Bryant but we haven't found a place we could afford or that Back Yard Burgers approves. We have very loyal customers in Bryant. We will get back there."
The Powells meanwhile are glad to be back in the kiosk in the Westchase Plaza Shopping Center, where Shackleford Road meets West Markham Street, and where Back Yard Burgers made its Arkansas debut. "This is a double-drive-through with patio, and that's the original concept," Powell says. The menu has brought back most of the favorites from Back Yard Burgers, including the veggie burger, with a new turkey burger alongside it.
The same owner bought that kiosk and the similar one at 2511 McCain Blvd., North Little Rock, the only two properties Back Yard Burgers owned, after the corporate collapse, which she in turn leased to Church's. The others, at 824 Broadway, which is still vacant, and 4500 W. Markham St., across from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which became the first Little Rock outlet for Fayetteville-based Slim Chickens, were leased, Powell explains. When the Church's folks on Shackleford "couldn't make a go of it," he says, "she called Josh."
In addition to their search for a new Bryant location, the Powells are working on a second Little Rock spot -- "I can't disclose the location," Powell says, "but we're hoping in six months to have another one going." It could be the long-vacant kiosk on Broadway; Josh Powell, his father says, has been negotiating with the property owners, but apparently there are some thorny legal issues at stake.
Meanwhile, McDougall says, the corporation is working on both reopening in previous spots -- they've done something similar in Gulfport, Miss. -- and opening new locations.
"Clearly at this point it's more opportunistic; many locations that had formerly been Back Yard Burgers have been repurposed, but should there be a location that comes up that we have an interest in, we'll certainly look at it," he says. "Along with new store development, that's our priority for 2016."
Weekend on 12/31/2015