Bob Evans Restaurants - Company Operations

Company Operations

The company acquired Texas based Owens Country Sausage in 1987. The company branded its otherwise identical restaurants in Texas as Owens Restaurants due to trademark issues. By January 2006, all Owens restaurants were closed.

The company operated a Mexican-themed restaurant called Cantina del Rio in the mid-1990s, a move which Bob Evans called "a disaster."

The Evans family controlled daily operations of the company until 2000 when Dan Evans retired as CEO. After Dan's retirement, Stewart K. Owens (a former officer of the Owens Country Sausage company and later president of BOBE) assumed control of Bob Evans Farms Inc. as CEO. In 2001 he became Chairman of the Board. Company profits faltered under Owens' tenure. In August 2005, after corporate profits had dropped in eight of the previous nine quarters, Owens announced his resignation. Officially, the cause of Owens' departure was "personal reasons" but many analysts believed Owens' departure and Bob Evans disappointing results were more than a mere coincidence. After operating for several months under interim CEO Larry Corbin, the company hired Steven Davis, former president of Long John Silver's, as CEO in May 2006.

The Mimi's Cafe restaurant chain is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bob Evans Farms, Inc., with 144 locations throughout the US. They feature casual dining with a French and New Orleans' flair. Guests dine in one of several themed rooms, such as the Garden, Café, Bistro, Winery or Patio.

Arthur J. Simms (who headed the commissary at MGM Studios in the 1950s), his son Thomas Simms, Brian Taylor, and Paul Kurz opened the first Mimi's Cafe in December 1978 in Anaheim, California. Bob Evans Farms, Inc. purchased the Mimi's Cafe restaurant chain (operating under SWH Corporation) in July 2004 for USD$182 million.

On August 17, 2009, Bob Evans opened a prototype restaurant in Xenia, Ohio. This new restaurant has a more farm-like feel and resembles the Bob Evans farm.