O'Charley's inks deal with Logan's

Nation's Restaurant News, June 15, 1992

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - O'Charley's Inc. has signed a letter of intent to form a partnership to purchase a Logan's Roadhouse Restaurant and to develop five additional units.

Under the term of the agreement, O'Charley's will own 20 percent of the Logan's partnership. The remaining 80 percent will be in the hands of a group of investors, including David K. Wachtel, president of O'Charley's; Charles F. McWhorter, O'Charley's senior vice president and chief operating officer; Edwin W. Moats; and David Toole, director of operations for Logan's.

The agreement calls for the opening of a minimum of five additional Logan's Roadhouse Restaurants over the next five years. For two years of that time, O'Charley's, the Nashville-based dinner-house chain operator, will have the option of purchasing the group's 80-percent interest at 75 percent of its fair-market value at the time of exercise.

O'Charley's will own the real estate and, for a fee, will assist the partnership in obtaining financing for the equipment and start-up funds for the first five restaurants.

Moats will serve as chief executive officer of the company, and Toole, who developed the original Logan's in Lexington, Ky., last August, will serve as chief operating officer.

Logan's is a casual, honky-tonk roadside concept noted for unexceptional decor but thigh food quality.