BEEF O’BRADY’S Franchise Complaints
Beef O’Brady’s franchise opportunity seems like an attractive opportunity.
It has an impressive management team.
It has an appealing menu and a solid concept: American bar food served in a family-oriented, sports-themed atmosphere.
And the community marketing approach explained on its website is sound:
“At the heart of every Beef O’ Brady’s® franchise is a commitment to the community, a commitment that sets our franchise apart from other models…
“Each franchisee works with adult and youth athletics, local schools, and community organizations to create a sense of community.
“When you own and operate your own Beef’s®, you are able to build your business while contributing to the betterment of the community through school sponsorships, charity involvement, and sporting events.”
[Graphic: Beef O’Brady’s Vision is 100% Franchisee Success, yet their SBA loan failure rate is 52%. Graphic source: Beef O’Brady’s website]
Why is it that Beef O’Brady’s has such a high SBA loan failure rate?
According to data released by the Small Business Administration (SBA), Beef ‘O’ Brady’s franchise owners who qualified for SBA-backed franchise loans have a loan failure rate of 52%.
That qualifies Beef ‘O’ Brady’s for inclusion in UnhappyFranchisee.com’s list of WORST FRANCHISES IN AMERICA (by SBA loan defaults)
Are you familiar with the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s franchise opportunity? If so, please share your experience, opinions or insights with a comment below.
If you are a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s franchise representative or employee, please leave a comment or email us at UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com.
Beef O’Brady’s franchise owners have a 52% SBA loan default rate.
The inability to repay an SBA-backed loan (or any franchise loan, for that matter) indicates a serious situation for the franchisee.
It’s especially serious with a franchise investment as high as Beef O’Brady’s: between $164,500 to $662,500, according to their website.
It’s likely that Beef O’Brady’s franchise owners who received SBA loans may have collateralized their franchise loan with their homes or other personal assets, and many were unable to repay those franchise loans… despite the serious incentive to do so.
Beef O’Brady’s
| SBA loans granted since 2001: | 119 |
| SBA loan failure rate: | 52% |
| Sources: Coleman report (SBA) |
109 Beef O’Brady’s Restaurants ceased operation (34%) between 2009-2011
The relatively high franchise closure rate of Beef O’Brady’s seems to be a franchise red flag.
| Beef O’Brady’s Franchises 2009-2011 | |
| Franchises open January 2009: | 264 |
| Franchises added 2009-2011: | 52 |
| Franchises ceased operation 2009-2011 | 109 |
| Franchises ceased operation (%) | 34% |
| Sources: Beef O’Brady’s 2012 Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDDs) |
According to the 2012 FDD, Beef O’Brady’s started 2009 with 264 franchises open and ended 2011 with 207… a net loss of 57 locations.
However, when you figure that Beef O’Brady’s opened 52 new franchises during that period, it’s apparent that the number of Beef O’Brady’s franchises that ceased operation is 109, or 34% of the franchises open.
Beef O’Brady’s Franchises 2009 – 2011 (Source: Beef O’Brady’s 2012 FDD)
| Year | Outlets at start of the year/period | Outlets added | Ceased Operation | Outlets at end of the year | |
| 2009 | 264 | 26 | 43 | 247 | |
| 2010 | 247 | 14 | 43 | 218 | |
| 2011 | 218 | 12 | 23 | 207 | |
| 2009 -2011 | 264 | 52 | 109 | 207 |
What do you think of the Beef O’Brady’s franchise?
Are you familiar with the Beef O’Brady’s franchise opportunity?
What do you think accounts for the high SBA loan failure rate of Beef O’Brady’s franchise owners?
What steps should Beef O’Brady’s be taking to stop further franchise failures?
Has Beef O’Brady’s taken serious action to address the problems that led to these loan failures?
Please share a comment (anonymous is fine) or Contact UnhappyFranchisee.com.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE BEEF O’BRADY’S FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY?
ARE YOU A CURRENT OR FORMER BEEF O’BRADY’S FRANCHISE OWNER?
PLEASE SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
Corporate responses, clarifications or rebuttals welcome:
Recently visited the Beef O Brady’s in Peru Indiana and let me just tell you I would never suggest that place to anyone!!! We waited over an hour for our food which was nothing more than wings and wraps! The food was gross and thee service was HORRIBLE!! Every table around us had to ask for silverware because we didn’t have any! We asked to speak to manager and some lady after and hour or so came out with our food gave it to us asked us if we ended anything else was so unprofessional we just thought she was a bartender and at the very end she said did you want to speak to manager we said yes and she said we’ll I’m the manger what do you need!!! What a unprofessional joke!!! Then when we asked for our receipts they got them mixed up took a half hour to bring them to us!!! That was my first and last time I’ll ever visit that joke of a restaurant
Fathers Day 2015 at Beef O’Brady’s 101 Canoy Ln Columbia SC
Today we drove over 60 miles for father’s day and was told over the phone that fathers get the meal free up to the price of the highest meal. but what was not told over the phone was you need to have a coupon or email stating that if you are to get the father’s day meal.
Also when we asked the woman that came to the table was a little rude when asked. also we had 8 people with us and two ordered burgers with the floppy fries and they were burnt and hard and when we asked the waiter he brought some that were a little less burnt and still hard and only enough for one person. when asked twice if they were for both plates he said yes that’s it.
Now my father in law had a cheeseburger with American cheese and when it came to the table it had no cheese on it. When asked the waiter brought the woman over and she said there would be a charge for cheese when he ordered A CHEESEBURGER in the first place.
Overall we had a miserable experience. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.
I think with any restaurant you will have positive and negative comments. I personally have had a good meal with good service at beefs but it’s hard to always provide perfect service in the restaurant business. I think Americans in general are hard to please and expect perfection or they are unhappy. You are occasionally going to have bad service despite how hard you try to please people. People are generally unintelligent and lack basic appreciation for anything .
I had a drink and a burger at Beef’s the other day and I must say I was really disappointed with the whole ordeal! They gave me enough fries for a kid when I asked if that’s all I get they say I could pay for more but that’s what comes with that order. I was like wow really ok fine fry shortage. Then I bite into the burger I guess this is there signature taste not very good. But fine to each is on but that’s not the reason I am posting I listen to the bar owner and her husband with other customers were talking about there customers I was like wow. I could hear everything I thought if I where not sitting here would they be talking about me? This went on for a while the icing on the cake was the racist things one of the other customers said and they just laughed so I took it as wow a bunch of racist. I paid my tab and left I will never be going there again and I have definitely told all my friends about that and they agree we will never spend another dime with them again. RACIST owners and customers if that’s how they feel it should be a private club where people who think alike can go. This is supposed to be a family place uh no not anymore I can only guess what goes on every day there.
NO THANK YOU
Was in the okahumoka beefs since when do y’all close at 8:24 bartender yelled chairs up I own a beefs thought to myself no wonder the beefs franchise is so uncusufell each an everyone so what they want go to Bushnell get a steak go to crystalriver get boiled shrimp real nice franchise an y’all wonder why wake up y’all suck an i will never admit I own part of y’all what a disappointment
Went to restaurant in San Carlos Park Plaza…twice in the last month….same waitress…. Alkvtbe orders were wrong…long time to get food….only 3 tables in the rest. Both times…..had to ask for refills….food was terrible…waitress was hanging on some guy at the bar while we were trying to get drinks….will never go again and will inform friends if event
I went to the Beef O’Brady’s in Amarillo, TX today for the first time and it will be the last time. I was the only person at the bar and there were two other people at the restaurant and there were a number of other tables that were dirty and nobody bothered to clean them up. The bartender, who said he was also the manager, looked dirty, was not friendly, and when I asked him a question about sauces for the wings, he threw me a menu and said it was in the menu. He acted rude when I said I was going to complain to the manager. He told me he was the manager. To make a long story short, the restaurant is not going to make it in Amarillo. You sell the same thing everybody else does but they have much better service. We have restaurants everywhere and this one doesn’t stand out at all. There are much better restaurants than this.
My wife and I went to Beef O’Brady’s in North Lakeland last Thursday in hopes of getting the Thursday Fajita’s special for $9.99 as advertised on TV. Once we got there. We were told that the Thursday Night Fajita’s special is $11.99. We ended up ordering something else instead. While waiting, I pulled up the ad I saw and showed it to the waitress. She said that the advertised special is at participating restaurants only. That all Beef O’Bray’s are independently owned and it is up to the owner as to whether they participate or not. I felt this is wrong for a franchise to do that. I researched while waiting for my meal. After looking at approximately a dozen other Beef O’Brady’s, I only found one that had the advertised price in the area That was Zephyrhills approximately 35 miles away. The wait time was more than 30 minutes for our meals to arrive. Overall it was a poor experience and we won’t be back. My wife ended up fixing Fajita’s for dinner at home.