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RoyGBiv wrote:

ELB wrote:There were few restaurants built in the beginning, nearly all of which closed within a few months for failure to pay rent, taxes, etc, and a lot more promised that never even started construction. There is only one restaurant still in existence, in Massachusetts. (Apparently there is at least one other unrelated company that also uses the "I Love This Bar" theme, with a few restaurants).

I believe the one inside Winstar Casino is still going...
https://www.winstarworldcasino.com/toby ... and-grill/

Prices are out of my range for burgers and such, so, I've never eaten there.

Oklahoma's three Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill locations, including a restaurant in Bricktown, are operated by Norman-based Hal Smith Restaurant Group and have no affiliation with Boomtown Entertainment.

Hal Smith Restaurant Group also operates Toby Keith's Love This Bar & Grill locations at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville and the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Catoosa.

http://newsok.com/article/5432521

The one in Massachusetts is (AFAIK) the only one started by Boomtown that is still open. Out of something like 40 deals.

suthdj wrote:There was a story in the Dallas news about his places it seems they (Boomtown) have many law suits in other states against them, anyway Toby says he is a hands off the reastraunts. My guess is they pay him for the use of his name and some face time. Any way you look at it it is all about money. I doubt he the songs he sings reflect his beliefs, more like they reflect his desire to make money.

A little update:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/loc ... 748957001/

The link is to the first of a three part series on Frank Capri, "nee" Frank Gioia Jr., a mobster from NYC. He got caught, turned state's witness, got five years with time served and placement for him and his family in the WitSec program.

The feds reincarnated him as Frank Capri, a real estate developer in Phoenix AZ. One of his developments as a chain of restaurants called "Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill" via the Boomtown development corporation, which paid Toby Keith for the use of his name, the song title, and the album title. Keith had no ownership interest.

The development plan was to sell as many restaurant developments as possible as fast as possible, take money from the investors (many/most mall owners who wanted longterm leases), pocket the money, and let the restaurant deals collapse. It worked amazingly well.

There were few restaurants built in the beginning, nearly all of which closed within a few months for failure to pay rent, taxes, etc, and a lot more promised that never even started construction. There is only one restaurant still in existence, in Massachusetts. (Apparently there is at least one other unrelated company that also uses the "I Love This Bar" theme, with a few restaurants).

There are at least 48 lawsuits ongoing, with $65M in judgments so far. From the linked articles, appears Frank Capri is still running around loose.