Golden Corral locations

The company had a great start: it had 500 restaurants by 1987 and gross sales were over $1.53 billion, but most of those restaurants were franchised (about 120 out of 500 were company-owned).
Also, in 1987, the company decided to start franchising “restaurants in need” by licensing them. Although the idea seemed great, it failed due to a number of reasons and sales started to fall. Because of this, the company management sacrificed the capacity of most restaurants, but added salad bars to all locations. Also, the parking lots of some restaurants were decreased to make an addition to the building.  

One of the company’s biggest changes started in 1991, when the first “Metro Market” opened. They offered more space and thus more guest capacity, so new Golden Corrals locations were more than two times bigger. The company also added an expanded buffet, doubled the size of the Golden Choice Buffet, and changed its layout to showcase its items. Restaurants in Oklahoma, Texas, North Carolina and New Mexico were also changed – they moved from small towns to metropolitan areas. Soon, in 2001, the company’s annual sales exceeded $1 billion for the first time. In 2009, the company entered New England with a restaurant in Massachusetts.

Golden Corral activities:

• The company supported the Veterans Day Holiday since 2001 till 2007. During this period restaurants served over 2.5 million of free meals to retired and active duty military personnel, and raised more than 4.1 million for disabled veterans;
• Golden Corral sponsor Children’s Miracle Network and each store donates money to local children’s hospitals.

The company sponsored several NASCAR racing:

• At first, the company sponsored the Golden Corral 500, a spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway from 2004 till 2006;
• It was the main sponsor for the 2009 season of Wind Tunnel on Speed Channel;
• The company also sponsored Travis Kvapil during the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season;
• David Blaney was sponsored by Golden Corral in 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Actually, the company sponsored 2 drivers for Daytona 500 in 2011- D. Blaney (who received primary sponsorship) and Brian Keselowski (he received associate sponsorship).