26-Oct-17 – A company based in Nashville now owns all the Dick’s Last Resorts in the United States. Dallas entrepreneur Steven Schiff announced on Thursday he has sold the Dick’s at Marina City in Chicago to DLR Restaurants, itself under new ownership since last November.

“Chicago is a great market,” said Mark Buehler, CEO of DLR, which now owns all 13 of the casual dining restaurants. “It’s a great market for this brand. And the fact that we’ve been here for almost 30 years tells me we can be here for a long time.”

Known for its laid-back atmosphere and obnoxious servers, Dick’s started in Chicago in the River East neighborhood and in 2008 moved to its present location at Marina City. Later that year, a group of investors that included Nashville restauranteur Edwin (Ted) Moats, Jr., purchased six of the restaurants from Schiff – all but the one in Chicago – and moved DLR Restaurants from Dallas to Nashville. The company had an option to buy the remaining Chicago location but chose not to.

DLR went on to expand to 17 locations and last November, the company was purchased by investors led by Medley Capital Corporation of New York. DLR has since shed five locations, including the Dick’s Last Resort in San Diego.

(Left) Steven Schiff (left in photo) and Mark Buehler on the patio of Dick’s Last Resort on Thursday.

Schiff broke the news to employees on Thursday, assuring them “you won’t see much difference” under the new ownership.

“It’s good news that we’re turning it over to people who care about the cause,” said Schiff, “who care about the humor, who care about the food, and care about serving our guests.”

According to Schiff, Buehler “gets” the Dick’s Last Resort concept. The investment group that included Moats, he says, “were really nice guys and good restaurant managers but they didn’t get the humor of Dick’s Last Resort.”

Buehler says there would be no major changes to the Chicago location but DLR will expand into other large markets.

“We have to open restaurants and we are going to grow. We have to locate restaurants where our guests are. We can’t go to Cincinnati or Columbus, Ohio, or suburbia. We are a destination restaurant. We need lots of tourists. We need lots of conventioneers. We need lots of bachelorette parties. We need those large parties that are looking for that experience.”

Schiff says ownership was becoming more challenging. “These concepts need continuity. Owning one of them gets harder and harder the further you go in time, and Mark is a really good operator and I have a lot of faith in him, so it’s easy to sell to him.”

There are now Dick’s Last Resorts in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Gatlinburg (Tennessee), Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Myrtle Beach (South Carolina), Nashville, Panama City Beach (Florida), Pigeon Forge (Tennessee), and San Antonio.