Outback co-founder Bob Basham acquires Glory Days corporate locations
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 30, 2022

Veteran restaurateur Bob Basham has acquired Glory Days Inc., the corporate entity that owns Glory Days Grill locations in Virginia and Maryland.

Basham, a co-founder of Outback Steakhouse, has been the Florida franchisee for Glory Days since 2013. The acquisition brings the total of corporately owned Glory Days locations to 40; there’s also a franchisee in Richmond, Virginia, and a one-off unit in Raleigh, North Carolina. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Glory Days co-founders Robert Garner and Jeff Newman are retiring; the chain’s third co-founder, Richard Danker, is Basham’s brother and will run the combined company with him. It’s the first time, Basham said, he’s worked closely with family since he and Danker learned the restaurant business from their late older brother, George Danker.

Basham told the Tampa Bay Business Journal on Tuesday that he and Danker plan to expand the brand, though he doesn’t want to put a number of units on their growth plan. Glory Days’ current prototype is around 6,000 square feet in both stand-alone and in-line locations.

Initially, Basham said, he got involved with Glory Days when he and his partners were looking for a new brand for Lee Roy Selmon’s, all of which have since closed or been converted to Glory Days. Glory Days is a family-friendly sports bar and restaurant best known for its chicken wings.

“We like the brand and love the name,” Basham said. “I love the connotation of what it makes you think about.”

As a casual dining brand, Glory Days is part of a restaurant market segment that found itself challenged even before the Covid-19 pandemic delivered a death blow to countless restaurants. But some concepts, including Glory Days, are seeing a post-pandemic rebound.

“I’m bullish on casual dining,” Basham said. “I think people always want to go out and celebrate and have gatherings, and Glory Days allows them to do it in a family-friendly environment. But it’s date night friendly and also weekend sports-friendly, so we’ve got a lot of different segments covered.”