Johnny Rockets acquired by private equity firm

By Jim Puzzanghera
Times Staff Writer

12:50 PM PST, February 9, 2007

WASHINGTON — Johnny Rockets, the chain of '50s-themed diners founded on L.A.'s Melrose Avenue, appears ready to blast off after being acquired today by a private equity firm headed by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.

Snyder, who also is chairman of theme park operator Six Flags, plans to rapidly expand the privately held 202-restaurant chain, based in Lake Forest.

"There's no reason we shouldn't see 1,000 Johnny Rockets locations within the next five years," Snyder said in a statement.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Johnny Rockets was started by Ronn Teitelbaum, who after a successful career selling high-end men's clothing decided to re-create the malt shops of his youth.

He opened his first retro-diner on Melrose Avenue in 1986, offering hamburgers, milkshakes, cherry Cokes and apple pie. When certain songs came on the jukebox, waiters and waitresses stopped serving and started dancing.

Within a year, he had opened diners in Westwood, Sherman Oaks and Beverly Hills. Teitelbaum sold the chain in 1995 and died in 2000.

Johnny Rockets now has locations in 29 states, plus Puerto Rico, seven other countries and on seven Royal Caribbean cruise ships. Snyder's company, RedZone Capital, said the chain has been expanding at more than 20% a year.

"We've been growing steadily and are ready to take the next step to true national and international expansion," Johnny Rockets' chief executive Mike Shumsky said in a statement. "RedZone is enabling that next step."