Kona Grill

Kona Grill, Inc. is an upscale casual restaurant company based in Denver, Colorado serving American cuisine, sushi, and cocktails.^[4] The company owns and operates around 40 restaurants^[5] in 23 U.S. states, as well as three international locations operating under franchise agreements.^[6] In 2019, STK Parent company, One Hospitality Group purchased Kona Grill for $25 million.^[7]

Kona Grill Inc.

Kona Grill at Stamford Town Center, now closed
Company type	Subsidiary
Founded	1998; 27 years ago (1998)
Headquarters	Denver, Colorado
Number of locations	46[1] (2017)
Areas served	United States, Mexico, United Arab Emirates
Key people	Christi Hing (CEO)
Revenue	US$ 37.4 million (September 30, 2018)[2]
Net income	US$-22m[3] (2016)
Total assets	US$108m[3] (2016)
Parent	One Group Hospitality Inc.
Website	konagrill.com

History

Kona Grill first opened its doors on September 18, 1998, at the Scottsdale Fashion Square. The restaurant's predecessor was a sushi concept called Sushi on Shea that opened in Scottsdale in 1994. Restaurant founder, Michael McDermott, decided to create Kona Grill with more American-themed menu items. The new restaurant was made to have a modern ambiance. McDermott sold Sushi on Shea in 2002 to focus on expanding Kona Grill.^[8]

Kona Grill went public on August 16, 2005, with an initial public offering of $11 per share on the NASDAQ. The company raised $28.8 million and grew its restaurant base to 9 locations by December 31, 2005.^[9][10]

By 2014, Kona Grill had grown to 26 restaurants in 17 states. In 2014, it saw same-store sales growth in 14 out of its past 15 quarters with an increase of 6.2%, ranking the concept in the top quartile of the casual dining segment and marking it as one of the fastest growing restaurants that year.^[11][12]

In August 2017, Kona opened its first international franchise location at Fashion Drive in Monterrey, Mexico. It opened a location at Al Seef in Dubai, UAE that November, and a location in Vaughan, Canada in December 2017.^{[13][14][15][16][17]}

On March 4, 2019, Kona Grill Hired Piper Jaffray to seek a merger or the sale of Kona Grill^[2]

On April 30, 2019, Kona Grill filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Locations across the country including in Arizona, Texas, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Virginia closed the spring of 2019.^[18]

Corporate

On March 21, 2019, Shawn Hassel took a seat on the Board of Directors as Chair of the company's Strategic Alternatives Committee.^[19] On March 27, 2019, Kona Grill's Executive Chairman Berke Bakay resigned.^[19] A federal bankruptcy court has approved the sale of 24 Kona Grill polished-causal restaurants for $20.3 million to Williston Holding, reported by Restaurant Business on July 26, 2019.