Yes, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar is an extremely dog-friendly establishment… but that's certainly
not the chain's only unique selling proposition. Rest assured, there's plenty of delicious food and
ingenious cocktails for people to enjoy. Here's absolutely everything you need to
know about this popular pooch-centric eatery. Here's some news your pooch can definitely get
behind: In the patio space of Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar, furry guests have their very own menu.
"We have an amazing menu for our pups. It's food for people that we serve to dogs."
The menu includes grilled chicken, brown rice, and grilled hamburger patties - and believe it or not,
all those treats are under $5. In late 2019, Lazy Dog also started a club for dogs called
Pepper's Pack, named after founder Chris Simms' own dog, Pepper. Members can purchase their
dog meals for only two dollars... and they're treated to Play Packs that include two dog toys,
two bags of treats, and one chew each quarter. That's really not a bad deal at all, is it?
The spring and fall menus at Lazy Dog are significantly different…
and the chain really likes to switch things up on the regular.
"This is our wintertime play on street corn."
"Look at the color, it just pops."
In the spring, cocktails feature everything from fresh peaches to elderflowers.
Crushed sweet peaches are also included in dishes like burrata with roasted beet salad.
Meanwhile, the spring menu brings a generous amount of in-season veggies to the table,
serving up some truly mouthwatering fare that you won't be able to find anywhere else.
In the fall, you can order some scrumptious butternut squash soup
and stuff yourself with lamb shank pot pie. So many delectable dishes to choose from!
According to The Orange County Register, Lazy Dog changes up its menu twice a year,
adding about 15 new items each time and introducing fabulous new dishes
all year long. What a great way to keep things interesting… and very delicious.
As you probably know, most chain restaurants don't prepare food from scratch, and that's
a crying shame. Well, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar takes pride in its nearly "100% scratch
kitchen." Heck, even the condiments are made inside the building.
Executive Chef Gabriel Caliendo is the talented man behind the menu,
and he conceptualizes each and every item you see on the menu.
"The creativity that I have here for food and beverage development is unbelievable."
The interior of every Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar was inspired by the Rocky Mountains.
Sean Montes, Lazy Dog's regional culinary director, told the Gwinnett Daily Post,
"A lot of the architecture in this building is
based on existing buildings in Jackson Hole, Wyoming."
Inside, there are fireplaces, ledge stone,
and chandeliers crafted with Aspen logs reminiscent of cozy mountain lodges.
"You're typically not surprised to see all the good food laying around at Lazy Dog."
Keeping in line with the theme, sculptures of horse heads and deer heads are made with
bits and pieces of metal, and they were all created by artist Terry Jones. Meanwhile,
you can and should expect the decor to feature a pronounced dog theme throughout the space.
Thirsty? Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar partners with select breweries to sell
exclusively crafted beers. What's more, in early 2019, they introduced a highly
convenient beer club that lets you take home a kit of eight craft beers sourced from four
different breweries... and each and every one of those beers was made for Lazy Dog.
While craft beer has always been a major focus for Lazy Dog, it sounds like the idea of starting a
beer club actually came much later. In his address at the 2019 TRA Marketplace, Lazy Dog founder
Chris Simms revealed one of the main reasons he decided to start the club, explaining that,
"With minimum wage increasing and the operating environment not getting any cheaper,
we needed a way to boost revenue within the box that we were building,
and so that was really the birthplace of our memberships."
As of January 2020, there were nearly 40 Lazy Dog restaurants spread across seven states:
Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, Texas, Virginia, and the company's
hometown of California. Although many restaurants operate on a franchise basis,
that's actually not the case for Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar.
In 2019, founder Chris Simms told Forbes,
"My feeling is our concept is too complicated for franchising. In order for us to deliver
that wow experience for our guests, we have to control it from soup to nuts."
"We try to bring home that, like, home-good food, you know,
the potroast, meatloaf, yet we bring some innovative flavor to it as well?"
In the first decade since it was founded in 2003, Lazy Dog grew to 12 restaurants
with the help of funds from friends and family. The very first restaurant cost $2
million to open, while each additional restaurant required about $4 million.
In 2013, Simms partnered with private equity firm Brentwood Associates. As he explained to Forbes,
"They're a majority owner. They add value,
but they let me run the company the way I want to run it."
Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar founder Chris Simms told KFI AM 640 that he's "a
fourth-generation restaurateur." It turns out that his great-grandfather was in the
restaurant business in Chicago. Meanwhile, his grandfather was involved in the coffee
shop business in Los Angeles. Last but not least, his dad founded the Mimi's Cafe chain.
After graduating from Cornell University's hospitality school,
Simms considered moving to New York for a job in finance, but he switched gears and started
focusing on the restaurant biz. Ultimately, he decided he wanted to start his very own
restaurant, but he needed to get some experience first… so he went to work for P.F. Chang's.
"This is P.F. Chang's. With authentic dishes, family meals, and shareable favorites."
During his experience managing the La Jolla, San Diego location of the chain,
he learned some key lessons in restaurant management. Speaking to KFI AM 640,
Simms recounted being offered a life-changing opportunity:
The chance to be the first operating partner in a new venture called Pei Wei in Scottsdale, Arizona.
When Simms told his dad that they were willing to trust him with the brand new concept,
his dad sagely replied,
"Chris, if they are willing to do that, why aren't you willing to take the chance?"
That's when Chris realized that he was ready to open his very own restaurant…
and the rest, as they say, is history.
Those who frequent Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar know that they get their pork belly from Beeler's farm.
And they know their delicious beans come from a company called Zürsun Idaho Heirloom Beans.
Those pretty flower petals that add a pop of color to the cocktails? Those are from Fresh
Origins. So how do customers know all this stuff? Well, Lazy Dog's seasonal menus make a point
to inform patrons of the farmers, growers, and ranchers that the chain regularly partners with.
When the 2019 spring menu was released on the restaurant's site, Lazy Dog announced that
"[We want to celebrate] the legacy of American agriculture."
And if you take a look, you'll see that the official site is filled with personal stories
from the farmers who source their fresh produce and meat. Some examples include
the tale of John Flochhini, who runs Durham Farms in Wyoming and provides the restaurant with bison.
"Why a bison ranch? What makes them so majestic?
You see them and you know. It's one of those things."
Then there's Catherine Harper, who manages Harper Feeders in Colorado
and provides Lazy Dog with lamb.
In 2019, Lazy Dog's creative director Rebecca Simms took her team on a journey across nine
states in 14 days and logged their journey every step of the way. During this exciting adventure,
they personally met with Lazy Dog's vendors to hear and share stories.
These initiatives no doubt satisfy millennials' desire for food transparency,
and millennials just so happen to be Lazy Dog's target market.
In 2014, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar released a special clean cocktail menu featuring drinks
that were less than 150 calories each. The choices included a concoction called Clean Mary… which, if
you haven't guessed, is their own super-fresh take on the Bloody Mary. According to Eat Drink OC,
"[It's made with] rain organic cucumber vodka, tomato juice,
hand muddled cucumber, fresh squeezed lemon juice, jalapeno and black sea salt rim."
Best of all? This tasty treat only packs 104 calories.
Meanwhile, the Spiked Matcha Green Tea is also available for your delectation,
and that comes in at only 124 calories. Regarding that refreshing beverage,
Executive Chef Gabe Caliendo told Eat Drink OC,
"All of the drinks on the menu are the result
of months of hard work and tinkering in the test kitchen
to ensure that each cocktail is as refreshing and craveable as all the Lazy Dog favorites."
For awhile, Lazy Dog was offering what they called the "Nutritious & Delicious" menu,
and every single item clocked in at less than 650 calories a piece… despite the fact that the menu
was rounded out by seemingly decadent dishes like the Thai Chicken Salad. For the record,
this delicious recipe only packed 440 calories, if you can believe it. Although the restaurant
has since phased out its lower-calorie offerings, you can still find the nutritional
information for all of their food and drink right there on the restaurant's website.
According to a 2019 survey by One Poll commissioned by Sweet Earth Foods, about 34
percent of millennials have cut down considerably on meat consumption. As the New York Post reports,
36 percent of millennials have shifted their focus to leafier options when it comes to their diet.
"They're kinda moving towards the plant-based side of things."
"Okay...good for them."
Oh, and speaking of "good," Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar founder Chris Simms revealed at the 2019
TRA Marketplace that the restaurant is also moving toward what he called "vegetable-centric entrees."
These days, Lazy Dog offers theoretically tasty vegan versions of some very
familiar non-vegetarian dishes. As Simms explained, the restaurant took the idea
of a conventional spaghetti and meatballs dish and replaced it with a fully vegan spaghetti,
made with spaghetti squash. The so-called "beet balls" are made
with roasted beets and a mix of brown rice and black beans. In a word? Yummers.
And somehow, it all gets even more delicious. The popular chicken tostada
was also given a creative twist as black bean jackfruit tostada. As you can see,
it looks and feels just like a meat patty, but it's nonetheless completely vegan. What's more,
the Nashville Hot Chicken has a new meatless cousin: This is the Nashville Hot Portobello,
which is made with a buttermilk-battered mushroom in place of chicken. We're so there.
The story so far: Chris Simms and his father Thomas Simms opened the first Lazy Dog Restaurant
& Bar in Huntington Beach, California in 2003. In an interview with KFI AM 640, Chris revealed that
it took $2 million to open the first restaurant. Armed with a shrewd business plan, he approached
all of his friends and family for funds, ultimately raising $25,000. Chris explained that,
"My dad was definitely a part of that and played
such an important role in supporting me as I was building this business."
Just as they opened their fourth and fifth restaurants, the Great Recession struck.
In the same interview, Chris recalled that they had already signed four leases
and needed a whopping $12 million in order to build the restaurants. As Chris puts it,
"The stock market has crashed [...]. Everybody sold out,
so now they've got all of this cash. We're the only investment they've
got that is actually still returning money and still taking care of them."
As a result, Chris was able to raise all $12 million,
recession be damned. That's pretty darn impressive.
As we mentioned, Chris Simms and his father opened their first restaurant in the early 2000s…
and originally, it was named Lazy Dog Café. That
name was subsequently changed to Lazy Dog Bar & Restaurant in 2012.
Simms came up with the "Lazy Dog" name while on a skiing trip in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
As the Los Angeles Times reports, he had just returned to his lodge
to find Mattie the family dog resting comfily in front of the fireplace.
Something clicked right then and there as he observed that black Labrador retriever.
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, he recalled thinking to himself:
"I wish there was a place where everyone could enjoy life as much as that lazy dog."
At the 2019 Texas Restaurant Association Marketplace,
Simms said people initially thought the restaurant was either a pet supply store or a hot dog joint.
Nevertheless, he felt the name was still a good fit for his restaurant.
Believe it or not, calling the restaurant Lazy Dog wasn't intended
to illustrate the fact that it's a very, very dog-friendly chain. According to Simms,
"[It was actually to appear] easy going and approachable."
We imagine that dogs absolutely love coming to this place…
and the food almost certainly beats the stuff they're served at home.
"They love Puppy Chuck Wagon's crunchy rings, meatlike morsels,
and a delicious gravy when you add warm water."
With its sophisticated menu, full bar, wide craft beer selection, and oversized windows
like in a rocky mountain lodge, Simms was also concerned that people would think it
was a very serious and stuffy family restaurant. Obviously, it's not serious or stuffy at all,
and neither is its clientele… Would you just look at that sweet little face!
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