The story
Chuy's was founded by Mike Young and John Zapp, and the first Chuy's location opened in 1982 on Barton Springs Road in Austin, Texas.
On May 31, 2001, then President George W. Bush's twin daughters, Jenna Bush and Barbara Bush, were cited for using fake IDs at the Barton Springs Road Chuy's, which put Chuy's in the national spotlight.
In 2009, Chuy's opened its first restaurant outside of Texas, in Franklin, Tennessee. A second location outside of Texas opened in March 2010 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, followed that summer by locations in Birmingham, Alabama and Louisville, Kentucky.
On July 24, 2012, Chuy's went public with a $75.8 million dollar IPO. At that time they operated 36 locations in 7 states.
Cofounder Mike Young died on August 11, 2023, at the age of 74.
In July 2024, Darden Restaurants agreed to acquire Chuy's in an all-cash deal valued at $605 million. The acquisition was completed on October 11, 2024.
From Wikipedia’s article on Chuy's, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3