Buffalo Ranch Restaurant, San Bernardino CA

Moderator: Groceteria

Post Reply
Dean
Veteran
Posts: 738
Joined: 11 Jan 2007 23:27

Buffalo Ranch Restaurant, San Bernardino CA

Post by Dean »

There is a vacant Buffalo Ranch Restaurant in San Bernardino CA. (970 "E" Street)

It has been vacant for ~15yrs. Yet, you can still see the Buffalo Ranch label scar.

I had heard that it had been a Sizzler, and that Sizzler tried a new prototype of sites...and it did not take off.

True?

Were there other Buffalo Ranch sites?

Can't find anything on the web related to this name.

thanks!
Last edited by Dean on 13 Nov 2008 21:37, edited 1 time in total.
Dean
Veteran
Posts: 738
Joined: 11 Jan 2007 23:27

Re: Buffalo Ranch Restaurant

Post by Dean »

Site was completely torn down over the past few days. Not sure if anything is in the works or not for the location.

What is funny tho...is the site is surrounded by a number of old/converted sites of former chains, all mainly mentioned on other threads:

next door is an old Burger King, currently Jose's Mexican Food. (GREAT food!)
next to Jose's...is a recently vacated Del Taco. Guess Jose's won the food fight! Site looks like an original Del Taco.
Across the street is vacant "plug" Circuit City.
Just north is an old Kids R Us...now a San Bernardino County Fire office.
Just above Kids R Us is an old SILO...currently an independent...using some of the SILO signage.
Then...an old Wendy's turned Juan Pollo Chicken.
Just south of the old Sizzler/Buffalo Ranch is an old Toys R Us...turned Swap Meet...now vacant.
Across the street from Toys R Us is an old RB Furniture...now independent furniture retailer.
All of these are in the shadows of the old Broadway, turned Macy*s, which was to be opened as Mervyn's last month. It is vacant...and I imagine will continue to do so.

So...this section of town is quite a bevy of has-beens...and fun to see all @ once!
javelin
Veteran
Posts: 143
Joined: 23 May 2006 16:28

Re: Buffalo Ranch Restaurant

Post by javelin »

Not to mention the Citibank building all boarded up. I would guess the restaurant was torn down for safety reasons, since it has been vacant for so long and would probably end up getting burned down. The whole area is going downhill and I wouldn't be surprised if Macy's pulls out of the mall next year.
User avatar
runchadrun
Veteran
Posts: 618
Joined: 27 Dec 2005 14:29
Location: Granada Hills (Los Angeles), CA
Contact:

Re: Buffalo Ranch Restaurant, San Bernardino CA

Post by runchadrun »

As I remember it, the RB Furniture was on Inland Center Drive between H and Adell, across from Sears.

Back to the original topic...

Buffalo Ranch was an upscale format from Sizzler and they started in 1993 with the plan to convert 100 (out of 722) Sizzler stores to the format. The first one opened in Mission Viejo and the second in Cathedral City.

This is from the LA Times article:
We're talking pure, flag-waving Western Americana with the restaurant's concept. This former Sizzler room has been completely redone into a dark, woody, high-ceilinged barn-like affair. The floor is strewn with hay, and there are actual woodpiles and saddles to sit on while you're waiting for your table. There are antler chandeliers and murals of running buffalo. An enormous buffalo head nailed up over the bar snorts mechanically and spurts steam like Old Faithful at odd intervals, giving unsuspecting customers a bizarre little jolt.
By the time Sizzler filed for bankruptcy in 1996 only 6 stores had been converted and all 6 were closed in the bankruptcy plan.
Jeff
Veteran
Posts: 940
Joined: 21 Nov 2005 21:44

Re: Buffalo Ranch Restaurant, San Bernardino CA

Post by Jeff »

I found a good article about them, and the fact a third existed in Cathedral City:

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. -- Sizzler International Inc., riding tall in the saddle while corralling overflow crowds at its 2-month-old Buffalo Ranch Steak-house prototype in Mission Viejo, Calif., has launched a second unit of the full-service conversion concept.

The week-old restaurant and bar, at a site near Palm Springs, Calif., was intended to bear the Sizzler brand but was switched to the higher-scale Buffalo Ranch format in midconstruction last November.

Executives had recognized that the Cathedral City unit operating as a Sizzler would pose a competitive threat to nearby outlets of the company's 722-unit flagship chain.

"In developing Cathedral City, we would have cannibalized sales at two Sizzlers, one by 20 percent and one by 15 percent," explained Dick Bermingham, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based company.

"Right now we couldn't [afford to] do that," he added, referring to the system-wide 13-percent drop in both comparable-store sales and customer traffic during the quarter ended last October. That decline caused a 73-percent dip in net income for the period, to $1.5 million.

Blaming eroded same-store sales on "cannibalization" among competing Sizzler units in overdeveloped areas -- especially in the chain's recession-stung Southern California home market -- the company proposed a slate of full-service conversions last August. At the time a $21.2 million reserve was created to cover the closures and makeovers of some 15 to 20 restaurants.

Bermingham -- whose inspiration for Buffalo Ranch was the fast-growing Tampa, Fla.-based Outback Steakhouse chain -- said Sizzler intends to have a test-phase total of five Buffalo Ranch units operating at converted Sizzler locations by spring.

Although site selection for the remaining three has not been finalized, all will be in Southern California with the possible exception of the Nevada branch, he said. Per-unit conversion costs are estimated to run about $300,000.

Subsequent conversions initially would target Sizzler units in California, Arizona and Nevada.

Patterned after an actual Montana buffalo ranch, the restaurant's decor includes river stone fireplaces, hurricane-globed chandeliers, murals of thundering buffalo herds and a buffalo-head trophy that periodically snorts smoke as its eyes glow red.

While plying guests with large portions of smoked prime rib, steaks, poultry, trout and other specialties, servers occasionally croon to favorite tunes from a selection of piped-in-cowboy music.

"We'd like to do thousands of [Buffalo Ranch Steakhouses]," said Marty Ewart, director of operations for the company's new full-service division. First, however, Sizzler will be monitoring the five conversions to determine how effectively they relieve crowding on remaining Sizzlers and attract customers of a different demographic profile.

"We're watching [Buffalo Ranch] day by day, and so far we've been very fortunate," Ewart said, declining to give any specifics about guest counts or sales tallied by the 40-table, dinner-only prototype, which has about 190 seats, including 20 in the bar.

Rozlyn Smith, a Sizzler International construction executive, said additions of table drop leaves and other furniture modifications were made several times before opening the Cathedral City branch to boost its seating capacity in anticipation of dinner crowds similar to those drawn to the Buffalo Ranch unit in Mission Viejo.

"People there have been waiting longer than we like," she said.

Told that they may have to wait half an hour to an hour for a table, some customers have had to wait up one and a half hours before being seated on weekend evenings.

Joking evasively about annual per-unit sales projections for the rustic steak-house concept, Bermingham said he expects each to do $25 million. When asked if he meant $2.5 million, he said that figure could be accurate "if we stay with dinner only." A decision whether to expand service to include lunch will be made shortly, he added.

Buffalo Ranch's menu specialties include three different-sized cuts of smoked prime rib with "tumbleweed" onion strings, $11.95-$17.95; a thick-cut 12-ounce top sirloin steak, $11.95; roasted free-range duck with raspberry glaze, $10.95; "Winchester" chicken breasts smothered in peppers, onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese served on steamed spinach, $9.95; "ranch fresh" trout grilled with herb butter, $9.95; and a 22-ounce "ranch house" porter-house steak, which at $18.50 is the menu's big-ticket item.

Per-person checks are expected to average $14 to $18.

Dinners come with a "hay-stack" caesar salad, baked garlic baguette and the choice of a 1-pound baked potato, yams, crispy fries, roasted red potatoes or fresh vegetables.

Buffalo Ranch's namesake menu item appears only in daily special appetizer items, such as buffalo chili, and in the regularly featured "buffalo bounty" appetizer of spicy buffalo and melted Cheddar with pico de gallo salsa and tortilla chips, $3.95.
Other appetizers are the "wild west" vension chili, $3.95; beer-steamed peel-and-eat shrimp, $5.25; and Whopping Buffalo Wings, spicy fried turkey wings with ranch dressing, $4.95.

Pasta items are a "smoke-house" chicken fettuccine, with pesto, Parmesan and toasted almonds, $9.50, and "Red River" shrimp linguine with marinara sauce, $10.95.

In addition to specialty cocktails, a small and moderately priced selection of wines and 25 imported, domestic and microbrewery beers, Buffalo Ranch features the highest-priced beverage item ever offered by a Sizzler-owned restaurant -- the $100 "Diamond Lil" combination of a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne and a plate of Whopping Buffalo Wings.
Dean
Veteran
Posts: 738
Joined: 11 Jan 2007 23:27

Re: Buffalo Ranch Restaurant, San Bernardino CA

Post by Dean »

Drove by what I believe was the Cathedral City site. It looks similar to the former San Bernardino location.

31875 Date Palm, Cathedral City

The site is vacant. There are tarps over what appears to have been Sizzler signage.

There is a NEW liquor license on the door, dated 12/7/10.

So the site turned into Sizzler, closed, and appears to reopening as Sizzler, again.
Dean
Veteran
Posts: 738
Joined: 11 Jan 2007 23:27

Re: Buffalo Ranch Restaurant, San Bernardino CA

Post by Dean »

Dean wrote:Drove by what I believe was the Cathedral City site. It looks similar to the former San Bernardino location.

31875 Date Palm, Cathedral City

The site is vacant. There are tarps over what appears to have been Sizzler signage.

There is a NEW liquor license on the door, dated 12/7/10.

So the site turned into Sizzler, closed, and appears to reopening as Sizzler, again.
Yes, is reopening:

http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a ... 1103030306
Post Reply