Piccadilly timeline

The following is a timeline of significant events for Piccadilly Cafeterias.

1944: Founder T.H. Hamilton acquires a Piccadilly Cafeteria and Coffee Shop in downtown Baton Rouge.

1965: The business is incorporated in Louisiana as Piccadilly Cafeterias Inc.

1971: The company hits its original growth target of 40 restaurants.

1979: The company goes public with a stock offering.

1988: The company buys the Ralph & Kacoo’s chain of six seafood restaurants for $38.1 million.

1998: Piccadilly buys Morrison Restaurants Inc. for $46 million, doubling the chain to about 270 restaurants.

1999: The company finalizes a deal to sell its seven Ralph & Kacoo’s seafood restaurants for $21 million.

2003: The company files for Chapter 11 reorganization. Having battled slumping sales for years, the chain has about 175 restaurants.

2004: Piccadilly Investments, a partnership between Los Angeles’ Yucaipa Companies and Diversified Investment Management Group, buys Piccadilly for $80 million in a private sale.

2005: Piccadilly forms a food service division, designed to capitalize on its brand name and provide meals for the employees, students or residents of companies, manufacturing plants, universities, private schools and senior living centers. The division grows to 17 accounts in early 2006.

2012: Piccadilly continues to operate 82 of its traditional restaurant locations and has 3,500 employees from Houston to Tampa and up the East Coast to Virginia. Its food service division has 70 total accounts across the South — schools, manufacturing plants and a college.