Our History

The Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill concept originated in Florida in 1995 when restaurateur Larry Terrell (with financial backing from Merchants Capital of Ann Arbor, Michigan) opened up the first restaurant in Casselberry, Florida and a second restaurant in Port Charlotte, Florida.

In the spring of 1996, Wild West, Inc. (a separate company in Nebraska) acquired the rights to the Whiskey Creek name and recipes and opened the first Midwest restaurant in Kearney, Nebraska in October of 1996. In the fall of 1997, Merchant's Capital asked that Wild West, Inc. take over management responsibilities for the two Florida stores.

The Whiskey Creek restaurant concept serves generous portions of high quality, moderately priced meals in a casual, family-oriented atmosphere. Based in the heart of beef country, Whiskey Creek positions itself as the "steak expert" in its category segment. The Company locates its restaurants in smaller, secondary markets and suburban areas that are not currently served by national full-service steakhouse chains. Whiskey Creek restaurants are distinguished from other family-oriented restaurants in these smaller markets (many of which are cafeteria-style) by their full table service and attentive wait staff, full bar service, distinctive decor, and unique wood fired cooking.

James Gardner began his restaurant career on June 15, 1971 with Country Kitchen family restaurants. He began in an hourly capacity learning all of the job positions from dishwasher to cook to server to management.

In 1976 at the age of 19, he became one of the company’s youngest franchisees. Over the next 25 years, Mr. Gardner became a territorial owner of Country Kitchen restaurants selling franchises and company-owned restaurants in the states of Nebraska and Kansas.

He is a past chairman of the Franchise Advisory Committee of Country Kitchen family restaurants and was also a leader in the sub-franchisor meetings. In 1981, he served on the Board of Directors of the Nebraska Restaurant Association. After selling the development rights that he had with Country Kitchen International, in June of 1996 Mr. Gardner became the 2nd largest shareholder in Wild West, Inc., the parent company of Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill.

On April 9, 2001, Mr. Gardner purchased all of the outstanding stock in Wild West, Inc. and is the sole owner of all Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill restaurants.

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