In 1974, Randy Norton and Jim Farley opened a 16 table pizza place in Fairfax City, VA. Mike Ranney joined them a year later, and with the opening of Fantastic Fritzbe’s Flying Food Factory (now Silverado) in 1976, Great American Restaurants (GAR) was born. The restaurant group is celebrating 50 years on Tuesday, September 17.
The restaurant group currently operates 18 restaurants, 17 of them in Northern Virginia and one here in Montgomery County, MD (Coastal Flats in Gaithersburg’s Downtown Crown). To celebrate, all GAR restaurants are offering half price GAR draft beers from 11:30am until 9pm on Tuesday. September 17. They will also be bringing back GAR “throwback” dishes– 8-Layer Dip and Banana Pudding.
“Through the decades, GAR has thrived as a result of their entrepreneurial spirit, enthusiasm for hospitality, and a ton of hard work by thousands of the best team players in the industry.”