George McKerrow Jr. is a 30-year veteran of the restaurant business with a history of success in both fine dining and casual concepts. Nation’s Restaurant News has called him a “dinner-house legend” who pays careful attention to the financial aspects of the business and credits him with giving “birth to an entire casual-dining segment” 20 years ago when he founded LongHorn Steakhouse Inc

McKerrow entered the restaurant business as a teenager. After graduating from Ohio State University with a B.S. in political science, he bought the Log Cabin Supper Club in West Virginia. He joined the Victoria’s Station restaurant chain in 1974 and was a Southeast regional manager when he left the company in 1980.

McKerrow opened LongHorn Steaks as a neighborhood restaurant in 1981, a time when Atlanta had few choices in casual dining. He successfully evolved that single Atlanta location into RARE Hospitality International, a nationwide casual dining group that today includes LongHorn Steakhouse and The Capital Grille. He co-founded We’re Cookin’ Inc. in 1996 with Atlanta chef Gerry Klaskala and Ron San Martin, the former CFO of LongHorn. The restaurant group now has two award-winning, fine dining restaurants in Atlanta: Aria and Canoe.

Along with his partner, media entrepreneur and environmentalist Ted Turner, McKerrow founded Ted’s Montana Grill in January 2002. Ted’s Montana Grill is a classic American grill serving made-from-scratch dishes in an eco-friendly environment. The company has 50 locations nationwide. McKerrow serves as president and CEO.

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