Online Food Hall Coming To Southeast Portland
September 2020, KGW8

“When we first started thinking about the concept, we started with virtual, but it's really not virtual. So we really call it an online food hall,” Plew said. “We'll have six concepts going out of one kitchen, and we're pretty excited about that,” said Chef Keith Castro.

Castro is Plew’s business partner and the head chef at Central Kitchen. He touts the high-end food and unpretentious service.

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14 Chains Shattering the Sports Bar Status Quo
July 2019, FSR Magazine

Thirsty Lion founder and CEO John Plew sold seven of his concepts to focus on the gastropub’s expansion. Two years ago, Plew brought on Marcie Rude as chief development officer to research potential markets and see where the brand could scale. Rude, who previously helped grow P.F. Chang’s from 30 to 150 restaurants, helped define the expansion strategy. Plew said the brand wants to double in size over the next five years, or scale at a rate of 28 percent, year-over-year.

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Thirsty Lion Gastropub Will Complete Chandler Viridian Primegate
October 2019, AZ Big Media

Thirsty Lion is a nationally expanding, Oregon-based, full-service restaurant concept. It features a scratch kitchen, seasonal menus, weekend brunches, mixology, a vast selection of tap beer & sports as well. Thirsty Lion is among the nation’s Top 50 Emerging Restaurant chains and is ranked nationally in the Top 12 Most Successful Emerging Restaurants.

The new building housing the Thirsty Lion restaurant boasts trendy, progressive architecture and sits on the hard corner portion of PRIMEGATE which provides for great exposure, as well as for easy access for patrons.

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Thirsty Lion makes the FSR Top 50 Emerging Brands - 2018
August 2018, FSR Magazine

FSR’S ANNUAL LIST OF HIGH-POTENTIAL, PERFORMANCE-PROVEN FULL-SERVICE BRANDS WITH 50 LOCATIONS OR FEWER AND GROWING FAST.

The FSR 50 is FSR’s annual list of high-potential, performance-proven full-service brands. Each has fewer than 50 locations and is growing fast. Here's our collection of some of the hottest full-service brands under 50 units.

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12 of the Most Successful Emerging Restaurant Chains
January 23, 2018, FSR Magazine

You can measure the financial health of a restaurant in a lot of different ways. Average unit volume is one of those figures that investors and franchisees (especially) gravitate toward because it’s difficult to cloud. It’s simple enough—divide the total company-operated sales by the total company-operated units and you have a pulse of your restaurant’s performance. AUV is a result of traffic and ticket, two essential vital points. Given that, it allows growing brands to understand how new units are performing. For example, if your AUV growth is greater than your same-store sale growth, you (most likely) can deduce that new stores are more profitable than existing ones. Of course, it’s far from an end-all statistic and many things can affect it. Same-store sales, often measured at units open at least a year, is probably the best definition of current and future success since it’s expressed as a percentage that indicates the relative amount of revenue increase or decrease and is compared to the prior-year period. It’s a reflection of the total dollar amount of sales. This is best to understand what portion of a restaurant’s current sales revenues are a result of sales growth in existing locations and what portion is accounted for by the opening of new stores. Simply, same-store sales are a great way to see if a restaurant is growing revenue from its current assets.

With that in mind, here are 12 restaurants, ranked by AUV, poised for big things in 2018 and beyond. Pictured is Cameron Mitchell's Ocean Prime.

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Thirsty Lion makes the FSR Top 50 Emerging Brands - 2017
August 2017, FSR Magazine

Performance and potential earned restaurants a spot among this year’s FSR 50—that, and the fact that each has a portfolio of fewer than 50 units. We’re talking emergent chains, those that have a growing presence and a penchant for progress, be it defined as menu innovation, sales growth, brand expansion, or community support. You’ll discover regional brands that have been around for decades, like Elmer’s, which opened in 1960 in Portland, Oregon, and has given birth to a new concept that it plans to develop in the Southwest. Along with brands like Snooze, which got its start just 11 years ago but has already awakened the Denver region to a heightened appreciation for polished breakfast service and exceptionally sustainable processes. For performance metrics, look to the chart on Pages 48 to 49, which details total company sales, average unit volume, number of units, and areas of operation for each of the FSR 50 brands.

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A Place Where Everybody Knows Your Game.
November 2014, So Scottsdale!

Restauranteur John Plew has thrived in his industry for 32 years by anticipating what the customer wants. As such, he knows that some patrons at the newest location of his Thirsty Lion concept will be there to watch sports, multiple flat screen televisions, two full bars and more awaits the guests when the gastropub and grill opens at Scottsdale Fashion Square.

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Thirsty Lion Gastropub & Grill Denver - First Word
October 2013, Eater Denver

The new Thirsty Lion Pub will be the company's first location in Colorado after three successful openings in Oregon and Arizona. Much like the other locations, the Denver Thirsty Lion will offer multi-cultural cuisines with an emphasis on local ingredients, bold flavors and scratch recipes. The Thirsty Lion will open by May 2014.

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Thirsty Lion Tanasbourne Grand Opening
November 2013, FSR Magazine

Thirsty Lion Pub and Grill is proud to announce that it will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for its newest location in Hillsboro at The Streets of Tanasbourne Wednesday, November 27 with Grand Opening to follow at 11 a.m.

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Vimeo Channel

View cooking segments featuring Thirsty Lion chefs making seasonal dishes on local NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates.