Career
He is credited as the first restaurateur to offer franchise operations, with the first Marie Callender"s franchisee opening in Orange, California, in 1964. Marie baked and sold pies to augment the family"s meager income, with little Donald delivering her pies to customers on his bicycle. By 1948, entrepreneurial and intrepid twenty-one year old Don, was already working to expand the business into a wholesale outlet by selling his pies to other restaurants in Orange County, California.
Eventually, Don ventured into the retail realm, opening his first outlet in Orange, California, and naming it after his mother, Marie.
With continued experimentation, he gradually expanded his inventory and added other menu items which would later become iconic Marie Callender fare. The interiors, of the chain"s earlier restaurants were filled with American antiques and bric-a-brac, circa 1900, evoking the familiar comfort of "grandma"s house," and a strong Norman Rockwell theme reminiscent of a simpler, more wholesome America.
In later years, the restaurants boasted a fully stocked bar, serving alcoholic beverages, and a full salad bar featuring a sneeze guard, a novelty at that time. By the time Don Callender had sold the company in 1986 to Ramada for a reported $80 million, the chain had grown to 120 locations nationwide.
Rejuvenated by the sale, Don, not only remained in the restaurant industry, but embarked on his most ambitious venture to date at that time.
His final restaurant project was to be a second, gigantic 21,000 square foot (1950 square meter) Babe"s in Indio, California. Unfortunately, health issues forced Callender out of the project before seeing this latest brainchild come to full fruition. The building was subsequently leased to Kaiser Restaurant Group, a local restaurant management consortium.
Jackelope Ranch opened the day after Don passed, as an eclectic Southwestern-themed barbecue.
Don Callender died on January 7, 2009, Corona del March, California due to complications resulting from head trauma sustained during a fall at his home. In 1994, Don sold the Marie Callender chain Ramada Inn, who subsequently sold to Wilshire Restaurant Group, Incorporated. in 2000.
Marie Callender Pie Shops, Incorporated. was purchased from Saunders Karp & Megrue (SKM) in 1999 by an affiliate of Castle Harlan, a New York-based private equity firm for $150 million. In 2006, Castle Harlan merged Marie Callender"s with another of its interests, Perkins Family Restaurants.
The combined chain, known as Perkins & Marie Callender"s Incorporated. is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.
Other Chief executive officers of Marie Callender"s following Don Callender included attorney/investor Roger Mercier (1989-1993), former International Business Machines Corporation executive Walter F. Strycker (1993-1994), restaurant finance guru Leonard H. Dreyer (1994-2001) and casual chain executive Phillip Ratner (2001-2006).
