San Antonio is known for mariachis, ostrich skin cowboy boots and delicious fish and chips. Yes, the Alamo City boasts more than the River Walk and Tex–Mex. In fact, San Antonio is the birthplace of one of the most distinguished brands of British Restaurant & Pubs in the United States, the Lion & Rose.
The fine dining, craft beer, sports loving enthusiast can thank Allen Tharp for finding his way back to Texas and into the hospitality industry.
Allen Tharp is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Allen Tharp LLC of San Antonio, Texas and Olde England’s Lion & Rose British Restaurant & Pub as well as a minority partner in a chain of Golden Fried Chick quick service restaurants. Additionally, Tharp runs a small construction company that fabricates high–end custom cabinets and furniture in addition to performing the complete finish out at each Lion & Rose location. Tharp’s endeavors provide over 800 local jobs to San Antonians and pump almost $30 million into the local economy annually.
With so many accomplishments, it is fascinating to know how the son of an oil driller who once shared a room with his sister until he was 9 years old, found his way to San Antonio from humble beginnings in Odessa, Texas. Tharp’s earliest memories of his “loving and supportive” family take us to the tip of Argentina.
“After working in the oil field for years as a driller, my father was sent to the southern tip of Argentina and relocated our family to a small town called Rio Grande on the island of Tierra Del Fuego, the last island on the continent before Antarctica,” Tharp says. ”Our house in Argentina had a bathroom accessible only by walking through a room we used as our freezer in the winter and refrigerator in the summer. We literally had mutton and pork legs hanging on nails of this room. Although on the island it would get as cold as 60 below zero with snow and tremendous winds, my sister Brenda and I loved it. During our two years in Argentina, we collected very fond memories of horseback riding, fishing, sledding, ice skating, and good friends.”
At the end of two years, Tharp’s family moved back to Odessa. Through high school, Tharp did whatever it took to earn money, from digging ditches, unloading box cars and roofing in the summers, to playing in bands and working as a salesman after school.
After graduating from Odessa High, Tharp found himself married to his first wife and working in the County Attorney’s Office with aspirations of becoming a lawyer. The thought of a career in a courtroom failed to keep his interest. With a thirst for knowledge and progress, he graduated on the Dean’s honor role, Suma Cum Laude from the University of Texas Permian Basin in 1981, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Tharp minored in Spanish and Russian and worked on his master’s degree in business administration while attending the University of Irvine in California.
“I moved to California to seek fortune and fame,” he says. “Although I didn’t find fortune or fame there, I sure had a great time looking for it.”
Tharp traveled the country backpacking, recording music in Houston and found his second wife. Like any true entrepreneur, playing music didn’t satisfy the business man within. While still in Houston, he started a truck leasing company and was selling cars.
However, 1981 also brought hardships to Tharp and his family.
“In 1981 Roxy (Tharp’s second wife) and I broke up and my dad was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer,” Tharp says. “Not such a good year. I left Houston and went to Fort Worth to help my sister and mother take care of my dad. I will never forget the feeling as one minute his heart was beating and then his pulse just stopped under my fingers. A high school football player, boxer and perpetual pillar of strength throughout life, my dad was finally beaten by cancer.”
The next glimpse into Tharp’s life takes us to California where he started a carpet cleaning business and met his third wife Elena. While in California, his carpet cleaning business grew from Tharp having to lease cleaning machines and handing out flyers as means to advertise, to purchasing the equipment he previously leased, additional cleaning units, hiring a number of crew members, and implementing a strategic direct mail campaign.
“We continued to pick up both commercial and residential accounts and the company continued to grow,” he says. “However, by the end of 1983, a brother in–law from Texas had convinced me to move to Fort Worth and partner up with him in the cabinet installation business. So, I sold the carpet business and moved with my wife to Fort Worth.”
A desire for growth is easy to observe in Tharp’s life and following gut instincts plays an important role in his successes to date.
“I loved the installation work but construction can be cyclical and the partnership did not develop as I hoped,” Tharp says. “I wanted to expand by adding more crews and picking up more cabinet shops; my brother–in–law was afraid that expansion would negatively affect the quality of work.”
As result, Tharp decided to make another career change.
“My wife was in the catering business in California and I had experience working in restaurants and had taken restaurant management courses,” Tharp says. “So, I entered into a Randolph–Sheppard food–service and management training program. Soon thereafter, I saw an opportunity to open a restaurant adjacent to a major hotel in Dallas. I jumped at the idea.”
With a taste of success in the hospitality industry, Tharp decided to start looking for ways to expand.
“I began to seriously study restaurant operations and appreciate the science involved,” he says. “I devoured books on all aspects of the industry, learned much from others who had spent there lives in this industry and continued with restaurant management training. I learned the most from plain old on the–job training. There is no substitute for the school of hard knocks.”
Allen and his wife worked long hours growing, learning, acquiring restaurants throughout Texas and aiming for ever larger and more challenging operations.
In 1993 he began his quest to expand the business through obtaining military food service management and staffing contracts. After three more years, his efforts finally came to fruition.
“My company took over the operations of the largest food service contractin the Air Force in 1996 and has continued to manage and operate the food service at Lackland AFB, Kelly USA, Medina, and Defender Inn at Camp Bullis ever since,” Tharp says. “We are feeding almost one million high quality meals per month to our military personnel.”
Although Tharp’s early nomadic travels and romances may give you animage of a drifter, his relationship with his family is remarkably powerful.
“In 1999, my sister Brenda was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of 52,” he says. “I wanted to spend some quality time with her during her last days and wanted to do something special for her. So, I asked her where she would like to go if she could pick any destination in the world. I told her that I would finance a trip to Paris, London, or anywhere she chose. She chose Argentina.”While there, Tharp was met by old friends who themselves had become successful businessmen, politicians and influential members of the Argentine island.
“A stretch limo picked us up at the airport and took us to one of the finest hotels in the city,” he says. “When Brenda was a 12–year–old girl and living in Argentina, she envisioned her grown up life as living in fine hotels and drinking martinis at the piano bar. So, for a short while, her dream came true.”
In 2004, Tharp founded a string of British restaurants and pubs called Olde England’s Lion & Rose. To date, there are four corporate Lion & Rose restaurants in San Antonio with plans in place to add more near IH 10, Loop 1604, HWY 151, and along the expanded banks of the San Antonio River.
“We are also considering a partnership with certain upscale hotels as well as a scaled down version of the Lion & Rose to go into airports – both are a perfect suit,” Tharp says. “Franchise opportunities are also available for people who would like to own there own authentic Lion & Rose British Restaurant & Pub.”
Tharp’s latest project is Golden Fried Chick, in which he purchased a minority interest with the intentions of not only expanding the concept in Texas, but taking GFC to several regions in Asia, including China.
Mr. Tharp has served as a liaison for government and legislative affairs. He has also served as a speaker at various restaurant industry conferences and is an active member of the President’s Forum.
For more information on the Legend of the Lion & Rose, menus and events visit www.theLionandRose.com.
Cheers!
