Village Inn is a casual-dining restaurant chain in the United States. Its restaurants are known for their breakfast menu items. Also, they feature a variety of salads, sandwiches, burgers, melts, and dinner items. Their pies have won numerous awards from the American Pie Council. As of January 2023, the company operates 121 locations in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. In September 2015, Village Inn operated 212 restaurants. This was reduced in bankruptcy proceedings, leading to sale of the chain in July 2021 to Village Inn's new parent company, BBQ Holdings, Inc., based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. History Village Inn was founded by James Mola and Merton Anderson, who opened the first Village Inn Pancake House in Denver in 1958 at 8855 East Colfax Avenue. They incorporated as Village Inn Pancake House, Inc., in December 1959, and began franchising in 1961, with Dow Sherwood opening the first franchised locations in Tampa. In 1982, Village Inn became the publicly traded Vicorp Restaurants, Inc. Vicorp acquired the Poppin' Fresh Pies chain from Pillsbury in May 1983, renaming it Bakers Square. In 1984, VICORP acquired 71 restaurants from Ralston Purina's Continental Restaurant Systems division and 175 former Sambo's restaurants in California, Florida, and Arizona. The California locations were converted to Bakers Square restaurants, while the Florida and Arizona locations were converted to Village Inns, but the conversions led to a decline in profits for the company and 15 of the converted Florida locations closed by 1989. By the end of the 1980s, "Pancake House" was dropped from the name of the chain as Village Inn began offering lunch and dinner menus in addition to breakfast. During the early 1990s, all Village Inn restaurants underwent a large-scale renovation that featured new green mansard roofs and neon signage. In May 2001, the investment firms of Goldner, Hawn, Johnson, and Morrison, Inc., and BancBoston Capital acquired VICORP, and the company has been privately held ever since. In late 1993, Vicorp acquired the rights to a small Florida chain called Angel's Diner from founder Eric A. Holm. Unfortunately, he had also sold the rights to Golden Corral and Vicorp was forced to pay Golden Corral $1 million to secure the exclusive rights. The intent was to convert underperforming Village Inn and Bakers Square units to this new concept. After building seven units, Vicorp realized