Black Bear Diner

Black Bear Diner is a full-service family dining restaurant that serves classic, hearty comfort food in a casual, lodge-style setting. Guests come for all-day breakfast, burgers, traditional comfort entrées and pies, along with large portions that appeal to both families and travelers. As of January 2024, the brand operates about 160 diners across the western United States and select central markets, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Colorado, with additional locations in states such as Utah, Oklahoma and Texas. Locations are found in both suburban communities and along major highway routes, which helps the chain draw from local neighborhoods as well as regional and interstate traffic.

The concept began in 1995 in Mount Shasta, California, when founders Bruce Dean and Bob Manley opened the first Black Bear Diner with the idea of creating a community-oriented diner that felt like a rustic mountain cabin, complete with bear-themed décor and generous, value-focused meals. From that single diner, the company spent its early years building a presence across Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. A major turning point came in 2016, when an investment from PWP Growth Equity, now part of H.I.G. Capital, provided capital and support to expand into multiple states and build out more robust real estate, development and operations teams while keeping the small-town diner feel that defined the original restaurant.

Today, Black Bear Diner, Inc. is headquartered in Redding, California, with a corporate support center in Houston, Texas that helps manage and grow locations in the central and southern United States. The company uses a mix of corporate-owned and franchised restaurants. Most locations are in free-standing buildings or prominent endcaps that allow for visible signage and the brand’s recognizable exterior design. Many sites sit near regional shopping areas, key intersections and highway interchanges, which positions the diner as a steady traffic generator throughout the day and on weekends.

Over roughly the last five years, Black Bear Diner has continued to grow even as many full-service chains have slowed new development. The company has been a regular presence on industry lists of fast-growing family dining concepts and has steadily added new units through both new construction and conversion projects. Notably, it has taken over former Coco’s restaurant sites in California, repositioning second-generation buildings under the Black Bear Diner flag, and has opened locations attached to TravelCenters of America in major interstate travel corridors. These moves have extended the brand’s reach beyond traditional neighborhood sites into travel-oriented real estate, improving brand visibility with both locals and long-haul drivers.

The current growth strategy balances infill and expansion. As of January 2024, Black Bear Diner is adding diners across the West and moving into adjacent markets through experienced multi-unit operators, with a particular focus on California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Colorado. The typical three-daypart model, with strong breakfast and weekend business, helps support steady parking demand and cross-shopping within nearby retail. The brand’s willingness to adapt its building footprint, convert former restaurant spaces and work in both suburban and highway-proximate environments has made it a flexible option for new pads, redevelopments and reuse of existing buildings. With its established scale, recognized name and continued but disciplined pipeline, Black Bear Diner remains an active sit-down restaurant user across a wide range of shopping center and roadside settings.