Hard Rock did it by trimming $8.5 million in overhead over the past 12 months, according to a prepared statement from Rank. Revenue rose to $390 million, up .5% from $388 million.

For January and February of this year, sales at restaurants open at least a year were up .2%. That compares with a full-year drop of 3.5% in 1999.

Hard Rock Café International is one of four divisions at Rank with restaurants in 38 countries. The 103,000-sf Orlando restaurant is the chain's largest.

The chain itself may be headed in a new direction this year or next, according to Rank CEO Michael Smith. The Hard Rock brand "can profitably lend itself to expansion outside the restaurant operations," Smith says in the company's year-end report.

Rank Group's longtime presence in metro Orlando's commercial real estate domain was abbreviated last year when the British firm sold its 50% interest in Universal Orlando to New York-based Blackstone Capital Partners for $275 million. But the company came right back and opened the 650-room, $13 million Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando in January. The average daily room rate is $185.