Logan's was, which opened its first restaurant in 1991, was a public company in 1995 through 1999, until CBRL acquired the outfit. During that time, Logan's grew from 42 restaurants in nine states to 134 company-owned units in 17 states, as well as an additional 25 that are operated by franchisees. Three years ago Logan's operated 84 units.

Executives are forecasting that the company could open a total of 1,200 US units. Within potential markets, they say that an additional 400 to 600 restaurants could be added. A majority of Logan's locations are currently in southern states.

Since 2002, Logan's total revenues have increased from $241.1 million, to $376.6 million last year. However, over the last nine months ended April 30, income from operations dropped 9.5%, from $21.9 million to $19.9 million. Same-store sales over that sale period only inched up 1.15 year over year.

Among the risk factors Logan's executives state in the filing is the gamble on a new 7,200-sf prototype restaurant, called the RH72, that the company is rolling out. "The introduction of any new prototype could result in different average weekly sales and returns on invested capital than we have experience with our previous restaurant design," it says. "Additionally, any changes to our restaurant design and layout could negatively impact our brand image."

Earlier this month, CBRL promoted Tom Vogel to president and chief executive officer of Logan's. Since 2003, he has served as president and chief operating officer, and previous to that position, he was an executive at Darden Restaurants.

Logan's is one of a handful of steakhouse chains to go public over the last year. Steakhouse chain Ruth's Chris filed one last year, and Morton's Restaurant Group priced its IPO in February.