A year after celebrating its 100th anniversary, Texas’ second-oldest restaurant hit the market.
The Old Spanish Trail restaurant, colloquially known as O.S.T., opened in 1921 in Bandera, a Texas Hill Country town about an hour outside San Antonio that bills itself as the “Cowboy Capital of the World.” The owner is looking to lasso $3.25 million from its sale.
Potential buyers of the one-story, 5,800-square-foot restaurant would get the land, the building, all the restaurant’s fixtures and 20 parking spaces — not to mention a century of brand-building history.
The land O.S.T. sits on has a market value of $32,300, according to records from the Bandera County Appraisal District.
Jerrett V. Lamb of JVL Real Estate is handling the sale on behalf of Gwen Janes, who has owned and operated O.S.T. for the past 40 years.
“The restaurant makes $2 million in annual gross sales, and since the pandemic it’s been a little over that,” Lamb told The Real Deal. “Their net operating income is about $175,200. They sent three kids to college with that place and ran their personal expenses through it.”
So far, Lamb said he’s gotten some “tire kickers” from national chains and agents of out-of-state buyers inquiring about the O.S.T.
“The restaurant only had three owners, so they are looking for someone who really wants to continue its legacy, ” Lamb said.
Janes is interested in selling to a “best fit” who will take on the restaurant’s 30 employees, some of whom have worked there for more than 20 years, Lamb added.
The Janeses are ideally looking to sell to buyers who are open to them “teaching-the-ropes” to maintain the continuity of the restaurant’s character as the new owners add their personal touches to the storied eatery’s history, Lamb said.