Cook Out (restaurant)

Cook Out is a privately owned American fast-food restaurant chain operating in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Mississippi. Founded in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1989, the chain has since expanded and now has restaurants in over 100 cities. The chain itself has grown in size with many locations now spread throughout the Southeastern US.

The standard format of the restaurant features two drive-thru lanes and a walk-up window, but no indoor seating. Some newer locations have an indoor dining room and counter service similar to a traditional fast-food restaurant, but most still only have drive-thru and walk-up service. The restaurant specializes in hamburgers, milkshakes, and North Carolina-style pork barbecue.

History


Morris Reaves founded Cook Out in 1989. He is currently the owner of the company, with his son, Jeremy Reaves, serving as the CEO.

The first Cook Out location opened in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1989. Over 50 more locations opened in North Carolina before expanding out of the state. As of November 2022, 326 locations are operating in ten states.

The company opened its first out-of-state store in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on July 30, 2010. Cook Out opened in Clemson and Orangeburg, South Carolina, in 2010. At the end of 2011, Cook Out opened restaurants in Columbia, South Carolina; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Radford, Virginia. In March 2012, Cook Out opened its first location in Lynchburg, Virginia, and shortly thereafter in Harrisonburg, Virginia. 2013 saw new Cook Out locations in Georgia, and in 2014, there were plans to launch several more Georgia locations. In 2016, Cook Out expanded into the Mississippi with stores in Oxford, Jackson, Hattiesburg, and Starkville, and the company's first Alabama location, in Tuscaloosa. Other locations in Alabama include Jacksonville (July 2017), Auburn (December 2017), Huntsville (January 2018), Opelika (May 2018), Troy (June 2018), Mobile (December 2018), Montgomery (January 2019) and Birmingham (January 2021). In 2018, Cook Out expanded its Virginia locations in the Collinsville community of Martinsville, Virginia which opened in September 2019. In November 2022, Cook Out opened a restaurant in Manassas Park, Virginia. In January 2024, Cookout opened a store in Newberry, South Carolina. On May 21, 2024, Cookout announced it will be opening two restaurants in Tampa, Florida making it the chain's first Florida locations.

Menu
Their menu primarily features grilled hamburgers and cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, chicken fingers, North Carolina barbecue and quesadillas. A signature to their menu is the Cook Out Tray, which features combinations of entrees, sides and a drink or milkshake. Another feature of Cook Out's menu is their selection of more than 40 flavors of milkshakes. A featured drink on their menu is Cheerwine, a local North Carolina cherry soda usually only served in North Carolina and surrounding states.