Who Owns Cook Out? Founder, Family, Headquarters & Is It a Franchise?

Who Owns Cook Out?

Cook Out is a privately owned, family-run restaurant chain controlled by the Reaves family. Morris Reaves founded it in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1989, and his son Jeremy Reaves is the company’s CEO. Cook Out is based in Thomasville, North Carolina and does not sell franchises.

That short answer covers most of what people want to know, but the details are harder to pin down than for most big chains. Cook Out has no public stock, files no public financial reports, and, as O.Henry magazine put it in 2024, is “notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to press and publicity.” The same article said neither Morris nor Jeremy Reaves has ever granted even a brief interview and that the company does not employ a spokesperson. Reporters who cover Cook Out’s growth usually piece it together from property records and permit filings rather than press releases.

• Founder: Morris Reaves, 1989, first restaurant on Randleman Road in Greensboro.
• Current CEO: Jeremy Reaves, Morris’s son (named as CEO by Richmond BizSense in 2011, WSOC-TV in 2023, O.Henry in 2024 and WhatNow Charlotte in May 2026).
• Ownership: private and family-controlled; BizFayetteville reported in 2021 that Morris Reaves “remains the owner of the chain.”
• Headquarters: Thomasville, North Carolina, in the Piedmont Triad.
• Franchising: none. Every Cook Out is company-operated.
• Size: 370 open restaurants in 11 states on Cook Out’s store locator in October 2026.

The rest of this page explains each of those facts, shows where each one comes from, and flags what is still unknown, such as Cook Out’s revenue.

Who Founded Cook Out?

Cook Out was founded by Morris Reaves, a North Carolina restaurant operator who opened the first Cook Out on Randleman Road in Greensboro in 1989. He came to it with years of fast-food experience, including running Wendy’s franchises with his parents.

According to O.Henry magazine (June 2024), Reaves started out as a cook at Waffle House and became “the youngest Wendy’s franchisee at the age of 20.” Jeremy Markovich’s reported history of the chain in North Carolina Rabbit Hole (August 2024) adds that Reaves and his parents owned more than a dozen Wendy’s franchises in the Triad region and sold them back to Wendy’s in 1979. In 1982 Reaves and his then-wife opened a restaurant called the Sunday House in Stone Mountain, Georgia, which closed a few years later.

The first Cook Out followed in 1989. North Carolina Rabbit Hole reports that Reaves opened it with his parents on Randleman Road in Greensboro, and that his father designed the building while his mother served as the company’s controller. That article also notes that a few old newspaper references give 1987 instead of 1989; 1989 is the year used by Wikipedia, most news coverage and Cook Out’s own history, so it is the date we use here.

If you want to see where it all started, our Cook Out Greensboro guide lists the current Greensboro stores, and the High Point guide covers the neighboring city where Cook Out opened its first sit-down location in 1996, according to North Carolina Rabbit Hole.

What Is the Cook Out Family, and Who Runs Cook Out Today?

The “Cook Out family” is the Reaves family: founder Morris Reaves, his son and CEO Jeremy Reaves, and, in the early years, Morris’s parents, who helped build and run the business. The chain has stayed in family hands since 1989.

Jeremy Reaves has been in charge for a long time. North Carolina Rabbit Hole reports that he had become company president by 2007, at age 29. Richmond BizSense identified him as CEO in June 2011, WSOC-TV did the same in August 2023, O.Henry described him in June 2024 as “current CEO of Cook Out,” and WhatNow Charlotte addressed questions to “CEO Jeremy Reaves” in May 2026. WhatNow’s September 2024 coverage described the chain as operating “under the ownership of Morris Reaves and son Jeremy Reaves.”

A former Cook Out social media manager told North Carolina Rabbit Hole that the Thomasville headquarters “looks like a normal office,” that not many people work there, and that Jeremy Reaves came in regularly. That fits the picture of a lean, closely held company rather than a corporate giant with a large public-relations staff.

What we do not know: exactly how ownership shares are divided among family members, whether any outside investors hold a stake, or what succession plans exist. None of that has been made public, so any website that states precise ownership percentages is guessing.

One common mix-up: Cook Out’s CEO shares his name with Jeremy Reaves, the NFL safety who plays for the Washington Commanders. Nothing we found connects the two.

Is Cook Out Privately Owned?

Yes. Cook Out is a privately owned company. It is not traded on any stock exchange, it has no ticker symbol, and you cannot buy shares in it. BizFayetteville reported in August 2021 that Cook Out is “privately owned and does not offer franchises,” and Wikipedia also describes it as privately owned.

Because Cook Out is private, it is not required to publish annual reports, revenue, profit or store-level sales the way public restaurant companies such as McDonald’s must. That is why reliable numbers on Cook Out’s finances are hard to find.

What about Cook Out’s revenue or net worth? You will see confident-looking figures on many websites. We do not repeat them, because none we found traces back to a filing, an interview or a named company source. Wikipedia’s infobox lists a revenue figure with no date attached, and Cook Out itself has not published one. The honest answer is that Cook Out’s revenue and the Reaves family’s net worth are not publicly known.

Being private also explains Cook Out’s low profile. The company rarely issues announcements about new stores. Local outlets such as WhatNow, the Rocky Mount Telegram and the Jacksonville Daily Record typically learn about new Cook Out locations from land purchases and permit applications, then note that the company did not respond to requests for comment.

• Publicly traded? No.
• Owned by a private-equity firm or parent company? No such sale or parent company has been reported; every source we checked describes Reaves family ownership.
• Can the public invest? No.

Can You Buy a Cook Out Franchise, and How Much Does It Cost?

No, you cannot buy a Cook Out franchise. Cook Out does not franchise, so there is no franchise fee, no investment range and no franchise application. Every Cook Out restaurant is owned and operated by the company itself.

This is the most searched ownership question about Cook Out, and it is where the most misinformation lives. Some websites publish “Cook Out franchise cost” estimates with fees and total investment figures. Those numbers are not real. A franchise system in the United States has to give prospective buyers a Franchise Disclosure Document, and Cook Out has never offered franchises. BizFayetteville stated plainly in 2021 that the chain “does not offer franchises.”

Why stay company-owned? Cook Out has never explained its strategy publicly, so we cannot quote a reason. What can be said is that the chain has grown to 370 stores without franchising, and owning every store gives a single family full control over the menu, prices and late-night hours.

If you were hoping to run a Cook Out, the realistic path is management. Our Cook Out careers guide explains the roles and how to apply.

Where Is Cook Out’s Headquarters?

Cook Out’s headquarters is in Thomasville, North Carolina, a city in the Piedmont Triad south of High Point. The company was founded in Greensboro, about 25 miles to the north, and has always been based in the Triad.

News outlets regularly call it “the Thomasville-based chain” (WhatNow, September 2024), and Wikipedia lists Thomasville as its headquarters. North Carolina Rabbit Hole describes the Thomasville office in its 2024 history of the company. In May 2026, WhatNow Charlotte reported that Cook Out had bought several parcels in Thomasville on Lambeth Street and Liberty Drive, though the purpose of that land was not disclosed.

The headquarters has moved within the Triad over the years. A June 2011 Richmond BizSense article said Cook Out was “headquartered in Archdale, N.C.” at the time. Archdale and Thomasville are neighbors, so the company has stayed in the same small corner of the state for decades.

How Many Cook Out Restaurants Are There, and in Which States?

Cook Out had 370 open restaurants in 11 states in October 2026, according to its store locator. North Carolina has the most by far, with 144 stores, nearly 39% of the chain.

The map tells the story of a Carolina chain that spread outward. North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia together account for 238 stores, almost two-thirds of the total. Georgia and Tennessee add another 86. The newest frontier is Florida, where Cook Out opened its first restaurant in Pensacola in July 2025 (reported by the Pensacola News Journal) and had five open stores by October 2026. Maryland has a single store and West Virginia has four.

Cook Out keeps adding locations. A USA TODAY Network report based on the company’s website counted 16 upcoming locations across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Store counts change often, so treat any number, including ours, as a snapshot. Our Cook Out locations guide and locations finder list the current stores by state and city.

Is Cook Out a chain? Yes. With 370 restaurants, Cook Out is a large regional fast-food chain. It is not national: as of October 2026 it has no stores west of Mississippi or north of Maryland.

Is Cook Out a Christian-Owned Company?

Cook Out has never published a statement about the owners’ faith, but it prints Bible verses on its cups, and a longtime company executive has described a strong Christian influence in the Reaves family. So it is fair to say the company reflects the family’s Christian beliefs, even though Cook Out does not describe itself as a Christian business.

Which Bible verse is on Cook Out cups? The verse most often reported is Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it,” which Fox News (September 2019) said appears on Cook Out milkshake cups. North Carolina Rabbit Hole (2024) reported that Cook Out has used other verses over the years, including Proverbs 1:7 (“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”) and Psalm 19:14, before the more recent Psalm 118:24.

The clearest on-the-record explanation came from Allen Brooks, then Cook Out’s opening director, in a 2011 Knoxville News Sentinel interview later quoted by Business Insider and the Christian Post: “We’ve got scriptures on our cups and on the bags from the family scriptures that they like,” and “In the family there’s a lot of Christian influence, and they grew up in the South.” Fox News and the Christian Post also reported in 2019 that many Cook Out locations play Christian music.

That last point surprises people. Chick-fil-A is the best-known Christian-influenced chain and closes every Sunday. Cook Out does not; most stores keep the same late hours on Sundays as on other weeknights. See our Cook Out hours guide for details.

What Is Cook Out’s History? A Timeline From 1989 to 2026

Cook Out grew from one Greensboro drive-thru in 1989 to about 50 North Carolina stores by 2008, crossed into South Carolina in 2010, and reached 370 stores in 11 states by October 2026. Every date below is tied to a named source.

A few gaps are worth flagging. We could not find reliable opening dates for Cook Out’s first stores in Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia or Maryland, so they are not in the table. Sources also disagree slightly on how many North Carolina stores existed before the 2010 Spartanburg opening, so we use only the 1998 and 2008 milestones reported by North Carolina Rabbit Hole.

For local histories, see our guides to Spartanburg, Lynchburg, Atlanta, Oxford and Pensacola.

What Is Cook Out Restaurant?

Cook Out is a Southern fast-food chain known for char-grilled burgers, barbecue, hot dogs, inexpensive combo “trays” and more than 40 milkshake flavors, served mostly through drive-thrus that stay open late.

Most stores are drive-thru and walk-up only, with no indoor dining, and they accept cash and cards. Prices and hours vary by store. For the full menu, see the tray menu, milkshake menu, burger styles and our step-by-step guide on how to order at Cook Out.

Cook Out’s biggest public-facing move in recent years has been motorsports. NASCAR announced in August 2020 that Darlington Raceway’s Southern 500 would become the Cook Out Southern 500, and the brand has since been attached to Cup Series races at Richmond and Martinsville and to the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem. For a company that almost never speaks to reporters, its name on race weekends is a notable exception.

In 2023, WSOC-TV reported “Roo’s Chicken” signage at a former KFC on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh, on property owned by an entity registered to Jeremy Reaves. Cook Out did not comment, and we have not confirmed whether or how that concept operates today.

Where Can You Learn More About Cook Out?

Use the guides below to find stores, check hours, plan an order or look for a job at Cook Out.

Who Owns Cook Out? FAQs

Answers to the questions people ask most.