Regular patrons of Tio Javi’s on Constitution Avenue may have noticed some changes recently. That’s because the Mexican restaurant has been under new ownership since November, when the owner of the nearby Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Chris Bachman, acquired the business and the property from the family of the late T.J. Moran.
According to documents filed with the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court, Bachman’s Limit Out Properties, LLC acquired the property for $1.4 million from the Moran family’s Bekmet Ltd. on Nov. 1.
Bachman declines to say what he paid for the assets of the business itself.
The transaction was the second in three years between Bachman and the Moran family. In 2015, he acquired Ruth’s Chris from Bekmet Ltd. for $2.5 million.
Bachman, who got his start working at a Moran-owned Ruth’s Chris restaurant in Chicago, says he wanted to buy Tio Javi’s because of its proximity to Ruth’s Chris and because he saw opportunities to improve on it.
“I’m just going to make it better,” says Bachman, though he has no plans for a major overhaul or expansion at this point. “We are just trying to fresh everything up and make a good culture over there.”
For his part, T. J. Moran’s son, Burke Moran, who lives in Montana, says the family was only too happy to sell Tio Javi’s when Bachman approached them last fall. “We don’t do Mexican well so when Chris made an offer we jumped at the chance.”
Moran went on to say he and his family are concentrating on the three T.J. Ribs locations it owns and operates, including two that recently underwent extensive renovations. Plans are also in the works for a fourth location that will open in Lafayette in early 2019.
The company recently acquired three acres of property in Lafayette and is getting ready to begin construction. It will be the first T.J. Ribs outside of the Capital Region since the late T. J. Moran operated a Destin, Florida, location for a few years in the 1990s that has since closed.
“We have a better infrastructure with that brand and the ability to grow that concept,” he says.
—Stephanie Riegel
