Every single Johnny Rockets restaurant in Arizona now belongs to one man. Richard “Rip” Riva, a franchisee with more than 20 years of history with the burger-and-shake chain, has consolidated all seven of the state's locations under his ownership, and he says he isn't finished growing the brand across the Southwest.
Riva's Arizona footprint took shape gradually before coming together this year. As reported by ABC15 Arizona, he took over the high-volume Johnny Rockets at Arizona Mills mall in Tempe in 2025 and also owns the location inside the Cliff Castle Casino Hotel in Camp Verde. He recently opened a brand-new store at Chandler Fashion Center, marking the chain's return to that mall roughly a decade after its original Chandler location closed, according to mouth by southwest.
The Tempe and Chandler moves were part of a broader push that began taking shape in November 2025, when Riva's Phoenix-area consolidation started with the Arizona Mills takeover while the Chandler build-out was already underway, per KTAR News. That groundwork set the stage for bringing all seven statewide locations under single ownership this year.
A Franchise Rooted in Arizona History
Riva's Arizona holdings include a piece of Johnny Rockets history. The Scottsdale Fashion Square location he operates is considered the longest continuously operating Johnny Rockets store in the world, having served customers since the mall's 1986 expansion, the same year the chain itself was founded, according to WhatNow Phoenix. That timing lines up with the brand's origins on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, where founder Ronn Teitelbaum modeled the counter-service diner after the 1947 Apple Pan restaurant in West Los Angeles, per Wikipedia.
Riva's ties to the brand go beyond ownership. In 2012, his franchise group, J. Rockets Enterprises, partnered with the Johnny Rockets Group to test a quick-service prototype called JR's Burger Grill in Phoenix, featuring smaller patties, $2.99 single burgers, and $2.95 shakes aimed at competing with fast-casual burger chains, as reported by Nation's Restaurant News. The test made Riva an early innovation partner for the corporate brand well before his current consolidation effort.
Quality Control Across the Valley
To keep food consistent across his stores, Riva requires 100 percent Certified Angus Beef and brioche buns shipped directly from a specialty bakery in Chicago rather than sourcing locally, according to WhatNow Phoenix. The uniform supply chain reflects the same operational approach he brought to his earlier restaurant ventures.
Before focusing on Johnny Rockets, Riva owned dozens of Arby's restaurants in the Pacific Northwest, according to ABC15 Arizona. He had served as president of Cascade Beef Inc. and sold ten Arby's franchise locations across Washington state and Idaho to United States Beef Corp. in May 2017, per the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. That divestment came before he turned his attention more heavily to building out his Arizona Johnny Rockets footprint.
Corporate Turmoil at the Top
Riva's local consolidation has unfolded against a rocky backdrop at the corporate level. Johnny Rockets' parent company, FAT Brands, went through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring that concluded in June 2026, when lender group FBG Bid Co. acquired Johnny Rockets and several sister chains through a $595 million credit bid, according to Restaurant Business. FAT Brands had filed for bankruptcy after piling up roughly $1.5 billion in acquisition debt. Hoodline previously covered FAT Brands' bankruptcy filing in January.
FAT Brands had originally purchased Johnny Rockets from private equity firm Sun Capital Partners for approximately $25 million in September 2020, a deal that added more than 300 locations globally to its portfolio at the time, according to a Business Wire release. The chain's footprint has since shrunk dramatically nationwide; as of late 2025, Johnny Rockets operated about 64 U.S. locations across 21 states, with Nevada holding the most at 11 stores and Arizona ranking among the chain's top markets, per data from ScrapeHero. With seven locations, Riva now controls more than 10 percent of all operating Johnny Rockets restaurants in the country.
Despite the upheaval at the corporate level, Riva has leaned on more than two decades of experience with the brand, including his role as a test-concept operator and his stewardship of the Scottsdale location's record-setting run, to keep his Arizona stores unified and stable, according to WhatNow Phoenix. He has said he plans to keep growing the Johnny Rockets brand, though he has not detailed specific new locations or markets he's targeting next.
