The original Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery opened its doors in 2003 inside the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The hotel is one of the jewels in the portfolio of the giant gaming conglomerate of Harrah’s Entertainment.
The idea for a modern American, Irish, Scottish and English sports pub was the brain child of successful restaurateur Mark DiMartino. Wanting to impress Harrah’s hotel executives, Mark dressed in his finest T-shirt, ripped Levi’s and well-worn Chuck Taylor sneakers and pitched his idea of a contemporary, Celtic theme sports pub staffed with beautiful servers. And guess what the uniforms would be... knee-high socks and short, sexy plaid kilts with matching plaid halter tops under white shirts tantalizingly tied to show off the midriff.
After an hour of contemplation, Harrah’s top decision makers were obviously impressed with the proposal from this veteran restaurateur. They invited Mark back, wanting to know when he could start the project...and the rest is history.
Mark knew to be successful in this endeavor he would need to assemble the finest restaurant management team to impress Rio executives. He immediately turned to Shannon Reilly, a free spirit and conspiracy theorist and John Reynaud, the original One Shot Johnny—a golf pro who hadn’t made a dime on the mini-tour in such a long time he’d forgotten where his bank was.
Several evenings and many cold beers later, Mark had formed the crack team he needed. The successful launch of the Rio Hotel and Casino Tilted Kilt caused a commotion with those interested in bringing the concept to their city and community. This, in turn, left our dynamic trio wondering how to accomplish this task.
In walked Ron Lynch, an experienced restaurant and franchise developer. This, they thought, was a man who they could look up to. However, it wasn’t because of his vast restaurant, franchise, and development experience, but because he was so damn tall (6’6”).
After several months of double-dealing, cheap shots, low blows and self-serving positioning, the “trio plus one” accidentally agreed long enough to establish a company, the goal of which, was to move forward and improve the image of the sports pub forevermore. They would prove that “A Cold Beer Never Looked So Good” at the Titled Kilt.
How The Tilted Kilt Came To
Be The Most Fun Loving
Sports Pub In All The World
The Tilted Kilt concept went on the franchise market
in the spring of 2006
Mark, John, Shannon and Ron.