The original Tilted Kilt Pub & 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 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 bar, 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 camp shirts tantalizingly tied to show off the midriff.

Harrah’s decision makers were obviously impressed with the proposal from this irreverent restaurateur, because After an hour of contemplation, they invited Mark back. They wanted to know when he could start the project... and the rest is history.

Mark knew, that to be successful in this endeavor, he would need to assemble the finest restaurant management team. He immediately turned to Shannon Reilly, a free spirit and conspiracy theorist; 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 that he needed. The successful launch of the Rio Hotel & Casino Tilted Kilt caused a commotion--people who visited it wanted to take concept to their city, leaving the trio wondering how that could be done. In walked Ron Lynch, an experienced restaurant and franchise developer. He, they thought, was a man they could look up to, but not 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 bar forevermore. They would prove that “A Cold Beer Never Looked So Good” at the Titled Kilt.