How Rural Virginia's Warren Thompson Built a Billion-Dollar Hospitality Empire

How Rural Virginia's Warren Thompson Built a Billion-Dollar Hospitality Empire

Warren Thompson likes to tell the story of how, at just 12 years old, he was dining with his parents at a Portsmouth, Virginia, Shoney’s restaurant, and declared that one day he would own a Shoney’s franchise. Not only did the entrepreneur make good on that promise, but today his Reston-based Thompson Hospitality employs more than 6,000 people and owns and operates more than 70 restaurants across Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Ohio, and Washington…