{"id":158047,"date":"2026-04-20T14:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=158047"},"modified":"2026-04-20T14:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:33:17","slug":"steve-grantham-named-farrington-entrepreneur-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/steve-grantham-named-farrington-entrepreneur-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Grantham Named Farrington Entrepreneur of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ole Miss alumnus honored for leadership, community investment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The University of Mississippi<\/strong> has named alumnus Steve Grantham<\/strong> as the recipient of the Farrington Entrepreneur of the Year Award<\/strong> for his leadership, community service and engagement with the School of Business Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grantham, of Jackson, is president of J&R Restaurant Group<\/strong>, the Outback Steakhouse<\/strong> franchisee for Mississippi and west Tennessee. The company operates eight restaurants across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was honored April 10 at the Gillespie Business Model Competition<\/strong> awards ceremony. The annual award, presented by the\u00a0School of Business Administration<\/strong><\/a>, honors entrepreneurs whose work reflects innovation, impact and service. The award is named for alumni Jan and Lawrence Farrington<\/strong>, of Ridgeland<\/strong>, the inaugural recipients in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grantham serves on the advisory board of the UM\u00a0Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and supports student and alumni entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ole Miss has always had a special place in my heart,” Grantham said. “The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship<\/strong> gives students the opportunity to test ideas, learn from failure and develop a real starting point for a business.\u00a0That kind of support can be transformational.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The honoree is also involved with the\u00a0Serving the South Business Model Competition<\/strong><\/a>, the Legacy Leadership Program<\/strong> and family business initiatives, providing mentorship based on decades of experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Steve Grantham exemplifies leadership with purpose,” said Clay Dibrell<\/strong>, CIE<\/strong> co-director. “He consistently steps forward to support students and strengthen Mississippi businesses.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 1993 by Steve Grantham Sr., J&R Restaurant Group has operated under Grantham’s leadership since 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has provided more than 40,000 free meals to charities, community events, law enforcement and military organizations. In 2026, J&R plans to support more than 50 charitable organizations and more than 85 community events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grantham has received the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal<\/strong> from the state and serves as treasurer of the Foundation for Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a relationship-driven world,” he said. “Success comes down to trust and knowing people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To support the School of Business Administration, contact Angela Brown<\/strong>, managing director of development, at\u00a0browna@olemiss.edu<\/a>\u00a0or 662-915-3181.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Michael Newsom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ole Miss alumnus honored for leadership, community investment The University of Mississippi has named alumnus Steve Grantham as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":158048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25263],"tags":[26119,34265,21300,34266,34257,34268,34267,34259,32102,34260,34264,34258,7559,20196,34263,23575,34262,34261,655],"class_list":["post-158047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news","tag-angela-brown","tag-cie","tag-clay-dibrell","tag-distinguished-civilian-service-medal","tag-farrington-entrepreneur-of-the-year-award","tag-fisheries-and-parks","tag-foundation-for-mississippi-wildlife","tag-gillespie-business-model-competition","tag-jr-restaurant-group","tag-jan-and-lawrence-farrington","tag-legacy-leadership-program","tag-outback-steakhouse","tag-ridgeland","tag-school-of-business-administration","tag-serving-the-south-business-model-competition","tag-steve-grantham","tag-the-center-for-innovation-and-entrepreneurship","tag-um-center-for-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-2","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Entrepreneur-of-the-Year-2026-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158049,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158047\/revisions\/158049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}