Shannon Wynne

Shannon Shelmire Wynne (born December 2, 1951) is an American restaurateur living in Dallas, Texas. Wynne currently co-owns and operates restaurants in six states and 14 cities, including The Flying Saucers in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri; The Flying Fish in Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas; and Rodeo Goat in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.^[1]

Wynne was born on December 2, 1951, in Dallas, Texas, the son of Joann (née Ebeling) and Angus Gilchrist Wynne Jr. His father was a developer in the postwar housing boom when he was president of the American Home Realty Company, developers of Wynnewood Village in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas.^[2] Along with real estate, Wynne Jr. was involved in the amusement park business and founded the Great Southwest Corporation, Six Flags Over Texas,^[3] Six Flags over Georgia, and Six Flags over Mid-America.

Wynne is the grandson of Nemo Shelmire Wynne and Angus Gilchrist Wynne Sr., an East Texas lawyer who was prominent in Democratic Party politics and was the first president of the State Bar of Texas.^[4]

Wynne is the great grandson of William Benjamin "Buck" Wynne, an eminent Dallas lawyer,^[5] and Margaret Henderson Wynne.

On his paternal grandmother’s side, he is the great grandson of Dr. Jesse Bedford Shelmire, a distinguished and pioneer dermatologist who was the first in the Southwest to be honored with membership in the American Dermatological Association, and served as the chair of dermatology at Baylor University College of Medicine, which he held until his retirement in 1927.^[6]

Wynne has two older brothers, Angus Gilchrist Wynne III and David Ebeling Wynne, and one sister, Mary Temple Wynne.

Wynne began his career as a restaurateur in 1980. After his favorite bar in Dallas, the Stoneleigh P, burned down, Wynne and a group of friends and investors brought together their resources and opened 8.0 Bar ("Eight-Oh").^[7] Over the next three years, Wynne opened a string of O-clubs and restaurants across Dallas including Nostromo, The Rio Room, Rocco Oyster Bar, Mexico, and Tango (where Count Basie played opening night).^[8]

Wynne's Nostromo was a popular, yet signless, restaurant. It spawned The Rio Room, located in the back of Nostromo.

Wynne ventured into casual dining with the opening of a Tex-Mex Mexican restaurant, Mexico, and an Italian restaurant, Palermo. Wynne's Rocco Oyster Bar was known for its fresh seafood, New Orleans standards juke box and white tile setting.

James Brown, Lisa Loeb, Joe King Carrasco and Tina Turner on her comeback could be found playing at Tango, with Bob "Daddy-O" Wade's 'Six Frogs Over Greenville' on top of the building where, inside the former bank building, there was plenty of room to dance.

In 1994, Wynne designed and opened 8.0 Bar in Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas.

In 1995, Wynne designed and opened the first Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in Sundance Square with Keith Schlabs.^[9] The restaurant included an extensive beer selection, with hundreds of options in bottles and over 80 quality hand-crafted beers on tap. The Flying Saucer now has four location in the DFW metroplex as well as other locations in San Antonio, Houston, and Sugarland; as well as multiple locations across Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.^[10]

In May 2012 the Fort Worth 8.0 on Sundance Square was closed to make way for The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium and Bird Cafe.^[11]

In 2002, Wynne designed and opened the first Flying Fish, a casual seafood restaurant, in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Flying Fish serves catfish, shrimp, oysters, crawfish and other seafood. Wynne expanded the restaurant throughout North Texas with locations in Addison, Dallas: Irving Blvd., Dallas: Preston Center, Garland, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Garland: Firewheel, and Houston. There is also a location in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 2010, Wynne designed and opened Meddlesome Moth, a gastro pub with a tap room and a chef driven menu. The restaurant, an early entry to a new wave of development in the Dallas Design District, offers an extensive beer selection. The Moth features art works by James Surls, Frank Tolbert, Dmitri Vail and many others. ^[12] Unable to come to terms with his landlord, Wynne chose to close the restaurant in May of 2025. ^[13]

In 2013, Wynne opened Lark on the Park overlooking Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, but shuttered the concept in 2018. ^[14]

Wynne has previously served on the board of the North Texas Food Bank, The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, and KERA radio in Dallas, and the Lone Star Film Festival in Fort Worth. He co-founded Preservation Park Cities, now called Park Cities Historical and Preservation Society since merging with the Park Cities Historical Society. Wynne co-founded the David Dike Art Auction with Texas art expert David Dike.

A friend of the arts, Wynne collects works by Texas artists, with a particular interest in works from "The Dallas Nine," a group of painters, printmakers, and sculptors active in Dallas during the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.). Wynne also collects the works of many current artists including David Bates, Bill Haveron, James Surls and many others.

From his first marriage to Patti Jo (née Oldham), Wynne has a son, Shannon Shelmire "Sam" Wynne Jr. (born 1984). Patti was the daughter of Philadelphia reporter Jim O'Brien and is the sister of actress Peri Gilpin, well known for her role as Roz Doyle in Frasier.

From his marriage to Brycie Sue Hoecker, Shannon is the father of triplets, Isabella "Bella" Mae McCarty Wynne, Bowie Hoecker Wynne and Angus Augustus Wynne (born 1996).

Wynne is married to Kimberly Claire Daulton (wed August 14, 2010) and has two step daughters; Raynor Elizabeth B. (born 1989) and Wynonah.