Landry's

Landry's, Inc., is a privately held American multi-brand dining, hospitality, entertainment, and gaming corporation headquartered in Houston, Texas. Landry's, Inc., owns and operates more than 600 restaurants, hotels, casinos, and entertainment destinations in 35 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The company also owns and operates numerous international locations. The company is owned by president & CEO Tilman Fertitta.
The first Landry's Seafood restaurant opened in Texas in 1980. While many patrons assumed it was named for Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, it was not; Bill and Floyd Landry were the original owners. They had started opening restaurants in the Houston area in the 1970s.
Brothers Bill and Floyd Landry and other partners from their hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, began opening authentic Cajun restaurants in the Houston area in the 1970s. These included Willie G’s (named for their father), near The Galleria, and the first Landry's Seafood on the far west side of the city. By 1986, nearly all of the partners wanted to sell their shares. They found a willing buyer in Tilman Fertitta, who paid $400,000 on December 31, 1986, for a controlling interest in the company. The remaining partner, Denis Wilson, was bought out for $850,000. He received $250,000 upfront, but had to spend $120,000 in legal fees to eventually collect the remaining $600,000 from Fertitta.
Fertitta became CEO and quickly began standardizing the appearance and menus of his restaurants; he removed the Cajun spicing from most dishes and scrubbed away the unique interior of Willie G's. He took the company public in 1993, with a valuation of $30 million.
Under Fertitta, the company expanded. In 2010, already the majority shareholder, Fertitta acquired all outstanding shares of company stock, gaining sole control and ownership. By 2011, the company's value had risen to more than $1.7 billion.
Throughout the 1990s, Landry's, Inc., expanded, developing and acquiring restaurant, entertainment, hospitality, and gaming businesses. In 1994, Landry's, Inc., acquired Joe's Crab Shack. In 2006, Landry's, Inc., sold Joe's Crab Shack, which had grown to more than 120 locations, to J.H. Whitney & Company. During the decade, the company acquired several other restaurants, including The Crab House and Cadillac Bar.
Landry's, Inc., expanded its hospitality and entertainment divisions in 1996, acquiring the San Luis Resort, a 32-acre beachfront resort on Galveston Island's historic Seawall Boulevard and built on top of the former Fort Crockett. In 2004, Landry's, Inc., partnered with the city of Galveston to open a 140,000 square foot convention center, the Galveston Island Convention Center at the San Luis Resort. In 2003, the company acquired the adjacent Holiday Inn Resort Galveston – On the Beach. In 2004, the adjacent Hilton Galveston Island Resort was acquired. The San Luis Resort includes 700 guest rooms, ten restaurants, and 200,000 square feet of event space.
In 1998, the company developed the 35-acre Kemah Boardwalk, with a hotel, a marina, more than ten restaurants, and dozens of midway games, amusement rides, and attractions. The company's hospitality division also includes The Westin Houston Downtown in Downtown Houston and the Boardwalk Inn on the Kemah Boardwalk.
After 2000, Landry's, Inc., continued to grow. In 2000, the company acquired Rainforest Cafe, a collection of jungle-inspired restaurants and retail villages. In 2002, the company acquired three national seafood restaurants: Saltgrass Steak House, Chart House, and Muer Restaurants.
In 2003, the company opened the Downtown Aquarium, a 20-acre entertainment complex in Houston with an aquarium, a restaurant built around a 150,000-gallon, floor-to-ceiling centerpiece aquarium, a bar, banquet facilities, amusement rides, and midway games. A train carries guests into a tunnel running through a 250,000-gallon shark tank. Other Aquarium restaurants have since opened in Denver, Nashville, and on the Kemah Boardwalk in Texas.
In 2005, the company acquired Golden Nugget Hotel & Casinos, with locations in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada. Landry's, Inc., has since opened three additional locations in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Biloxi, Mississippi and Lake Charles, Louisiana.
On October 14, 2008, T-Rex Cafe, a dinosaur themed restaurant chain at Disney Springs formerly known as Downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida, location was also opened to the public, and the Legends Outlets in Kansas City, Kansas, location was opened in 2006 and which was closed on August 13, 2017, replaced by Michael Kors and it is themed after The Rite of Spring segment by Igor Stravinsky in the 1940 Walt Disney's animated film Fantasia (1940).
In 2010, Landry's, Inc., acquired three new restaurants: Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a collection of seafood restaurants themed on the movie Forrest Gump, The company also acquired Claim Jumper, a national chain of family restaurants. The Oceanaire, a national collection of seafood restaurants, is known for flying in fresh fish daily.
In 2011, Landry's bought two more restaurants – McCormick & Schmick's Seafood & Steaks and Morton's The Steakhouse. In 2012, the company expanded its entertainment division with the opening of the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier.
In 2013, Landry's acquired Mastro's restaurants. The company has developed and acquired a collection of restaurants called Landry's Signature Group, which include Vic & Anthony's, Grotto, Brenner's Steakhouse, Brenner's on the Bayou, La Griglia, and Willie G's Seafood & Steaks. In 2016, Landry's acquired the BR Guest restaurant brand.
In August 2017, Landry's re-acquired Joe's Crab Shack restaurants from Ignite Restaurant Group, which had filed for bankruptcy protection on June 6, 2017. Landry's had sold Joe's to Ignite's predecessor in 2006. The Ignite group's Brick House Tavern, and Tap restaurants were also included in the deal.
In September 2019, Landry's bought Seattle-based Restaurants Unlimited Inc, adding Skates on the Bay, Portland City Grill, Manzana Grill, Palisade, Cutters Crabhouse, Stanford's, Henry's Tavern, Kincaid's, Palomino Restaurant & Bar, and Portland Seafood Company to its portfolio.
Also in September 2019, Landry's acquired Del Frisco's Grille and Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak Houses for around $650 million.
In November 2024, Landry's acquired Keens Steakhouse for $30 million.
Landry's, Inc. will assume ownership of a 60% stake in the online casino platform, Golden Nugget Online Casino as part of the deal to go public.
Since the 1990s, Landry's has expanded to real estate holdings beyond dining and hospitality.
Landry's, Inc., owns aquariums in Houston, Denver, Nashville, and Kemah, Texas. All aquariums contain restaurants branded in Landry's Aquarium subsidiary.
On September 19, 2016, a consortium of parties, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), sent Landry's a notice of an intended lawsuit against it under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit notice concerned the alleged treatment and habitat conditions of four white tigers exhibited at the Downtown Aquarium, Houston. The ALDF complained that the four tigers, which are federally protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, “are kept in deplorable conditions” at the Aquarium. According to a press release provided by the ALDF:
Before the expiration of the 60-day notice period, Landry's sued the ALDF and its co-parties to the original lawsuit notice for defamation, business disparagement, tortious interference with prospective business relations, and abuse of process. In response, the ALDF filed a motion for the dismissal of the defamation lawsuit, citing Texas’ Anti-SLAPP law, which allows judges to dismiss meritless lawsuits filed against those who speak out about a “matter of public concern.”
On February 22, 2017, Harris County District Judge Steven Kirkland dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by Landry's and further ordered Landry's to pay $450,000 in penalties and an additional $174,000 in legal fees to deter the company from filing such lawsuits in the future. The decision to dismiss the defamation lawsuit by Landry's was affirmed on October 18, 2018, by the Fourteenth Court of Appeals of Texas, although the penalties sanctioned on Landry's were reduced.