Landry's, Inc

Landry's, Inc., is an American, privately owned, 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. It is the second largest seafood dining chain after Red Lobster.
== History ==
Landry's, Inc., is owned entirely by President & CEO Tilman Fertitta, an original partner in the company's first Landry's Seafood, which opened in the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas, in 1980. A year later, Fertitta bought Willie G's, a seafood restaurant in Houston. In 1986, Fertitta gained controlling interests in both restaurants. He became CEO and 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.
=== Acquisitions and growth ===
==== 1990s ====
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 a number of 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. In total, the San Luis Resort includes 700 guest rooms, 10 restaurants, and 200,000 square feet of event space.
The company's hospitality division also includes The Westin Houston Downtown in Downtown Houston and the Boardwalk Inn on the Kemah Boardwalk. In 1998, the company developed the 35-acre Kemah Boardwalk, with a hotel, a marina, more than 10 restaurants, and dozens of midway games, amusement rides, and attractions.
==== 2000s ====
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).
==== 2010s ====
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, who 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.
== Controversies ==
=== White Tiger Exhibit in Downtown Aquarium, Houston ===
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:
"For the last 12 years, Landry’s has deprived these four tigers [...] of any access to sunlight, fresh air, or natural surfaces. These species-inappropriate living conditions violate the ESA [...]. At no point do the tigers have the opportunity to run, jump, or engage in the full range of their natural behaviors.
"The dungeon-like conditions that the tigers are forced to endure at Houston’s Downtown Aquarium harm their physical health and psychological wellbeing and deny them much that is natural and important to a tiger," says renowned big cat veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Conrad. "It is cruel to confine complex, roaming carnivores such as tigers to a tiny, dark, artificial, unenriched enclosure where they never see any daylight, much less bask in sunshine, and are at risk for serious long term, debilitating injuries from being forced to live on slippery, unyielding concrete their entire lives." […]
"By forcing these tigers to live in what amounts to a concrete dungeon, Landry’s has profited financially, but caused the tigers serious mental and physical harm .... Retiring the tigers to a sanctuary will guarantee that the tigers may spend the rest of their lives in the species-appropriate conditions that they need and deserve.”
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.
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