Company type | Private |
---|---|
NYSE: LNY | |
Industry | Hospitality Gaming Restaurant |
Founded | April 2, 1980 in Katy, Texas, United States |
Founders | Bill and Floyd Landry |
Headquarters | Houston, Texas, U.S. |
Number of locations | 471 total properties [note 1] (2021) |
Key people | Tilman Fertitta (president & CEO) |
Products | Casual dining, Fine dining, Casino games, Entertainment destinations, Resorts |
Revenue | $3 billion (2021) |
Owner | Tilman Fertitta |
Number of employees | 58,000 (2021) |
Website | landrysinc |
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; [1] Bill and Floyd Landry were the original owners. They had started opening restaurants in the Houston area in the 1970s. [2]
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. [2] 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. [2] 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. [2]
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. [2] He took the company public in 1993, with a valuation of $30 million. [3]
Under Fertitta, the company expanded. In 2010, already the majority shareholder, Fertitta acquired all outstanding shares of company stock, gaining sole control and ownership. [4] By 2011, the company's value had risen to more than $1.7 billion. [5]
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. [6] In 2006, Landry's, Inc., sold Joe's Crab Shack, which had grown to more than 120 locations, to J.H. Whitney & Company. [7] During the decade, the company acquired several other restaurants, including The Crab House and Cadillac Bar. [8]
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. [9] 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. [10]
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. [5] The company's hospitality division also includes The Westin Houston Downtown in Downtown Houston [11] and the Boardwalk Inn on the Kemah Boardwalk. [12]
After 2000, Landry's, Inc., continued to grow. In 2000, the company acquired Rainforest Cafe, a collection of jungle-inspired restaurants and retail villages. [13] In 2002, the company acquired three national seafood restaurants: Saltgrass Steak House, [14] Chart House, [15] and Muer Restaurants,. [16]
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. [17]
In 2005, the company acquired Golden Nugget Hotel & Casinos, with locations in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada. [18] Landry's, Inc., has since opened three additional locations in Atlantic City, New Jersey, [19] Biloxi, Mississippi [20] and Lake Charles, Louisiana. [21]
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 , [22] [23] The company also acquired Claim Jumper, a national chain of family restaurants. [24] The Oceanaire, a national collection of seafood restaurants, [25] is known for flying in fresh fish daily. [26]
In 2011, Landry's bought two more restaurants – McCormick & Schmick's Seafood & Steaks [27] and Morton's The Steakhouse. [28] In 2012, the company expanded its entertainment division with the opening of the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier. [29]
In 2013, Landry's acquired Mastro's restaurants. [30] 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. [31] In 2016, Landry's acquired the BR Guest restaurant brand. [32]
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. [33] [34] [35] Landry's had sold Joe's to Ignite's predecessor in 2006. [36] 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, [37] 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. [38]
In November 2024, Landry's acquired Keens Steakhouse for $30 million. [39]
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. [64] 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: [64]
"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. [64] 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.” [65]
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. [65] 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. [64]
Kemah is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, southeast of Houston along west Galveston Bay. The city's population was 1,807 at the 2020 census, down from 2,330 at the 2000 census. Located in Galveston County, Kemah's main industry is shipping. Originally a small fishing town, the city has become a tourist destination for the area's restaurants and attractions, which are contained within the Kemah Entertainment District. In 2012 Kemah was ranked the top tourism spot in the Greater Houston area.
Claim Jumper Restaurant and Saloon is an American restaurant chain with 11 locations as of October 28th, 2023. The company is based in Houston, Texas.
The Kemah Boardwalk is a 60-acre Texas Gulf Coast theme park in Kemah, Texas, approximately 30 miles southeast of Downtown Houston, Texas. The Boardwalk is built entirely along the shores of Galveston Bay and Clear Lake. The complex is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc., and has restaurants, rides, midway games, a boutique hotel, a charter yacht, a 400-slip marina and shops. There is no charge to walk on the boardwalk. Tickets are sold for rides.
The Palm is an international chain of American fine-dining steakhouses that began in 1926. The original location was in New York City at 837 Second Avenue in Manhattan.
The Golden Nugget Las Vegas is a luxury hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on the Fremont Street Experience. The property is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It has 2,419 hotel rooms.
The Golden Nugget Laughlin is a hotel and casino located on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It offers a number of restaurants, 300 guest rooms and suites, a casino floor, and meeting spaces. The Golden Nugget offers water taxi service from Bullhead City, Arizona, on the opposite side of the river.
Golden Nugget Hotels & Casinos is an American chain of luxury hotels and casinos. It currently operates six casino resorts in Nevada, Louisiana, New Jersey, Illinois, and Mississippi.
Joe's Crab Shack is an American chain of beach-themed seafood casual dining restaurants. Founded in Houston, Texas, the restaurant now operates locations all across the United States.
Houlihan's is an American casual restaurant and bar chain with locations operating throughout the country, 60% of which are franchised. It is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. The first Houlihan's opened on April 1, 1972, in Kansas City's Country Club Plaza, and there are now 35 restaurants in 15 states. It was originally named Houlihan's Old Place because it was first located in the space of Houlihans Clothing Store.
Morton's The Steakhouse is a chain of steak restaurants with locations in the United States and franchised abroad, founded in Chicago in 1978. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Landry's.
McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants Inc. is an American seafood restaurant chain, formerly based in Portland, Oregon. As of July 2021, the company operates 26 locations in the United States and 5 Canadian locations that operate under the Boathouse name. A sale to the parent company, Landry's, Inc., was completed in January 2012. Landry's corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas now manages all restaurant operations.
Saltgrass Steak House is an American restaurant concept with more than 80 locations across the country. The company is based in Houston, Texas, and is wholly owned by Landry's, Inc.
Tilman Joseph Fertitta is an American businessman and television personality. He is the chairman, CEO, and owner of Landry's, Inc. He also owns the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Houston Rockets. Fertitta is chairman of the board of regents of the University of Houston System.
Downtown Aquarium is a for profit aquarium and restaurant located in Houston, Texas, United States, that was developed from two Houston landmarks: Fire Station No. 1 and the Central Waterworks Building. The aquarium is located on a 6-acre (2.4 ha) site at 410 Bagby Street in downtown Houston. It houses over 200 species of aquatic animals in 500,000 US gallons (1,900,000 L) of aquariums. The complex includes two restaurants, a bar, and banquet facilities. It offers programs such as Marine Biologist for a Day, Zoologist for a Day, Sea Safari Camp, overnight stays and more. The education department works with school groups and conducts outreach programs.
Golden Nugget Lake Charles is a 242-acre waterfront casino resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States, owned and operated by Houston-based Landry's, Inc. The resort features 1038 guest rooms and suites housed in a 22-story tower, an 18-hole golf course, 30,000 square feet of meeting space, more than a dozen dining and bar options, a private beach, marina, spa & salon, retail corridor and expansive 24-hour casino floor.
Vic & Anthony's is an American steakhouse restaurant chain with locations in Downtown Houston, and inside the Golden Nugget Casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Lake Charles. Vic & Anthony's is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc.
Fertitta Entertainment Inc. is a conglomerate and holding company that holds companies and investments owned by Tilman Fertitta. These include Landry's, Inc., the Houston Rockets, and the Golden Nugget casinos. Within the portfolio are many luxury hotels and well known restaurant brands such as Rainforest Café, Del Frisco's, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Morton's The Steakhouse, among others. Additionally, the company is the largest shareholder of food delivery app ASAP.
The Post Oak Hotel & Tower, also popularly nicknamed the Fertitta Tower is a 36-story, 499-foot-high (152 m) mixed-use skyscraper in Uptown Houston. The building operates a hotel, office space, residencies, and retail. The Post Oak serves as the headquarters for Fertitta Entertainment and its subsidiaries including Landry's, Inc., the Houston Rockets, and the Golden Nugget casinos. A penthouse room which houses Fertitta, the developer, is located in the building.