Mitchell's Fish Market sold ... to Landry's

[Robin Garr]

Mitchell’s Fish Markets, which has a property in The Summit Center in the eastern Metro, has been sold to Landry’s by its current owner, Ruth’s Hospitality Group.

The story in Nation’s Restaurant News indicates that Ruth’s wants to focus on its flagship property Ruth’s Chris. The story suggests that the small Mitchell’s chain hasn’t been thriving since the 2008 recession.

Landry’s is possibly a more interesting chain than Ruth’s in terms of innovation; but if Mitchell’s is weak, who knows what the future holds. Your thoughts?

Landry’s to acquire Mitchell’s Fish Markets for $10M
Owner Ruth’s Hospitality Group to focus on its core steakhouse concept
Nov 17, 2014
Jonathan Maze

Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc. has reached an agreement to sell its Mitchell’s restaurants to Landry’s Inc. for $10 million, significantly less than the $92 million Ruth’s paid for the concept, Winter Park, Fla.-based Ruth’s said Monday.

The deal includes 18 Mitchell’s Fish Market locations and three Cameron’s Steakhouse units. The sale is expected to close within 75 days, and enables Ruth’s to concentrate on one concept, Ruth’s Chris Steak House. In addition to the sale, Ruth’s said it plans to repurchase as much as $50 million in company stock.

<snip>

The sale adds another seafood concept to Houston-based Landry’s portfolio. Its brands include Landry’s Seafood, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., The Oceanaire and McCormick & Schmick’s, among others. The company has made numerous acquisitions over the years, many of which were of struggling concepts that could be purchased for fairly low prices.

Link to the full article:
http://nrn.com/mergers-acquisitions/lan ... =article_1

Since Landry's is buying the entire "Mitchell's" chain for what they likely perceive as a bargain price, my guess is they will attempt to overhaul the concept...I don't necessarily see Mitchell's leaving the Paddock/Summit site, but it may be due for a major facelift.

We've been regular diners at several "Landry's" restaurants over the years and with the exception of The Rainforest Cafe have always found found them to be very good. Morton's, The Oceanaire, McCormicks and Schmick's and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company were always on our rotation when we lived in MSP/StP.

I can't really put my finger what exactly Mitchell's needs but it needs -something-. We've visited two or three times and have always came away underwhelmed with both the food and atmosphere.

If you look, Landry's has a lot of seafood (and some steak) chains, and I think would do better with Mitchell's than Ruth's Criss did; Landry's has grown over the years by buying (primarily) local or small seafood chains, including:

• Aquarium
• Big Fish
• Boardwalk Fantasea
• The Boathouse
• Bubba Gump
• Charley's Crab
• Chart House
• The Crab House
• Fish Tales
• Fisherman's Wharf
• The Flying Dutchman Restaurant & Oyster Bar
• Landry's Seafood
• The Lighthouse
• McCormick & Schmick's
• Muer Seafood Restaurants
• Oceanaire
• Peohe's
• Pleasure Pier
• River Crab / Blue Water Inn
• Rusty Pelican

Most of the above have kept their character (which has been good or bad, depending on the brand - Oceanaire is still pretty good, and Bubba Gump is still pretty bad (sorry, Steve)!), and Landry's has increased profitability dramatically through centralized purchasing, billing, et al. Also, through chain purchasing, many of the Landry individual units ended up with broader fresh seafood options, and fresher seafood!

Does Cameron Mitchell have any involvement with Mitchell's anymore, or did that end when it was first sold to Ruth's?

[Robin Garr]

Does Cameron Mitchell have any involvement with Mitchell's anymore, or did that end when it was first sold to Ruth's?

Jeff, Ruth's acquired Mitchell's in 2008, according to the NRN story linked in the original post. Click through ... it's not that long, and an informative look into the business history of this deal.

[Robin Garr]

Ruth's acquired Mitchell's in 2008

Oops, i think i glided over a nuance, sorry. Jeff, are you asking whether Cameron Mitchell retained an active management role after the sale? That, the story doesn't say, and I can't speculate.

(Well, I COULD speculate, based on my experience with what happened after the CJ was sold, but that was yesterday's rant. )

Oceanaire is still pretty good, and Bubba Gump is still pretty bad (sorry, Steve)!),

As a "go to" restaurant I would agree whole heartedly the Bubba Gump's is a bit lacking...that being said it was always a bit of an oasis "back in the day" whenever I found myself trapped in the Mall of America on a Saturday afternoon with 2 adolescent daughters. So I'll always have a soft spot for the place.

Hopefully this purchase will be a good thing for both Mitchell's and Louisville. Mitchells has gone downhill a good bit since the purchase by the Ruth's Chris organization and it's certainly not anywhere near what the Louisville deserves from a seafood restaurant. Maybe the Landry organization will change it to a McCormick & Schmick's type menu which I've always found a very good. Based on several recent experiences this restaurant certainly needs to go up in both décor and menu if it's going to survive in the Louisville marketplace. You would think with the UPS operations we have here we should be overwhelmed with fresh seafood but we certainly aren't!