Landry’s Restaurants principal Tilman Fertitta has added a third-party delivery service to his sprawling holdings through the $308 million purchase of Waitr, a regional operation serving the Southeast.
The purchase will be made through Landcadia Holdings, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, sometimes known as a blank-check corporation. After the deal closes, Landcadia will change its name to Waitr, the company said in a statement.
The current management of Waitr will remain in place, but Fertitta will become a director, according to the statement.
Fertitta indicated that the service will be the delivery provider for Landry’s Inc., which extends to about 600 restaurants operating under 60 brand names, from Joe’s Crab Shack to Morton’s, McCormick & Schmick’s, Claim Jumper, Rainforest Café and Saltgrass. The company began as a single operation, Landry’s, a seafood restaurant started by Fertitta.
The Houstonian also owns Golden Nugget Casinos and the Houston Rockets pro basketball team.
Landcadia indicated that it intends to continue growing Waitr through organic expansion and acquisitions into what it calls underserved markets.
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