Joe's Crab Shack

Joe's Crab Shack closures top 40

The casual chain has quietly been cut by more than a third as it awaits a change in ownership.

Financing

Romano's Macaroni Grill files for bankruptcy protection

Management says the venerable Italian chain will use the filing to renegotiate leases on 37 closed sites.

Sales also slowed at sister brand Brick House Tavern + Tap during Q3.

Or at least not in 14 of the 18 restaurants that switched to a revenue-sharing model for compensating servers, revealed Ignite Restaurants, parent of the Joe's Crab Shack chain. Joe's was the first full-service restaurant chain of scale to experiment with the discontinuation of tipping.

This week's look at industry developments is intended for mature audiences only.

The filing could come as early as next week, according to one report.

The seafood menu category continues to slowly sink, having declined 0.8% in sales to $5.3 billion and 2.1% in unit counts to 1,377 in 2016 from the prior year.

The reported offer tops an already-inked purchase deal by almost 10%, and comes days after the Landry's owner bought 50% of Catch.

When it comes to restaurant brands, the sales leaders are not always consumers’ favorites for a variety of reasons. Chains best at parlaying customer satisfaction into sales are hard to beat.

See which 10 chains are winning with seafood that consumers say they can’t get anywhere else.

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