Billionaire Restaurateur Tilman Fertitta Talks Plans For Latest Acquisition, New York’s BR Guest

Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire owner of hospitality group Landry’s, Inc., has his sights set on New York, where Landry’s is poised to become one of the largest independent restaurant operators via Fertitta’s deal to acquire the BR Guest portfolio of brands.

BR Guest operates more than a dozen restaurants in Manhattan—including Dos Caminos, Blue Water Grill, Bill’s Bar & Burger, Atlantic Grill and Strip House, among others—as well as locations in New Jersey, Las Vegas and Pittsburgh. Fertitta is acquiring the company from Starwood Capital Group for an undisclosed sum. The purchase, expected to close in the next few weeks, will see the BR Guest lineup join brands including Landry’s Seafood, Bubba Gump, Mastro’s, Morton’s The Steakhouse and Rainforest Cafe among others in Fertitta’s stable.

“We like the New York market. We already have Morton’s, Bubba Gump, Mastro’s and Chart House there, and this gives us a bigger foothold,” Fertitta said in an interview with SND, adding that the BR Guest properties’ current operators will stay in place. “There’s great growth potential for Dos Caminos and Bill’s Burgers. It gives us over 20 restaurants in Manhattan, which probably makes us the largest independent. We’re very excited about it.”

Asked whether he’d consider further expanding BR Guest’s restaurant brands beyond their Manhattan stronghold looking ahead, Fertitta said, “One hundred percent. We’re very interested in growing Bill’s Burgers and also the Strip House.”

The BR Guest buy is the latest in a string of acquisitions for Houston-based Landry’s in recent years, including McCormick & Schmick’s for $132 million in 2011, Morton’s for $117 million in 2012 and Mastro’s for an undisclosed amount in 2013. But Fertitta characterized the BR Guest purchase as an opportunistic play. “This is a company I’ve watched for years,” he noted. “We had the ability to write out a check, and I think they’d been wanting to sell for a long time and preferred to sell to a restaurant company. Private equity doesn’t belong in the restaurant industry. You have to have restaurant people on the ground.”

Discussing trends across the Landry’s portfolio—which numbers more than 500 high-end and casual dining restaurants worldwide—Fertitta said, “The restaurant business is a little soft right now, and has been for about a year. But you have to remember this: we were on a seven- or eight-year run of positive comps of 2%–3%. I don’t care what business you’re in, even if you’re Apple or Microsoft, you’re not going to have positive comps after positive comps year after year. We won’t worry about it or change our business.” While Landry’s suburban concepts have faced a more challenging landscape lately, its urban and tourist-geared brands like Morton’s, Mastro’s, Bubba Gump and Rainforest Cafe have all been doing “extremely well,” he added.

Diageo Unveils New Mixology Program For Johnnie Walker

Diageo North America has launched a national mixology program for Johnnie Walker, aimed at expanding the repertoire of flavors used in Scotch whisky cocktails. The new “Flavors of America” initiative is focused on bartenders and the trade, and features a range of about 50 drinks created by 11 mixologists from around the country. Mixologist Gabe Orta, cofounder of Miami cocktail consulting company Bar Lab and the drinks venue Broken Shaker, leads the program as national ambassador. Market Watch has the full story.

News Briefs:

•Some of the drinks industry’s top companies have addressed their expectations for business conditions in the wake of the tumultuous U.S. presidential election. Constellation Brands, which held an institutional investor meeting in New York yesterday, saw its stock slip 8% after the victory of President-elect Donald Trump, due to concerns over U.S. prospects for its Mexican brews like Corona and Modelo Especial. Constellation CEO Rob Sands, however, said he doesn’t expect any short-term impact on the business, and added that the company would continue to engage with government representatives at all levels and in both parties as the new administration’s policies develop. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Pernod Ricard will not alter its investment plans in the U.S.—where it derives 17% of company sales—due to the outcome of the election. Pernod’s Havana Club rum has stood to benefit from a thaw in relations between the U.S. and Cuba during the Obama administration, but Trump has at times taken a harder line on Cuban-American affairs than his predecessor.

•Crimson Wine Group has posted a 10% rise in sales to $47 million for the first nine months of its fiscal year, through September 30, as the Napa-based company’s three-tier sales increased 7% and direct-to-consumer sales grew 6%. Crimson also saw a large rise in sales of bulk wine and grapes. Income, however, fell by 45% compared with the same period last year, totaling $2.7 million, as higher costs and “a temporary shift in product mix to lower margin products” cut into earnings. Crimson, whose brands include California’s Seghesio, Pine Ridge and Chamisal as well as Oregon’s Archery Summit and Washington’s Double Canyon and Seven Hills, said price hikes and an improved mix should boost margins in the fourth quarter.

•Independent whisk(e)y bottler The Jewish Whisky Co. is moving from a membership-based model to selling its portfolio at retail. Starting in January, the five-year-old American company will offer its Single Cask Nation line of whiskies in California through JVS Imports; Illinois through B.C. Merchants; Massachusetts through M.S. Walker; and New York and New Jersey through Skurnik Wines & Spirits. It will continue to sell members-only bottlings on its website, with membership free to anyone. The move is being accompanied by a new packaging rollout, and the company aims to expand retail distribution to additional markets.

Craft Brewing and Distilling News:

•New Belgium Brewing is launching two new collaborative beers. First is Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale, a 6% abv brew made with chocolate, brown sugar and vanilla added to a blonde ale base. The second is Anne-Françoise Spiced Dark Strong Ale, a joint project with Belgium’s Orval, which is at 9.5% abv and billed as a spiced imperial dark ale. Named for Orval brewmaster Anne-Françoise Pypaert, the latter is the last entry in New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Belgian-collaboration series celebrating the brewery’s 25th anniversary.

•Fort Collins, Colorado-based Old Elk Distillery is debuting two new offerings, Dry Town Gin and Dry Town Vodka. Both entries are made from a four-grain mash of rye, wheat, corn and barley, and left unfiltered. Dry Town Gin is then distilled with botanicals including juniper, orris root, orange, lime, angelica and others. Old Elk’s Dry Town spirits are rolling out on- and off-premise across Colorado.

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