Sales among full-service seafood restaurants in the United States slipped 2 percent last year to USD 8.34 billion, according to Technomic’s “Top 500” report. However, this is a significant improvement from 2009, when full-service seafood restaurant sales tumbled 9.5 percent.
And sales among the full-service seafood chains in the Top 500 fell only 0.2 percent in 2010 to USD 4.69 billion, compared to a 4.2 percent drop in 2009.
On Tuesday, Technomic provided SeafoodSource with the results of the full-service seafood category within the Top 500 report. The Chicago-based foodservice consulting firm released the report’s preliminary findings last month, declaring that the 500 largest U.S. restaurant chains registered a 1.8 percent increase in sales last year, compared to a 0.8 percent decline in sales in 2009.
Red Lobster led the full-service seafood category, with 2010 sales of USD 2.38 billion, down 2.2 percent from 2009. Owned by Darden Restaurants of Orlando, Fla., the chain operates 665 locations.
Bonefish Grill followed, with 2010 sales of USD 417 million, up 6.6 percent from 2009. Owned by OSI Restaurant Partners of Tampa, Fla., the chain operates 152 locations.
Listed at No. 3 wass McCormick & Schmick’s, with 2010 sales of USD 329.5 million, down 2.3 percent from 2009. Rounding out the top five were Joe’s Crab Shack at USD 312 million (up 0.6 percent from 2009) and Legal Sea Foods at USD 180 million (the same as in 2009).
Technomic also identified three emerging chains in its Top 500 report: Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Chart House and Ocean Prime. Bumba Gump’s 2010 sales were up 12.1 percent to USD 177.6 million, while Chart House posted an 11 percent increase in 2010 sales to USD 111 million and Ocean Price recorded an impressive 17.2 percent increase in 2010 sales to USD 41 million. (Chart House is owned by Houston-based Landry’s Restaurants, while Ocean Prime is run by Cameron Mitchell Restaurants of Columbus, Ohio.)
What’s more, Technomic named two “up and comers:” Weathervane Seafood Restaurants and Eddie V’s Prime Seafood. With 17 locations in the Northeast, Weathervane posted a 16.3 percent increase in 2010 sales to USD 30.2 million, while six-unit Eddie V’s managed a 90.7 percent increase in 2010 sales to USD 28.6 million.
As for unit performance, the number of full-service seafood restaurants in the United States fell 1.6 percent last year to 7,929, while number of full-service seafood restaurants in the Top 500 jumped 0.5 percent in 2010 to 1,317.
