Cafeteria News
Buyer comes to rescue Luby's cafeteria restaurants in Dallas and Texas
A new deal will keep Dallasites eating square fish and mac & cheese for the foreseeable future: Luby's, the Houston-based restaurant chain, has sold its cafeteria restaurant business to a new corporation founded by entrepreneur Calvin Gin.
The sale is the latest step in the process of liquidation and dissolution that the company's board of directors adopted last year. Valued at approximately $28.7 million, the deal includes 32 locations of Luby's in Texas and the Luby's brand, according to a release. Last week, the company sold the Fuddruckers brand to a franchisee for $18.5 million.
The new entity, called Luby's Restaurants Corporation, plans to offer positions to the roughly 1,000 people currently employed at those locations, which includes one restaurant in Dallas and one in Fort Worth.
"We are so pleased to be able to acquire the operation of these Luby's Cafeteria stores, one of the iconic brands in the Texas restaurant market," Gin said in a statement. "This transaction will allow us to continue serving the many loyal Luby's customers at these locations and to provide long-term employment opportunities for the many associates currently at these locations."
Critically, the transaction does not include any of the real estate Luby's currently owns. The company plans to sell its holdings for 25 locations; the new Luby's Restaurants Corporation would then negotiate leases with the property's new owners.
Calvin Gin is a member of the Gin family, best known for founding The Flying Food Group, a Chicago-based firm that's the third largest airline catering company in North America. He brings over two decades of experience to his role, including work at The Flying Food Group and as a co-founder and partner in businesses such as Helios Visions, WorkPlate, and Charming Studios.
"I could not be more pleased than to see Calvin Gin, along with many of the existing management team, able to carry on the fine tradition of Luby's brand of food and service in Texas that dates back to 1947," Luby's chairman of the board Gerald Bodzy added.
Here's the full list of stores to be included in the purchase agreement:
- Dallas - South Hampton
- De Soto - North Beckley
- Ft. Worth - Forest Hill
- Austin - East Anderson
- Beaumont - IH 10 East
- Brownsville - Sunrise Mall
- Conroe - Longmire
- Corpus Christi - Saratoga Blvd.
- El Paso - Hawkins Blvd.
- Harlingen - South 99 Sunshine Strip
- Houston - East Freeway
- Houston - 730 West FM 1960
- Houston - Fuqua
- Houston - South Mason, Katy
- Houston - Meyer Park
- Houston - 11250 Northwest Fwy
- Houston - 19668 Northwest Fwy
- Houston - Spring Cypress
- Houston - Veterans Memorial
- Houston - Westminster Plaza
- Kingwood - Highway 59
- Laredo - West Calton Road
- McAllen - North 10th Street
- Pharr
- Port Arthur - Highway 7
- San Antonio - Floyd Curl
- San Antonio - Fredericksburg Rd.
- San Antonio - Las Palmas
- San Antonio - West Loop 1604 North
- San Antonio - S.E. Military
- Stafford - West Airport Blvd.
- Webster - Gulf Fwy