Future of Landry's Restaurants and its impact on WDW

[unkadug]

Oh, you mean that plan that our good friend (who shall remain nameless) keeps heralding?

That's the one.

 

[Senderella]

I'm sure the brains at Landry's knew what their financial situation was when they took on the T Rex for DTD. I can't imagine them pouring how many millions into a new venture (knowing they're not doing so hot..this sort of thing doesn't happen over night right?) without some sort of "back up" plan with Disney in the contract should Landry's fold. It hasn't been open a full year yet. As for Yak & Yeti, I'd be willing to bet Disney would take that over OR find another type of restaurant for it (ala Alfredo's vs Tutto). I'd also be willing to bet they'd let Rainforest and Fulton's fold since they're trying to revamp the DTD area.. that'd give them an excuse to do something new with those areas.

Just another 2 cents from the peanut gallery :animwink:

 

[Mr.EPCOT]

Levy Restaurants owns Portobello Yacht Club and Fulton's Crab House.

Just to be clear because some folks don't appear to be, but Fulton's (as well as Portobello and Wolfgang Puck are all run by Levy Restaurants NOT Landry's ... they are also worlds better than any of Landry's WDW operations).

Ah, I knew that, I was getting my wires crossed, my mistake. An easy one to make, if I may say so myself. I'd read the wonderful article on Widen Your World about history of the Lake Buena Vista/Walt Disney World/Village/Marketplace a couple of days ago, and it talked about Levy's taking over operation of the Empress Lilly, and I got that confused with Landry's when I read this thread.

 

[yankspy]

Just to be clear because some folks don't appear to be, but Fulton's (as well as Portobello and Wolfgang Puck are all run by Levy Restaurants NOT Landry's ... they are also worlds better than any of Landry's WDW operations).

That Landry's is struggling isn't surprising. It's kind of hard to think about dining out when you're about to lose your home.

I would think they'd wind up either finding the financing, drastically cutting back units (they sold Joe's Crab Shack, one of their largest chains in 2007) and if worse came to worse filing while staying largely in business.

But in a worse case, Disney would have to take over ops because they couldn't likely have those huge holes ... and RC's are also located in Anaheim, Paris and Tokyo Disney resorts.

As an aside, right now DD in Anaheim has 4-5 major vacancies after companies have gone belly up.

So, it will be interesting to see what happens there as well.

Yeah, Joe's wasn't doing so hot. Another reason that Landry's had a tough year was the hurricane that hit Galveston. It wiped out a large number of their locations.

Ah, I knew that, I was getting my wires crossed, my mistake. An easy one to make, if I may say so myself. I'd read the wonderful article on Widen Your World about history of the Lake Buena Vista/Walt Disney World/Village/Marketplace a couple of days ago, and it talked about Levy's taking over operation of the Empress Lilly, and I got that confused with Landry's when I read this thread.

That was a good article wasn't it.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Thanks for sharing from a CM perspective :wave:.

Interesting about T-Rex. My cousin said it was a fun place to eat, but she really wasn't impressed with the food.

I ate there opening night and later in that week and thought the food was better there than Rainforest...

 

[flscooman]

Don't forget Disney took over all-star cafe for awhile before turning it into a QSR. So not without precedent that they could take over these restaurants. More likely landry's will close underperforming restaurants and try to reorganize as a smaller entity.

 

[CaptainMichael]

Ah, I knew that, I was getting my wires crossed, my mistake. An easy one to make, if I may say so myself. I'd read the wonderful article on Widen Your World about history of the Lake Buena Vista/Walt Disney World/Village/Marketplace a couple of days ago, and it talked about Levy's taking over operation of the Empress Lilly, and I got that confused with Landry's when I read this thread.

Link please

 

[wolf359]

Here ya go!

http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/wdwv1.htm

 

[disneyliv85]

I'm sure the brains at Landry's knew what their financial situation was when they took on the T Rex for DTD. I can't imagine them pouring how many millions into a new venture (knowing they're not doing so hot..this sort of thing doesn't happen over night right?) without some sort of "back up" plan with Disney in the contract should Landry's fold. It hasn't been open a full year yet. As for Yak & Yeti, I'd be willing to bet Disney would take that over OR find another type of restaurant for it (ala Alfredo's vs Tutto). I'd also be willing to bet they'd let Rainforest and Fulton's fold since they're trying to revamp the DTD area.. that'd give them an excuse to do something new with those areas.

Just another 2 cents from the peanut gallery :animwink:

Exactly what I was thinking! T Rex hasn't been open for very long at all, it would be insane for it to close already. I'm sure they'll close other locations across the US before closing the Downtown Disney locations. Perhaps Animal Kingdom's Rainforest Cafe would be the one to go.

 

[CaptainMichael]

Here ya go!

http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/wdwv1.htm

Thanks.

Intersting history lesson about the village. I probably would have prefered the original version but with Pleasure Island.

 

[unkadug]

Very interesting picture of DTD without Pleasure Island at all!

http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/lbvoverview1.jpg

 

[CaptainMichael]

Very interesting picture of DTD without Pleasure Island at all!

http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/lbvoverview1.jpg

It looks lonely without it.

They could have added the monorail and the Adventurers Club and stopped there. Westside killed everything:fork:

 

[unkadug]

Looking at that picture got me wondering...

Was Village Lake there before Disney, or did they dig that one too?

edit: nevermind...just actually READ the aforementioned article. :hammer:

 

[fosse76]

I think it depends on the contract Disney has with Fultons and the whole bailout thing. If Fultons files for chapter 11, Disney can't just have the rainforest cafe's and T-REX's still opperating. The employees are hired and paid by fultons, the food is ordered from fultons supplier, it is shipped by someone who has a contract with fultons, etc. You cant just take over the bussiness when it crumbles b/c the bussiness is on your properity. Disney could more then likely take over the Y&Y though, change the name, bring in there foodm and be in good shape, but as for the RFC's and TREX, idk that issue is really dicey and you'd need to be in the know to see what the contract says....

....just my two pennies....

Just to clarify, but once a Company files for Bankruptcy, it can no longer perform any business functions without court approval. So if the company decided to sell the restaurants to Disney, a Judge would have to approve it. Bankruptcy voids ANY and ALL existing agreements the debtor has, and everything is subject to court approval. They can't pay vendors, staff, place ads, etc. unless the court allows them to do so. Disney simply can't just walk in and take over.

 

[bfbulldog]

Unfortunately if Landry's files it will more than likely be Chapter 7, not Chapter 11. Chapter 7 is liquidation. The reason is the credit market is now simply unwilling to refinance any significant debt from a struggling company. This is the reason both Linens N Things and Circuit City have gone out of business. Both companies had balance sheets that listed more assets than liabilities, yet they were unable to get their debts refinanced and were forced to make multiple installment payments at once, this caused a ripple effect with their suppliers who then tightened or demanded payment up front for merchandise.

A restaurant chain with it's high overhead and very limited shelf life for food would make a Chapter 11 filing highly unlikely.

 

[Duckberg]

WDW Eats

Levy Restaurants owns Portobello Yacht Club and Fulton's Crab House. I work at Yak & Yeti and our numbers are up from last year despite the economy. The only one not doing great as far as I hear is T-Rex. Even if the company files bankruptcy I think the Rainforest Cafes at DAK and DTD and Y&Y are safe.

Thankx for the CM view
Feel sure WDW has a WAITING
list of food op's that would gladly
fill the void !

Duckberg :wave:

 

[Festivus]

What happened when Planet Hollywood had financial problems years ago? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the one in DTD is the last, if not one of the last locations, and it was just rehabbed. Perhaps RC and T-Rex would follow the same plan/agreement with Disney, whatever that was...

 

[IlikeDW]

...I believe the one in DTD is the last, if not one of the last locations, ...

Myrtle Beach SC still has a Planet Hollywood, at least it did 4 months ago

 

[sknydave]

Can't the restaurants on WDW property just be purchased and operated privately?

 

[uklad79]

What happened when Planet Hollywood had financial problems years ago? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the one in DTD is the last, if not one of the last locations, and it was just rehabbed. Perhaps RC and T-Rex would follow the same plan/agreement with Disney, whatever that was...

Well apart from these ones

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:lookaroun