Captain D’s said this week that improvement initiatives helped the counter-service seafood chain realize positive systemwide same-store sales growth in 2011, the first time since 2003.
“To be same-store sales positive for the first time in eight years is a testament to our heightened level of execution and our focus on improving our guest satisfaction,” said Phil Greifeld, chief executive of the Sun Capital Partners Inc.-owned chain. “Our positive sales momentum is building and we look forward to a terrific 2012 for the D’s brand.”
Nashville-based Captain D’s did not reveal the amount of its 2011 same-store sales growth, but information previously supplied by the company indicated its estimated sales per unit shrank by about 3.9 percent, to $808,000 in 2010, after falling by 1.8 percent the year before.
Greifeld said Captain D’s also had unspecified “strong earnings growth” in 2011.
Since joining Captain D’s from the family-dining segment about two years ago, Greifeld has hired new corporate and field personnel, including the late 2011 appointment of Laurie Lawhorne as chief financial officer, and invested in improving core products and new equipment, and made changes in operations, design and décor.
The company also recently bought assets of the Grandy’s chain and named Jonathan Muhtar its new chief marketing officer.
Captain D’s previously reported 2010 U.S. systemwide sales of $436.2 million and said it ended that fiscal year with 280 company and 251 franchised units.
The chain currently operates 527 restaurants systemwide.
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].
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