Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Legal Sea Foods’ new owner looks to expansion after menu innovation

June 30, 2021 — After a very rough year in which it carried out closures of several of its restaurants – some temporary and some permanent – Legal Sea Foods is considering an expansion.

In late December, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based PPX Hospitality, which also operates the Smith & Wollensky and The Strega Group restaurant chains, acquired Legal’s restaurants and quality control center. As part of the deal, Legal Sea Foods President and CEO Roger Berkowitz retained exclusive ownership rights of the Legal Sea Foods’ name in retail, e-commerce, and other non-restaurant channels, but PPX is now making executive decisions concerning the future of the company’s restaurants, and is looking to grow the well-regarded restaurant chain and reinvigorate its menu.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Roger Berkowitz: Legal Sea Foods sale allows for retail, QVC expansion

December 23, 2020 — Transitioning from building a successful seafood restaurant chain to focus on retail, e-commerce, and other channels is almost like going home for Legal Sea Foods President and CEO Roger Berkowitz.

On 22 December, the Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based company announced it is selling its 27 restaurants to PPX Hospitality Brands, which also operate the Smith & Wollensky and The Strega Group restaurant chain.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Legal Sea Foods restaurant chain sold to Boston company

December 23, 2020 — The Boston-based restaurant chain Legal Sea Foods has been sold, Legal’s chief executive said Tuesday.

Legal’s 25 locations will now be operated by Boston-based PPX Hospitality Brands, which owns the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse restaurants and Strega Italian restaurants, according to a statement.

“It’s a bit of mixed emotions,” Legal President and CEO Roger Berkowitz told Boston.com. “It was a family business — particularly a family business that deals directly with the public. One of the great things, I suppose, about the restaurant business in general is that you come in contact with so many people from so many walks of life.”

Berkowitz will retain ownership rights of the Legal Sea Foods name for the company’s e-commerce and retail business.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: With sale of Legal Sea Foods, another Boston institution changes hands

December 21, 2020 — If it’s not Roger, is it Legal?

That’s the question as Roger Berkowitz, the chief executive and public face of Legal Sea Foods, is poised to sign off as soon as Monday on the the sale of the restaurant business his family started in 1968 to PPX Hospitality Group, owner of Smith & Wollensky steakhouses and three Boston-area Strega restaurants.

The pending deal is the latest chapter in Legal’s local lore: Roger’s family opening the first Legal Sea Foods restaurant in Cambridge, next to the fish market of the same name his father had opened in 1950. The expansion into Boston, the suburbs, and down the Eastern Seaboard to Florida. The feud between Roger and his brother Marc, after Roger took over as CEO. And the comical ads — some groan-inducing, some not-quite suitable for a family restaurant — with the tagline, “If it isn’t fresh, it isn’t Legal!”

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Fishermen Say Possible Meat Shortage Unlikely To Benefit Fishing Industry

April 30, 2020 — For decades, the New England fishing industry has been on its heels. But now, there may a shortage of meat soon after several of the nation’s largest processing plants have been slowed due to COVID-19.

So, does a shortage of meat translate to a “windfall” for local fishermen? Roger Berkowitz, the owner of Legal Seafoods, said there are so many different factors that play into it. “If meat plants have been impacted, maybe we should stimulate the fishing industry to get more of this product out of the water,” he said, adding that because of federal regulations restricting catch amounts, the fish are there, but retailer markets are shut down.

“Ninety-five percent of the pollock, also haddock, has not been taken,” he said. “So in terms of regulation, we can utilize this.” haddock.” 

Read the full story at WBZ 4

US foodservice industry upended by public response to COVID-19

March 13, 2020 — U.S. restaurant chains and other foodservice outlets are struggling to cope with rapidly changing dining habits of Americans fearing exposure to COVID-19.

A new Datassential survey released on 12 March found 89 percent of Americans feel more comfortable eating food from home or grocery stores, while only 11 percent feel comfortable eating food from restaurants or away from home. Fifty-four percent said they would eat at restaurants less frequently due to COVID-19.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Coronavirus impacting how Americans buy groceries, eat out

March 9, 2020 — In the wake of coronavirus-related cases and mortalities increasing in the United States, Americans are already staying home more and eating out less.

Reports of “panic buying” hand sanitizers, toilet paper, cold and flu medicines, and other products are prolific. Many Americans have shifted to buying non-perishable foods to stock their pantries (such as fruit snacks and oat milk, according to Nielsen) – a move that bodes well for canned and shelf-stable seafood suppliers.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Legal Sea Foods chowder not on Trump’s menu

January 13, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Ever since Ronald Reagan rode into this town, there’s been a certain custom here regarding Boston seafood. When new presidents move into the White House, the festivities include a steaming hot cup of New England clam chowder.

Or at least that used to be the tradition.

So far the Boston company that has traditionally supplied chowder, Legal Sea Foods, has been frozen out. Donald Trump’s campaign is built on challenging the status quo in Washington, and that evidently includes menus at inaugural lunches and balls.

“I haven’t heard from anybody yet,” said Roger Berkowitz, the CEO of Legal.

The reason is a matter of speculation. Could it be because Massachusetts voters didn’t support Trump? Or hard feelings over Legal’s ads making fun of Trump’s reported sensitivity about his small hands? Or is the new administration just charting its own course, unaware of tradition?

Berkowitz, for one, is holding out hope that the inaugural committee might still be interested in serving chowder during the weekend.

“It’s not partisan chowder,” he explained. “This has nothing to do with politics. . . . Maybe this is the chowder that brings America together — who knows?” It often comes down to the last minute, he said.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe