John Knorr, senior vice president of Phillips Foods Inc. reports that Phillips Seafood will sell a portion of its waterfront Annapolis restaurant to a nonprofit and has received multiple other offers to buy the property.
The National Sailing Hall of Fame is under contract to purchase the patio, roughly a third of the restaurant. The company has received three other offers in the past 12 months for the property, said John Knorr. But Knorr insists that the move is not designed to cut costs in a down economy. He said the company's restaurants are doing well. The crab giant is "exploring all our options. But the seafood company is cutting costs in other ways.
Phillips Seafood has had a tumultuos year following the sudden, unexpected death of its President, Mark Sneed. A personal disclosure---Mark was a friend of mine and I was Executive Chef for Phillips Seafood Restaurants. Sneed died of a heart attack at age 50.
Steve Phillips, already the company's CEO, now heads Phillips Foods Inc. and Seafood Restaurants. His vision for growth involves creating business unit teams to develop expansion plans for food service, retail and club stores.
Along with the appointment, the Maryland company has promoted three executives: Dean Flowers to executive vice president and chief financial officer; Tome Heine to senior vice president of foodservice, retail and club stores; and John Knorr to senior vice president -national accounts, restaurant and franchise operations.
In other Phillips news...
Phillips Seafood Restaurants will open its first Philadelphia restaurant next month in the space that now houses a Shula's Steak House.
The 200-seat restaurant at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel at 17th and Race streets enables the Baltimore firm to continue its expansion in the mid-Atlantic region, where it already has restaurants in Washington and Atlantic City.
The growth highlights a push by urban hotel executives to pay closer attention to their restaurant concepts after years of losing dining business to standalone competitors.
"This is one of the channels I've really wanted to expand into," said John Knorr. Phillips had been scouting a Philadelphia location for two years and found one that company leaders say is ideal. The Philadelphia Sheraton is a few blocks away from the Pennsylvania Convention Center and Logan Circle.
Sheraton executives are operating Phillips as a franchise. Knorr declined comment on the financial arrangement. Phillips executives hope that the Philadelphia Sheraton becomes a launch pad for other hotels owned by Columbia Sussex Corp. of Fort Mitchell, Ky.
"I would like to see our relationship with Columbia Sussex grow," Knorr said.
Phillips executives also are talking to managers at two hotel firms about franchising the Phillips restaurant in China, Thailand and other locations in Southeast Asia. Knorr declined to name the companies.
The Sheraton chose Phillips to replace a Shula's Steak House because a seafood restaurant, which will feature a children's menu, may attract more families, Sheraton General Manager Paul Schwartz said. He anticipates the average Phillips check will be around $40 per person versus $65 to $75 for Shula's.
"There's just a lot of steak houses in Philadelphia," Schwartz said. Phillips "is a better fit for us."
Schwartz said Columbia Sussex has no plans to replace Shula's at its other hotels, including the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel, which it also owns.
Phillips Foods Inc. owns and operates seafood processing plants in China, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Phillips Seafood Restaurants operates full-service restaurants in six cities, including Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Myrtle Beach, S.C.
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