Legal Sea Foods

Legal Sea Foods
Company typePrivate
IndustryRestaurants
FoundedCambridge, Massachusetts, fish market (1950); restaurant (1968)
FounderGeorge Berkowitz
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts
,
U.S.
Number of locations
26 (2023 [1])
Area served
Eastern Seaboard
Key people
Roger Berkowitz, President & CEO
Rich Vellante, Executive Chef
Sandy Block, MW, VP of Beverage
Productsseafood
Brands
  • Legal Sea Foods
  • Legal C Bar
  • Legal Test Kitchen (defunct)
  • Legal Fish Bowl (defunct)
  • Legal Oysteria (defunct)
ServicesHospitality
RevenueUS$200 million [2] (2020)
Number of employees
3,500 [2] (2020)
Websitelegalseafoods.com
Footnotes / references
[3][4]

Legal Sea Foods is an American restaurant chain[5] of casual-dining seafood restaurants primarily located in the Northeastern United States.

The current company headquarters is located in the South Boston Seaport District. As of 2022, the group operates 25[6] restaurants in five states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia), with most in the Greater Boston area.[7][1] The restaurant serves over 7 million customers annually[8] with an average restaurant size of 6,000 square feet (560 m2).[9] Legal Sea Foods also operates an online fish market and ships fresh fish anywhere in the contiguous United States, as well as a retail products division.

In addition to the traditional Legal Sea Foods branches, the company has operated some unique concepts over the years, including Legal Test Kitchen, Legal C Bar, Legal Harborside, Legal Crossing, Legal Oysteria, Legal on the Mystic, and Legal Fish Bowl.

Legal Sea Foods’ long-standing tagline is "If it isn’t fresh, it isn’t Legal!"[10]

In December 2020, CEO Roger Berkowitz announced the sale of the restaurant's portion of the business to PPX Hospitality Brands, a Massachusetts-based hospitality group.

The founder of Legal Sea Foods, George Berkowitz, died on February 20, 2022.[11] George Berkowitz was 97.[12]

  1. ^ a b "Locations & Menus". Legal Sea Foods. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :43 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Newman, Andrew Adam (2014-07-06). "Call It What You Like, but Not a Chain". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-10-29.
  4. ^ "Legal Sea Foods, Inc. Annual Report 2016" (PDF). Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Archived from the original on 2015-12-12. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  5. ^ "Hook & Ladder". The Improper Bostonian. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Find a Location Near You". Legal Sea Foods. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
  7. ^ "Restaurants By State". Archived from the original on 2010-04-03. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
  8. ^ Dorbian, Iris (2017-12-13). "Seacoast Capital provides debt to seafood restaurant chain Legal Sea Foods". The Pre Hub Network. Archived from the original on 2017-12-14. Retrieved 2017-12-14.
  9. ^ Leung, Shirley (2018-08-08). "Are there too many restaurants in Boston and not enough diners?". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  10. ^ "IF IT ISN'T FRESH, IT ISN'T LEGAL - Trademark Details". Archived from the original on 2022-06-09. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  11. ^ Staff Writer. "George Berkowitz Obituary". Archived from the original on 2022-02-25. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  12. ^ "Legal Sea Foods founder dies at 97". WCVB. 2022-02-27. Retrieved 2022-08-22.