President of the Golden Nugget and Landry’s Acquires Local Lake Charles Based Food Delivery Service

The Lake Charles based food delivery service Waitr has been purchased in a deal worth $308 million. The buyer is the business mogul and president of the Golden Nugget, Tilman Fertitta. Perhaps more importantly for this deal, Fertitta is also president of Landry’s which operates over 600 restaurants under the food brands Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Joe’s Crab Shack, Saltgrass Steak House,  Morton’s, and more. Another notable investor in the company is New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who put invested $10 million in the company in early 2017.

Waitr currently has about 5,000 restaurants that use their service to take to-go orders, and perform food delivery service. The services are available in more than 30 cities in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennesee, and Texas. Many of the delivery drivers are contract workers that are paid hourly and tipped. The service makes money by charging both restaurants and customers a fee for orders placed.

The deal is set to close later this year, and will also take Watr on to the Nasdaq stock exchange making it a publically traded company.

With Fertitta’s expertise (and money) the company is expected to expand into new markets and possibly make future acquisitions in the food-tech market.

Interested in Investing?

Update (June 19, 2018): You can listen to the most recent conference call about Waitr, Landcadia, and the acquisition here: http://wsw.com/webcast/jeff112/LCA/index.aspx

If you are interested in investing in the company, the acquisition is being done through Landcadia Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCA) (“Landcadia”). Fertitta is expected to serve as a director of the combined company, and current Waitr management will continue the day-to-day operations management. The company name is expected to change to Waitr Holdings Inc. as soon as the acquisition is complete.

Disclosure – The proprietor of this website owns stock in Landcadia Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCA).

What do you think about this acquisition?