Jan 14, 2021
In August, chef Dan Barber announced plans to step down from his kitchen duties and pivot his Grand Award–winning Blue Hill at Stone Barns into a chef-in-residence concept. That came to fruition this week, with Jan. 13 marking the start of the first season of chef residencies at the farm and restaurant in Pocantico Hills, N.Y.
For five weeks, each chef will lead the kitchen and offer their spin on regional cuisines using produce from Stone Barns Center and other surrounding farms. “Each of these chefs will explore the intersection of cooking and farming but also culture, identity, community and health,” Barber wrote in a statement. “A vision for food that is both physical and philosophical, and so much greater than the sum of its parts.”
In honor of National Soup Month, Legal Sea Foods Restaurant Group, with the support of new owners PPX Hospitality Brands, is declaring Chowda Day on January 15 to be a “Legal” holiday in Massachusetts. Continuing Legal Sea Foods’ long-standing tradition, guests can once again savor a cup of their signature New England Clam Chowder for $1 in restaurant or order online to enjoy at home with the purchase of any entree. A steaming cup of Chowda is the perfect antidote to January’s winter chill with all proceeds benefiting Boston Children’s Hospital, in an effort to support the local community that Legal has been privileged to be a part of and serve over the past 70+ years.
The restaurant industry has lost 110,000 restaurants, according to the National Restaurant Association. And, based on a Cowen analysis of the past three recessions, 90% of closures have occurred among independent operators who were ill-prepared for a prolonged pandemic that required full-service establishments to depend on off-premise sales to survive.
But it hasn t been bad news for all of the industry.
The purging of restaurants is expected to leave $39 billion in sales up for grabs, according to Cowen. That s created an opportunity for well-financed multi-unit operators and private-equity backed restaurant companies to strike.
These big restaurant players are seizing a moment in a crisis to increase market share by buying solid brands found flatfooted during the pandemic.
With sale, Legal Sea Foodsâ quirky advertising could be coming to a close
From âfresh fishâ that badmouthed commuters to âPescatarianism,â a New York agency created a long line of memorable campaigns
By Jon Chesto Globe Staff,Updated December 23, 2020, 3:52 p.m.
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Legal Seafoods CEO Roger Berkowitz often appeared in commercials created by the New York ad agency DeVito/Verdi.Lane Turner
As Roger Berkowitz hands over the keys to the kitchens at Legal Sea Foods to a new restaurant group, itâs not just decades of family ownership that are coming to an end.
The era of those quirky Legal Sea Foods ads might be over, as well.
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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.
Berkowitz, however, will retain exclusive ownership rights of the Legal Sea Foods name in retail, e-commerce, and other non-restaurant channels – all areas that Legal already has a presence but will now expand significantly.
“My grandfather had a grocery store, which sold fine quality meats, and then my father opened up a fish market,” Berkowitz told SeafoodSource. “Then, we sort of fell into the restaurant business by mistake. The space next to the fish market opened up, and my folks opened up a restaurant.”