SPFS, INC., owner and franchisee of 17 Captain D’s Seafood Restaurants in Mississippi, Georgia, and Kentucky opened its 18th store in Cleveland, Mississippi, to more than 11,000 customers, smashing the first week sales record for the chain.

The performance, which took place in October, earned the organization the Captain’s Trophy from the Captain D’s corporate office in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We are quite pleased to be able to present this trophy to our friends and franchise associates in Cleveland, Mississippi,” Mike Pearce, Captain D’s vice president of franchise development, said in a press release. It was well deserved and well earned. This store marks our 20th new unit for 2005 and keeps us on a pace to maintain and continue our aggressive growth plans and goals.”

David Simmons, president with SPFS and 33-year Captain D’s veteran, credited the record setting performance to a “real team effort” between the franchise organization and corporate personnel and the popularity of Captain’s D’s in the region.

“This is our fourth store in Mississippi and we have restaurants in Georgia and Kentucky, so there was consumer anticipation for Captain D’s here,” Simmons said. “We even had a customer who is a 90-year-old cousin of National Football League and College Football great Archie Manning, a native of our state.”

Simmons said that Dan Sibley, Captain D’s Mississippi Division Director, Brad Tucker, general manager of the new store, Vermia Henley, assistant general manager, Mary Stevens, dining room manager, and their staff turned in a performance that resulted in the “perfect Captain D’s Restaurant Opening.”

According to Pearce, Captain’s D’s set a goal to open 20 new units this year, and with its fiscal year ending in October, the company will again meet that goal with plans to double that in 2006.

“We have an updated restaurant motif in place, a menu that works, and a profitable concept,” Pearce said. “Seventy –five percent of our growth is coming from our existing franchisees. They are supporting their faith in our winning combination with solid growth and expansion.”