Captain D’s, a leading fast casual seafood restaurant, announced the opening of its newest corporate owned restaurant in Lake City, Florida. Located at 2404 U.S. Highway 90, this new location marks the brand’s 30th in the state and emphasizes Captain D’s accelerated franchise and corporate development plans for Florida. The new Lake City location is 2,803 square feet, includes a drive-through and will employ 25 to 30 people.
The opening of the new Lake City restaurant signifies Captain D’s aggressive growth plans for the state of Florida. Over the past year, the company identified Northern and Central Florida as primary markets for development, and celebrated grand openings in Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Additionally, Captain D’s signed a new franchise agreement for the Orlando market, and is currently seeking franchisee candidates to propel the brand’s presence in Florida. This expansion is further driving Captain D’s ongoing success, with the third quarter of 2016 signifying the company’s 20th consecutive quarter of positive growth, generating a 2.8 percent system-wide same store sales increase for franchisees. Additionally, Captain D’s is on track for its fourth successive year of achieving record high system-wide AUV and its sixth consecutive year of same store sales increases.
“We believe the potential for success in Florida is fantastic, and the opening of yet another new restaurant in the Sunshine State reflects the strength of our development strategy and wealth of opportunity that still lies ahead,” says Michael Arrowsmith, chief development officer for Captain D’s. “As we close out a tremendous year marked by unprecedented growth and ongoing success, we look forward to accelerating this momentum in 2017 and continuing to expand Captain D’s both throughout Florida and nationwide.”
Coupled with its ongoing menu innovation, Captain D’s credits its new restaurant beach design with contributing to the brand’s compounding success. To date, 50 percent of all restaurants have been reimaged to the brands new vibrant, coastal design, with another 50 locations to be remodeled by the end of this year. With these efforts, Captain D’s has remained true to what it does best—serving high-quality seafood with warm hospitality at an affordable price in a welcoming atmosphere.
With 517 restaurants in 21 states, Captain D’s is the fast-casual seafood leader and number one seafood franchise in America ranked by average unit volume. The company is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join in the brand’s rapid expansion.
