The Shrimp Basket, an Alabama-based chain of seafood restaurants, is moving into the Baton Rouge market as part of a company-wide expansion.
The restaurant’s owners have leased the space at 7242 Perkins Road that was formerly McAlister’s Deli, and plan to open in June after an extensive renovation.
Donnie Jarreau, who bought the building last summer with Hank Saurage and Edward Rotenberg for $1.4 million, says the 4,300-square-foot space is ideal for the concept, a family-style seafood house that offers a variety of seafood dishes, po-boys and sandwiches.
“We knew a restaurant would come to that space,” Jarreau says. “It’s right across from Baton Rouge Clinic, you have 40,000 cars a day that pass there and the traffic flow is pretty good.”
Restaurant space is also in high demand in the market, he says, noting just a handful of available spaces in the city’s main commercial corridors.
The Shrimp Basket was founded in Gulf Shores, Alabama, in 1993, and currently has 28 locations in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi, with plans to open soon in Georgia. Jarreau says the company was recently acquired by a private equity firm and its new owners plan to grow to as many as 60 restaurants.
The Perkins Road restaurant, which will seat around 100 patrons, will be The Shrimp Basket’s first Louisiana location. Jarreau estimates the buildout will cost between $300,000 and $400,000.
—Stephanie Riegel
