This week, Lake Charles-based restaurant delivery app Waitr was bought in a cash and stock deal worth $308 million by a company owned by Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.
The sale—a rare and outstanding example of a homegrown startup making it big—is especially remarkable because the deal came together in just a few weeks, according to Waitr founder and CEO Chris Meaux.
Meaux said talks with Fertitta’s team about his app began just three weeks ago. Waitr lets users order food from local restaurants for delivery while making it easier on the restaurant’s end to prepare orders.
“I don’t think it has hit me yet,” Meaux told Daily Report in a story about the deal. “It’s been 90-to-nothing for the past three weeks. I haven’t settled down to contemplate what has really happened yet.”
Fertitta’s company, Landcadia Holdings Inc., is paying Meaux and his partners in Waitr $50 million in cash and $258 million in stock in a deal that will take the company public later this year.
Meaux will remain chief executive and will also be chairman of the board, which Tillman will join as a director.
Fertitta and his team flew to Lake Charles, where he owns the Golden Nugget Casino, to begin negotiations within days after the initial call to Meaux.
“They liked the team and they loved the story and they know us from being a customer so they knew the benefits we provided,” Meaux says. “So when they found out we might be looking for capital they knew time was of the essence.”
