Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is an American seafood restaurant chain inspired by the 1994 film Forrest Gump. As of October 2022, 35 Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurants operate worldwide. 22 of these locations are in the United States, four are in Mexico, three are in Japan, and one each are in Mainland China, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Canada and Qatar. The company is based in Houston, Texas, and has been a division of Landry's Restaurants since 2010.[2]

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company
TypeSubsidiary
IndustrySeafood restaurant
FoundedMonterey, California (1996 (1996))
HeadquartersHouston, Texas
Number of locations
35 restaurants[1]
Area served
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Mexico
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Canada
  • Qatar
ParentLandry's, Inc.
(2010–present)
Websitewww.bubbagump.com
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant in Long Beach, California.
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier.
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant in Times Square, New York City.
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at Navy Pier Chicago, Illinois
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at Navy Pier Chicago, Illinois

The first Bubba Gump restaurant opened in 1996 in Monterey, California by Rusty Pelican Restaurants in partnership with Paramount, the distributor of Forrest Gump. The Bubba Gump restaurant is named after the film's characters Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue and Forrest Gump. In the film, Bubba suggested getting in the shrimping business and, ultimately, Forrest pursued the idea after Bubba's death in the Vietnam War.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is the first and only casual restaurant chain based on a motion picture property.[3]

History

In 1995, entrepreneur Anthony Zolezzi bought the rights to the name “Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.” from Paramount Pictures in an attempt to turn around a financially troubled seafood company, Meridian Products.[4][5][6]

The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. line of packaged imported shrimp products were sold in supermarkets across the US and in international markets.[7][8] Zolezzi was approached by a friend in the seafood restaurant business about licensing the name. Zolezzi consulted with Paramount and the Rusty Pelican restaurant chain to launch the first Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant in Monterey, California in 1996.[9] Its success led to its franchising on an international scale.[10]

In November 2010, Landry's, Inc. acquired Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for an undisclosed amount.[11] The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. purchase also included a lone Rusty Pelican in Newport Beach, California. As a result the restaurant’s headquarters moved from Hollywood, California to Houston, Texas.

Bubba Gump Restaurant in Hong Kong
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant in Universal CityWalk Beijing, Universal Beijing Resort, Tongzhou, Beijing

As the name implies, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.'s menu consists mostly of imported shrimp dishes. It serves other seafood, as well as Southern and Cajun cuisine, as the characters of Forrest and Bubba were from Alabama. The restaurant offers dishes named after characters in the movie, like Jenny's Catch and the restaurant's bestseller Forrest's Seafood Feast.[12][13] Restaurants display movie memorabilia throughout the restaurant. Guests can play Forrest Gump movie trivia and can signal their waiter with a “Stop, Forrest, Stop” sign. The mascot of the chain is a shrimp named Shrimp Louie.[14]

Miscellaneous

Employee social media policy

In 2013, a former Bubba Gump employee claimed that the social media policy in the company's employee handbook had a restrictive effect on employees’ rights by prohibiting them from discussing their jobs online.[15] In 2015, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled that Bubba Gump did not violate employees’ rights as they did not explicitly prohibit employees from discussing job-related subjects, but only expected them to do so in a civil manner.[16] There have been many cases in the last few years in which the National Labor Relations Board found companies social media policies to be excessively broad, and ruled in favor of the employee(s).[17]

Chris Pratt

When actor Chris Pratt was 19, he was discovered while working as a waiter at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in Maui, Hawaii.[18] He waited on the table of actress/director Rae Dawn Chong, who had starred in one of Pratt's favorite films, Commando (1985). Chong offered Pratt a role in a short movie she was directing.[19]

See also

References
  1. "View All Locations | Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. In the USA & International".
  2. "LANDRY'S ACQUIRES BUBBA GUMP SHRIMP CO. RESTAURANT CHAIN". Landrys Inc. Retrieved Nov 9, 2020.
  3. "About | Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in the USA & International". Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. | Seafood Restaurant Chain in the USA & International. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  4. Elliott, Stuart (1994-10-07). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; 'Gump' Sells, to Viacom's Surprise". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  5. "Free News, January 15, 2010". www.shrimpnews.com. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  6. "Big kahunas of tuna". cbs8.com. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  7. "'GUMP' SHRIMP: NET GAINS". Supermarket News. 1994-11-28. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  8. "See the hit movie, buy the shrimp: Meridian Products' Gump spin-off. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  9. Zolezzi, Anthony (2004). The Detachment Paradox: How an Objective Approach to Work Can Lead to a Rich and Rewarding Life. ASM Books. ISBN 978-0-9753157-0-5.
  10. "Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Page". Archived from the original on 2014-06-02.
  11. "Landry's acquires Bubba Gump Shrimp Co". nrn.com. 2010-11-09.
  12. Mackie, Drew (September 5, 2014). "15 Ways Forrest Gump Changed Pop Culture – and Is Still with Us, 20 Years Later". People Magazine.
  13. "Bubba Gump Menu" (PDF).
  14. "Storytime with the Shrimpossibles". www.librarieshawaii.org. Retrieved 2023-09-22.
  15. Oldham, Douglas M. (7 July 2015). "Outlier...or National Labor Relations Board Shift on Social Media Policies?". The National Law Review. Barnes & Thornberg LLP. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  16. "Landry's Inc. v. Flores, case number 32-CA-118213". Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  17. Nestor, Alexander (26 July 2015). "Surprise! NLRB Approves Employer's Challenged Social Media Policy". The National Law Review. ISSN 2161-3362. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  18. Hulten, Kevin (August 29, 2007). "Lake's Chris Pratt found success in Hollywood, and now he plans on bringing it home". Lake Stevens Journal. Archived from the original on January 26, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
  19. "Cover Story: Chris Pratt's Call to Stardom". Vanity Fair. 2017-01-03. Retrieved 2023-09-22.
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