Skippers Seafood & Chowder House
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| Type | Independent, nonexclusive, site specific licensees |
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| Industry | Fast food, seafood, licensing, retail |
| Founded | 1969 in Bellevue, Washington, USA All Skippers intellectual property and rights were acquired in 2007 by Starway Restaurants, LLC. |
| Products | Fast food seafood including halibut, salmon, fish and chips, shrimp, prawns, oysters, clams, clam chowder, French fries and hush puppies, tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, coleslaw dressing |
| Parent | Starway Restaurants, LLC |
| Website | skippers.com |
Skippers Seafood & Chowder House is a group of independently owned and operated locations licensed by Starway Restaurants, LLC. There are currently licensed Skippers restaurants doing business in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Starway Restaurants, LLC has also re-introduced Skippers clam chowder in ready to serve cans and Skippers tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and coleslaw dressing sold in grocery stores and over the Internet. There are over 30 Skippers locations operating under limited license agreements with Starway Restaurants, LLC.[1]
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[edit] History
Skippers was founded by Herb Rosen in Bellevue, Washington, in 1969, at which time Skippers began serving fried fish, shrimp, and clams as well as chowders. The corporate headquarters was eventually moved to Edmonds where it stayed for many years until moving to SeaTac shortly before the company was dissolved in 2007.
Skippers initially experienced rapid growth as new restaurants were opened in several western states and British Columbia, Canada. In 1989, Kansas-based National Pizza Company purchased Skippers, Inc., closing some restaurants.[2] National Pizza Company operated Skippers until 1995, when it was purchased by Meridian Capital and from 1995 through 2002, the Skippers management team introduced a line of grilled entrees, including grilled wild caught salmon, halibut, and chicken.
In late 2002, Skippers was purchased by a group of Pacific Northwest investors although this venture was short lived. New logos and new products were introduced in the spring of 2003, and again in 2007. As of 2007, there were Skippers stores operating in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
On December 12, 2006, Skippers, Inc., filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Court in Seattle in an organizational restructuring. The restructuring failed, and Skippers, Inc., was liquidated on June 29, 2007. Of the 58 stores remaining after Skippers initially filed for bankruptcy, fewer than 20 were sold to various individuals and corporate interests through limited license agreements. When the sales of individual units and closures were finalized, Skippers, Inc., ceased to exist as a corporation.
Starway Restaurants acquired all of the intellectual property of Skippers Seafood & Chowder in late 2007. In 2008, approximately six Skippers restaurants opened under limited license agreements with Starway Restaurants. Restaurants are independently owned and operated as Starway Restaurants has indicated that they believe the local owner/operator model leads to better run restaurants. Starway Restaurants has said they wished to focus on improving the quality of Skippers fish by mandating that both fried and grilled fish are wild caught and not farm raised.
In late 2007, Skippers reintroduced its original chowder recipes. In early 2008, Skippers moved to wild caught fish. In 2009, roughly another five Skippers restaurants opened under limited license agreements. In early 2008, Starway Restaurants introduced a Skippers line of ready to serve clam chowder in pull top 15 ounce cans sold in Skippers restaurants and some grocery and food stores.
There are now over 30 Skippers Seafood & Chowder locations operating in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington with the most recent locations opening in the fall of 2009 and winter of 2010 in Washington, Utah, and Oregon respectively.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- 2001 Obituary of Herb Rosen, founder of Skippers
- Licensed Skippers location opens in Spokane, Washington
- Licensed Skippers location opens in Tacoma Washington
- Licensed Skippers location opens in Boise Idaho
- Licensed Skippers location opens in Burien Washington
