No sale of Dick’s Marina City location

Nashville group had option to buy

21-Dec-09 – The new owners of the parent company of Dick’s Last Resort have decided not to purchase the Marina City location.

A group of investors that included Nashville restaurateur Edwin (Ted) Moats, Jr. had an 18-month option to buy the bar/restaurant after purchasing DLR Restaurants and six other Dick’s Last Resorts from Dallas entrepreneur Steve Schiff a year ago.

After purchasing the company, Moats and fellow investors at Triton Pacific Capital Partners moved its headquarters to Nashville. They were said to be “very involved” earlier this year in the operations of the Marina City location, and General Manager Richard Fulgham believed they would buy the store after seeing more of its sales history.

In June, Fulgham estimated his restaurant serves between 8,000 and 9,000 people in an average week, and said sales were up “considerably” from the previous year when they were located at 435 East Illinois.

“The story is really quite simple,” says Schiff. “The new DLR wants to spend its money on new openings. That gives the concept the best exposure and growth. The purchase of Chicago can be revisited when they are ready.” (Left) Steve Schiff, at Marina City’s Dick’s Last Resort in October 2008.

Schiff says his company will resume management of the Marina City location on January 1. “We are delighted to be back in charge of day to day activity. There will not be any change that the customer will notice.”