Landry’s Sees Acquisitions in 2013 Amid ’Soft’ Economy

Landry’s Inc., owner of the Rainforest Cafe and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. chains, will look at more casino, hotel and restaurant acquisitions next year.

“We’re always in deal mode and I would be shocked if we don’t do something” in 2013, Chief Executive Officer Tilman Fertitta said in a phone interview today. The Houston-based company last month announced it purchased the Isle Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Fertitta also said that the gaming and restaurant industries are not seeing the growth that they had earlier this year. He is the sole owner of Landry’s, which also owns Morton’s steakhouse and Golden Nugget hotels and casinos.

“The whole business world is a little scared right now since we re-elected Barack” Obama, he said. “It’s definitely soft out there.”

At Landry’s, revenue will increase about 10 percent in 2013, compared with this year, because of new restaurant and casino locations, he said.

“The restaurant industry is choppy, where it had been kind of on a roll,” Fertitta said. “We’re not getting the growth that we had, and I think that’s kind of where the whole economy is right now.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Leslie Patton in Chicago at lpatton5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net