Scott Barnett, president and CEO of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., is optimistic that his new “Forrest Gump”-themed restaurant at CityWalk will fare better than Gladstone’s, a branch of the popular Malibu seafood eatery that occupied the space until it shut down last year. “I have a high degree of confidence,” Barnett said. “But I’m still cautious. I’m really cautious about every site.” Barnett said the new Bubba Gump, which opened Aug. 26, is a familiar brand in an attractive spot with lots of foot traffic and a mix of locals and tourists. The 22-eatery chain started in 1996 as a partnership between Paramount Pictures, which released “Forrest Gump,” and Monterey, Calif.-based Rusty Pelican Restaurants has had success at similar tourist-friendly destinations including Santa Monica Pier, Mall of America and Times Square. Barnett said CityWalk fits into the scheme. “I can’t think of a better location. It makes a tremendous amount of sense,” he said. “We’ve been working with Universal for years for this site.” The 10,500-square-foot storefront is CityWalk’s largest and for nine years was home to Gladstone’s since that portion of the outdoor entertainment center opened in 1998. The restaurant was a franchise licensed by Gladstone’s corporate owners, California Beach Restaurants Inc., to Universal, which ran the day-to-day operations. The 760-seat restaurant with its faux nautical equipment and patio reminiscent of the Malibu original lasted until 2005. Eliot Sekuler, a spokesman for NBC Universal, which owns CityWalk, said the company does not comment about tenant issues and would not discuss why Gladstone’s left. “We wouldn’t comment on Gladstone’s departure other than to note that Gladstone’s had a very successful run,” Sekuler said. However, Barnett said that he was told that Gladstone’s was doing “very substantial sales” when it was closed by Universal last year in favor of Bubba Gump. He said it may have been a case of Universal wanting to swap one tenant for a higher-performing one. “Universal probably wanted a concept in there that could get better revenue and where they could get rent from,” Barnett said. Unlike the Gladstone’s arrangement, Bubba Gump will own the restaurant and lease the space from Universal, Barnett said. Movie history Universal officials would also not talk about Bubba Gump, but in a written statement, Universal Studios Hollywood President and Chief Operating Officer Larry Kurzweil, said the restaurant fits well into CityWalk’s theme. Bubba Gump “gives us a partnership with a brand that has been highly successful in many other locations, including such other ‘entertainment epicenters’ as New York’s Times Square, where it’s a proven popular dining choice for both local and out-of-town visitors,” he said. “As a bonus, the restaurant has a fun, upbeat connection to movie history, which is at the core of our brand position.” The new Bubba Gump arrives as Universal moves into the last segment of the competitive summer season. The park does not release ticket figures, but in 2005 the now-defunct magazine “Amusement Business” estimated that attendance at the park dropped 6 percent from a year prior, or almost 4.7 million people. In response, Universal has mounted an aggressive television, radio and print advertising campaign to drum up new business and has slashed ticket prices. CityWalk, which is physically separate from the park but feels the impact of lower attendance, has also added more promotional events. Varied reactions The push has netted some results, but business is still down from several years ago, according to some CityWalk tenants. “They’re not doing as well as when we first opened,” said Jody Maroni, who opened a branch of his Venice gourmet hotdog stand Jody Maroni’s Sausage Kingdom at CityWalk several years ago. In the early years, tourists lined up down the street. These days, business is much steadier, said Maroni, who turned the stand into a franchise a few years ago. “It went from unbelievable to really good,” he said. He credited the lost business to the general slowdown after 9/11 and fewer international tourists. Attention is also being drawn away by new projects, such as The Grove in Hollywood, Maroni said. “It’s still a great place to do business. But it’s certainly not The Grove,” he said. Same is true over at Daily Grill, one of 21 American-fare restaurants West L.A.-based owner Grill Concepts has across the country. Vice President of Operations Louie Feinstein said revenues have improved this season after a series of lean years. “We’ve had a very good summer. Sales are up,” he said. “That’s what we look for.” CityWalk seems to be steadily drawing more crowds, he said. “It’s come back. CityWalk has had its ups and downs,” he said. One sign that business is holding steady is the addition of new tenants, such as the Bubba Gump restaurant a few yards away from Daily Grill. That could mean more competition, but Feinstein thinks any new attention benefits the existing stores. “It’s a well-known brand that will bring people up to the Walk. Getting more there is great for us,” he said.
