Shaggy's Beach Bar & Grill is Coming to Biloxi Beach

Popular waterfront restaurant expanding, despite economy and oil spill.

For Immediate Release

Pass Christian, MS--December 19, 2010--Partners Ron Ladner and Thomas Genin, owners of French Charley's Cafe & Wine Bar, and Shaggy's Harbor Bar & Grill in Pass Christian, announced today their expansion of Shaggy's Harbor Bar & Grill to Biloxi Beach. The site for the second Shaggy's will be 1763 Beach Blvd., the former site of the Ruby Tuesday south of Beach Blvd., on the beach.

"We have been working on Shaggy's II for well over a year now, but the oil spill interrupted our first effort," says Ladner. "The stars really need to line up to do a ground-up development in this environment. Since we design, develop, build, and operate it ourselves, we have a much better chance at overcoming the many development obstacles the we now face."

The original Shaggy's Harbor Bar & Grill is located in Pass Christian and was developed by Genin and Ladner in the spring of 2007. Shaggy's was the first non-casino restaurant built south of Beach Boulevard after Hurricane Katrina. Shaggy's is nationally known for its fresh seafood dishes, cool cocktails, and Gulf sunsets.

In 2009, Coastal Living magazine featured Shaggy's as one of the Best Seafood Dives in the country. "We're in a town with the smallest tax revenues on the Mississippi coast, yet we still attract over 100,000 people a year from the outside and have increased our sales every year since," says Genin. "Our new site has four times the population and traffic, and we really like our odds." The new building will be very similar to the one in Pass Christian, but will be about 35 percent larger. "We want to maintain that funky, Key West style atmosphere that attracts people from all over the world," says Genin. "Our building in Pass Christian was designed to handle about one-third of the volume of customers we serve. This is a great problem to have. We think the Biloxi location will be busier, so from the start we want more room." Genin continues, "We know how well Ruby Tuesday did at this site, and all of the restaurants on that strip did very well. It's just a great spot, right on the beach where everyone wants to be."

"We're very excited about this opportunity. We have looked at so many options, but this is the best fit for us now," says Ladner. "We bring to the city of Biloxi a solid, proven attraction as well as our Shaggy's Kids Foundation aimed at helping introduce local children to the sport of fishing. I think this will be a good fit for Biloxi as well."

"We have received our building permit and will break ground today, December 18th," Ladner adds. "We plan to open in the Spring of next year. We opened French Charley's last year five months after breaking ground. This building is less complicated and should go even faster."

More on Shaggy's:

http://shaggys.biz/GovernorsCup.html

http://shaggys.biz/Shaggyskids.html

http://shaggys.biz/coastalliving.html


Contact:
Ron Ladner
Owner, Shaggy's Harbor Bar & Grill
111 W. Scenic Drive
Pass Christian, Mississippi 39571
USA
Telephone 228-223-8250
Email ron@shaggys.biz
http://shaggys.biz

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