Middle Georgia seafood restaurants sold

The partners who owned 12 Captain D’s restaurants mostly in Middle Georgia have sold the eateries back to the Captain D’s corporation.

Allen Peake, co-owner of C&P Seafood Co., the franchise that owned the restaurants, said the company had owned the stores since 2000. The restaurants are in Macon, Perry, Warner Robins, Fort Valley, Eastman, Sandersville and Augusta, and they were sold to the franchisor, Captain D’s, in Nashville, Tennessee. Peake and Mike Chumbley co-own C&P and Greg Russ is a partner who ran day-to-day operations.

“We were not marketing the business, and had no interest in selling, but were approached with an offer that was too good to turn down,” Peake wrote in an email. “All 250 employees will be retained by the buyer, and all stores will be business as usual.”

He said the transition was “seamless” and that the partners were grateful to employees who “have been our family for over 30 years.”

There are more than 500 Captain D’s nationwide.

“We will now focus our attention on growing our Fazoli’s and Cheddar’s restaurants,” Peake said.

The partners currently have two Fazoli’s and 10 Cheddar’s locations, he said. Construction of a new Cheddar’s in Brunswick will begin in January. Also, they recently obtained the rights to develop Cheddar’s in Alabama, and will be moving into the Birmingham area soon. A new Fazoli’s will be opening in the Columbus and Augusta areas sometime next year. And the franchise has the rights to Fazoli’s in the Athens, Savannah and McDonough areas.

This story was originally published October 18, 2016 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Middle Georgia seafood restaurants sold."