After more than 25 years, a popular oceanfront restaurant will close and reopen under a new — and familiar — name.
Joe’s Crab Shack will close on Jan. 24, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported. In its place will open Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Terry Turner, chief operating officer for Joe’s Crab Shack, confirmed to the newspaper on Jan. 13.
Both restaurant concepts are owned by Houston-based Landry’s Inc.
The Jacksonville Beach restaurant is one of just 15 remaining Joe’s Crab Shack locations, including three others in Florida: Daytona Beach, Destin and Orlando, according to the company’s website.
That represents about 10 percent of the 143 locations the storied chain — which was founded in Houston in 1991 — operated at its peak in 2006, the Houston Chronicle reported in October 2025. According to Florida state records, as many as 14 Joe’s Crab Shack restaurants once operated in the state.
In the last year, Joe’s Crab Shack locations closed in Clearwater, Fort Myers and Kissimmee, according to a state database of restaurant licenses.
When Joe’s Crab Shack opened in Jacksonville Beach in December 1999, diners waited two hours or more on weekends to get a first taste of snow, blue, dungeness and king crab, as well as fried and grilled shrimp, salmon and other seafood favorites. Another draw: a large, outdoor deck offering dining with an ocean view.
It was a welcome addition to dining at the Beaches.
“I can see what the fuss is about,” Times-Union restaurant reviewer Roger Bull wrote in February 2000. “The place is fun, the food and service are good, the prices reasonable. I don’t think I’d wait two hours for it, but they have a really good thing going.”
Now Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. hopes to recapture some of that excitement.
Founded in 1996 in Monterey, Calif., and inspired by the Academy Award-winning film “Forrest Gump,” Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. has grown to 30 locations worldwide, including 20 in the U.S. In Florida, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. has restaurants in Daytona Beach, Destin, Madeira Beach, Miami and Orlando.
The casual restaurant chain is known for its scratch-made, Southern-style comfort food, including its namesake shrimp, salmon, and fish and chips as well as baby back ribs, fried chicken, boneless ribeye, chicken pasta and more.
Joe’s and Bubba Gump are two of more than 70 brands under the Landry’s umbrella. Others familiar to Jacksonville diners include Chart House, Morton’s The Steakhouse and Mitchell’s Fish Market, which used to operate a restaurant at St. Johns Town Center.
An opening date for the new restaurant was not immediately available.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: After 26 years, Jacksonville Beach oceanfront restaurant closing
Reporting by Gary T. Mills, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gary T. Mills, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
