This Unexpected Flopping Seafood Chain With Restaurants Across America Is Making A Bold Comeback

Tell a friend that you're headed to Captain D's for dinner and you might hear, "What's that?" or "Captain who's?" The once-beleaguered, Nashville-based seafood chain, which first launched in 1969, hit a severe rough patch in years leading up to its 2010 purchase by Florida-based private equity firm, Sun Capital. Sun Capital did a bang-up job rebranding Captain D's and overhauling its restaurants, leading to Centre Partners purchasing the chain in 2013 and a massive explosion of growth from 2016 to 2017. Now, Captain D's miracle comeback has steered the fast-casual restaurant not only towards U.S. expansion, but international rollout too.

As it stands, Captain D's has a lot going for it — and we're not just talking about its 540-plus locations across the U.S. It's got a curated menu of seafood items that offer consumers variety and value. It's got extremely reasonable prices that hover around $9 to $13 at the time of writing for a full meal with multiple side dishes. It's also got a legitimately cute and chuckle-worthy Instagram account, which might relate to what chief supply contractor Janet Duckham describes in a press release as "spending a lot of money on marketing." 

Moreover, Captain D's has its eyes set on franchising into areas of the U.S. that have established connections with seafood, like New England and the Pacific coast. Chain seafood establishments will arouse serious skepticism in a state like Maine, where residents enjoy coastal lobster crawls and terrific seafood in idyllic waterfront towns like Belfast, but if Captain D's keeps charging forward, they just might pull it off. Outside of the U.S., Captain D's is looking to expand from its one international location in Toronto to London and the rest of the U.K. (where, Duckham notes, the green beans on the Captain D's menu will be replaced with mushy peas). Then, Captain D's management wants to expand further — into Spain, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Central America, and the Caribbean.

In the world of seafood chains, the success of Captain D's is something of an anomaly. The fallen king of crustaceans, Red Lobster, filed for bankruptcy back in May 2024. That chain had 641 restaurants at the start of 2024, but lost 99, rejected leases for 228 more, and, oddly enough, is still looking to franchise overseas. Seafood chains in general flagged in 2024 and haven't exactly been doing great since 2020. Somehow, Captain D's not only powered through the pandemic, but came out stronger than ever. Maybe there's some magic in all that hand-battered fish flesh.

Travelers looking to chow down can currently find a Captain D's in 23 states across the U.S., loosely centered in the Southeast. We already mentioned the captain's big expansion plan, which currently means there aren't any locations in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, North Dakota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, or Maine. Folks in New England will just have to settle for places like the "definition of a Maine seacoast town," Harpswell, until Captain D's sets sail up the Eastern seaboard. Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, meanwhile, have sold out their upcoming franchise locations. 

Internationally, Captain D's isn't making a comeback but staking a claim. It's not too tough to see the chain doing alright in the Caribbean, especially amidst vacationers or retirees. A place like Spain, however — a nation replete with a proud and sumptuous food heritage that includes paella in Mediterranean coastal towns like Almuñécar — will likely be much harder to crack. Let's see if the captain is up to the task of modifying its menu and design accordingly.