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Legal Sea Foods is an American restaurant chain of casual-dining
seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus ...
restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance ...
s mostly located in the Northeastern region of the United States. The current company headquarters is located in the
South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
Seaport District The Seaport District, or simply the Seaport, is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. It is part of the larger neighborhood of South Boston, and is also sometimes called the Innovation District. The Seaport is a formerly industrial area that ...
and as of 2022, the group operates 24 restaurants in five states, with most in the
Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...
area. The restaurant serves over 7 million customers annually with an average restaurant size of . Legal Sea Foods also operates an online fish market and ships fresh fish anywhere in the
contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...
, as well as a retail products division. In addition to the traditional Legal Sea Foods branches, the company has operated some unique concepts over the years including Legal Test Kitchen, Legal C Bar, Legal Harborside, Legal Crossing, Legal Oysteria, Legal on the Mystic, and Legal Fish Bowl. Legal Sea Foods’ long-standing tagline is "If it isn’t fresh, it isn’t Legal!" On December 22, 2020, CEO Roger Berkowitz announced the sale of the restaurants portion of the business to PPX Hospitality Brands, a Medford-based hospitality group. Berkowitz will retain the rights to online and retail sales of products using the Legal Sea Foods name. Following the sale to PPX,
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
reported that Roger Berkowitz left several vendors unpaid, owing hundreds of thousands in debt. The founder of Legal Sea Foods, George Berkowitz died on February 20, 2022. George Berkowitz was 97.


History


Origins

In 1904, Harry Berkowitz opened the "Legal Cash Market"
grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, an ...
in the Inman Square neighborhood of
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. The name for the market came from the "Legal Stamps", also known as
trading stamp Trading stamps are small paper stamps given to customers by merchants in loyalty programs that predate the modern loyalty card. Like the similarly-issued retailer coupons, these stamps only had a minimal cash value of a few mils (thousandths of a ...
s, given to loyal customers. The store provided a living for Harry and his family up until the late 1940s, when chain grocery stores like
Stop & Shop The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide. St ...
and others entered the picture and provided stiff competition for the family business. In 1950, George Berkowitz, the son of Harry, opened a fish market adjacent to his father's grocery store and named it Legal Sea Foods. This was done to add a degree of specialty to the grocery business by offering customers a fish counter where they could purchase fresh fish. From the early 1950s, the market sold fresh fish as well as
fish and chips Fish and chips is a popular hot dish consisting of fried fish in crispy batter, served with chips. The dish originated in England, where these two components had been introduced from separate immigrant cultures; it is not known who created t ...
that could only be taken to-go. In 1968, the Berkowitz family decided to open a restaurant in the adjacent space. They offered fish and chips,
fried clams Fried clams are clams dipped in milk, floured, and deep-fried. Fried clams are an iconic food, "to New England, what barbecue is to the South". They tend to be served at seaside clam shacks (roadside restaurants). Clam rolls are fried clams ser ...
, fried
shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are referre ...
, and fried
scallops Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...
, served on paper plates while the customers sat at
picnic tables A picnic table (or picnic bench) is a table with benches (often attached), designed for working with and for outdoor dining. The term is often specifically associated with rectangular tables having an A-frame structure. Such tables may be refer ...
. In 1975, the restaurant expanded with the opening of a more traditional outlet at the site of the former S.S. Pierce building in
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Chestnut Hill is an affluent New England village located west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is located within one or more incorporated municipal entities. It is located partia ...
. The original Inman Square restaurant was destroyed in a fire on January 18, 1980. With the help of his two sons, Marc and Roger, George opened their flagship location in the Boston Park Plaza in the
Boston Theater District The Boston Theater District is the center of Boston's theater scene. Many of its theaters are on Washington Street, Tremont Street, Boylston Street, and Huntington Avenue. History Plays were banned in Boston by the Puritans until 1792. Boston ...
of downtown Boston that same year.


1980s

At the
first inauguration of Ronald Reagan The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1981, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the first inauguration to be held on the buildi ...
in 1981, Legal Sea Foods'
fish chowder Chowder is a thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish. New England clam chowder is typicall ...
was chosen to represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and has been served at every presidential inauguration since. Also in 1981, the restaurant established one of the first
quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places ...
centers for fish processing and distribution. In 1986, Legal Sea Foods was named "Best Seafood Restaurant in America" by
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
's ''
Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...
''.


1990s

In 1990, the restaurant partnered with the
United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busi ...
in developing a
hazard analysis and critical control points Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP (), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs me ...
(HACCP) program and helped to establish a landmark
fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...
standard for freshness and food safety. In 1992, Roger Berkowitz, the son of George, took over as
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
of the private restaurant business. Roger had worked in the family business since the age of ten, and is an honorary graduate of the
S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...
at Syracuse University. During this time Roger became the company spokesman, and voiced many of the Legal Sea Foods radio commercials, including the award-winning "Fresh Insights" radio campaign. In March 1994, ''Food Arts Magazine'' awarded the Silver Spoon Award to George and Roger Berkowitz for sterling performance and raising Americans' consciousness about seafood for 30 years. That same year Legal Sea Foods also opened their first airport restaurant at
Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...
's Terminal C, followed later in the year by a location in
Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia International Airport is the primary airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The airport served 19.6 million passengers annually in 2021, making it the 21st busiest airport in the United States. The airport is located from t ...
. Also in 1994, Legal Sea Foods invited influential chefs from China to fuse
Asian cuisine Asian cuisine includes several major regional cuisines: Central Asian, East Asian, North Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and West Asian. A cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, usually associated with a sp ...
into the menu at the restaurants. This program was called "Cuisineast" and some dishes created for this event are still on the current menu. At the
Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) cham ...
in 1997, fans in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
clam chowder from Legal Sea Food's Chowda van. In 1998, Roger Berkowitz was invited to join the
Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard- MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's firs ...
Nutrition Roundtable, a group of people with personal and professional interests in nutrition. In the same year, ''
Bon Appétit ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center i ...
'' magazine named Legal Sea Food one of the Top Ten Tried and True restaurants in America. It was in this year that Rich Vellante became the restaurant group's Executive Chef. In 1999, the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association presented Roger Berkowitz with the Silver Plate award for the best full-service, multi-unit restaurant operator in America, one of the food industry's highest honors.


2000s

In 2000, the American Institute of Food and Wine sponsored Legal Sea Food's 50th birthday with celebrity chefs, including
Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...
, in attendance. The
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
news program, Eye on America, focused on Legal Sea Food restaurant's quality control program with a segment on food safety. In 2003, Legal Sea Foods became one of the first American restaurants to go trans-fat free. The New Legal Sea Foods Cookbook was published in this year. In 2005, a new type of restaurant, Legal Test Kitchen (LTK), was introduced, with a menu that was 50 to 60 percent non-seafood and with comparably lower prices than traditional Legal Sea Foods locations. Also in 2005, Legal Sea Foods began to offer gluten-free options on the menu for the first time, giving patrons with
celiac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barle ...
more dining options. In 2008, Legal Sea Foods was named one of the ten best full-service or buffet-style restaurant chains which cater to families, according to Parents magazine. Later in 2008, Roger Berkowitz was inducted into the Nation's Restaurant News MenuMasters Hall of Fame. In 2009, Legal C Bar debuted with an outlet in
Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...
, focused on serving casual seafood and custom cocktails.


2010s

In 2011, Legal Sea Foods opened their new flagship restaurant, Legal Harborside on the Boston waterfront. It was named "Best New Restaurant" by ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman a ...
'' magazine. Two years later in 2013, Legal Sea Foods announced they would be opening a restaurant in the Downtown Crossing section of Boston named Legal Crossing (LXI). On February 22, 2014, a
carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simpl ...
leak killed the manager of the Legal Sea Foods branch at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station, New York and sickened 27 others. The leak was reportedly caused by a faulty
flue A flue is a duct, pipe, or opening in a chimney for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, water heater, boiler, or generator to the outdoors. Historically the term flue meant the chimney itself. In the United States, they are ...
pipe attached to a gas water heater. President & CEO of Legal Sea Foods, Roger Berkowitz, said that the company would install carbon monoxide detectors and conduct comprehensive safety audits at all locations. He also pledged to be at the forefront of legislative efforts to require the use of carbon monoxide detectors in commercial buildings. In April 2017, Legal Fish Bowl debuted in
Kendall Square Kendall Square is a neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The square itself at the intersection of Main Street and Broadway. It also refers to the broad business district east of Portland Street, northwest of the Charles River, north of MIT ...
. The restaurant is a fast-casual concept that features six signature poke bowls as well as the option to create your own. In that same year, Roger Berkowitz was awarded a “Who’s Who”
James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...
. In 2018, the company opened Legal Sea Bar, a bar-forward concept, in Union Station in Washington, DC. 2019 marked the start of a collaboration with Stonewall Kitchen, a specialty food manufacturer based in
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
, on a line of signature sauces, dressings and condiments. These products are sold under the name ‘Legal Sea Foods by Stonewall Kitchen” and range from
cocktail sauce Cocktail sauce, also known as seafood sauce, is one of several types of cold or room temperature sauces often served as part of a dish referred to as a seafood cocktail or as a condiment with other seafoods. The sauce, and the dish for which it i ...
to lemon dill aioli.


2020s

In January 2020, Legal Sea Foods announced a partnership with RLJ Companies to expand the presence of Legal Sea Foods restaurants in major airports across the United States.


Response to the COVID-19 pandemic and sale

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Legal Sea Foods had 33 locations, 3,500 employees, and more than $200 million in annual revenue. By March 2020, Legal Sea Foods had closed all locations for indoor dining. During the summer, the restaurant chain started to gradually re-open 18 of the larger locations in the Greater Boston Area. In August 2020, $10 million from the federal government
Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the Donald Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES ...
ran out and the company began exploring mergers with other restaurant operators. In December, the group merged with PPX Hospitality Brands, a subsidiary of Danu Partners. Under the terms of the sale, Roger Berkowitz kept control of online and retail sales using the Legal Sea Foods name and PPX became the new owners of the restaurant network and the Quality Control Center in South Boston. In 2021, PPX in partnership with
DoorDash DoorDash, Inc. is an American company that operates an online food ordering and food delivery platform. The company is based in San Francisco, California. It went public in December 2020 on NYSE and trades under the symbol DASH. With a 56% mar ...
opened its first two Legal Sea Foods dark kitchens in an attempt to widen the footprint of the brand and to take advantage of the growing food delivery market.


Operations

In addition to its traditional Legal Sea Foods restaurants, the company operates distinct concepts with unique offerings: Legal Test Kitchen, Legal C Bar, Legal Harborside, Legal Crossing, Legal Oysteria, Legal on the Mystic, Legal Fish Bowl and Legal Sea Bar, all with their distinct culture. Legal Sea Foods became one of the first restaurants in the United States to employ lean production techniques to improve the customer experience. One of the main changes was to install a line back position, similar to a bar-back, to quickly restock whatever the chef or cook needed in a just-in-time flow.


Menu

The menus vary by location, season and concept, but they all include a wide variety of specialty seafood entrees, appetizers, salads, and desserts. Over 40 varieties of fresh fish and
shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater enviro ...
, prepared according to New England tradition, are featured throughout the year. Some of the most popular items include:
lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...
, clam chowder, fried clams,
crab cakes A crab cake is a variety of fishcake that is popular in the United States. It is composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard (typically prepared mustard, but sometimes mustard powder), eggs, and ...
,
shrimp cocktail Prawn cocktail, also known as shrimp cocktail, is a seafood dish consisting of shelled, cooked prawns in a Marie Rose sauce or cocktail sauce, served in a glass. It was the most popular hors d'œuvre in Great Britain, as well as in the United S ...
, tuna burgers, baked scrod,
surf and turf Surf and turf or surf 'n' turf is a main course combining seafood and red meat. A typical seafood component would be lobster (either lobster tail or a whole lobster), prawns, shrimp, squid or scallops, any of which could be steamed, gril ...
and grilled fish fillets. Extensive wine lists and full-service bars are also available at all locations and have garnered recognition for its philosophy of offering value at all price points. The restaurant offers separate lunch and dinner menus as well as gluten-free menu options and kids’ menu. By buying directly from day boat fishing operations, the company markets itself as having the freshest fish. The company also made industry advances on fish handling and has worked with the federal agencies on developing
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP (), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs me ...
(HACCP).


In the media

''
Bon Appétit ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center i ...
'' magazine touts a meal at Legal Sea Foods as among America's "Top Ten Tried-and-True" dining experiences. Legal Sea Foods is also included in Patricia Schultz's popular guidebook, "
1,000 Places to See Before You Die ''1,000 Places to See Before You Die'' is a 2003 travel book by Patricia Schultz, published by Workman. A revised edition was published in November 2011. The new edition is in color. An iPad app debuted in December 2011. Among the "1,000 places ...
". In January 2011, Legal Sea Foods sponsored a dinner that featured several species of fish which were listed by the advocacy organization
Seafood Watch __NOTOC__ Seafood Watch is a sustainable seafood advisory list, and has influenced similar programs around the world. It is best known for developing science-based seafood recommendations that consumers, chefs, and business professionals use to i ...
as ones to avoid for sustainability reasons. Legal Sea Foods CEO, Roger Berkowitz said in a statement that much of the science around sustainable fisheries was "flawed" and "outdated." While the protest was criticized by several environmental organizations, it was praised by others, including some in the media. Representatives of fishermen in
Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of the ...
supported the choice to use locally sourced fish.


Awards


Advertising and marketing

Since 2007, DeVito/Verdi has been Legal Sea Foods’ advertising agency of record. In 2008, Legal Sea Foods ran a humorous campaign called "Really Fresh Fish". The campaign's out-of-home and radio advertisements created controversy for their “fresh” lines and won industry awards. In 2010, the company launched a radio campaign called "Fresh Insights". CEO Roger Berkowitz was the voice of the ads, which were finalists in the Radio Mercury Awards. In 2014, Legal Sea Foods began running print and television spots that argue that its seafood restaurants should never be called a
chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...
; the series of advertisements use the restaurant's chief executive, Roger Berkowitz to explain why. In March 2015, Legal Sea Foods partnered with
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), pack ...
on a promotion to deliver bowls of clam chowder anywhere in the city of Boston. The chowder cost $10 with $1 being donated to the
Greater Boston Food Bank The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a non-profit organization that serves more than 500,000 people each year through a network of nearly 600 member hunger-relief agencies throughout eastern Massachusetts. The ...
. In 2015, Legal Sea Foods launched a
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditio ...
advertising campaign that attempted to establish a new religion whose members would be known as " pescatarians", comparing them to
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...
. CEO Roger Berkowitz said that the campaign was the widest-reaching to date and spanned all forms of media from print, online, television, and even a gag website. The humorous campaign faced minor backlash from religious people who were offended by comparing the restaurant to Jesus and Moses. During the
presidential primary The presidential primary elections and caucuses held in the various states, the District of Columbia, and territories of the United States form part of the nominating process of candidates for United States presidential elections. The United S ...
of 2016, Legal Sea Foods launched a campaign-themed parody. On
Super Tuesday Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominating c ...
, Roger Berkowitz declared himself a candidate for President of the United States in a parody ad campaign of the "fishy" election. Among other things, he promised that on his first day in office he'd legalize
seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such a ...
, and he urged voters to #feeltheberk on
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...
. The spots aired in newspapers, news radio and in print. The "Welcome to Legal" campaign launched in 2019 with advertisements that play on the legality of marijuana in Massachusetts. The campaign received national attention, with commentary from publications including AdWeek and AdAge.


Affiliations

Legal Sea Foods has a long relationship with the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's ei ...
and
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
. The Celtics’ "Fan of the Game" promotion was founded by Legal Sea Foods and has been played at every home game for over 10 years. The company was also a sponsor of the
Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...
. In addition, Legal Sea Foods introduced the "Lobster Lob" at all home games played by the
Boston Pride The Boston Pride are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; 2015–2021). The ...
, part of the
National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and h ...
, during the 2019–2020 season.


See also

* Cuisine of New England *
List of seafood restaurants The following is a list of notable seafood restaurants. A seafood restaurant typically specializes in seafood cuisine and seafood dishes, such as fish and shellfish. Seafood restaurants Australia * Doyles on the Beach Canada * Joey ...
* * List of restaurant chains in the United States


References


Further reading

* Allen, Robin Lee
"Roger S. Berkowitz"
''Nation's Restaurant News'', September 14, 1998 * McCrory, Sue
"Talking Fish With Roger Berkowitz Of Legal Sea Foods"
''Public Radio Kitchen'',
WBUR WBUR-FM (90.9 FM) is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Boston University. It is the largest of three NPR member stations in Boston, along with WGBH and WUMB-FM and produces several nationally distributed program ...
, April 25, 2012 * Nayer, Melanie
"Legal tests the waters: less surf, more turf: Seafood chain aims to diversify menu, attract new clientele to smaller venues"
''Boston Globe'', September 11, 2005 * Cain, Jacqueline
"'It Always Started with Quality Product': Legal Sea Foods CEO Considers 40 Years in Chestnut Hill"
''Boston Eater'', August 20, 2015


External links


Company Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legal Sea Foods 1950 establishments in Massachusetts American companies established in 1950 Companies based in Boston Inman Square Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1950 Restaurants in Boston Restaurants in Cambridge, Massachusetts Restaurants in New Jersey Restaurants in Pennsylvania Restaurants in Virginia Retail companies established in 1950 Seafood restaurants in the United States