Long John Silver's Relaunches Stores In Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Long John Silver's once had over 55 franchised restaurants in Pittsburgh.

But after many of them closed, the Louisville-based corporation bought back the remaining franchises and made a key decision, announced on Thursday by CEO James O'Reilly.

"We've come back to the Pittsburgh market. We now own the restaurants in the Pittsburgh market. We are creating jobs, and we are investing in this market," O'Reilly told KDKA money editor Jon Delano.

The jobs are not insignificant at the 18 company-owned restaurants in Pittsburgh.

"We're creating about 300 new jobs in this market. We're investing in our restaurants, and we have an eye to the future in looking at continued growth here," O'Reilly said.

About half the sales are drive-through and take-out, while many prefer to eat in at restaurants like the one in Penn Hills that are getting a make-over.

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That includes the menu.

Forget the old image of Long John Silver's with just fried food.

In this day and age, you can get meals with under 600 calories like this baked cod, or shrimp.

Of course, you can still get the popular fried fish, french fries, and hush puppies, but, says O'Reilly, "We offer choices."

"We have a range of meals under 600 calories, including our baked cod meal with vegetables and rice and our baked shrimp meal with vegetables and rice available to consumers for under 600 calories."

And O'Reilly insists the fish is the highest quality.

"The quality of our food, our seafood, is all natural. It's wild cod, it's hormone free, it's antibiotic free."

Why relaunch company-owned restaurants here in Pittsburgh?

In part, it's the demographics.

"This is the third largest Catholic market in the United States, and as we approach lent, lent is our busiest time of the year."