King's Seafood

In 1945, Lou and Mickey King, Jeff and Sam King's respective fathers, began to build the King's Restaurant chain throughout Southern California. After a hugely successful run of almost 40 years, the family sold the chain of six restaurants to Tiny Naylor's, Inc. in 1982. As part of this transition, Sam went to work for Tiny Naylor's and Jeff went to sit on the 1984 Olympic Committee which was to be hosted in Los Angeles. The Carriage Club, a restaurant in Long Beach, was on the market and Sam went with Tiny Naylor's to look at the prospect of the space. Tiny Naylor's decided to pass on the location but Sam saw the potential. He called Jeff and proposed they start their own venture and take over this location as their first project. Jeff agreed and they signed their first lease the day before Thanksgiving in 1983. Six weeks before the 1984 Olympics, we opened our first concept, 555 East, and we still own and operate the restaurant today. At that time, our company was called University Restaurant Group, a name inspired by the 'friendly' rivalry of USC and UCLA, Sam and Jeff's respective alma maters, and we held that name until 1998. Since then they've proven to be successful operators, and they've cultivated the art of delivering a quality product and a great Guest experience in all economic environments. They learned a lot from their fathers and Sam and Jeff continue to teach, guide and lead us to great adventures. Their dedication and commitment to the industry, the product, and the people has resulted in a profitable, successful, and growing company. Our restaurant concepts have proven stiff competition in a tough industry because they all work to fill a niche. In late 1998, Sam and Jeff ultimately decided to change the name of the company from University Restaurant Group to King's Seafood Company to embody their goals and ambition of "Delivering Great Seafood to America." Having turned our focus to delivering the best possible offerings, we continue to establish product-centric inspired restaurants that are ...