Shrimp Basket closed five Alabama restaurants on Nov. 1, including its Gardendale location at 550 Fieldstown Road, as the seafood chain's owner pulls back from inland markets to concentrate on its coastal roots. The other shuttered locations were in Bay Minette, Cullman, Tuscaloosa and Auburn, while a sixth restaurant in Warrington, near Pensacola, Florida, closed the same day.
The closures were first reported by Bham Now, and the chain's parent company, Artistry Restaurants, confirmed the move in a release cited by al.com. The outlet reported that the closures leave four Shrimp Basket restaurants open in Alabama, located in Foley, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Evergreen. Shrimp Basket now has 12 locations remaining overall, down from a peak of 18, according to the same report.
Gardendale's Shrimp Basket, notably, wasn't a brand-new casualty of hard times — the restaurant had reopened there in 2022. Bay Minette's location, meanwhile, sits outside the chain's traditional coastal footprint, part of a broader pattern of inland restaurants being cut as the company narrows its focus.
About 100 Workers Affected
The six combined closures in Alabama and Florida affected approximately 100 employees, the company said, according to WKRG. Four salaried employees were laid off along with hourly team members, the station reported, though the exact breakdown of hourly staff affected hasn't been detailed.
Artistry Restaurants acquired Shrimp Basket in May 2020, per the company's release relayed by WKRG. The chain itself dates back much further, having originally started in Gulf Shores in 1993, al.com noted, long before Artistry took ownership.
A Return to Coastal Roots
Artistry CEO Bryan Lockwood framed the closures as a strategic narrowing rather than a retreat, saying the group decided to return Shrimp Basket to its roots as a true coastal seafood restaurant and direct resources and future investments to beach and coastal locations to support its teams and guests. Lockwood added that the decision was made to strengthen the Shrimp Basket brand and serve its teams and guests.
That coastal-first strategy was echoed in trade coverage from Nation's Restaurant News, which reported that Artistry plans to focus resources and operational energy on the 12 remaining Shrimp Basket restaurants located in beach and coastal markets. The outlet also noted that the Shrimp Basket closures came just a few months after Artistry decided to shutter four locations of its Hickory Tavern brand, suggesting a wider trimming effort across the company's restaurant portfolio.
For now, Shrimp Basket fans in Gardendale, Bay Minette, Cullman, Tuscaloosa and Auburn will need to make the drive to the Gulf Coast for their seafood fix, with Foley, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Evergreen the only Alabama locations left standing.
