The Bubba Gump chain of restaurants will start accepting Bitcoins and other major tokens as payment for meals.
Interviewed by CNBC yesterday, Tilman Fertitta, the CEO of parent company Landry, assured that around 80% of the company’s restaurant brands — including the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company chain, — will accept Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies soon.
Such a novelty is estimated to be operational in a timeframe of 90 days.
Bitcoin is Making an Impact
Fertitta is convinced that crypto is being rapidly adopted by the mainstream. Among the famous chains within Landry’s holding, Morton’s The Steakhouse, and Mastro’s are also preparing their systems to receive crypto.
Landry’s CEO highlights the simplicity and speed of crypto transactions. He believes it is the logical and inevitable evolution of traditional payment systems.
The Oscar winner and ticketbuster Forrest Gump film in 1994, starring Tom Hanks, inspired The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
Bubba Gump is Going Bitcoin
The chain is composed of more than 30 restaurants scattered around a dozen countries such as the United States, China, Qatar, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, Mariana Islands and Japan.
Fertitta is also the owner of a high-end automobile retailer in Houston, the Post Oak Motor Cars, which accepts BTCs as early as of 2018.
The first Bubba Gump restaurant opened in 1996 in Monterey, California owned by Viacom and another private investor. Viacom also owns Paramount Pictures, the distribution Forrest Gump. In 2010 Laundry acquired the firm and since then it gre exponentially within the United States as well as abroad.
Over time the number of food chains and restaurants open to receive crypto as payment is growing. Yet the risk of crypto volatility makes it untrustly to use as a reliable means of payment.
Paradoxically, the first bar & restaurant to ever accept crypto for payment — Room 77 in Germany — closed in October after ten years running the business, alleging financial problems from Covid lockdowns.