By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – The sixth branch of the New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company will make LaPlace its home, scheduled for an opening here in the Riverlands Shopping Center in early July.

Managing Partner Paul McGoey talked about the continued growth of the company as he took a break from the work currently underway at the new location in the Riverland Shopping Center, in the old office space formerly leased by Cici’s Pizza.

The orginal company began in 1984, but maintained three New Orleans locations for over 20 years until starting an improvement and expansion program in 2001.

That work originally led to many changes at the original stores, and now is being followed by an expansion to new locations.

McGoey said the company opened a Mandeville location last September, located in Houma in February, and has targeted the River Region with its LaPlace location that is scheduled for an “early July” opening here.

McGoey has been a key part of the companies growth, since original owners Sander Weiner, Gary Weiner and Norris Gremillion hired him in 2001, asking him to use his restaurant consulting company to guide their future.

“We used to be just a hamburger and seafood company, but when I looked at the company, I could see it needed to evolve. Nothing had changed for 17 years,” McGoey explained.

In 2001, McGoey orchestrated a change in menu to add sandwiches, salads, grilled fish and more. They changed the logo and inside appearance of the stores, leading to a huge sales increases over the four years of work.

The company survived Katrina, which clearly slowed down the plan to change and add locations. But now back on track, the company has added two locations that are doing phenomenally well, according to McGoey.

“We looked into the region when considering expansion and picked three cities that were close enough to the original stores that we could be helped by our name recognition,” he noted. “That’s why we picked Mandeville, Houma and now LaPlace.”

The short term goal is to add 10 stores by 2010, he added.

The store will offer 45 new jobs to the area once they are fully operational, and will be open seven days a week.