The world is about to get a whole lot Crabbyer.

That's no typo. Crabby Bill's, long a Pinellas beaches seafood institution, was sold on Dec. 2 to Landmark Restaurant Group, Inc., of Orlando.

Selling the homegrown chain of 11 restaurants was done in part to hasten growth, but mostly to provide a comfortable retirement for Crabby Bill himself, Bill Loder, and his wife, Delores.

"My father is 60 years old," said Matt Loder, 30, whose business card described him as Special Deputy Assistant to the Big Crab. "We want to keep growing this thing while he's around to enjoy it. But we don't want to put his savings at risk to do it. And what's the point of doing it after Dad's gone?"

Two days before it acquired Crabby's, Landmark itself was purchased by First Standard Ventures, Ltd., also of Orlando. But that's basically a paper swap; both entities are run by Gerald C. "Gerry" Parker, who is chairman and president. First Standard - publicly traded on NASDAQ for the last 11 years under the symbol "FSLRF" - is a holding company with $8-million in assets. It plans to change its name to Landmark. Landmark currently operates a Cracker Barrel-style restaurant called White Butter Beans, and two Rock L's double drive-thrus; Crabby Bill's will immediately become the company's flagship and standard-bearer.

"It's nice we're going to be affiliated with some good restaurants," Matt said. If the sale goes through by the May 1995 option deadline, the Big Crab's face could appear on 30 more restaurants in 1995 alone. "The opportunity is to take some existing chains and put them under the same moniker," Matt said. First Standard has announced plans for a public offering in the Spring of 1995 to secure financing for expansion.

Alex Hern, the Loders' joint venture partner in six existing and two under development Crabby Bill's locations, is chief financial officer of both First Standard and Landmark. He made the deal happen. "I was one of the first joint venture partners in the company," Hern said. "What we didn't want to become was convoluted, where you have too many joint ventures, too many partners to agree on anything."

Landmark will start out with 15 company stores. Future deals will be both company-owned and joint ventures. The first indication of the restaurant's future direction may be a high-profile Crabby Bill's on Miami's chi-chi South Beach, replete with 1,000 feet of floating dock boat access and 15 slips. That one should be open in time for the Super Bowl at Joe Robbie Stadium on Jan. 27.

Neither party will reveal the purchase price. "I don't like to give figures," Matt said, "because I still have to answer to Dad."

What did Landmark get for its money?

For starters, Crabby Bill's is an honest-to-goodness, traditional Mom & Pop operation. Not just the folks, either: There are 22 members of the Loder family employed herein, three sons (Matt, George and John), two daughters (Eleanor and Delores), son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws, cousins, nephews, nieces . . .

"Our business is a matter of family pride," Matt said. "Dad walks out in the dining room. Kids want autographs, adults want pictures with him. Seeing Dad's pictures on signs is a real big deal for us. When we look up there and see our father, it's a real charge for us."

It's also a reminder for the Loder young 'uns to stick to the straight-and-narrow. Seeing your father's picture staring at you every time you handle a $20 bill has a way of keeping the family honest. In Matt's case, he need only see the anchor tattoo on his left forearm and snake & dagger on his right to be reminded of dear old dad. "My father has the same thing on his arms," he said. "It really helped me when I was 14, making sure they were the same as Dad's. I didn't get into any trouble because of it."

Under the purchase agreement and an employment contract, Landmark gets responsibility for marketing and accounting while the Loders retain operating control for a minimum of three years. That was especially important to Matt. "I have never done anything else but work for my parents," he said. "I enjoy it too much to do anything to change careers at 30."

Each unit in the chain averages $2-million in annual sales. Brand loyalty is high; standing on line for a plentiful dinner served at one of Crabby Bill's family-style picnic benches is a ritual for tourists and locals alike. "The wait works both for and against us," Matt said. "If the line moves fast, it works for us. The benches work well. Especially when I go to Outback Steakhouse and see a party of two where four could have sat."

Average tab is $9-$10 per person; a little higher among the free-spending tourists in St. Pete Beach, a little lower among the residents in New Port Richey.

"We're in a value-conscious time," Hern said. "Crabby Bill's is a value-oriented restaurant. People go to Crabby Bill's to get a lot of good food and not leave with an empty wallet. We saw the opportunity to put in controls and systems that would make it a better deal."

The first restaurant opened April 28, 1983 in Indian Rocks Beach near the corner of Gulf Boulevard and State Road 688. The original restaurant had 45 seats, not nearly enough to satisfy demand. Between 1983 and '87, the restaurant moved around four times into different buildings on the busy corner. Today the Loders own seven buildings here, running everything from the main restaurant and bar to a seafood store and game room.

Additional stores have popped up in New Port Richey, Palm Harbor, Indian Rocks Beach, St. Petersburg Beach, Bradenton, Holmes Beach, Fort Myers, Jupiter and 4th Street N in St. Petersburg. Another restaurant is planned for Stuart. There's also one in the mountains of Bat Cave, North Carolina, mostly as a convenience for the founder, who has a vacation home there he didn't use very often until the family agreed to locate a restaurant nearby. Hern said the company can turnkey a Crabby Bill's for just $300,000, a fraction of what other, similar volume restaurants cost.

Crabby's entered the world at a magic time for restaurant concepts in the Tampa Bay area. In the '80s, Hooters, Shell's and Outback Steakhouse were all launched locally to national acclaim. Hooters - which Matt Loder swears he has never visited because "my wife would kill me" - would seem to have the most in common with Crabby Bill's. Both developed as casual, anti-rules "joints" rather than restaurants, where the snappy patter from the waitresses is spontaneous rather than rehearsed. And there's always a chance the house might buy the next round.

"They have proven this concept works, not only in Indian Rocks Beach but everywhere they put it, seven days a week, and that's what it takes to be successful," Parker said.

Until recently, Crabby Bill's and Shell's rarely competed on the same street, but as both have been acquired by larger restaurant companies, that is changing. The two will soon go head-to-head on 4th Street N in St. Petersburg, in St. Pete Beach and in Stuart.

Now, about that name.

"We owned a business in St. Petersburg called Captain Bill's," Matt said. "We were looking for a name for this business. Someone said, 'Let's call it "Crab-something" because we were going to sell blue crab. And someone else said, 'Let's call it "Crabby Bill's" because that reflects DAD. And it DOES reflect him better than 'Captain.' "

THAT'S A LOTTA SEAFOOD

Crabby Bill's serves seafood by the pile. Here's how the fish and crustaceans stack up, chain-wide, every week:

7,000 pounds of blue crab

5,000 pounds of shrimp

3,000 pounds of grouper fillets

500 bushels of oysters

120 bushels of clams

"And we're number four in the state in sales of Miller Beer, right after Church Street Station," according to Matt Loder.