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Buca di Beppo

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Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryRestaurant
GenreCasual dining
Founded1993; 31 years ago (1993)
FounderPhil Roberts
Headquarters
Orlando, Florida
,
U.S.
Number of locations
44
Area served
United States
Key people
Robert Earl (Chairman)
ProductsItalian-American food, including spaghetti and meatballs, Fettuccine alfredo, lasagna, ravioli, breadsticks, pizza, submarine sandwiches, and salads
Total equityUS$8.8 million[when?]
Number of employees
5,000 - 10,000[1]
ParentIndependent (1993-2008) Planet Hollywood International, Inc. (2008-Present)
Websitewww.dineatbuca.com
Buca di Beppo, Livonia, Michigan

Buca di Beppo is an American restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American food. The name roughly translates as "Joe's small place" from Italian.[a] The chain of 81 establishments[2] (76 company-owned, 5 franchises in UK)[3] has been a subsidiary of Planet Hollywood since 2008.

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Slice of cake at a Buca di Beppo (March 2009)

The food at Buca di Beppo is served family style, each item served à la carte and shared among the dining party. Some locations also have a lunch menu, featuring individual-sized portions.

In an attempt to boost sales during 2005, Buca introduced a Buca Mia menu, meaning "My Cellar", with less-expensive portions for two.[4]

Decor

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Each room at Buca is themed. Each restaurant has a "Pope Table", a dining table with a bust of the current Pope atop a Lazy Susan.[5][6]

The chain is known for its vintage photographs hung closely spaced throughout the restaurant.[citation needed]

History

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Phil Roberts founded Buca di Beppo in 1993 as an imitation of "red sauce joints", Italian-American family restaurants in the northeast United States. Not Italian himself, Roberts wanted his restaurant's stereotypical depiction of Italian-American culture to be "intentionally in bad taste, but good-natured bad taste". He hired Vittorio Renda, a Milanese chef, and Roberts's architect son decorated the restaurant with Italians' family photographs from flea markets. In 1996, a new CEO, Joseph Micatrotto, brought less exaggerated Italian-American cultural depictions, based on his family's history, to the chain as it prepared to go public.[7]

The first restaurant, named Buca Little Italy, was opened in the basement level of a Minneapolis apartment building in 1993 by Twin Cities restaurant company Parasole Restaurant Holdings. Five years later, it was spun off and renamed Buca di Beppo.[8][9] By 1999, there were 21 locations when Buca, Inc. began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange.[10][11][12] In December 2001, the company acquired the Boston-based Vinny Testa restaurant chain for $18 million. By this time, Buca operated 68 locations in 22 states.[13]

In February 2005, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ordered an investigation into the company to determine if it had violated securities laws relating to its accounting practices between February 2001 and March 2005. A month later, Buca had dismissed two top executives.[14] In February 2006, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Buca di Beppo on behalf of the company's investors, accusing the company of overstating its revenue and failing to follow generally accepted accounting practices.[14] Three Buca di Beppo sites were closed and the Vinny T's chain was listed as "discontinued operations" in the company's fourth quarter 2005 earnings statement.[15]

Buca attempted to sell the Vinny T chain, but by May 2006, the company announced that it would instead convert the Vinny T's stores into Buca di Beppo locations.[16] On September 25, 2006, Buca, Inc. sold its 11 Vinny T's of Boston restaurants to Bertucci's Corp. for $6.8 million.[17]

On June 7, 2006, the SEC filed securities fraud charges against Micatrotto, former CFO Greg Gadel, and former Controller Daniel J. Skrypek for stealing more than $200,000 from the company.[18][7][19]

On August 5, 2008, Planet Hollywood's parent company, Planet Hollywood International, Inc., agreed to purchase the Buca chain for $28.5 million. Under terms of the deal, Buca became a wholly owned subsidiary of Planet Hollywood.[20] Its founder, Robert Earl, restored Buca di Beppo's gaudy decor of photographs covering walls.[7]

The Buca di Beppo at Excalibur Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, opened in 2011.

In 2011, Buca moved its headquarters from Minneapolis to Orlando, Florida, home of its parent company, citing financial incentives.[9] In 2012, Rick Tasman was named CEO & President.[21] In 2015, Rich Saultz was named the new CEO & President and is currently in that position.[citation needed]

By 2016, the company had 100 locations in the U.S. and U.K.[22]

As of 2019, the chain has 77 restaurants in 24 states; Honolulu is the highest-grossing location.[7] In 2019, Earl Enterprises announced that a point-of-sale credit card breach affected credit-card users who visited Buca (or other Earl Enterprise-owned restaurants) between May 23, 2018, and March 18, 2019.[23][24]

Bankruptcy

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On August 1, 2024, Buca di Beppo abruptly closed 13 underperforming restaurants nationwide, blaming impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the decision.[25]

On August 5, 2024, Buca di Beppo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company announced it would use bankruptcy proceedings to improve operations and will also sell itself.[26] On November 6, 2024, it was announced that Buca di Beppo would be sold to private equity firm Main Street Capital Corporation for $27 million after a deal was approved in bankruptcy court on November 1.[27]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Buca, which literally means "hole" or "pit", can be a dialectal word in Tuscany for a small room or place, and Beppo is a diminutive of the name Giuseppe.

References

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  1. ^ "Buca di Beppo". LinkedIn. Sunnyvale, California. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  2. ^ https://locations.bucadibeppo.com/index.html Archived 2020-03-01 at the Wayback Machine Buca di Beppo: All locations
  3. ^ Buca di Beppo: Meet Buca Archived September 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Vomhof Jr., John (March 24, 2006). "Buca loss narrows in Q4 as sales rise". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008. Retrieved April 8, 2006.
  5. ^ "About Buca". Buca di Beppo.
  6. ^ Guszkowski, Joe (August 6, 2024). "Here's why Buca di Beppo filed for bankruptcy". Restaurant Business. Retrieved 2024-08-11.
  7. ^ a b c d Krishna, Priya (April 16, 2019). "The Bizarre History of Buca di Beppo, America's Most Postmodern Red Sauce Chain". Bon Appétit. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 2020-07-12. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  8. ^ "The Parasole story". Parasole Restaurant Holdings. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Gilyard, Burl (2011-11-23). "Buca di Beppo headquarters moving to Florida (update) | Finance & Commerce". Finance & Commerce. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  10. ^ "BUBBLE ROOM REPLACEMENT". Orlando Sentinel. 1999-08-31. Retrieved 2024-08-11.
  11. ^ "BUCA Inc". Venture Capital Journal. 1999-06-01. Retrieved 2024-08-11.
  12. ^ Vrana, Debora (1999-04-26). "Rubio's Restaurants Hopes High Tech Isn't Only Fish in IPO Sea". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-08-11.
  13. ^ "Buca Buys Vinny Testa's Units". Midland Daily News. December 17, 2001. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Investor Sues Buca, Inc. for Stock Fraud". Restaurant News Resource. August 11, 2005. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved April 8, 2006.
  15. ^ "BUCA, Inc. Announces Preliminary 4th Quarter and Full Year 2005 Results". Restaurant News Resource. March 26, 2006. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  16. ^ "Buca backtracks on Vinny T's of Boston sale". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. May 26, 2006. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  17. ^ "BUCA, Inc. Announces Sale of Vinny T's of Boston to Bertucci's Corporation - Business Wire" (Press release). Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  18. ^ McKinney, Matt; St. Anthony, Neal (June 7, 2006). "3 accused of looting Buca chain". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on June 13, 2006. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  19. ^ "SEC Files Fraud Charges Against Former Restaurant Executives for Undisclosed Compensation and Accounting Fraud; Former CEO Agrees to Pay $500,000 Civil Penalty ; 2006-89; June 7, 2006". www.sec.gov. June 7, 2006. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  20. ^ Alexander, Steve (August 5, 2008). "Struggling Buca bought by Planet Hollywood". www.startribune.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2009. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  21. ^ "Buca di Beppo names Rick Tasman CEO". nrn.com. May 17, 2012. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  22. ^ Becker, Emily (2016-08-28). "8 Family-Style Facts About Buca di Beppo". www.mentalfloss.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-25. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  23. ^ Cain, Aine (April 1, 2019). "Buca di Beppo diners may have had their credit-card details stolen after the restaurant chain's parent company was hit with a major data breach". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  24. ^ "Hackers steal credit card data from Planet Hollywood, Buca di Beppo customers". USA TODAY. 2019. Archived from the original on June 2, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  25. ^ Saha, Joy (August 1, 2024). "Buca di Beppo has abruptly shut down 13 underperforming restaurant locations nationwide". Salon. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  26. ^ Littman, Julie (August 5, 2024). "Buca di Beppo files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, facilitates sale". Restaurant Dive. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  27. ^ Littman, Julie (6 November 2024). "Buca di Beppo to be sold to stalking horse bidder for $27M". Restaurant Dive. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
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