Buca di Beppo Restaurant Livonia Michigan

Buca di Beppo is an American

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

specializing in

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

food. The name roughly translates as "Joe's small place" from

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

(''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 A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

of the name ''Giuseppe''). The chain of 81 establishments (76 company-owned, 5 franchises in UK)Buca di Beppo: Meet Buca
is owned by Buca, Inc., which is also owned by

Planet Hollywood Planet Hollywood International Inc. (stylized as planet Hollywood, planet Hollywood observatory and ph) is a themed restaurant chain inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood. The company is owned by Earl Enterprises corporation. Earl En ...

. The chain is known for its vintage photographs hung closely spaced throughout the restaurant.

Corporate history

Phil Roberts founded Buca di Beppo in 1993 as an imitation of "red sauce joints",

family restaurant Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the USA, while catego ...

s 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. The first restaurant, named Buca Little Italy, was opened in the basement level of a

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

apartment building in 1993 by Twin Cities restaurant company Parasole Restaurant Holdings. Five years later, it was spun off and renamed Buca di Beppo.Burl Gilyard
Buca di Beppo headquarters moving to Florida (update)
''Finance & Commerce'', November 23, 2011, accessed May 4, 2015. By 1999, there were 20 locations when Buca, Inc. began trading on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

stock exchange. The chain continued to grow, but began to hit some rough spots a few years later. Business losses mounted, and in 2005, the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

began investigating the company over securities laws. Two top executives left the company, three Buca di Beppo sites were closed, and the company described those restaurants and the Vinny T's chain as "discontinued operations" in fourth quarter 2005 earnings statements. However, on May 22, 2006, the company announced that it would be keeping the Vinny T's stores, but converting them to Buca di Beppo locations. On September 25, 2006, Buca, Inc. sold their 11 Vinny T's of Boston restaurants to Bertucci's Corp. for $6.8 million. On June 7, 2006, Micatrotto and two other former Buca executives were charged with stealing more than US$200,000 from the company. On August 5, 2008,

's parent company, Planet Hollywood International, Inc., agreed to purchase the Buca chain for US$28.5 million. Under terms of the deal, Buca became a wholly owned subsidiary of Planet Hollywood.Steve Alexander
Struggling Buca bought by Planet Hollywood
, ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', August 5, 2008, Accessed August 23, 2008. Its founder,

Robert Earl Robert Earl (born 29 May 1951) is an English-American businessman who is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, Chairman of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and host of ''Robert Earl's Be My Guest'' television program whic ...

, restored Buca di Beppo's gaudy decor of photographs covering walls. Buca di Beppo in las Vegas at Excalibur

In 2011, Buca moved its headquarters from Minneapolis to

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, home of its parent company, citing financial incentives. In 2012, Rick Tasman was named CEO & President. In 2015, Rich Saultz was named the new CEO & President and is currently in that position. By 2016, the company had 100 locations in the U.S. and U.K. , the chain has 77 restaurants in 24 states; Honolulu is the highest-grossing location. In 2019, Earl Enterprises announced that a

point-of-sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...

credit card breach affected credit-card users who visited Buca (or other Earl Enterprise-owned restaurants) between May 23, 2018, and March 18, 2019.

References

External links

* - United States *{{Official website, www.bucadibeppo.co.uk - United Kingdom Companies based in Orlando, Florida Restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1993 1993 establishments in Minnesota American companies established in 1993 2008 mergers and acquisitions Italian restaurants in the United States

Menu

Corporate history

See also

References

External links