2001 The Year in Review

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 17, 2001 by Ron Ruggless

Mall snack concept Wetzel's Pretzels of Pasadena, Calif., formed a join venture with Muscle Beach Lemonade of Carlsbad, Calif., to create dual-brand stores.

Vicorp Restaurants Inc. of Denver, operator and franchisor of 374 Bakers Square and Village Inn family restaurants, went private by completing a merger with a newly formed affiliate of Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc. and BaucBoston Capital.

Phil Roberts of Minneapolis, responsible for creating the Buca di Beppo concept, was seeking to expand his upscale seafood concept, Oceanaire Seafood Room.

Beverly Hills, Calif.-based chef-restaurateur Wolfgang Puck disclosed plans to expand his quick-service Wolfgang Puck Express through franchising.

Burger King revealed plans to promote the "The Lord of the Rings" movie in its stores.

The dot-com fallout continued as Instill Corp. of Redwood City, Calif., shut down its foodscape.com Internet portal, which was a year-old partnership with the National Restaurant Association, its Educational Foundation, Visa, Hewlett Packard and other companies. The site offered content, community and e-commerce services to independent restaurants.

Health concerns were raised when patrons of two Middle Eastern restaurants in Plainview, N.Y., reported cases of shigellosis, a severe, gastrointestinal, food-borne illness. The Nassau County Health Department expanded its investigation to other restaurants on Long Island.

Top executives of restaurant chains were making moves. Russ Bendel, president of Roy's Restaurants, left the chain to become president of the 53-unit Mimi's Cafe of Tustin, Calif.

Nicholas Biello was named president of Sportservice Corp. in Buffalo, N.Y.

Shoney's Inc. of Nashville, Tenn., promoted V. Michael Payne to chief financial officer and named F.E. McDaniel Jr. as secretary and chief counsel. David Gilbert, executive vice president of real estate, resigned.

Taco John's Inc. of Cheyenne, Wyo., promoted Gene Van Home to the new post of chief operating officer.

Robert Stetson returned to his post as chief executive of U.S. Restaurant Properties in Dallas.

Chuck Sonsteby was named chief financial officer at Brinker International Inc. of Dallas.

Death claimed several industry legends: Herb Rosen, founder of the Skipper's Seafood 'n' Chowder House chain, based in Bellevue, Wash., died of heart failure. He was 79.

Christine Pavia Vaccaro, who co-founded the noted Mario's restaurant in Dallas and was active in fine-dining associations well into her retirement, died of respiratory failure in Los Angeles. She was 93.

Ninfa Rodriguez Laurenzo, founder of the 55-unit Ninfa's restaurant chain, died of bone cancer in Houston. She was 77.

Herbert Woods, the force behind Harlem's soul-food landmark Sylvia's, died from prostate cancer in New York. He was 76.

JULY

Midyear performance news from major restaurant companies was less than stellar.

Standard & Poor's, which downgraded its debt ratings on eight restaurant companies during the first half of the year, extrapolated that the second half would be particularly problematic for foodservice firms because of heavy debt loads and the souring economy. The eight first-half downgrades were AmeriKing Inc.; Avado Brands Inc.; CKE Restaurants Inc.; FRD Acquisition Corp.; NE Restaurant Co., which had changed its name to Bertucci's Corp.; Prandium Inc.; and Romacorp Inc.