Tarrant Begins Push to Double Volume of Mexican Operations
Italian Eatery Rosti On Block Following Parent’s Bankruptcy
Retail
by Deborah Belgum, Staff Reporter
Keeping its emphasis on expansion in Mexico, Los Angeles-based Tarrant Apparel Group has named Pilar Charo to be president of Tarrant Mexico.
The company specializes in manufacturing jeans for retailers like The Limited and Target.
The L.A. company’s founder and chairman, Gerard Guez, said he hopes that Charo can increase weekly production at the company’s Mexican manufacturing plants from 500,000 units to 1 million units. “This is the last piece of the puzzle. Someone from the real manufacturing world that lives and breathes this stuff,” Guez said.
While Tarrant Apparel manufactures many of its products in China and Latin America, it has purchased several Mexican garment factories to become more vertically integrated and thus lower costs. The Tarrant-owned Mexican plants cut down on manufacturing, as well as shipping costs for the company.
Prior to being hired by Tarrant, Charo worked for seven years in one of the largest jeans manufacturing plants in Guatemala. He has been president of Koramsa Manufacturing & Trading Co. since 1995.
More Pancakes
International House of Pancakes expects to roll out at least 105 new pancake houses this year as opposed to its usual 95 per year. Most will be owned by franchisees.
“For 2002, we expect to experience growth in two key areas: new unit development and comp-store sales,” said Richard Herzer, IHOP’s chairman and chief executive.
IHOP executives want to increase same-store sales by at least 1 to 2 percent in 2002, compared with a relatively meager 0.8 percent in 2001.
IHOP stock has been trading around its 52-week high of $32.50 set on March 4.
Analyst Michael Smith of Fahnestock & Co., however, issued a hold last week. “We are somewhat concerned that the market is expecting some giant transaction to take place that will justify higher prices, and we don’t think that is out there,” Smith said.
Some analysts are wondering whether Salomon Smith Barney, hired as a financial advisor last August, will recommend that IHOP be split into two entities: one to handle the restaurants and the other to handle real estate holdings and leases.
Steak Out
The planned April opening of The Palm restaurant near Staples Center has forced a shakeout in the downtown steakhouse scene.
The first to give in was Windows, located on the 32nd floor of the Transamerica Building. The management decided to change its steak-heavy menu to continental cuisine after seeing the number of steakhouses in the downtown area multiply last year to at least five.
The decision was made when Floor 50, a restaurant on the 50th floor of the Bank of America building managed by Guckenheimer Enterprises, the same company that manages Windows, closed because Bank of America needed more space. Much of Floor 50’s staff was moved over to Windows.
“With the competition with Arnie Morton’s, The Palm and Nick & Stef’s, we felt we would be better off to return to the way it used to be,” said Windows’ general manager Richard Bonhama.
Quite a Hoot
Sales haven’t been what they expected at some parts of Hollywood & Highland, but officials there draw the line about what types of businesses they will go after. Executives of Hooters restaurant, which features buxom waitresses, were thinking about going into the entertainment/shopping complex but backed down because they thought the leasing price was too expensive. But Hollywood & Highland spokesman Doug Piwinski said the center would have rejected a Hooters bid anyway.
“Hooters is not an option,” Piwinski said.
Staff reporter Deborah Belgum can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 228 or at
[email protected].
Italian Eatery Rosti On Block Following Parent’s Bankruptcy:
Famiglia Toscana Inc., owner of five Rosti restaurants concentrated on L.A.’s Westside and the San Fernando Valley, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The company’s president, Michael Gordon, is negotiating to sell the chain of Tuscan-style restaurants famous for its roasted dishes, to Eating Life Inc., owned by the Kemp Family Trust, said bankruptcy attorney Kevin Haah. Barry Kemp, one of the principals in the Kemp Family Trust, is a shareholder in Famiglia Toscana and provided a credit guarantee for the company to secure a nearly $1 million loan from the Bank of America.
Gordon was not available for comment.
In its bankruptcy papers filed Feb. 26, Famiglia Toscana listed $3 million in debts and $1 million in assets. The filing does not include its Toscana restaurant in Brentwood.
In 1999 and 2000, the restaurant company lost money and in late 2000, the Kemp Family Trust loaned it $335,000 for operating capital and to improve the restaurants’ profitability.
The restaurants, in Brentwood, Santa Monica, Encino, Los Angeles and Westlake Village, were starting to break even until Sept. 11, according to court documents. Since then, the chain has been operating at a loss and faces a cash flow problem because it can’t get an additional line of credit.
In early February, it received several notices from landlords to leave its premises. In addition, there are several lawsuits by Famiglia Toscana’s vendors for unpaid invoices, the documents said.
