Co-Founder Taking Back Reins of Restaurant Chain

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Robert Spivak is back at the helm of the company he co-founded 26 years ago, Grill Concepts Inc., parent company of the Daily Grill chain.

And he says he’s raring to go.

Spivak, 66, was named president and chief executive of Grill Concepts on June 2 after Philip Gay, who served as president-chief executive since 2006, left the Woodland Hills restaurant operator.

Spivak said Gay decided to leave Grill Concepts after he and members of the board were unable to agree on how to manage the company.

“It became apparent that the direction Philip wanted to go and the board wanted to go were different,” Spivak said. “Philip made a decision that it was time to agree to disagree and he decided that he was going to leave.”

Spivak, who spent his childhood folding napkins and peeling carrots at his father’s L.A.-area restaurants, co-founded Grill Concepts in 1984 with the opening of Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills. The company opened its first Daily Grill in 1989 in Brentwood, and it now operates and licenses 29 restaurants under the Grill on the Alley, Daily Grill and In Short Order brands.

Spivak served as president and chief executive of Grill Concepts from 1995 until his retirement in 2006. Gay replaced him, moving up from his roles as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Spivak continued working with him as a paid consultant to the company and later co-chairman.

Spivak, who no longer receives a consulting fee, said he’s focusing on strengthening the company’s existing restaurants so it can expand when the economy rebounds.

“We feel that the recession hit us hard, as well as everyone else, and it was time to go back to basics,” Spivak said.

Grill Concepts voluntarily delisted its stock from Nasdaq in March 2009, and the company’s shares are now quoted on the Pink Sheets Electronic OTC Markets.

Struggling with the same recessionary pressures as other restaurant companies, Grill Concepts reported a net loss of $1.3 million for the first quarter ended March 28, the same loss as it reported for the same quarter last year.

But Spivak said he’s ready to take on the challenge of these tough times.

“I’m totally energized,” he said. “As soon as I walked into my office and sat down in my chair, I felt I was energized and like I had never been gone.”

Toying Around

Transom Capital Group LLC last week acquired Uncle Milton Industries Inc., a Westlake Village toymaker best known for creating the Ant Farm. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Frank Adler, president and head of sales and marketing at Uncle Milton, said the sale will help make the toy company operate more efficiently.

“Transom brings management expertise that will be really beneficial to us,” Adler said.

Uncle Milton was founded in 1946 by Milton M. Levine and E. Joseph Cossman. The company, which specializes in science and nature toys, launched its famous Ant Farm in 1956. Products now include a line of “Stars Wars”-branded toys. The privately held company reports annual revenue of less than $100 million, and its toys are sold at independent stores, and major retailers such as Toys “R” Us and Target.

Transom is a Century City private equity firm specializing in buyouts and turnarounds of small- and middle-market companies in the consumer, industrial and media industries. Uncle Milton is its first toy company.

“Uncle Milton has a strong corporate brand, strong set of products and a strong management team that can take some of the resources we bring to the table and grow the company,” said Russell Roenick, managing director at Transom.

Roenick said the private equity firm typically invests in a company for three to seven years.

Going German

BCBG Max Azria Group Inc. is teaming up with an investment company to buy a large German department store chain.

BCBG, a Vernon apparel manufacturer that is already selling in several other European countries and the Middle East, and New York private investment firm Berggruen Holdings signed a deal last week to purchase Karstadt, which comprises 38 percent of Germany’s department store market share.

Arcandor AG, the German holding company that has owned Karstadt, filed for bankruptcy about one year ago. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The sale is subject to approval by a German regulatory agency and an agreement with a German company that owns most of Karstadt’s property.

BCBG is expected to help with merchandising and product sourcing for Karstadt, which operates 89 large department stores in Germany.

Chief Executive Max Azria founded BCBG in 1989 with a women’s ready-to-wear line. The company has since grown into a life style brand that includes evening dresses, denim, footwear, swimwear and handbags.

Staff reporter Alexa Hyland can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 235.

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