Downtown L.A.’s Patina Restaurant Group had no plans for global expansion – until its majority shareholder in Japan called.
Joachim Splichal, founder and head chef of the group, said Ken Shida, president of Japan’s Shidax Corp., wanted a Patina on the ground floor of the Tokyo complex he developed and lives in. Shida believes that it will draw more people to the mixed-use building.
“He wanted a restaurant on the ground floor. He wanted a Patina in his house,” Splichal said. “We had no goal to open a restaurant … overseas, but it was the perfect opportunity.”
Patina which serves French-inspired California cuisine, opened last month in Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district, an area similar to New York’s Times Square.
Patina started in Los Angeles 24 years ago, and while it has grown to include 60 restaurants and has taken its place among L.A.’s premier restaurant brands, it took Shida’s prompting to get it to expand overseas. With its Japanese outpost in place, Patina has plans to continue expanding in Japan and is even considering opening in Europe.
Chief Executive Nick Valenti said the group is in talks about two more Japanese locations.
“This is our first foray internationally and we’ve learned a lot,” Valenti said. “Now we think we could apply that knowledge to a second or third unit in Japan.”
The restaurant group, which had annual sales of about $275 million last year, has a large presence in Los Angeles and has outposts in San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York and Florida. Besides its flagship Patina Restaurant at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, its local restaurants include Ray’s & Stark Bar, Café Pinot and Kendall’s Brasserie.
The restaurant company had plenty to keep it busy domestically. Valenti added that international expansion can be tricky, and for that reason he was hesitant to open overseas, even though he said many approached his company with ideas for different concepts.
“It’s difficult to execute,” he said. “You have to think long and hard before entering the international market.”
But the restaurant group figured that now that it’s taken its first step overseas, which is often the most difficult one, it is a good time to keep going.
One of the greatest difficulties in expanding overseas is finding the right staffing, according to Jerry Prendergast of West L.A. restaurant consultancy Prendergast & Associates.
“The main problem is having the staff you hired to actually be there. You need to hire people that you train here and send them over to stay there,” he said.
But Prendergast said having a partner like Shidax, a $2 billion food service and karaoke shop operator with 10,000 employees, could help with staffing and logistical issues.
Shidax gave Patina more than an opportunity to expand to Asia – it helped the L.A. restaurant group regain control of itself.
Return to roots
Splichal, who founded Patina in 1990, sold the business to New York’s Restaurant Associates, a unit of Britain’s Compass Group, which was run by Valenti, in 1999.
Valenti and Splichal – with financial backing from Shidax – purchased Patina and Restaurant Associates from Compass about seven years later, renaming it Patina Restaurant Group.
Valenti said that he’s been friends with Shida for more than 25 years and Shidax, which has a majority stake in Patina, was a natural fit with the Patina team.
Patina did not add any Shidax restaurants as a result of the deal, though Valenti said he and his staff have done some consulting for Shidax restaurants.
“Shidax is a company that demonstrates growth,” he said. “This restaurant venture is relatively new for Shidax and Ken has demonstrated a want to expand this business.”
So after Shida expressed interest in putting a Patina in Tokyo, Splichal and his staff flew between Los Angeles and Tokyo several times last year to build an outpost.
The menu in the Tokyo Patina is similar to the one in Los Angeles, though the L.A. menu features more game and poultry. In Tokyo, entrées of slow-poached snapper, filet of beef and venison run about $30. The Japanese restaurant is also heavy on vegetables, which are more expensive in Japan than California.
“There’s a great market in Japan that appreciates high-end dining,” Valenti said. “They appreciate our particular brand of California-style cuisine very much. We’re off to a good start, but only time will tell.”
