The news last month that world-famous celebrity chef Thomas Keller would close the Beverly Hills location of his French restaurant Bouchon on Dec. 31 came as a surprise to some in the L.A. restaurant industry.
“For people like us who appreciate Thomas Keller, it’s a blow,” said Salar Sheik, owner of West L.A. restaurant consultancy Savory Hospitality Group. “I really hope they open something else in L.A.”
Keller said his Yountville-based restaurant group Thomas Keller Restaurant Group couldn’t reach a lease agreement with the city of Beverly Hills, which owns the multistory building at 235 N. Canon Drive.
“We have not been able to find a solution to the adverse conditions impacting our success with our landlord, the City of Beverly Hills, that would provide the proper conditions for the restaurant,” Keller said. “The circumstances no longer exist to operate a profitable restaurant.”
The restaurant group also owns Bouchon locations in Yountville, New York and Las Vegas, as well as two of the country’s highest-profile restaurants, New York’s Per Se and Yountville’s French Laundry.
The city responded in a statement that it had reduced the restaurant’s rent more than 50 percent from the original 2009 lease and granted a tenant improvement allowance.
“As a local government and as stewards of public assets, we have a fiduciary duty to our tax payers and we are unable to do anymore,” the city said.
The restaurant’s monthly rent for its approximately 12,400-square-foot space is just over $53,000, compared with almost $97,000 when it first signed the lease, according to Therese Kosterman, the city’s public information manager.
Savory Hospitality’s Sheik said the closure could be attributed to a mix of issues, including the increasing costs of doing business, more competition in the Golden Triangle area and the growing popularity of quick-service restaurants.
“In general, it’s getting harder and harder to conduct the business of sit-down restaurants in Los Angeles County,” he said. “Every restaurant is fearing the day the minimum wage goes up; product and insurance costs are going up.”
However, Sheik doesn’t think Keller’s departure will give his clients pause about opening a new restaurant in Beverly Hills.
“It’s mostly for the image, like the retailers on Rodeo Drive. (They’re) not the best-selling (locations), but they’re noticed,” he said.
Terranea Faces Class-Action
Two restaurant employees filed a class action lawsuit claiming Terranea Resort, one of the region’s most luxurious resorts, denied them basic rights such as meal breaks and didn’t compensate them for cooking tools they bought.
The Rancho Palos Verdes hotel built in 2009 is the county’s 10th-largest hotel with 582 rooms, which are typically priced at $401 to $450 a night.
Galen Landsberg, a cook at the hotel restaurant Mar’sel, and Marvin Ivarenga, a back server at Catalina Kitchen, also allege in the lawsuit filed last month in L.A. Superior Court that the resort forced them to park several miles away from the hotel, which is on a peninsula, on days when it hosted events. The arrangement added a half hour of commuting time, which was not compensated, they say in the lawsuit.
Terranea said in a statement last week that it hadn’t violated any labor laws.
“Terranea Resort strictly adheres to and abides by all labor laws,” the company said. “We are committed to ensuring fair treatment and compensation for our associates’ time and dedication. At this time, we are reviewing the filing. We will always welcome the opportunity to better understand important matters of this nature.”
The 120-acre hotel is owned by Brentwood-based Lowe Enterprises Inc., which was No. 22 on the Business Journal’s list of commercial real estate developers this year. The company developed almost 1.15 million square feet in the county between 2007 and January.
Also listed as defendants in the lawsuit are two locally based limited liability companies associated with the resort, DH Long Point Management and Long Point Development.
True Religion Out of Bankruptcy
Premium denim brand True Religion Apparel Inc. became the latest retailer to emerge from bankruptcy last month.
The Manhattan Beach company, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in July, announced it was out of bankruptcy after a Delaware federal bankruptcy court judge approved its restructuring plan Oct. 5.
The deal will allow the company, owned by New York investment firm TowerBrook Capital Partners, to keep operating by reducing its term loans from $471 million to $113.5 million and extending its debt maturities to 2022, it said in a press release.
Staff reporter Caroline Anderson can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8329.
