BUYOUT—Celebrity-Backed Eatery Sold After Filing Chapter 11

0

The parent of a celebrity-backed restaurant in Orange County, The Clubhouse at South Coast Plaza, has been sold out of bankruptcy for $11.3 million.

Chicago-based The Clubhouse Where You Belong LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 4 and was sold Oct. 30 to Clever Ideas Inc., also of Chicago.

The deal, which has received Bankruptcy Court approval and is scheduled to close Nov. 19, involves Clever Ideas taking ownership of Clubhouse and its three upscale restaurants in Costa Mesa, Atlanta and Chicago, and assuming about $800,000 in debt.

Existing management will run the company.

“There will be some tweaking. We’re going to be more focused on the food, delivering consistency,” said Lee Suckow, Clever Ideas’ chief executive. “We know we can improve the operational side of the business.”

The bankruptcy and sale call into question the future involvement of the star-studded partners that helped launch the Clubhouse with lots of fanfare. They include actors Kevin Costner and Robert Wagner and pro golfers Jack Nicklaus and Fred Couples.

Clever Ideas is a marketing and finance company specializing in serving restaurant industry clients.

The news comes on the heels of other changes at the South Coast Plaza restaurant Clubhouse’s worst-performing location, according to Paul Craft, Clubhouse’s vice president of operations. The managing partner, executive chef and director of sales recently left and have been replaced. The restaurant has a staff of about 152.

“We just didn’t operate that property as efficiently and effectively as we will in the future,” Craft said. “We haven’t been an integral part of the community like we wanted to be.”

Plans call for improved food and service, enhanced catering operations (a big portion of the restaurant’s sales), and the addition of entertainment on Thursday and Friday nights.

“The main emphasis is going to be on creating a comfortable California cuisine and (being) a little more female-friendly than what we’ve done in the past,” Craft said.

Los Angeles Business Journal staff reporter Michael Stremfel contributed to this article.

No posts to display