When an electrical fire broke out in Hollywood’s Off Vine Restaurant in April, the yellow Craftsman-style house sustained $450,000 in damages.
Now, owners Richard Falzone, Tony Hernandez and Greg Fedderly are close to rebuilding and hope to reopen by January.
But getting the restaurant back up and running will take more than just repairing the fire damage.
The 100-year-old building will also need to be brought up to code, with the addition of a wheelchair ramp and a sprinkler system. The insurance covers the damage, but not the code upgrades. Falzone said the final rebuilding plan hasn’t been approved yet, so he declined to estimate how much the cost would be.
“We’ll figure it out somehow,” he said. “We’re taking it one step at a time.”
Once the plans are approved, the owners will need to get the proper permits before construction can start. Falzone hopes construction will be under way in about three weeks and take up to 10 weeks to complete.
Off Vine, which has been in business for 20 years, was serving one of its pre-show dinners for theatergoers attending “Wicked” at the nearby Pantages when the fire broke out upstairs. Everyone made it out unscathed.
Falzone said he is committed to bringing the building up to code and reopening as soon as possible. He has been with the restaurant for 11 years, starting as a server and working his way up to owner he bought into the restaurant a year ago.
“This has been quite an experience for me, but much of it has been terrific even though it has also been horrible and scary,” Falzone said. “Hollywood is quite a community. The support has been unbelievable. We just want to move forward in a positive way. That’s how we’ve chosen to deal with this journey.”
Role Play
Executives at Hilton Hotels Corp.’s Hilton Garden Inn decided they could train employees by using interactive video games.
Hilton Garden Inn bought 1,000 of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s handheld PlayStation Portable gaming platforms for its game, HGI Ultimate Team Play for PSP.
The 3-D role-playing game, which was created for Hilton Garden Inn by Virtual Heroes Inc., a North Carolina company, is designed to show hotel employees how their actions affect guests. Staff positions in the game include housekeeping, food and beverage, engineering and maintenance, and front desk.
If someone is working the front desk and a guest walks by, that employee must decide whether to greet the guest or pick up the phone that’s ringing. The game is supposed to help employees prioritize tasks.
As employees play the game, the decisions they make change the hotel’s satisfaction and loyalty tracking scores.
David Kervella, head of Hilton Garden Inn’s training, said the game is another example of the brand’s emphasis on technology. The mid-priced brand targets business travelers and offers free wireless Internet, a 24-hour business center and special shape-conforming beds.
“We’re looking toward the future and what future team members are going to be attracted by,” Kervella said. “There’s a wow factor, and it’s more interesting than just watching a video.”
Though the new program will not be a mandatory training requirement, Kervella hopes it will offer employees a fun way to learn.
The new program will launch in January 2009 in English, with Spanish, French Canadian, Italian and German to follow. Russian and Turkish versions are also in the works.
A Hilton representative declined to give the cost of the development of the program.
Hilton Hotels Corp. is based in Beverly Hills. There are six Hilton Garden Inns located in L.A. County.
News and Notes
Crustacean Beverly Hills has created a new cocktail called The Beverly as a marketing tool for the city. Elizabeth An, chief executive of House of An which owns the restaurant, sits on the board of the city’s Chamber of Commerce and got other Beverly Hills businesses to carry the drink as well, including The Peninsula hotel, the Beverly Wilshire hotel and Lawry’s The Prime Rib. “The drink is our new ambassador in this economic crisis no high salary involved,” An said. It’s made with pomegranate juice, peach-infused vodka and Cointreau, with tangerine slices InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, best known for its Holiday Inn brand, recently signed a license agreement to bring its boutique hotel brand, Hotel Indigo, to Glendale. IHG is also planning to open a Hotel Indigo downtown, though IHG declined to give details.
Staff reporter Maya Meinert can be reached at meinert@labusinessjournal.com or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.
