Il Fornaio
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Company type | Private |
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Industry | Restaurants |
Founded | 1972Barlassina, Lombardia, Italy | in
Founder | Larry Mindel (founded restaurant concept in 1986) |
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 22 |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Michael Beatrice (CEO) |
Products | Italian cuisine |
Services | Fine dining restaurant |
Revenue | US$120 million (2000) |
Website | www |
Il Fornaio is a
History
The Il Fornaio brand was established in 1972 as a baking school in Barlassina, Lombardia, Italy. It opened a retail bakery in Milan in 1975, and was licensed in 1981 to Williams-Sonoma, Inc. as a retail bakery concept. Williams-Sonoma opened four locations in California before selling the business to private investors in 1983.[1] Initially unsuccessful, the chain was re-sold in 1986 to Larry Mindel, who had run local restaurant holding company Spectrum Foods and launched or bought a series of successful restaurants: Chianti in Los Angeles; Prego (one of the originators of California-style pizza), MacArthur Park and Ciao in San Francisco and Guaymas in Tiburon.[2]
The new owners opened a total of 11 restaurant-bakeries in California in late 1980s and 1990s. The first restaurant location and headquarters are in
In 1997 the company
Under the direction of Executive Chef Maurizio Mazzon, a native of Venice, the company launched a second concept, Canaletto Ristorante Veneto, at the
Description
Each restaurant shares a core lunch and dinner menu created collectively by the company's chefs, plus signature dishes and specials at the discretion of each individual chef. Fresh pasta is made in-house daily and all sauces, soups and dressings are made from scratch. Many locations featured wood-fired rotisseries and grills. The restaurants also offer gluten-free menus and an array of vegetarian and vegan offerings. Housemade desserts complete many meals [5]
Overall, the company caters mostly to repeat guests at its 18 locations. Regular customers averaged 12.7 return visits per year (later reported to be 17), considered very high in the industry.[6] The company is known for its long-running "Festa Regionale" loyalty program promotion [6] Two weeks out of every month the restaurants promote dishes from a rotating schedule of Italy's 20 food regions with a special insert. The 10,000 promotion members receive a "passport stamp" from that region if they order one of the items, and those who collect each stamp receive a gift.[6] As an unintended benefit, the promotion became a vehicle for recruiting cooks and chefs, after tourism offices in Italy noticed the promotion and established relationships with the company.[6]
References
- ^ a b c "Our Story". Il Fornaio. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
- ^ a b GraceAnn Walden (2002-12-04). "Il Fornaio's Mindel looks to Sausalito for his dream". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Alan J. Liddle (2003-04-07). "Industry veteran Mindel adds Italian concept Poggio to resume". Nations Restaurant News.
- ^ "Fashion Island to open exclusive Italian restaurant". Daily Pilot. 2007-11-09.
- ^ Janet Fletcher (2003-01-29). "Masterful Gnocchi". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ a b c d Margaret Littman (2008-07-01). "Il Fornaio Promotes a Passport to Italy". Chain Leader.
External links
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