SAN FRANCISCO -- The former president of an Arizona-based pizza chain is expected to fill the presidential suite at Shakey's Pizza, where the executive slot has been vacant so long that franchisees sued the parent company.
Previous to Martini's, Krause had been at such New York operations as Silverado, Melrose and Baton's.The 118-seat restaurant features a menu that puts a more contemporary spin on Italian food.Pisto, a third-generation Sicilian-American, is sole proprietor of The Whaling Station, but he has two partners in 135-seat Domenico's and 100-seat Abalonetti. He will offer those individual and others, including chef Grasing, a piece of the action at the new restaurant.Shakey's systemwide sales for fiscal 1992, ended Dec. 31, were down close to 3 percent, to $117 million.By 1996, Pisto said, he and his family had scraped up enough money to open a 600-square-foot cafe on the Monterey warf called Captain's Gig, which served sandwiches, selads and English-style fish and chips. He recalled that the average check was "a buck and a quarter."He is a breath of fresh air," said Randy Hill, executive vice president of Jacmar Pacific Pizza Corp., which franchises 21 Shakey's restaurants in Southern California. "I think we have got ourselves a winner."And now the 30 franchisees and Inno-Pacific have "reached a settlement subject to confirmation by all the dealers," said Michael Grace, who is a Los Angeles-based attorney with Latham & Watkins and represents the franchisees.* Squid served up to nine different ways is the house specialty at Abalonetti Seafood Trattoria, where more than 35 tons of the tentacled beasties were consumed in 1993, Pisto said. Deep-fried squid is the biggest seller, but the family restaurant also does a brisk business in wood-fired-oven pizzas and assorted antipasti. The average ticket is less than $10 at lunch and about $20 at dinner.Yearning to return to the scene of his Captain's Gig experiences Pisto acquired Domenico's on the Wharf in 1981. Shortly thereafter, he said, he tore out all of the deep-fat fryers to differentiate Domenico's from the other seafood houses along the wharf.With no clear leadership, new products or marketing programs, franchisees grew frustrated as the relationship between franchisee and franchisor grew less rosy. About 30 franchisees, representing 71 stores, filed the suit against Inno-Pacific in a nine-page document in October.Pisto--around with "the ignorance of youth" and $36,000--opened the Whaling Station Inn Restaurant in 1971. He developed the business by remodeling a condemned building on a piece of land he leased from friends and fellow Monterey restaurateurs, Ted Balestreri and Bert Cutino, owners of the Sardine Factory, among other restaurants and businesses.The original Whaling Station concept was a 60-seat health-food restaurant that served carrot and apple juice at the bar and featured plenty of dishes with bulgar wheat."The main reason for the lawsuit was that we were not getting enough for the money we were putting into the system," said Jay Supple, president of the Shakey's Franchise Dealer's Association. The association represents franchisees who operate about 160 of the system's stores; another 22 stores are company-owned."I've received an award from, and done a video for, the artichoke [advisoty board] people in Castroville," Pisto remarked. "We estimated that we've sold more than 1.5 million artichokes since we opened.""The food will be serious but moderately priced," Pisto said of plans for the new venture. "There will be a wood-fired pizza oven, and I'm thinking of putting in giant saltwater tanks so we can do fresh crab 15 different ways.""That [concept] happened for about two months before we went to a [traditional] dinner format," Pisto said with a laugh. "None of the people who wanted those things [healthful foods] had money. All my friends would stop by and say, 'Hey, how's it going?' But they never bought anything."
Said John Dean, a Texas Shakey's franchisee, "He is the type of guy that is going to get down and work in the stores."
Author: Theresa Howard
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