Wolfgang Puck Catering and Events has purchased the catering business of Gai Klass Event Production & Exquisite Cuisine.
The Klass catering operations, in Culver City for more than 20 years, moved into Puck’s Hollywood & Highland offices last month. Terms of the deal, which closed in January, were not disclosed.
It marks the first catering business that Wolfgang Puck has purchased in Los Angeles. The impetus comes from Compass Group North America, the food service giant that took a 49 percent stake in the Puck catering business last year and is pushing to expand the brand into several new cities this year.
Gai Klass, the eponymous former owner of the catering company, retained the event production portion of the operation. Klass, looking to lighten her workload, said she turned away several offers before selling to Wolfgang Puck.
“They care a lot about the quality of the food, and they had an operation in place,” she Klass. “The purpose was really to keep the same high quality that we have been known for without working as hard.”
Puck Catering and Events, a sister company of Wolfgang Puck Worldwide Inc., hired Gai Klass’ four full-time cooks.
“It made sense to buy a premium boutique catering business that would fit in with our brand,” said Carl Schuster, chief executive at Puck Catering. “Slowly, over time, we are blending the two.”
St. John Departure
Bruce Fetter, who played a leading role at Irvine-based St. John Knits International Inc. in the past three years, is leaving the women’s clothier.
The move comes after a series of recent management changes that saw Fetter go from co-chief executive to chief operating officer reporting to a new vice president of operations.
St. John has gone through several changes, with Chief Executive Richard Cohen, former head of the U.S. arm of Italy’s Gruppo Ermenegildo Zegna, joining the company in August.
Since then, Cohen has brought a big fashion feel to the apparel maker. His biggest move was to hire four vice presidents, all from large apparel companies.
Among them is former Calvin Klein Inc. executive Max Weinstein, who joined as vice president of operations.
St. John is closely associated with the Gray family. Kelly Gray is the company’s signature model and heads up marketing. Marie Gray is chief designer. Robert Gray ran the company from its 1962 founding until his retirement a few years ago.
Fetter proved a fit with the family-dominated business and oversaw a streamlining of operations in the past few years as the company’s costs grew amid a retail push. But now Cohen along with private equity firm and 80 percent owner Vestar Capital Partners are calling the shots.
Garden Party
After a failed courtship, Gardens on Glendon looks like it will be staying single.
Marilyn & Harry Lewis LLC, owner of the Westwood restaurant at 1139 Glendon Ave., had been in talks to sell the site to Marmalade Caf & #233;. But when the sides could not come to terms, the Gardens had a reprieve.
Adam Lewis, co-owner of the Gardens On Glendon, confirmed the talks but declined to comment on why the purchase wasn’t finalized.
In the wake of the failed deal, he said, the Lewis family, which also owns Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills, will continue to run Gardens On Glendon. “We are committed to it,” he said.
Natural Approach
Briazz Inc., the small Seattle-based quick-dining chain that filed for bankruptcy in June, could soon be going on an all-organic diet.
Six of the chain’s 18 units are in Southern California, and are among the 12 that could be purchased by Issaquah, Wash.-based Organic Holding Co. Inc. in a deal expected to be approved by the Briazz board this month.
If the deal works out, the local Briazz shops will become organic food take-out and delivery operations. The Briazz board is also considering an alternative reorganization proposal by Flying Food Group, a Chicago-based purveyor of ready-made meals, that would buy the sandwich chain and pay $50,000 to unsecured creditors.
In documents filed at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Seattle, creditors expressed dissatisfaction with Flying Food Group’s proposal. Briazz, founded in 1995 and went public in 2001, lost about $72 million before filing for bankruptcy.
Jason Brown, chief executive of Organic To Go, said if his bid succeeds, he would expand rapidly, doubling the number of Southern California stores from six to 12 within a year. In total, he said Organic To Go wants to grow to 50 stores in three years.
Staff reporter Rachel Brown can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 224, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
. Michael Lyster of the Orange County Business Journal contributed to this column.
