Andersen’s Chief Resigns

Timothy J. O’Healy has resigned as president and chief executive of Pea Soup Andersen’s Inc. and sold his interest in the Buellton, Calif., restaurant company to the partnership that bought it in 1983.

“After 7 1/2 years there--and running it for five--I felt like moving on to other things,” O’Healy said in an interview from his home in Solvang. “The opportunity arose to sell my interest, and I felt it was time.”

O’Healy is being replaced by Gregory Witherspoon, formerly chief financial officer of the company.

O’Healy declined to say how much he received for his stake in Pea Soup Andersen’s. The company primarily comprises a small chain of tourist-oriented restaurants, motels and gas stations anchored by the 60-year-old landmark, Pea Soup Andersen’s, on Highway 101 north of Santa Barbara.

The partnership of O’Healy, Ronald Kindschi and Richard W. Candland, both Los Angeles investors, bought the company a year-and-a-half ago for $5 million in cash and notes, plus the assumption of about $30 million of debt. O’Healy said annual sales are about $18 million to $20 million a year.