Orange County : Habermann Will Oversee Grace’s Restaurant Group

Norman Habermann has been named chief executive of W.R. Grace & Co.’s Irvine-based restaurant group, the company said Thursday.

Habermann, 53, replaces Anwar Soliman, who resigned last week. Habermann will oversee the New York-based chemical giant’s $1-billion division of over 700 restaurants, which includes such operations as Coco’s, Baxter’s, El Torito and Charley Brown’s.

“Our leveraged buyout scenario will continue on stream,” said Habermann, who, along with Executive Vice President Michael Casey, heads a group of Grace executives and investors who proposed a leveraged buyout of portions of Grace’s restaurant group in April.

In an interview late Thursday, Habermann said he does not expect a “culmination” of the buyout proposal for two to three months.

Habermann, who formerly headed Grace’s family restaurant division, joined Grace in 1985 as a result of Grace’s acquisition of Carrows Restaurants Inc. He had been president of Carrows since 1981.

Before that, Habermann was chief operating officer of Denny’s Inc., and before that he was president and chief operating officer of Collins Food International.

Habermann was also a former chief executive of H. Salt Fish and Chips, which was sold to Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1969.