Knott’s Tells Plans for Irvine Restaurant

In 1934, the Knotts started their berry farm and restaurant in Buena Park as a roadside attraction. Now, more than a half century after Cordelia Knott first served 65-cent chicken dinners on her wedding china, the family-owned concern is returning to its roots.

Knott’s Berry Farm Inc. said Tuesday that it plans to operate a new roadside restaurant--a 224-seat eatery to be constructed at a shopping center in Irvine. The new venture, to be called Mrs. Knott’s Restaurant and Bakery, marks the company’s first restaurant outside the theme park.

“Knott’s will not just be lending its name to a restaurant,” Jim Troge, vice president of food service at Knott’s Berry Farm, said in a statement. “We will be actually operating the restaurant ourselves.”

If successful, the restaurant at Jeffrey Road and Alton Parkway could pave the way for other Knott’s restaurants, said Stuart Zanville, a Knott’s spokesman. The company is also scouting possible other sites for additional restaurants in Southern California, he said.

“We’re looking at a lot of sites,” Zanville said. “We are looking beyond just one (restaurant).”

The new venture comes as the Walt Disney Co. reportedly is planning to build its first restaurant outside of its theme parks, Mickey’s Kitchen, in Montclair. But Zanville said Knott’s decision was not spurred by its theme park rival.

“This is something we’ve been looking at for a number of years,” he said.

Knott’s officials said Mrs. Knott’s Restaurant and Bakery will be a “full-service” restaurant offering breakfast, lunch and dinner and a wider array of menu selections than the famous Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant at the theme park. While the company didn’t discuss actual menu items, Knott’s President Terry E. Van Gorder said in a statement that it would be a family restaurant with prices to match.

Knott’s is hoping to capitalize on its widely recognized name, known to millions who have visited the theme park or purchased the company’s jelly, jam, syrup and salad dressing products. Planners are pondering whether to include a gift shop area in the 6,650-square-foot restaurant, where other Knott’s products could be sold, Zanville said.

“The signature item will be the fried chicken, which has only been sold at . . . Knott’s Berry Farm,” Zanville said.