Feeding New Tastes : Home-Like Meals a Recipe for Growth

Boston Market, in business to sell food, is offering a lot of free meals this year.

The rapidly growing chain prepared free food for 1,200 people last week at the opening of its new West Hollywood restaurant, and it plans comparable meal giveaways at the 39 other Southern California restaurants it will open this year.

This Southland buildup--the largest single expansion by Boston Chicken Inc. in 1997--is a sign of heartier times for Southern California’s restaurant industry. A variety of chains are expanding here as the regional economy improves.

That rebound is especially welcome in an industry that has suffered through several disappointing years. The exact figure for last year’s restaurant sales is not yet available, but analysts believe the slump was broken in 1996.

“There was an improvement last year, and I think that improvement has continued in the first quarter of this year,” said Gerald Breitbart, a consultant on business issues for the California Restaurant Assn.

Much of the improvement, Breitbart said, is due to the growing consumer appetite for “home meal replacements”--quick-service, full-course offerings available on a takeout or casual dine-in basis.

“That segment is doing well because customers don’t have to get dressed up if they dine in and because they don’t have to leave a tip if they opt for takeout,” Breitbart said. “Takeout allows parents to spend more time with their children.”

Colorado-based Boston Market, which operates about 1,100 stores in 39 states, is one of the fastest-growing operators in the home meal replacement field. Rotisserie chicken, turkey, meatloaf, vegetables and salads are among the menu items.

So far this year, the company has opened three restaurants in Southern California, a leading sales market for the chain in 1996, said Patrick Lenow, marketing director of the Boston Market division that operates the chain’s 87 Southland stores.

“We are very bullish on Southern California,” Lenow said. “This region is lucrative and extremely competitive.”

Among the expansion-minded competitors is Rosti, a home meal replacement operator with six Southland restaurants. The Los Angeles-based chain has opened four California restaurants since July--two in the San Francisco area and two in Southern California.

Four more Rosti restaurants are to be opened under a 1997 expansion plan developed by co-founder and Chief Executive Mike Gordon. Gordon recently obtained $2 million from a private investor and is seeking additional investment to open another 14 restaurants by 1999.

Gordon has envisioned a rapidly expanding Italian chain since founding Rosti in 1991. Tuscan chicken, pastas and roasted potatoes are among the restaurant’s most popular dishes.

Rosti is more upscale than its competitors, offering beer, wine, full table service and the scrutiny of investment partner Agostino Sciandri. Sciandri is the chef who developed the menu at Toscana, the popular Brentwood restaurant also operated by Gordon’s company. Toscana’s 1996 revenue was the highest since the restaurant opened in 1989, said Gordon, who noted that many of his competitors are also doing better.

Ruth’s Chris Steak House is among the strongest performers in this high-end segment. Impressed with the growing demand in the Southland, Chief Executive Ruth Fertel purchased the four California steak restaurants from a franchisee late last year. There are now 24 company-owned steakhouses and 35 franchises worldwide. The California restaurants--including Ruth’s Chris in Beverly Hills--are the most lucrative in the Louisiana-based chain.

Fertel expanded last month by opening a restaurant in Irvine. She plans to open a second San Diego eatery by November and five more in California over the next three to five years.

George White can be reached by fax at (213) 237-7837 or via e-mail at george.white@latimes.com