Management Company Buys Patina Group

The company that owns one of Los Angeles’ top restaurants, Patina, is being acquired by New York-based restaurant management group Restaurant Associates.

Besides the flagship Patina restaurant on Melrose Avenue--routinely named as one of the best in Southern California--Patina Group comprises six restaurants, four museum cafes and a catering company. Financial details of the transaction, which will be completed Dec. 2, were not disclosed.

Restaurant Associates manages more than 130 restaurants and other eateries, predominantly on the East Coast, and says it serves more than 75,000 meals a day.

The acquisition will not affect Patina Group’s restaurants or employees, said Vice President Christine Splichal, who co-founded the company with her husband, chef Joachim Splichal. The Splichals will continue to operate the business.

Restaurant Associates will name a president for West Coast operations to oversee day-to-day management of the various restaurants, and Patina Catering will take over Restaurant Associates’ contract for events at the Music Center.

“After you’ve grown a business to a certain level, you need to assess what it is that you do best and enjoy most and focus on that,” Christine Splichal said. “We had to decide what was our strong suit, building a company or cooking. We decided to focus on the creative side and relinquish the running-the-business part to people who have a good, established track record at it.”

Splichal’s restaurants also include Pinot Bistro in Studio City, Cafe Pinot and Nick & Stef’s steakhouse in downtown Los Angeles, Pinot Hollywood, Pinot Blanc in St. Helena, Pinot Provence in Costa Mesa and Pinot Brasserie in Las Vegas. It also runs cafes at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Natural History Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Patina Group has expanded rapidly, opening five upscale restaurants in the last three years. One, Pinot at the Chronicle in Pasadena, closed in September.

Restaurant Associates is a subsidiary of Tokyo’s Kyotaru Co., a holding company that specializes in take-out sushi shops and restaurants.