Wolfgang Puck might open island restaurants
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Wolfgang Puck Food Co. subsidiary has registered with the state to franchise its quick-service restaurants as part of a multi-state rollout of Wolfgang Puck Express eateries, the first of which could open in Hawai'i as early as December.
The Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company, built around celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, may also open an upscale, company-owned Spago at the Four Seasons Resort in Wailea, Maui. Spago, Puck's first restaurant concept, would replace the hotel's fine-dining Seasons restaurant. A hotel spokeswoman confirmed negotiations, but said no contract has been signed.
Wolfgang Puck's first Hawai'i restaurant may open in December.
An agreement is being finalized, however, between Wolfgang Puck Express Licensing LLC, formed in March for Puck's casual-dining restaurants, and local restaurateurs Roger Mercier and Scott Rolles as the corporation's area development partners, according to Don Karas, chairman of Puck Express Licensing. Karas said the company hopes to open a Puck Express at Ward Entertainment Centre by Dec. 1.
The business will be looking at other locations, including shopping centers and airports, in Honolulu and on Neighbor Islands.
Rolles, who owns and operates five restaurants in Waikiki including two Chuck's Steak Houses, said he could not talk about the endeavor because it is not yet final. Mercier, who is involved with the Yum Yum Tree and Carl's Jr. franchises locally, as well as the former Jolly Roger franchise, could not be reached. According to the Puck Express franchise filing with the state, each restaurant's start-up cost is estimated between $530,000 and $860,000, including franchising fees, operating equipment, construction and other expenses.
Karas said a typical Puck Express restaurant has 35 to 50 employees. The menu features self-service pizzas, salads and sandwiches.
Wolfgang Puck Food operates four Puck Express restaurants and franchises 12 others as part of franchise offerings in the early 1990s. The new franchise effort is being rolled out in 19 states from Hawai'i to Maine.
None of the new franchises is open yet, but the company anticipates having 13 Puck Expresses operating by the end of the year. The Hawai'i franchise also could be one of the first to open.
"It would take a lot of things going our way," Karas said of the Dec. 1 opening goal. "But that would be ideal to catch the Christmas holiday crowds."
Leslie Brown, director of leasing for Victoria Ward Ltd., which for years has been trying to lure a Puck restaurant to Ward Centres, said a Puck Express would be perfect for the company's new theater-anchored entertainment complex.
"Wolfgang is a great name," she said. "A Wolfgang Express would be the only competition for California Pizza Kitchen. When you look at the success they've had, I think it's a no-brainer for us."
Wolfgang Puck casual and fine-dining restaurants draw more than a half-million customers a month at 46 locations, including stand-alone establishments, airports, department stores, sporting arenas, convention centers, supermarkets and universities.
The Austrian-born chef opened his first restaurant, Spago, on California's Sunset Strip in 1982. He has amassed an estimated $200 million business empire of restaurants, packaged foods, cookware, cookbooks, cooking videos and a Food Network TV show.
