The Surprising History Of Buca Di Beppo

Buca di Beppo is an American sit-down restaurant chain that serves Italian food. It's a company similar to Olive Garden, Carrabba's Italian Grill, or Romano's Macaroni Grill. These restaurants can be relied on for offering home-style Italian comfort food at whatever location you step into. Some people visit for comfort food that reminds them of their families or childhoods. For others, these places serve meals that customers don't have the energy to make themselves or provide a more affordable night out. Some people patronize the restaurants on special occasions. Buca di Beppo comes in handy during all of these scenarios. But the company doesn't just serve up Italian food — this chain is a little stranger than its counterparts.

Several things distinguish playful and weird Buca di Beppo from fellow sit-down Italian chains. For one, there's the name. It's a casual expression that's meant to reference the restaurant's first location. Then, there's the decor. The walls covered in picture frames and other oddities may seem random, but these zany interior design choices were made with purpose. Family-style dining is also a notable aspect of this chain. Instead of ordering individual plates, guests pass around shared dishes of Italian favorites. All of these choices have distinct ties to Buca di Beppo's founding. These choices have all helped create the famous chain restaurant we know today. To understand more about the weird origins of Buca di Beppo, read on. 

To get to know the origins of this chain, we have to go back to the man who started it all, as well as his first restaurant. Buca di Beppo was started by an entrepreneur named Phillip A. Roberts in 1993. Roberts co-founded the business with Don W. Hays and Peter J. Mihajlov. Buca di Beppo was initially tied to Roberts' restaurant group, Parasole Holdings. Despite the many previous business and dining ventures of Roberts, his partners, and Parasole, Buca di Beppo quickly showed it was something special. The Italian restaurant chain took off. 

The first Buca di Beppo opened in an apartment building in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This location was owned and operated by Buca di Beppo until as recently as 2021, when it was put up for sale. The restaurant space was a whopping 4,200 square feet, and Buca di Beppo was paying around $9,700 in monthly rent. Although the space's lease lasted until 2026, it was offered up for auction five years before this date. By June 2022, the location had sold for $1.3 million.

The first Buca di Beppo wasn't identical to the chain we know today. It was initially called "Buca Little Italy." However, some aspects of this first location inspired the company to change. Since it was founded in the basement of a Minneapolis apartment building, the name was adjusted to reflect this. The new name "Buca di Beppo" loosely translates to "Joe's small place" in Italian. Other rough translations could be "my buddy's basement" or "Joe's basement".

More than reflecting the humble beginnings of this restaurant chain, the name Buca di Beppo also fit the vibe that it was going for. This name did something similar to the walls filled with framed black-and-white photographs depicting what seem to be Italian ancestors: Buca di Beppo locations were meant to feel homey. Entering one was designed to feel similar to going to a friend or family member's house, rather than a business.

It makes sense, then, that the name makes it sound like you are entering your friend Joe's house or basement, rather than his restaurant. The name carries the casual and familial vibe of the restaurant chain. 

Buca di Beppo's family-style dining mimics the way that people eat around the dinner table, helping the chain to appear more welcoming. Dishes are ordered two ways. "Buca Small" dish sizes contain enough food for roughly three or more people. "Buca Large" dish sizes are capable of feeding around five or more diners. Each dish can be ordered either "Buca Small" or "Buca Large."

Since everything is offered a la carte, diners are encouraged to build a combination of dishes. Then, instead of being served in courses, all plates are brought out at once, to be passed around and shared during dining. However, this doesn't mean there aren't traditional food categories on the menu.

Appetizers offered include things like garlic bread, Caprese salad, fried calamari, and the chain's famous meatballs prepared with marinara sauce and ricotta. If your party wants to share a salad, you can do that as well. Antipasto salad, Caesar salad, and mixed green salads are all on the menu. Pasta is far and away one of the chain's most popular categories. This menu section includes lasagna, rigatoni, manicotti, stuffed shells, ravioli, spaghetti, fettuccini, baked ziti, and many more. Some non-pasta entrées you can order include chicken or eggplant parmesan. The sides section is full of vegetable-based dishes such as Brussels sprouts, green beans, and broccoli. With so many dishes in every menu category, it's not difficult to find items that everyone in your party likes. 

To promote its atmosphere of Italian authenticity, family values, and tongue-in-cheek antics, Buca di Beppo has gone to some extremes. One of them is inviting Catholic priests to officially recognize the opening of new locations. As of 2012, Catholic officials had blessed all the restaurants opened to date. This religious ritual apparently happens at every Buca di Beppo before its opening and is usually (but not always) done by a Catholic priest.

You may be asking yourself, what does a chain restaurant like Buca di Beppo have to do with church? But having a business blessed by a Catholic official is a fairly common practice. 

Businesses, homes, and cars can receive Catholic blessings as much as a person can during Sunday mass. Some organizations even recommend the blessing of these inanimate objects or places. Of course, individuals can say prayers themselves to bless their home or business, though some feel that blessings should be performed by a priest. Some Catholic churches even have online forms to request a blessing for a business.

Buca di Beppo's decor has a lot going on. Founder Phil Roberts once told TCB Magazine that the colorful decorations were designed to make guests feel sophisticated in comparison. This interior design concept was meant to be the opposite of upscale Italian dining decoration.

"When we started Buca, all the Italian restaurants were sleek and slick, with marble and beveled glass and granite and all that, so I said, 'You know? I want a sleeves-up restaurant where the guest feels superior to the restaurant, rather than being looked down on.' That's why the interiors of Buca are so tasteless," Roberts recalled. Guests enter knowing they will get comfort food, and, looking around at the restaurant's tacky trappings, they feel they are above their surroundings.

Not only is this a relief to some, but the strange decor at Buca di Beppo is also entertaining to look at for others. "The visit to Buca di Beppo begins at the door where a group of waiters stands to greet you ... the music is Italian; the decor is over the top; and room upon room of fun photos and kitschy knick-knacks await you," explained one customer on Tripadvisor.

Although Buca di Beppo's decor is designed to be outlandish, it has sometimes crossed the line. Some individuals have taken offense with the art displayed at various Buca di Beppo locations over the years.

One such incident occurred in 2000, when a Catholic bishop visited a recently opened Fort Lauderdale location and found the chain's treatment of his faith's imagery to be upsetting. Buca di Beppo is known for having Catholic-inspired interior decorations at every location. Each Buca di Beppo comes with a "Pope's Room," a seating area decorated with depictions of the Catholic leader, including a bust of the pope in a glass case, and a "Cardinal Room” designed with similarly religious decor. But this particular patron disliked photographs of nuns with animals coming out of their mouths, as well as other images that made light of famous Biblical figures and events.

A related incident occurred in 2002, when Houston residents called for the removal of purportedly pornographic images inside a local Buca di Beppo. The upset individuals remarked that said artworks, which featured nudity, were offensive to children, animals, and women. Others pushed back against their complaints, saying the restaurant's artwork was tasteful. However, the outcry resulted in the removal of some decor from this particular Buca di Beppo location.

Buca di Beppo has been home to its share of celebrity sightings over the years. Many appear to occur as part of a celebration or promotion of an event in a particular celebrity's life.

In 2013, actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger attended an after-party for his film "Escape Plan" that was held at the Buca di Beppo in New York City's Times Square. Earlier that year, singer and television host Kelly Clarkson was spotted dining at a Washington D.C. Buca di Beppo the night before then-President Barack Obama's second inauguration ceremony. In 2014, Miley Cyrus held a promotional signing event for her album "Bangerz" at the Buca di Beppo location in Times Square.

The chain restaurant has even entered into business with stars of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." Buca di Beppo allowed Dorit Kemsley to design a room inside the location in Encino, California. The partnership came about because Kemsley personally knew one of the higher-ups at Buca di Beppo. Kemsley interior-designed the "Capri Room," with yellow tablecloths referencing the island of Capri's reputation for delicious lemons. 

Despite the occasional controversy regarding its eccentric decor, Buca di Beppo got off to a great start. By 2002, it was considered a fast-growing company. Less than a decade after launching its first location in Minneapolis, Buca di Beppo had opened more than 80 restaurants across the country. These early years appear to have been some of the most profitable for Buca di Beppo. From 1999 to 2000, total annual revenue increased from around $30 million to approximately $55 million. 

As the 2000s wore on, Buca di Beppo faced some struggles. In 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against the chain's former CEO Joe Micatrotto, as well as Buca Di Beppo's former controller and CFO. The SEC said that the three had committed undisclosed compensation and accounting fraud. (In other words, they stole money from the company.) The scandal came to light after the SEC discovered strange financial activity within the company, including a villa in Tuscany, Italy, that was listed under Micatrotto's name, even though it was also described as a Buca di Beppo training facility.

Micatrotto pleaded guilty and, in 2007, was sentenced to 13 months in prison for illegal activities he engaged in as the head of Buca di Beppo. He also had to pay a fine of $250,000, as well as pay $65,000 back to Buca di Beppo. 

Around 2008, Buca di Beppo began to struggle. Then, the company was sold to Earl Enterprises, a restaurant group founded by business mogul Robert Earl which includes the restaurant chain Planet Hollywood. The company, then called Planet Hollywood International Inc., purchased Buca di Beppo for approximately $9.7 million. 

Several Buca di Beppo locations closed in the following years. By 2012, the number of Massachusetts Buca di Beppo locations had reduced to one. That same year, Philadelphia's Center City location shut its doors. In 2017, Buca di Beppo closed yet another location in Milwaukee, as well as one in Augusta, Georgia. In 2018, Buca di Beppo shut down another Wisconsin location, this time in Greendale. 

One the other hand, Buca di Beppo appeared to be less hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic than other restaurant chains. Earl Enterprises even purchased additional restaurant companies during a time when many were struggling to stay open and declaring bankruptcy. The company bought Brio Tuscan Grille and Bravo Italian Kitchen for $30 million in June 2020. Earl Enterprises said these brands would be joining Buca di Beppo and Bertucci's under an umbrella brand it planned to call The Best of Italy.

Another bad moment in Buca di Beppo's history occurred in 2019. That year, Earl Enterprises revealed it had been involved in a huge credit and debit card breach. Multiple brands owned by the company were affected. This included Buca di Beppo, Earl of Sandwich, Mixology 101, Tequila Taqueria, and more. While only a few locations of other restaurants were affected by the breach, nearly all of the 67 Buca di Beppo restaurants open at that time were hit.

The breach was discovered when a cyber sleuth uncovered that someone was illegally attempting to sell the information of approximately 2 million credit cards online. Unfortunately, the systems of Earl Enterprises had been hacked for around 10 months straight, during which the card information was stolen. To help patrons discover if their credit cards had been hacked during this period, Earl Enterprises launched a website that listed restaurant locations affected by the data breach. Simply put, if you dined at Buca di Beppo between May 23, 2018, and March 18, 2019, your credit or debit card information may have leaked.