Buca di Beppo

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Buca di Beppo is an American restaurant chain specializing in immigrant Southern Italian food. The name roughly translates as "Joe's Basement" (Beppo is slang for Joe in Southern Italy and Buca means basement (literally it means "hole") in Italian). The chain of 96 establishments is owned by Buca, Inc. (NASDAQ: BUCA).

Buca is well known for their vintage pictures that are hung almost right next to each other throughout the entire restaurant. It is said that they have more than 2,500 pictures. Each room is themed, and most restaurants have a Pope table and kitchen table. The food at Buca di Beppo is served family style, each item served à la carte and shared among the dining party. Some locations also have a lunch menu, featuring individual sized portions.

The first restaurant was opened in the basement level of a Minneapolis, Minnesota, apartment building in 1993. Five restaurants were operating in 1996, and 20 in 1999 when Buca, Inc. began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange. In 2002, when Vinny T's was purchased, there were 68 Buca restaurants operating around the U.S.

The chain continued to grow, but began to hit some rough spots a few years later. Business losses mounted, and in 2005, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating the company over securities laws.^[1] Two top executives left the company, three Buca di Beppo sites were closed, and the company described those restaurants and the Vinny T's chain as "discontinued operations" in 4th quarter 2005 earnings statements. However, on 22 May 2006, the company announced that it would be keeping the Vinny T's stores, but converting them to Buca di Beppo locations.[1] On September 25, 2006 BUCA Inc. sold their 11 Vinny T's of Boston restaurants to Bertucci's Corp. for $6.8 million.^[2]

On 7 June 2006, three former Buca executives were charged with stealing more than US$200,000 from the company.[2]

In an attempt to boost sales during 2005, Buca introduced a Buca Small menu with less-expensive portions for two.^[3] Fettuccine alfredo was also introduced even though it is not a strictly Southern Italian dish.