MINNEAPOLIS Wallace B. Doolin has resigned as chief executive of casual-dining operator Buca Inc. as part of a 13-percent, $2.1 million cut in the company’s headquarters payroll, Buca said Tuesday. Doolin will continue as chairman, the company added.
Doolin will relinquish the CEO’s title on Feb. 1 to John Bettin, who remains president and chief operating officer, the company said in a statement.
Buca also said it would all but halt expansion, with just one Buca di Beppo restaurant slated to open this year.
Doolin, who came to Buca three years ago after an expense-account scandal that would land his predecessor in jail, said he would focus as chairman on the company’s exploration of a sale or other “strategic alternatives.” Buca said late last month that it had retained Piper Jaffray & Co. to serve as its financial adviser in the process.
Doolin said in the statement Tuesday that he would continue to improve corporate governance and would assist in the transfer of his duties to Bettin.
The cutbacks were announced minutes after Buca disclosed a 10.4-percent drop in revenues for the 13-week fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, to $64.1 million, compared with the $71.5 million posted for the 14-week period of a year ago. Same-store sales fell 2.4 percent from the year-ago quarter. The company noted that it had two fewer restaurants in operation during the most recent quarter, and that a store in San Francisco had been closed temporarily for remodeling.
For the full year, same-store sales increased 0.7 percent, while preliminary total revenue dropped 3.3 percent to about $245.6 million, compared with $253.8 million for 2006.
In another matter, Buca’s former chief financial officer Greg Gadel and former controller Daniel Skrypek agreed to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they participated in inflating Buca’s earnings from 2000 to 2003. While they neither admitted nor denied the charges, the SEC barred them from appearing as accountants before it.
Buca said it has reached a tentative agreement to settle a securities fraud class-action lawsuit suit that had been filed against it. The suit had been dismissed by a district court, but the plaintiffs had appealed that decision. If approved, the deal calls for the plaintiffs to drop their complaint in exchange for $1.6 million, to be paid by Buca’s insurance carrier.
Buca owns and operates 90 Italian restaurants in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
Doolin, a longtime veteran of the restaurant industry, has a home in Maryland. Buca is based in Minneapolis.