industry restaurant genre italian founded 1993 headquarters orlando florida usa area served united states key people robert earl chairman total equity us 8.8 million when owner planet hollywood international inc. number of employees 1 500 1 parent planet hollywood website www.bucadibeppo.com buca di beppo livonia michigan buca di beppo is an american restaurant chain specializing in italian american food . the name roughly translates as joe s basement buca which literally means hole can be a slang word in tuscany for basement or cellar and beppo is a rare spelling of the nickname for giuseppe the italian form of joseph in northern italy since the most used spelling is beppe . the chain of 92 87 company owned 5 franchises in uk 2 establishments is owned by buca inc. which in turn is owned by planet hollywood . the chain is known for its vintage photographs hung closely spaced throughout the entire restaurant ; it is said that they have more than 2 500 pictures . restrooms feature recorded ambient sounds women laughing and conversing in italian in the men s room and vice versa in the women s room . contents 1 menu 2 corporate history 3 see also 4 references 5 external links menu edit slice of cake at a buca di beppo march 2009 . the food at buca di beppo is served family style each item served la carte and shared among the dining party . some locations also have a lunch menu featuring individual sized portions . each room at buca is themed and all restaurants have a pope table the largest single table round in a room by itself with a bust of the pope as centerpiece . also most locations have a table usually inset to the wall directly across from the main kitchen at which the waiter and chefs will converse with you and allow you to sample many dishes . in an attempt to boost sales during 2005 buca introduced a buca mia meaning my cellar menu with less expensive portions for two . 3 corporate history edit the first restaurant named buca little italy was opened in the basement level of a minneapolis apartment building in 1993 by twin cities restaurant company parasole restaurant holdings . five years later it was spun off and renamed buca di beppo . 4 5 by 1999 there were 20 locations when buca inc. began trading on the nasdaq stock exchange . there are 96 buca restaurants operating nationwide . 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 . 6 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 may 22 2006 the company announced that it would be keeping the vinny t s stores but converting them to buca di beppo locations . 7 on september 25 2006 buca inc. sold their 11 vinny t s of boston restaurants to bertucci s corp. for 6.8 million . 8 on june 7 2006 three former buca executives were charged with stealing more than us 200 000 from the company . 9 on august 5 2008 planet hollywood s parent company planet hollywood international inc. agreed to purchase the buca chain for us 28.5 million . under terms of the deal buca became a wholly owned subsidiary of planet hollywood . 10 in 2011 buca moved its headquarters from minneapolis to orlando florida home of its parent company citing financial incentives . 5 in 2012 rick tasman was named ceo & president . 11 see also edit list of italian restaurants references edit company profile for buca inc buca . retrieved 2008 10 21 . buca di beppo meet buca vomhof jr. john 2006 03 24 . buca loss narrows in q4 as sales rise . minneapolis st. paul business journal . retrieved 2006 04 08 . the parasole story . parasole restaurant holdings . retrieved september 3 2016 . a b burl gilyard buca di beppo headquarters moving to florida update finance & commerce november 23 2011 accessed may 4 2015 . investor sues buca inc. for stock fraud . restaurant news resource . 2005 08 11 . retrieved 2006 04 08 . buca backtracks on vinny t s of boston sale . minneapolis st. paul business journal . 26 may 2006 . archived from the original on 12 march 2007 . retrieved 20 july 2013 . buca inc. announces sale of vinny t s of boston to bertucci s corporation business wire . retrieved 1 august 2016 . the latest from the startribune . retrieved 1 august 2016 . steve alexander struggling buca bought by planet hollywood minneapolis star tribune august 5 2008 accessed august 23 2008 . buca di beppo names rick tasman ceo . nrn.com . may 17 2012 . retrieved april 9 2015 . external links edit official website official website united kingdom retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title buca di beppo & oldid 743567536 categories companies based in minneapolisitalian restaurantsrestaurant chains in the united statesretail companies established in 19931993 establishments in minnesotahidden categories vague or ambiguous time from september 2011official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages lietuvi edit links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 06 33 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit 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