What's going on?

October 20, 2008

Tramonto, Gand parting with Cenitare;

Wheeling restaurants open for now

Posted by Phil Vettel at 3:30 p.m. CDT

"The honeymoon's over," says Rick Tramonto of his (and business partner Gale Gand's) association with Cenitare, the restaurant division responsible for the duo's restaurant concepts in Wheeling (Tramonto Steak & Seafood, Osteria di Tramonto, et. al.).

Not long ago, the plan was to replicate these restaurant concepts nationwide, but the economic downturn and related tight credit environment has scotched that idea. And now, Tramonto says, it's time to say, "it’s been swell."

"I can't go into super detail, because the lawyers are involved," Tramonto says. "But the last three years have been great, and I'm proud of the work we’ve done there."

Not that any of the restaurants will close any time soon. The licensing agreement (that is, the Tramonto name) continues through the end of the year. At which point, Tramonto says, Cenitare might keep the restaurants but lose the restaurant name; might sell the properties outright to another operator (Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises has shown interest) or might shut the whole thing down.

"We might just move on," Tramonto says. "I own the steakhouse and osteria concepts. I really want to open a Tramonto's Steak & Seafood in downtown Chicago, and with all the operators who have expressed interest, I think eventually it will happen.

"But at the end of the day, we're fine, we're good, we're still at Tru, all that," Tramonto says.