Expansion Is On The Menu At Cucina! Cucina! Chain -- Restaurants Break From Parent Company Schwartz Brothers

The odor of brick-oven pizza is mixing with the smell of money these days at Cucina! Cucina! Italian Cafe.

The chain of four Seattle-area restaurants has been separated from Schwartz Brothers Restaurants to become the growth arm of its Bellevue-based parent.

The new company, Cucina! Cucina! Inc., will use the proceeds of a $7.4 million private placement to expand in Seattle, Spokane and Portland.

Ten new Cucina! Cucina! restaurants are planned in the next two years.

The company has launched a nationwide hunt for a chief operating officer and chief financial officer, and plans for a public stock offering are in the works. Although no date has been set for the stock sale, the company has hired the same advisers who handled Starbucks' highly successful public offering.

William Schwartz, formerly chairman and president of Schwartz Brothers, has turned the reins of the parent company over to his brother, John, and will lead the expansion as president of the new company.

Although Schwartz Brothers will focus on management of the company's other high-profile restaurants, including Chandler's Crab House in Seattle and Spazzo's of Bellevue, it has some growth plans of its own.

Schwartz Brothers has agreed to set up food outlets at the chain of Home Depot stores slated to move into the Seattle area. The first of the restaurants - called Depot Diner - will open in Tukwila later this month.

"We determined some time ago that Cucina! Cucina! was such a strong concept that we needed to expand with it, both locally and, ultimately, nationally," William Schwartz said.

The company initially considered using franchises to expand. It even went as far as registering its franchise plans a year ago in Washington and California.

But the strength of Cucina! Cucina! sales compared with Schwartz Brothers' other restaurants prompted a shift to the strategy of keeping the ownership in-house, he said.

The company expects to build on two other new concepts - its Cucina! Presto! chain of restaurants in supermarkets and its line of pasta and sauces, now sold in 200 grocery stores.

Although the initial Cucina! Presto! restaurants opened in grocery stores, Schwartz sees them also opening in other locations, including strip malls and, perhaps, airports.

The company's line of grocery products will soon expand, too. Cucina! Cucina! will soon take over pizza-making for QFC.