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player ready...Ike Sewell, founder of the legendary Pizzeria Uno of Chicago, probably would be surprised to see the lighter fare being featured in the front of the menu at all but his two original locations, while the signature deep-dish pizza that made the restaurant famous has been relegated to the back by Uno’s new owners.
Even more puzzling would be the computer in the front of those restaurants, where patrons can check the calories and other nutritional information of menu items, and the final transformation to the new name adopted several years ago–Uno Chicago Grill.
It’s all part of the second makeover in 10 years that is intended to make the restaurant chain appealing to more potential patrons than just those interested in pizza and more competitive in the casual dining category, said Frank Guidara. He was named the fourth chief executive in the 62-year history of Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp. at the beginning of 2005.
The Boston-based owners have broadened the menu to include healthier and lower-calorie fare, including wraps, vegetarian soup and salads.
Key to the changes is the nutritional and allergen information that was introduced this fall, about the same time that McDonald’s Corp. announced plans to print nutritional information on the packaging of all its products.
“This will be a point of difference,” said Guidara, whose appointment coincided with the sale of 75 percent of the company’s ownership to New York-based private equity firm Centre Partners for an undisclosed price. Guidara, noting pizza offerings have been moved further back in the multipage menu, said the deep-dish pizza developed by Sewell “has been de-emphasized on the one hand, but it is being promoted more on the other.”
“I felt we were getting too far away from deep dish and never emphasizing it. Now any time we have a promotion, we have a deep-dish pizza that we are promoting,” he said.
The changed menu is part of a restructuring in which restaurants in Aurora and Lombard were closed. A total of five restaurants were shut down nationwide as the chain sought to ensure its restaurants are in growth locations.
Bob Goldin, vice president of Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based food-marketing consulting firm, questioned some of the strategy.
“Consumers want nutritional information available on request rather than at a computer,” Goldin said.
“It sounds to me like they are moving away from their distinction. Like it or not, they are a pizza chain. Pizza is 98 percent of their image. If they de-emphasize that, they are just another Applebee’s or Bennigan’s.”
Uno, which recorded about $500 million in sales in 2004, is a 200-store chain, with restaurants in 32 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. It also supplies pizza to airlines, food courts, hotels, grocery stores and theaters through a subsidiary.
Locally, in addition to the original downtown Pizzerias Uno and Due, Uno Chicago Grill restaurants are located in Gurnee, Crestwood, Schaumburg and Merrillville, Ind. The company also owns the Su Casa Mexican restaurant in downtown Chicago.
Bowing to the storied history of Uno and Due, which are a block apart, those sites will not be affected by the changes.
“We would not change them. They are what they are,” said Guidara. “They pretty much have the same menu when Ike Sewell owned the restaurant.”
The company’s headquarters moved to Boston after Sewell sold off franchising rights, according to the company. Sewell remained in Chicago running Uno, Due and Su Casa until his death in 1990. The company obtained control of the downtown locations from the Sewell estate in 1992.
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PROFILE
Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp.
Casual dining restaurant and frozen/refrigerated foods company
Founded: 1943 in Chicago
Headquarters: Boston
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Restaurants: More than 200 in 32 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Employees: 8,200
2004 revenue: $500 million
Sources: The company, Hoover’s
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