Palm, one of New York’s most beloved steakhouses for many decades, is on the sale block.
A Florida judge yesterday told a bankruptcy trustee to find a buyer for the restaurant chain, which filed for Chapter 11 earlier this year after a fierce courtroom brawl between members of the family that has owned the steakhouse since 1926.
“After 93 years of being in the family, Palm will be sold,” said Fred Newman, an attorney who represents one side of the warring clan.
A new owner would acquire one of the great names in a certain kind of dining.
From its original Midtown location, Palm grew into a chain of more than 20 restaurants across the country, all offering the flagship’s alluring blend of stegosaurus-sized steaks, dizzying cocktails, uniformed waiters with plenty of attitude, and walls covered with caricatures of the great and the good. The chain generates more than $100 million in annual revenue.
But as often happens with family businesses, success bred animosity over generations.
In the 1970s two of the founders' grandchildren, Walter Ganzi Jr. and Bruce Bozzi Sr., began opening more Palm locations. Rather than sharing the profits with family members who held a 20% stake in the original Palm, the cousins were paid a royalty of just $6,000 per steakhouse. The cousins argued they were unfairly cut out of their share of the business and after a two-week trial in New York state court in November 2018, a judge ordered Ganzi and Bozzi to pay their relatives $120 million.
Instead, the partners put their company that owns Palm into bankruptcy, and in October both Ganzi and Bozzi filed for personal bankruptcy. Their attorney didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
Yesterday, Judge Caryl Delano of the federal bankruptcy court in Tampa determined it’s time for Palm to be sold so the cousins can collect their judgment. Delano also ruled that a lawyer who has worked on Palm's bankruptcy case can assist in finding a buyer for the business.
It's a sad state of affairs for such a fun place to eat, as Newman observed in a Dickensian turn of phrase.
“Palm steakhouse has become Bleak House,” he said.
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December 04, 2019 at 12:17AM
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Palm steakhouse put on the block after family feud - Crain's New York Business
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