BY URSULA MILLER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ciao Cucina Corp. has forced out Carl Bruggemeier, the Cincinnati-based restaurant chain's chairman, chief executive and founder.
The move to oust Mr. Bruggemeier was expected. Ciao reported that prospect in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that also detailed the company's 1997 losses.
Ciao sent a brief news release Friday, saying it had "reached a settlement agreement with Carl A. Bruggemeier, providing for his resignation. . . ."
Ciao is interviewing replacement candidates, Jack Wyant, president of Blue Chip Venture Capital in Cincinnati, a Ciao director and a major shareholder, said Friday.
In the meantime, Chief Financial Officer Catherine Jetter and Stephen Kent, a turnaround specialist hired to help Ciao restructure, will manage the company.
As part of the interviewing process for a new CEO, Ciao also is in talks with three out-of-town, private restaurant companies that might merge with the Italian eatery, Mr. Wyant said. Ciao might get a new CEO through a merger with another company, he added.
A decision on a new CEO or a merger partner is expected within three months, Mr. Wyant said.
Mr. Bruggemeier, who also was Ciao's chairman, has resigned from the board. That position is vacant for the time being, Mr. Wyant said.
Mr. Bruggemeier, 48, has been consulting with Ciao to help it restructure and has a contract to continue in that paid role through next January Mr. Wyant said.
Mr. Bruggemeier, who owns 9.3 percent of Ciao's outstanding common stock, wasn't available for comment Friday.
Mr. Wyant characterized Mr. Bruggemeier's departure as "professional and not contentious at all."
Tom Glaser of Glaser Capital, the Cincinnati investment banking firm that took Ciao public in November 1996, praised Mr. Bruggemeier's creativeness as a restaurateur -- as did Mr. Wyant.
"He's talented and creative," Mr. Glaser said. "But he didn't make for a great operator."
Ciao's stock has struggled since the company's initial offering of $7 a share. It gained 15 5/8 cents Friday, closing at $1.12 1/2.
"This is a situation that hasn't evolved the way we liked," Mr. Wyant said. "At the same time, I'm genuinely pleased with the results . . . we are making. Obviously, the stock's gone from $7 to $1. We must rebuild the company and correspondingly, its stock price."
Mr. Bruggemeier brought a wealth of restaurant experience to Ciao. He has run such high-profile restaurants as Tavern on the Green in New York; the Potomac in Washington, D.C.; Commander's Palace and Mr. B's Bistro in New Orleans; Brennan's of Houston; and the Star Line Cruise in Chicago. Before starting Ciao in 1992, he was president and chief operating officer of Phoenix Food Service Corp. in Cincinnati.
