TheBuzz Erika Engle

Kincaid’s and Ryan’s now under new ownership

Seattle-based Restaurants Unlimited Inc. will continue to operate the restaurants, though founder Rich Komen has stepped down from the board of directors, according to both the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The P-I also quoted a Sun Capital Partners Inc. executive as saying the private equity firm will not close any restaurants, but rather, plans to expand.

Richard Hurwitz, Sun Capital vice president of communications, referred Star-Bulletin inquiries to Restaurants Unlimited executives, who could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Both restaurants are charter tenants in their respective locations, according to Miles Nishijima, assistant vice president at Kaneohe Ranch Co. Ltd. and a former executive with Victoria Ward Ltd., the centers' previous owner.

Kincaid's opened as Horatio's in 1976, when Ward Warehouse opened. Ryan's was an original tenant of Ward Centre when it opened in 1982.

Sun Capital's announcement of the acquisition says Restaurants Unlimited operates 29 restaurants in 12 states, but 31 are listed on the restaurant company's Web site. That number includes the now-closed Palomino Restaurant Rotisseria Bar at Harbor Court, that shut down in early February after 10 years of operation.

Chef George Mavrothalassitis has signed a new lease for the Palomino space and is developing Cassis, a new restaurant, therein.

Restaurants Unlimited was founded in Seattle in 1969.

Outside of its home town, where it operates Cutters Bayhouse, Maggie Bluff's, Palisade and Palomino, Honolulu is the only U.S. city with more than one Restaurants Unlimited restaurant, its Web site shows.