Newport Beach landmark Studio Caf & #233; on the Balboa Peninsula has been sold to Granville Kirkup, founder of Telmar Logistics Inc., an Irvine distributor of telecommunications products with about $75 million in 1999 sales. The 158-seat restaurant, which first opened in the early 1980s, was purchased for $300,000 from Albert Chammus.
Kirkup, who last year sold his telecommunications business to Stonebridge Partners of New York for $33 million, said he plans to invest another $200,000 to $300,000 in renovations at the restaurant. He has already hired Steve Palmer as head chef. Palmer was most recently with Yankee Tavern on Balboa Island, but headed Studio Caf & #233;’s kitchen.
Though this is Kirkup’s first restaurant venture, a spokesman for the California Restaurant Association said that’s not always a drawback.
“Business experience carries over,” he said, adding that it’s important that new owners surround themselves with a good team.
Kirkup has formed a new company, Newport Blues Inc., to handle the restaurant’s business and is interested in taking the concept to additional locations down the road.
Though he is still a vice-president with Telmar, as a long-time patron of Studio Caf & #233; he is looking forward to breathing new life into the 17-year-old nightclub.
“When you sell a business, you tend to look around for something kind of fun and different,” he said.
