Marie Callender Relocates
By AMY ROTTIER
Marie Callender Pie Shops Inc. has moved its headquarters from Orange to Aliso Viejo.
The company decided to move after facing a rent increase at its prior space near MainPlace/Santa Ana mall, Chief Executive Phillip Ratner said. The building, at 1100 Town & Country Road, was taken over last year by Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust in its buy of Spieker Prop-erties Inc.
Being in a 16-story office tower in Central Orange County wasn’t necessary, Ratner said. The restaurant operator was able to get a better deal in South County, he said, where the technology downturn has left lots of space for the taking.
“It was all about economics,” Ratner said.
Privately held Marie Callender, which counts yearly sales of about $335 million, is taking 17,000 square feet in Aliso Viejo, about 3,000 less than it had in Orange. The building still leaves the company some room for growth, Ratner said. The seven-year lease is valued at $2.5 million.
The move hasn’t been seamless, Ratner said. Many of the 85 workers at the company’s headquarters live in North County. Marie Callender has offered incentives for those whose commutes were made longer by the move, Ratner said. A few workers left when the new drive proved to be too much, he said.
Marie Callender executives live in Long Beach, Yorba Linda and South County, said Ratner, who himself lives in Dana Point.
The company, which operates or franchises more than 160 sit-down restaurants including 14 in OC, looked at sites in Anaheim and elsewhere in Orange, as well as Lake Forest, Ratner said. But it was able to get what he called an “excellent deal” in Aliso Viejo.
The company’s new base is in a two-story building at 27081 Aliso Creek Road.
“The new location is a more efficient use of space,” said Travis Boyd of CB Richard Ellis Services Inc., which represented Marie Callender. Dave Whitney of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. represented landlord Carr America Realty Corp.
Marie Callender is working to remodel its restaurants, Ratner said. The company has made over three in Buena Park, Napa and West Covina. Marie Callender is veering away from darker colors in favor of a brighter color scheme, he said.
“It can best be explained as a cross between the Hamptons and Ralph Lauren,” Ratner said. The remodeled stores have reported double-digit sales increases, Ratner said, though he declined to offer specifics.
The company plans to have nine stores remodeled by the end of the year, Ratner said. Work on a store in Anaheim Plaza is under way, he said.
Ratner said the company isn’t planning new stores, though he said he would like to see one closer to the new headquarters. Of the OC stores, those in El Toro and San Juan Capistrano are closest to Aliso Viejo.
