Tahoe Joe's chain for sale

By Fresno Bee

The Tahoe Joe’s restaurant chain, which was born in Fresno and has a location in San Luis Obispo, is for sale.

Parent company Buffets Holdings said in recent public filings that it plans to sell the 10 alpine-themed restaurants within a year. Buffets filed for bankruptcy protection in January, so any sale has to be approved by a judge.

The restaurants all have positive cash flow and generate about $33 million in sales, according to an ad placed in a trade publication.

The company decided to sell Tahoe Joe’s to focus on its main line of buffet restaurants. “This was kind of an orphan division,” said Rob Hill, a principal of J.H. Chapman Group, an investment banking group looking for a buyer.

He said Tahoe Joe’s and many other restaurants are feeling the pinch of a souring economy. “It’s hard to find a happy restaurant operator in California,” Hill said.

Tahoe Joe’s has two restaurants in Fresno and one each in Visalia, Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo, Modesto, Roseville, Folsom and Pleasant Hill.

Buffets bought 80% of Tahoe Joe’s in 1999 and became full owner in 2003. Entrepreneur Dave Fansler started the company in Fresno in 1996. He now operates Yosemite Ranch restaurant in northeast Fresno.

The J.H. Chapman Group, an investment banking firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions in the food and restaurant industries, said restaurants in financial distress represented a larger percentage of sales in 2007, and that more will be available for sale this year.