Marie Callender

An attempt to sell Marie Callender Restaurants & Bakeries, a well-known chain that began as a pie-baking family business 50 years ago, is expected to be revived within the next month, according to officials at the Orange-based chain. The chain's parent company, Wilshire Group of New York, had hired a securities firm to begin exploring a sale last fall, but the effort never really got off the ground.

The parent company of Marie Callender's restaurants, which have been part of the Southern California landscape since 1964, has filed for bankruptcy protection and closed 31 locations nationwide. Memphis, Tenn.-based Perkins & Marie Callender's Inc. — which also owns the far larger Perkins Restaurant & Bakery chain — blamed economic conditions in California and Florida, where many of its restaurants are located, for a sharp decline in sales. "With overall unemployment rates at record high levels, discretionary income for many historically loyal customers and other consumers has been severely constrained," the company said in its bankruptcy filing Monday.

Wilshire Restaurant Group, owner of the Marie Callender restaurant chain, has purchased East Side Mario's Restaurants from PepsiCo Inc. for an undisclosed price, the company said Wednesday. East Side Mario's, with 89 company-owned and franchise locations in the Southeastern and Western states and Canada, is one of several chains that PepsiCo is divesting as it focuses on its core soft drink and Frito-Lay snack businesses.

Don Callender, an entrepreneur who sold the pies that his mother baked, helping make Marie Callender's a household name, died Wednesday at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. He was 81 and lived in Corona del Mar and Indian Wells. Callender died from injuries he suffered in a fall in 2007, his wife, Katy, said Saturday.

The owners of the Ramada hotel and casino concern have agreed to sell Marie Callender Pie Shops--the coffee shop chain that began as a single bakery in Long Beach--to a private investment group, the company said Friday. Ramada has entered into a definitive agreement to sell the Orange-based restaurant chain for an undisclosed price to Wilshire Restaurant Group of New York. The sale is expected to close within the next 30 days.

Marie Callender's Pie Shops Inc. is poised to sell the whole corporate pie. A couple of million pies and 37 years ago, no one in the Callender family suspected that Mom had a recipe for one of the most successful chains of its kind in the nation. What began in 1948 as a struggling Long Beach bake shop that made pies for a restaurant or two has become a national legacy that is attracting many suitors.

Donald W. Callender, president of Marie Callender Pie Shops, has accused Ramada Inns, the chain's corporate parent, of engaging in fraud and breaching a multimillion-dollar contract. The charges are contained in a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court. Ramada, a Phoenix-based hotel and casino operator, bought the Long Beach-based pie-and-sandwich-shop chain from its 60-year-old founder in early 1986 for about $80 million. In his lawsuit, Callender asks for at least $66.

Marie Callender, who turned a mom-and-pop pie shop in Long Beach into a restaurant chain bearing her name, died Saturday at her home in Laguna Hills. She was 88. Callender had been ill with cancer and died at the Rossmoor Regency residential community, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Lynn Nehring said. "She was a fantastic woman and she will be sorely missed," said Ruth Walter, Callender's sister-in-law. "She's left quite a legacy. I guess her name will be around quite a while."

Don Callender, an entrepreneur who sold the pies that his mother baked, helping make Marie Callender's a household name, died Wednesday at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. He was 81 and lived in Corona del Mar and Indian Wells. Callender died from injuries he suffered in a fall in 2007, his wife, Katy, said Saturday.

Marie Callender Restaurants & Bakeries said Thursday that the owners are considering selling the well-known chain, which began churning out pies as a family business 50 years ago. Marie Callender's majority owner, a New York investment firm, is looking to cash in on its investment, said Len Dreyer, the chain's chief executive. "It reaches a certain point in time and they want to get liquidity," he said. "Perhaps selling the company might be the best alternative."

I am writing in defense of the Marie Callender's pumpkin pie ("Turkey and Bluffing," So SoCal, by Leslee Komaiko, Nov. 5). I have worked for Marie Callender's for 19 years, and the only pie I eat from there is the pumpkin pie. When I was pregnant with my son, I was confined to my home. Whenever anyone would ask if they could bring me anything, I would say, "pumpkin pie." I tasted pumpkin pies from many bakeries and stores, but the only one I could eat was the one from Marie Callender's.

Thomas F. Van Gilder has been appointed vice president of operations support for Marie Callender's Pie Shops Inc. in Orange. Van Gilder joined the company in 1989 as general manager for the Marina del Rey restaurant. Since then he has been area supervisor, director of advertising, new store opening supervisor, director of operations planning and research, and director of the real estate department. * James D.

Christopher Yeh has been appointed general manager for the new Marie Callender's restaurant in Irvine. He had been general manager for the Anaheim location for three years. * Jeffrey M. Davis has been named privacy officer for LifeMasters Supported SelfCare in Newport Beach. He had been chief medical officer. * Jim Hope has joined California Scents, an Irvine manufacturer of air freshener products, as national sales manager, grocery.

* Allen Batty has been named vice president of franchise operations for Marie Callender's Pie Shops Inc. in Orange. He had been director. Since joining the company in 1964, Batty has also been baker, assistant manager, general manager, franchise owner, company supervisor, director of training and area supervisor. * Former New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya has joined BigFNI.com in Laguna Niguel as an executive advisor.

Marie Callender Pie Shops Inc., a chain that began churning out pies as a family business 51 years ago, was sold Monday by its current parent to a New York-based investment firm for $150 million. The new owner, Castle Harlan Partners III, wants to increase the Orange-based chain's presence outside California, where 72% of its 166 restaurants are located. Marie Callender's management team will remain intact, and six of its top executives will become investment partners.

A family feud is threatening to take a slice out of Orange-based Marie Callender Pie Shops Inc. Katy Callender has sued the pie maker and the Delaware company that distributes its products to supermarkets, contending they are using her photograph without permission. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, alleges that the companies began putting Katy Callender's image on packaging for frozen pies and pie shells about March 1997.

Marie Callender Pie Shops Inc., a chain that began churning out pies as a family business 51 years ago, was sold Monday by its current parent to a New York-based investment firm for $150 million. The new owner, Castle Harlan Partners III, wants to increase the Orange-based chain's presence outside California, where 72% of its 166 restaurants are located. Marie Callender's management team will remain intact, and six of its top executives will become investment partners.

Well, it started so many years ago. I answered a help- wanted ad in our area in Long Beach for someone to help in a delicatessen. I worked part time there, making salads and bringing out something hot every day." To the other people lunching in the elegantly appointed Marie Callender's on Wilshire Boulevard, the speaker--a spry, compact woman in a pink pantsuit--could have been anyone's grandmother reminiscing about her first job.

An attempt to sell Marie Callender Restaurants & Bakeries, a well-known chain that began as a pie-baking family business 50 years ago, is expected to be revived within the next month, according to officials at the Orange-based chain. The chain's parent company, Wilshire Group of New York, had hired a securities firm to begin exploring a sale last fall, but the effort never really got off the ground.

Claim Jumper, the Irvine restaurant chain known for serving huge portions to diners, is negotiating to sell its frozen food unit, which provides items under the Claim Jumper label to supermarkets, restaurant officials said Friday. The deal, which is close to being completed, would turn over the unit to American Pie Inc., which sells Marie Callender pies and pie crusts in supermarkets.