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MIAMI-Santo Bruno joins locally based Tri-Star Systems Inc. to develop a Chef Bruno Italian restaurant concept. Bruno currently operates Bellisimo Restaurante in Tampa and has opened more than two dozen restaurants in Europe and North and South America.

Described as a family-friendly Italian restaurant, the Chef Bruno units will be marketed and franchised primarily as a stand-alone concept with typical units ranging from 2,500 sf to 3,000 sf, Martin Mayer, VP of operations for Tri-Star, tells GlobeSt.com.

Tri-Star created Chick-N-Grill, a quick service chicken restaurant chain that now has 12 locations throughout South Florida, and is launching a national franchise network. Chef Bruno will also expand via franchise as will Gelato Caffe, another Tri-Star property, which currently has one location in Davie and also sells its products at the Chick-N-Grill in Aventura.

The first Chef Bruno opens this May as a dual-branded, Tri-Star-owned Chick-N-Grill/Chef Bruno 3,000-sf unit at 2913 SW 160th Ave. in Miramar. "This will be the model for the Chef Bruno concept," Mayer says. Although future Chef Brunos will be primarily stand-alone units, Mayer says Tri-Star will also look for dual-branding opportunities.

Target locations for additional units of both brands are California, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and the New York area, Mayer says. He anticipates 20 Chef Bruno locations within the next five years. Twenty additional Chick-N-Grill units are slated to open this year, and double that number in 2007, according to Mayer.

The Chef Bruno menu will include such Bruno inventions as Pizza-on-a-Stick and Spatini Pizza. Bruno hails from Palermo, Sicily, but grew up in Brooklyn, NY, where he opened his first pizzeria at age 18. Since then, in addition to opening restaurants, he has achieved acclaim on Martha Steward Living, the Food Network, television commercials and food-related publications. Currently, he is under contract with Media Max Entertainment Group for the production of a feature film, "The Pizza King," about two Brooklyn pizzeria owners vying for that title.

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Chick-N-Grill Parent Launches Chef Bruno Chain

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