The Riese Organization

The Riese Organization is a privately held investment company based in New York City that is heavily invested in real estate and in franchised fast food and casual dining restaurants in Manhattan.

History

Irving and Murray Riese, two brothers born in Harlem, opened their first restaurant, a luncheonette in midtown Manhattan, in 1940, for about $8,500. Five years later, the brothers sold the luncheonette for $38,500, and they used the profit to start a business of flipping troubled restaurant properties after quickly refurbishing them. Murray told The New York Times in 1983 that they had bought and sold as many as 25 restaurants in one month.[1] The brothers incorporated National Restaurants Management, Inc., to acquire and operate restaurants, after a court had ruled in 1953 that the Riese brothers were real estate brokers, and that they could not claim lower capital gains tax rates on restaurants that they had held for less than three years.[2]

In 1972, the Riese Organization had about 150 restaurants in its portfolio, making it the United States's largest privately owned restaurant business. By 1989, the company had about 300 restaurants.[2]

The Riese Organization is credited with introducing the food court concept to New York in the 1980s. In 1982, Marriott Corporation, which owned the Roy Rogers restaurant chain, sued Riese for planning to colocate a Roy Rogers with a Pizza Hut and a Häagen-Dazs ice cream shop in one Times Square location; after the Riese family won, they opened additional food courts with as many as eight brands in one location. By the late 1980s, the Riese Organization had licenses to run operations for 28 franchises in New York City, most of them on an exclusive basis.[2]

Legal issues

Although Riese's food court restaurants took and fulfilled orders from different retail units, sometimes on separate floors of a building, they had a centralized kitchen to reduce operating costs. This violated the terms of many franchise agreements, although the Rieses used their wealth and real estate holdings to exert leverage over brand owners. In the 1990s, Riese took the unusual step of cobranding its food courts and franchised restaurants with "Riese Restaurants" on signage, prompting an unsuccessful lawsuit from T.G.I. Friday's for violating Friday's franchise agreement.[2]

In 1998, the front page of the New York Post showed a Riese-owned Dunkin' Donuts franchise infested with rats, one of which was eating a coconut doughnut.[8] This caused a public relations crisis for Riese and Dunkin', which resulted in lawsuits and the termination of the franchise agreement.[9] In 2009, Riese closed its 12 Dunkin' restaurants and one Dunkin' food cart, and three days later, all 13 locations reopened as the first Tim Hortons locations in New York City.[10]

Restaurant brands

Most of the Riese Organization's restaurants have historically been chain restaurants, to appeal to tourists who would recognize a familiar name.[1] The company has operated franchises of T.G.I. Friday's, Houlihan's, Beefsteak Charlie's, Tim Hortons, Chock full o'Nuts lunch counters, Roy Rogers restaurants, Pizza Hut, and KFC. The company has also developed its own restaurant brands, including Tad's Steaks, Charley O's, Martini's, and Tequilaville.

The company purchased the Lindy's name, trading on the nostalgia of the former restaurant.[14] The company also owned Lüchow's and four Longchamps restaurants.[15]

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