The recipe recently convinced a group of Orlando-based investors behind Chart House, Planet Hollywood, Sizzler and other restaurants to pour $25.5 million into Oregano’s. When the merger with Restaurant Acquisition Partners is finalized this winter, Oregano’s will be publicly traded.
Reaction to the merger’s announcement was hardly enthusiastic. Some in the community were so distraught that Russell called employees into an emergency meeting and published an editorial in the Scottsdale Tribune to assure everyone that quality wouldn’t suffer at the hands of stockholders.
Lipson, who helped take Garcia’s of Scottsdale public in 1983 only to see his successors file for bankruptcy 10 years later, says that’s easier said than done.
“Eventually you lose sight of the big picture. You get caught up in the stock price,” he says. “It’s a trap. It’s too easy to focus on stockholders instead of customers.”
Russell insists that won’t be the case. He points to a stack of printed e-mails more than an inch thick of people wanting to buy stock in Oregano’s once the company goes public.
“The bottom line is that these people are bought into what we’re doing,” Russell says. “They say we can’t change a thing. This is a thing that works and can create a great stock.”
Some Valley restaurateurs say the next Scottsdale concepts to go big could be Dos Gringos and Salty Señorita, a pair of flip-flop-friendly Mexican concepts that have captured the 21- to 35-year-old demographic.
Dos Gringos launched in Old Town in 1996 and soon spawned a second location near Arizona State University where college students happily devour street tacos and cheap Coronas.
John Casale opened the first Salty Señ-orita in Old Town in 2003. He now operates four locations across the Valley, including two in Scottsdale, and reportedly has plans to expand to Southern California in 2009.
Dos Gringos founder Brian Roehrich believes Old Town’s position as an entertainment destination helps establish a restaurant before it spreads to the suburbs. Then the Valley’s explosive growth gives savvy entrepreneurs more opportunities than cities with more stagnant economies.
Like P.F. Chang’s and Kona Grill before it, Oregano’s has not only survived but thrived. And soon it will complete its journey from Scottsdale Road to Wall Street – regardless of the critics. 
“To get an offer for 25.5 million, that’s a big number,” Roehrich says. “But in a few years with 400 restaurants across the country, they might laugh at how small that check was.”