Two factions of the family that owns Rao's, an exclusive (it has only four tables and six booths), 120-year-old Italian restaurant in the East Harlem section of Manhattan, are waging a legal battle,
a
Vanity Fair
profile
of the restaurant noted.
Cousins Frank Pellegrino Sr., 72, and Ron Straci, 81, have co-owned the restaurant since 1994. The family's sauces, marinades and dressings are sold to retail customers through a separate business, Rao's Specialty Foods (established in 1991), and is about to publish its fourth cookbook. Frank Pellegrino Jr. is the managing partner of Rao's restaurants that opened in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 2006 and in Hollywood in 2013.
The lawsuit stems from a disagreement over Rao's Specialty Foods. In July, Pellegrino Sr. and the other shareholders filed suit against Straci and his wife, Sharon, claiming that Sharon Straci had received buyout offers that would have required her to leave her post as CEO; she rejected these offers without notifying the company's board or shareholders, the
Vanity Fair
article said. The suit contends that she entertained offers from private equity suitors who would have paid less for the company but would have allowed her to stay on. (Source:
Vanity Fair
, Oct. 10, 2016.)
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