New Licensing Company Acquires Tavern on the Green Name

NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Tavern International LLC, a recently formed licensing sales and marketing concern with a philanthropic sensibility, announced today it has acquired the use of the name of arguably the world's most famous independent restaurant brand, Tavern on the Green, valued at $19 million in 2008.  The acquisition took the form of a $1.3 million purchase which entitles Tavern International to license the name "Tavern on the Green" for restaurants and products such as food, home furnishings, apparel and accessories.  The licenses issued by Tavern International will require some of all sales by the licensees be donated to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the private nonprofit organization which serves as the nation's resource on the issues of missing and sexually exploited children.  It is a charity with which New York City's fabled Tavern on the Green had an association from 2008 until it was forced to close on January 1, 2010, having lost its lease with the city despite its status as a globally renowned attraction and one of highest grossing restaurants in the world.

Under the terms of the agreement that Tavern International will execute with New York City, Tavern International will be able to license or open Tavern on the Green restaurants, except in the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as parts of Pennsylvania, so long as any Tavern International licensed restaurant uses the Tavern on the Green name with a location or geographical identifier.  

"The acquisition of the Tavern on the Green name by Tavern International will enable us to recreate the beloved, iconic Manhattan restaurant nationally and internationally and tie it to products people can enjoy at home.  Restaurants and products that will also enable diners and consumers to help save one child at a time by the contributions made to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children," states Lou Bivona, managing member of Tavern International and the founder and chairman of NCMEC's New York Chapter.

Bivona is also the owner and managing director of TavernDirect, which produces a line of Tavern on the Green specialty food products sold online and at retail.  A portion of the products' sale is donated to NCMEC.  TavernDirect's operation came into being under a licensing agreement with Tavern on the Green, negotiated by its former COO, Michael Desiderio -- now the vice president of restaurant licensing for Tavern International, charged with protecting the integrity of a brand with which he worked for 13 years.  In fact, his restaurant management career, which has included overseeing three of New York City's most famous restaurants -- The Rainbow Room and Russian Tea Room, in addition to Tavern -- began at Tavern on the Green.

"Tavern on the Green as an entity and as a brand has been a big part of my professional life.  And I credit much of my success to the mentoring of Warner LeRoy, who made Tavern on the Green such a world renowned, legendary restaurant.  So I am thrilled to be part of a team that will realize Warner's vision for the expansion of the brand, while supporting an organization that has become the nation's leading non-profit organization working with law enforcement to help abducted and sexually exploited children," notes Desiderio.

Bivona and Desiderio are currently engaged in preliminary discussions with organizations in the United Kingdom, Las Vegas, California and Asia interested in Tavern on the Green licenses.

The purchase of the use of the "Tavern on the Green" name was from the bankruptcy trustee for Tavern on the Green and was executed under the terms of a settlement between the trustee and the City of New York with regard to the disputed ownership of the name which had been trademarked by LeRoy Adventures, the operator of Tavern on the Green from 1975 to 2010.  

For more information about Tavern International, visit www.taverninternational.com.  And for more information about Tavern Direct and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, log onto www.taverndirect.com.

SOURCE Tavern International LLC