Il Fornaio is a chain of twenty (as of 2019) Italian-themed fine dining restaurants operating primarily in California (16 locations of its 20) in the United States.
History
The Il Fornaio brand was established in 1972 as a baking school in Barlassina, Lombardia, Italy. It opened a retail bakery in Milan in 1975, and was licensed in 1981 to Williams-Sonoma, Inc. as a retail bakery concept. Williams-Sonoma opened four locations in California before selling the business to private investors in 1983. Initially unsuccessful, the chain was re-sold in 1986 to Larry Mindel, who had run local restaurant holding company Spectrum Foods and launched or bought a series of successful restaurants: Chianti in Los Angeles; Prego (one of the originators of California-style pizza), MacArthur Park and Ciao in San Francisco and Guaymas in Tiburon.[1]
The new owners opened a total of 11 restaurant-bakeries in California in late 1980s and 1990s. The first restaurant location and headquarters are in Corte Madera, California, the second in San Francisco. They then branched out to Las Vegas, Nevada, Colorado, Seattle, and Virginia, opening a total of 22 by 2008.[2]