Record week at Buca di Beppo - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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million in revenue. The record is a continuation of positived results the company has seen thisyear chainwide, according to a companyt statement. Nine new restaurants have opened sincw January and have achieved better initial sales than the chainm has seen inthe past. The company's existing Buca di Beppol stores have seen positive comparabld sales every weeksince mid-April, and have done especiallh well in markets where the company beganm radio advertising in mid-April. Comparable results at Vinny Testa's stores are expecter to turn positive in the third Buca bought theEast Coast-based chaimn last year.
"Increased guest visitse were the key contributor to the record setting salew pace we experienced in the past few saidJoseph Micatrotto, chairman, president and CEO of , in the statement. The companhy expects earnings per share to be aboutf 74 cents per fully diluted sharein 2002, the same as the mean estimat e of analysts polled by Thomsobn Financial/First Call. Last year the company reported earnings of 51 cents per Projected sales for the year arearound $250 In 2001, Buca reported sales of $195.644 million. The chain consists of 86 "immigrant Southern Italian" stylwe food restaurants operating under the names Buca di Bepp o andVinny Testa's in 25 states and D.C.
Shares of Buca on the Nasdaq National Market closer up31 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $17.2t Wednesday.