BOSTON RESTAURANT ASSOC INC history

Two years later he became director of restaurants in Florida for the Schine hotel chain, a position he held until Brody came calling in 1953, asking him to take on the dubious task of introducing luxury dining to an airport terminal.

In 1957 RA opened what was regarded as the first theme restaurant on the ground floor of the United States Rubber Company Building in Rockefeller Center.

Nevertheless, Baum left a lasting legacy with RA, credited for many innovations in his field, some of which are taken for granted today. It took over the dining at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, opened two restaurants at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and launched the Zum Zum chain of sausage shops.

By 1965 RA was operating 130 restaurants and foodservice operations around the world.

According to the company, Pine left as part of a succession plan that had been put in place when Kyotaru bought RA. Valenti joined the company out of college in 1968, starting out as a management trainee.

1970: The company merges with Waldorf Systems; Baum quits.

It became the caterer for the United States Open Tennis Championships in 1976, a contract it would hold for the next 20 years and for many people would become the company's best known venture.

In 1984 RA acquired the California-based Acapulco Mexican Restaurants chain.

L.P. and Furman Selz LLC. Valenti claimed that RA had not taken on excessive debt, as had been the case in the 1988 buyout, and he maintained that the company would have the capital necessary to grow the business.

In January 1994 Max Pine quit and was replaced as CEO by Nick Valenti, a longtime RA executive.

In June 1998 RA agreed to be sold to Compass Group USA, the $2.3 billion North American division of Compass Group PLC, the world's largest contract caterer.

Also in 1999 RA gained a strong West Coast presence with the acquisition of Los Angeles-based Patina Group, which operated a number of upscale restaurants and also served institutional contracts.