Buca di Beppo, Meet Planet Hollywood

We haven’t followed Buca di Beppo for a while, so it came as a surprise when we saw that Planet Hollywood is buying the 88-restaurant Italian chain for $28.5 million including debt.We knew that Buca was having some troubled financial times – even before the economy started going way south – and always figured it was for a combination of reasons, like some bad site selections and high real estate costs for large restaurants. In its most recently-reported quarter, its Q1, the company lost $4.2 million, and the chain is being bought for 45 cents per share, which was a 41% premium over its prior closing price. However, every time we’ve been to one of its restaurants, or driven by, they have been packed. But we admit that this observation is very unscientific because these instances are on business trips and at touristy locales that probably garner the most traffic.But what in the wide world of sports do you think Planet Hollywood has in store for the chain? We sure don’t know. Give it your best guess and fire away, readers.