Gerald Bugas and Louis Kimball both attended Cornell School of Hotel Administration and overlapped a couple of years together, but did not know each other then. Several years later after they both graduated from Cornell Louis was the Director of Food and Beverage at the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco and hired Gerald as Banquet Manager. Consequently they decided that a quick service high quality restaurant was needed as there were no quick service quality food service operations around other than the hoffbrau service format which had a limited menu so they founded Pluto’s in 1995. Pluto’s opened its first restaurant in the Marina District in San Francisco and currently has an additional location in San Francisco plus locations in Palo Alto, San Jose, Davis, Sacramento, Roseville and Chico.
Gerald Bugas and Louis Kimball both attended Cornell School of Hotel Administration and overlapped a couple of years together, but did not know each other then. Several years later after they both graduated from Cornell Louis was the Director of Food and Beverage at the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco and hired Gerald as Banquet Manager. Consequently they decided that a quick service high quality restaurant was needed as there were no quick service quality food service operations around other than the hoffbrau service format which had a limited menu so they founded Pluto’s in 1995. Pluto’s opened its first restaurant in the Marina District in San Francisco and currently has an additional location in San Francisco plus locations in Palo Alto, San Jose, Davis, Sacramento, Roseville and Chico.Pluto’s, appropriately named for the outermost planet, provides “fresh food for a hungry universe,” and features a revolutionary concept in dining satisfaction. Like its namesake, Pluto’s strives to be truly out-of-this-world via the food station, as advanced as the space station of planetary exploration where you get what you see and see what you get. Pluto’s fills a much-needed niche in the vast nothingness between fast-food and full service restaurants.
Its mission is simply to offer great-quality, American-style fresh food at unparalleled value with friendly but efficient service in an inviting setting. Pluto’s has a special “neighborhoodly” quality and serves as an extension of your kitchen.
Guests of Pluto’s enjoy the best of all worlds. Instead of having to cope with all of the uncertainties of wait staff, guests will be served at individual food stations where they make their selections and oversee their preparation in a refreshing one-on-one process between Pluto’s staff and the guest. Guests dine at their own pace (a selection of daily newspapers is available for those who wish to linger) and partake of that good “neighborhood” feeling. At Pluto’s, guests do not have to deal with the annoyance of poor service, unidentifiable entrees, the added expense of tipping, and most of all, the prices that are part of the full-service restaurant scene.
And, unlike fast-food establishments, Pluto’s is absolutely committed to wholesome fresh food, low fat ingredients where possible, and the use of the latest healthful cooking techniques in its food preparation, such as steaming, char-grilling and roasting.
Restaurant Realty recently had the opportunity of completing a transaction with Pluto’s and we wish Louis and Gerald continued success in all of their future endeavors.