Tavern on the Green May Be Resurrected as a Global Chain

When we last heard from Tavern on the Green, the old dear was spending its afterlife as a food-truck parking lot and visitors center. A lackluster fate, to say the least. If this were a movie, the restaurant would be poised for salvation at the hands of some kind of white knight, or at least a venture capitalist. So it seems entirely appropriate, given Tavern’s innately cinematic nature, that it may indeed see new life, and on a global scale at that.

Reuters reports that an investor named Louis Bivona has offered $1.3 million for the Tavern on the Green name. Bivona already sells a line of salad dressings and oils under a license with the restaurant’s name, which a trustee of the Tavern on the Green estate is selling off with other assets to pay creditors.

Bivona would like to resurrect Tavern as a global chain, and reportedly has already fielded inquiries from potential partners in the United Kingdom. His plans for the restaurant have a charitable component — a portion of the proceeds from his line of dressings already goes to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Bivona has cited Paul Newman — who donated proceeds from his Newman’s Own salad dressings to charity — as an inspiration. And if anything can sway a bankruptcy estate trustee, it’s that pair of baby blues.