The three owners of the Michelin-starred Brooklyn pizzeria Roberta’s — where celebs from the Clintons to Beyoncé have noshed on $17 kale-topped pies while average Joes wait in hour-long lines — are battling over $5.4 million in dough.
The food fight started in December when partners Brandon Hoy and Carlo Mirarchi fired the co-founder of the Bushwick pizza mecca, Chris Parachini, over disagreements about expansion that led to buyout negotiations.
The talks broke down when Parachini turned his nose up at a $2 million offer to purchase his 25 percent share in the company. Parachini’s counter-offer was $2.9 million for Roberta’s and its spinoffs including a restaurant in the Rockaways and another $2.5 million for intellectual property.
“Roberta’s has grown into a name representing quality and success that is synonymous with Brooklyn and recognized across the world,” Parachini bragged in a September 2014 letter to his estranged partners, mentioning a pending deal in Asia and talks with the Ace Hotel chain.
When Parachini, who’d been absent from the Moore Street eatery for four months during buyout talks, showed up at the hipster pizzeria after his ouster, his partners called the police, according to court papers.
“Our worst fears became a reality on Dec. 22, 2014, when Parachini appeared at the restaurant and began telling staff he was the ‘boss’ and ‘owner’ and they had to listen to him,” Hoy says in an affidavit.
“We are concerned that this will end in a physical altercation before the police will take any action, based on the prior history with Mr. Parachini and his erratic behavior,” Hoy says.
When cops refused to intervene, Hoy, 37, and Mirarchi, 34, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court to keep Parachini away from the joint.
A judge granted the emergency order on Dec. 31, but also said that Parachini should be paid a salary and given access to their books during the lawsuit.
In a written response to the allegations, Parachini fumes, “I have no history of violence nor have I ever threatened any of my partners or employees. This is a total fabrication … presented to inflame the court.”
He calls the legal attack “malicious, unconscionable” and “an attempted theft of my ownership.”
The 42-year-old Arverne, NY, resident says his relationship with his partners soured in July after a trip to Los Angeles to talk to reps for the Ace Hotel chain to open a restaurant in a new hotel that’s slated to open on the Lower East Side.
Then Hoy went behind Parachini’s back to make changes to a new takeout counter next to Roberta’s, Parachini says in court papers.
The parties are due for a courtroom showdown in late March, when Mirarchi and Hoy will bring 15 employees to testify against Parachini.
The threesome started the pizzeria with a measly $43,000.
Parachini projects that his partners will net $10 million to $15 million over the next 10 years with the New York business alone, according to court papers.
Gloria Steinem and “The Big Lebowski” director Joel Coen joined Bill and Hillary Clinton for a 2012 fundraiser at Roberta’s. Beyoncé stormed out of the joint last year when she was dining with husband Jay Z days after their famous elevator blowout, according to reports.
Parachini and his lawyer did not return calls.
Hoy and Mirarchi’s attorney, Kevin Sean O’Donoghue, said Roberta’s has been “more successful than ever” since Parachini was fired.
“His involvement is not a material need for the company,” O’Donoughue added.