New owner of Etta restaurant group plans to expand nationwide with hundreds of new locations

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A tech entrepreneur from Texas has purchased the bankrupt Etta restaurant group and plans to expand the Chicago brand with hundreds of new locations across the nation.

Johann Moonesinghe, 41, paid $4 million to acquire Etta restaurants in Bucktown and Scottsdale, Ariz., as well as Aya Pastry, a bakery in West Town. All three locations remained operating and profitable throughout the bankruptcy process.

Moonesinghe says he plans to invest in each site, including updating light fixtures, chairs and other interior elements of the Bucktown restaurant.

An Etta in River North Etta that closed in January was included in the sale but Moonesinghe said it's unlikely he will reopen it because the lease is too expensive.

Moonesinghe is co-founder and CEO of Austin, Texas-based inKind, a tech firm that finances restaurants in a way that helps them avoid traditional investors and bank loans. The company gives monety to a restaurant in exchange for food and beverage credits, which allow users of inKind's mobile app, who pay a monthly fee, to dine for discounted prices.

The company has raised about $180 million in funding since it launched in 2017 and is approaching 2,000 participating restaurants. About 1.6 million people use its app.

The company helped finance Etta restaurant group in this way before it filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. It owed inKind $1.8 million, an additional $1.8 to Wintrust Bank, and $1.3 million for a 2017 Small Business Administration loan.

But Moonesinghe is looking to the future as he adds to his own, as yet unnamed, restaurant group, which currently owns The Guest House and Ember Kitchen — both in Austin.

Specific details about the company's expansion with regards to the Etta brand were not disclosed during Moonesinghe's recent conversation with the Sun-Times.

"I have a pretty lofty goal," he said. "I think that Etta is designed in such a way that you can have multiple Ettas in a city. I think that this could scale to hundreds of units. That's what excites me about it, it's a really scalable brand of providing high-quality, good food at sort of neighborhood restaurant prices," he said.

An Etta location that had been planned for Evanston, which was not included in the bankruptcy deal and never opened its doors, could be revitalized, he said.

"I haven't had a chance to look at it," he said. "But, depending on how far along it is in the build-out, and the location, we'd definitely be open to looking at it."

David Pisor, the previous owner of Etta, said he was happy to see the restaurants in the hands of someone who plans to take care of workers and grow the business.

"I'm really glad this is how it worked out," said Pisor, who started Etta, known for its wood-fired pizzas, housemade pastas, and farm fresh salads, in 2018. Pisor, who once co-ran the successful Maple & Ash steakhouse in Gold Coast, struggled after a bitter split last year with his former business partner James Lasky.

Moonesinghe lives in Austin with his husband and business partner Andrew Harris, an attorney from England. He looks forward to spending time in Chicago this summer to escape the Texas heat, plus he has a nephew who attends the University of Chicago.