FAMILY FOOD FEUD

War over Palm

The knives are out in a $100 million Manhattan family feud that threatens the future of the legendary Palm steakhouses from LA to New York.

The Palm’s story starts in 1926, when Italian immigrants Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi applied to open a restaurant on Second Avenue at East 45th Street under the name of their hometown, “La Parma.”

“Because of a language difference, it became The Palm and it’s been The Palm since 1926,” attorney Frederic Newman said Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court, where the costs of franchising that name are at the heart of an unfolding trial.

Newman represents two of John Ganzi’s grandkids — Garry Ganzi and his sister Claire Breen — in a suit against their cousin Walter Ganzi Jr. and Walter’s partner, Bruce Bozzi Sr., Pio Bozzi’s grandson.

The siblings claim they were sliced out of profits from the company’s 21 locations nationwide by Ganzi Jr. and Bozzi Sr. They own 20 percent of the original company but receive only an annual licensing fee of $6,000 per additional restaurant.

Ganzi Jr. and Bozzi Sr. control the remaining 80 percent of the company, including all profits from the various locations.

Newman called that arrangement “nuts” and a product of “self-dealing.” His clients want a 5 percent cut of the profits — some $100 million.

But that amount would destroy the company, argued Ian Shapiro, who represents Ganzi Jr. and Bozzi Sr. He said in opening statements Monday that the siblings are hungry for money they didn’t earn.

The business partners’ own “energy, creativity and risk-taking” was responsible for “transforming their family’s restaurant into a well-known national brand,” Shapiro said.

Their grandfathers ran only the original steakhouse on Second Avenue in Manhattan. Ganzi Jr. and Bozzi Sr. opened the first offshoot in 1972.

Newman countered that the national franchises owe their success to the original “iconic New York steakhouse,” which closed two years ago.