page_title: Richard Valle
section_title: Career as a Valle's Executive
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Valle / Career as a Valle's Executive
caption_attribution_description: English: This photo was taken in 1969 at the Valle's Steak House in Albany, NY. The sign was originally designed and fabricated by Judge Sign, an Albany company that was eventually bought out by Saxton Signs. Although the sign no longer exists, the Valle's building is still standing as Bryant and Stratton College. The photo was released under the terms of the CC-BY-SA licensing agreement by Pat Boni of Saxton signs. Contact information: http://saxtonsign.com/ Saxton Sign 1320 Route 9, Castleton, New York 12033 Nationwide toll-free 800.942.6366
context_page_description: Richard D. Valle was an American restaurateur who owned and managed the Valle's Steak House chain of restaurants from the death of his father in 1977 to when he sold his controlling shares of the company to a private investor group in 1982.
context_section_description: Valle held a number of positions in the company and was serving as the company's vice president when his father died in 1977.  He then he became the company's president and provided oversight of the company's continued expansion plans. By 1980, faced with declining sales and profits, he decided to bring the company's 12-year expansion program to a halt. At the time, the company had expanded to 32 restaurants along the East Coast. The Valle family was also saddled with an inheritance tax bill resulting from the  1977 death of Donald Valle that it was not prepared to pay.
  In 1980, Richard Valle decided to remove himself from the day-to-day management of the company in order to focus on the company's strategic plans as the chairman. At the time, Valle had been involved in all facets of operation and had personally designed the restaurant's paper place mats, selected the earthtone decor of the firm's newest restaurants, and wrote the words to a radio advertisement jingle.  Valle had also developed the concept of a smaller restaurant that would only seat 400 customers as opposed to the long-standing design that seated well over a thousand.
  Valle's transition to chairman was soon followed by an announcement that he, along with other family members, would sell their controlling shares of the company to a private investment group.  The sale was approved by shareholders on August 30, 1982. As part of the sale, Richard Valle became a consultant to the company.
caption: Valle's sign outside of the Albany, New York restaurant. Photo courtesy of Saxton Signs, Castleton, New York.
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