Tar & Roses

What Tar & Roses does

Tar & Roses is a single-location, independent restaurant operating at 602 Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica, California, founded circa 2012 by Chef Andrew Kirschner. The restaurant's core offering is a globally inspired, wood-fired Californian tasting menu executed around a central wood-fired oven, with a rotating selection of snacks/appetizers (e.g., Chicken Liver Mousse $19, Oxtail Dumplings $17, Wood Roasted English Peas $18), entrees, and a curated wine and craft beer list. The establishment operates dinner service Tuesday-Thursday 5:30-9:00 pm and Friday-Saturday 5:30-9:30 pm, and is closed Sunday-Monday. Reservations are managed through OpenTable, and the restaurant also sells digital gift cards via gifted.co and accepts private event inquiries for parties of 11 or more. The operation is reported with approximately 6 employees total, indicating a small, chef-led independent rather than a scaled restaurant group.

The business runs on a direct-to-consumer dine-in model with three transaction-based revenue streams: dine-in food and beverage sales, private event bookings, and gift card sales. Pricing is unit-based per menu item with no subscription or tiered structure. Distribution is limited to the single physical Santa Monica storefront, with OpenTable and the company website as the primary digital booking surface. The restaurant has no subsidiaries, no franchise operations, no disclosed institutional ownership, and no funding history.

The restaurant's competitive positioning is built on Chef Andrew Kirschner's culinary reputation, the wood-fired cooking methodology, and early critical recognition from LA Times critic Jonathan Gold, LA Magazine (Top 10 Best New Restaurants 2012), Forbes, and LA Weekly. There is no evidence of AI/ML or proprietary technology investment beyond commodity restaurant platforms, and the business remains a single-site independent concept rather than a multi-location or scaled restaurant group.

Name

Tar & Roses

Website

https://tarandroses.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Tar & Roses is a single-location, chef-driven wood-fired Californian restaurant in Santa Monica, California, founded by Chef Andrew Kirschner, serving globally inspired dinner menus and private events to local diners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Monica, California

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Dine-in Restaurant Sales: Revenue from food and beverage sales for dine-in customers. Menu features globally inspired dishes with prices ranging from $17-$20 for appetizer/snack items.
2. Private Events: Revenue from hosting private events and parties of 11 or more guests. The restaurant accommodates various event types including birthday parties and business dinners.
3. Gift Cards: Digital gift card sales through gifted.co platform for customer purchases.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Tar & Roses is a single-location Californian restaurant in Santa Monica that serves a globally inspired, wood-fired dinner menu. Offerings extend beyond the dining room to include curated wine and craft beer pairings, OpenTable-enabled reservations, private event hosting for parties of 11 or more, and digital gift card sales through the gifted.co platform.

Product overview

Tar & Roses is a single-location Californian restaurant in Santa Monica offering a globally inspired wood-fired dining experience. The restaurant's core offering is its food menu featuring wood-fired and globally inspired dishes including snacks/appetizers (Chicken Liver Mousse, Oxtail Dumplings, Wood Roasted English Peas, Roasted Beet & Yogurt Dip, Mortadella & Fig Bruschetta, Balsamic Glazed Ribs, Moroccan Marinated Lamb Kabob), with dinner and wine & beer menus available. The restaurant emphasizes cooking with wood, fire, and smoke as its culinary approach, using a wood-fired oven as the central element. The establishment is located at 602 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401 and operates Tuesday-Thursday 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm, Friday-Saturday 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm, closed Sunday-Monday. Reservations are available via OpenTable, and the restaurant offers private events hosting for parties of 11 or more.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dinner Menu

Quantifiable outcome

• Praised by LA Times Jonathan Gold for exceptional vegetable dishes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• OpenTablecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOpenTable integration for restaurant reservation management. Customers can book tables through the OpenTable platform linked on the restaurant's website.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Angler LA: Chef Joshua Skenes' seafood-focused restaurant with wood-fired cooking at the center. Comparable wood-fire, chef-visionary, ingredient-driven fine-dining format in LA.
• Sqirl: LA cult-favorite known for seasonal, locally sourced, ingredient-driven cooking and a devoted local following. Comparable chef-led, single-location, locally rooted fine-casual positioning in LA.
• Bestia: Multi-award-winning Downtown LA Italian restaurant built around a wood-fired oven and house-made pastas. Comparable chef-driven, high-demand, hard-to-reserve fine-dining model with globally inspired Italian-Californian cooking.
• n/naka: Two-Michelin-star kaiseki restaurant in Palms from chef Niki Nakayama. Comparable single-location, chef-driven, hard-to-book LA fine-dining experience with strong critical reputation.
• Osteria Mozza: Nancy Silverton–led Italian restaurant on Melrose with a wood-burning oven as a centerpiece. Comparable wood-fired, chef-driven, reservation-centric fine dining format in LA.
• Republique: Iconic LA fine dining destination led by chef Walter Manzke with a French-Californian, ingredient-driven menu and iconic bakery/pastry counter. Comparable chef-anchored, single-location, reservation-driven LA fine-dining positioning.
• AOC Wine Bar & Restaurant: Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne's wine-centric California restaurant with seasonal small-plate format. Comparable chef-driven, locally sourced, wine-forward LA dining positioning.
• Felix Trattoria: Venice Italian restaurant from chef Evan Funke with a wood-fired oven as a defining feature and handmade pasta focus. Closest wood-fired, chef-anchored West LA dining analog.
• Rustic Canyon Wine Bar & Seasonal Kitchen: Santa Monica neighbor operating a chef-driven, seasonal, locally sourced menu with a strong wine program. Closest geographic and conceptual comp to Tar & Roses within the same dining micro-market.

Broad incumbents

• Spago Beverly Hills: Wolfgang Puck's flagship wood-fired California cuisine restaurant. Comparable wood-fire cooking heritage and globally inspired California menu, but with the scale and brand of a multi-unit celebrity-chef operator.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tar-&-roses

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tar & Roses