Is Lisa Vanderpump "Rebranding" Tom Tom as Pump? She Claps Back at Recent Claims
The Vanderpump Rules boss clarified why some may believe she's making changes to one of her businesses as claimed by Peter Madrigal.
On Vanderpump Rules Season 11, Episode 2, Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd made the difficult decision to close their iconic Pump restaurant. As Lisa later revealed in Episode 7, she later hired some of the Pump staff to work at TomTom.
Considering some of those prior changes, SUR manager Peter Madrigal, who has been featured on Vanderpump Rules over the years, more recently speculated that Lisa was "rebranding" TomTom into Pump. “So when you walk into that building formerly known as TomTom, you walk in and there’s a gate that says Pump above it,” he shared on the August 12 episode of The Sarah Fraser Show podcast. "I don’t think the TomTom sign is on anymore. It’s something I noticed the other night.”
The next day (August 13), Lisa shared a statement to Us Weekly to shut down rumors of the rebrand. “When we closed Pump, we moved some of the staff and our chef to TomTom, as they were so good, so we’ve been affectionately calling the back garden of TomTom: the Pump Garden,” Lisa shared with the outlet on August 13. “But that happened months ago!”
She added: “Hadn’t thought about rebranding it all, but thanks for the idea Peter! LOL.”
Lisa continued by noting that she's more focused on opening up new businesses versus rebranding her existing restaurants.
“We’ve been hard at work on Pinky’s at the Flamingo in Las Vegas,” she shared. “Does he want to change the name of that too?”
Tom Sandoval reacts to Lisa Vanderpump's changes to TomTom
During the aforementioned Episode 2 of Vanderpump Rules that aired on March 12, Tom Sandoval, who is a junior partner in the business along with Tom Schwartz, shared his true feelings about the previous changes.
When Tom Sandoval arrived at TomTom, as seen in the episode, he was surprised to see the former Pump sign outside. "Is this Pump now?" he quipped, to which Lisa responded, "I left that up there just to ease myself gently."
While telling Tom about Tom Tom's new chef, Lisa explained, "We're gonna make this much more dining-oriented."
Tom Sandoval seemed a little taken aback by the news, sharing his true feelings in an interview confessional.
"It feels a little weird that this happened without either Schwartz [or] I knowing about it," he said. In her own interview, Lisa retorted, "I don't think we would ever consult a 2.5% partner."
Press play on the video above to hear Lisa discuss her business partnership with the Toms of TomTom.
