May 4--You obviously know that you can get title insurance from Fidelity National Financial Inc. But did you also know you can order pies from an affiliate of the Jacksonville-based company?

FNF, along with investment firm Newport Global Advisors, formed a joint venture called American Blue Ribbon Holdings LLC that bought the Village Inn and Bakers Square restaurant chains. The parent company of those chains had been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

After quietly announcing the deal in late March, FNF Chief Executive Officer Alan Stinson gave more details about the sale in the company's quarterly conference call last week. FNF invested about $11 million for a 45 percent ownership stake in the restaurant chains, which both feature pies as part of their menus.

It may seem strange for a title insurance company to invest in restaurants, but FNF has done this before.

"We've always had the philosophy with the title insurance company to take excess cash from that business and invest in other businesses," Chairman Bill Foley said in a telephone interview.

It's unlikely that FNF could use its cash to buy another title insurance company. "We're about as big as we can get in the title business now," he said.

After acquiring the title insurance operations of Land- America Financial Group last year, FNF controls 46 percent of the U.S. title market. Any more acquisitions in that industry would likely raise antitrust concerns. So FNF is looking for investment opportunities outside of the title business.

Foley said FNF has a distressed opportunities group that identifies investments like the restaurant deal. Last year, the company acquired a 47 percent stake in Remy International, an Indiana-based auto parts supplier that had also been in Chapter 11.

FNF actually has a history in the restaurant business. It previously owned a stake in CKE Restaurants Inc., which operates the Hardees and Carl's Jr. fast-food chains. Foley even served as CKE chairman.

Foley and FNF are no longer involved with CKE, but that experience made the Village Inn and Bakers Square investment appetizing. "I had some pretty good background in that business," Foley said.

The restaurants have had to close some locations as they went through bankruptcy, but Foley said the chains are in good shape now and could look to grow under the new ownership.

Stinson said he expects the restaurants to produce $280 million in revenue and $23 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the joint venture's first year of ownership.