* Eataly valued at 618 mln euros by merchant bank Tamburi
* High-end food chain plans to list in next 24 months
* Eataly to open 3 new food stores in U.S. by March '17 (Adds quotes by Eataly founder, Autogrill)
By Francesca Landini
MODENA, Italy, May 30 (Reuters) - Italian high-end food chain Eataly will list a stake of around 30 percent on the Milan market some time in the next two years, its Executive Chairman Andrea Guerra told Reuters on Monday.
The group, known for selling regional delicacies at its stores around the world, recorded sales of 380 million euros ($423 million) and core profits of nearly 30 million euros last year.
Italian merchant bank Tamburi Investment Partners, which owns a stake in the upmarket food group, values it at 618 million euros.
"We are thinking of listing around a third of the company," Guerra said, speaking on the sidelines of the opening of the first Eataly restaurant on an Italian motorway.
Earlier this month Tamburi said it planned to list the premium food group in 2017.
While Italian food companies are traditionally reluctant to go public, Eataly's founder Oscar Farinetti has warmed to the idea of opening up its capital to small investors and improving transparency.
Ahead of the listing, Eataly plans to expand in the United States and the United Arab Emirates and will open its first store in Moscow, Farinetti said on Monday.
In the United States, where the group already sells its top-quality food products in a Fifth Avenue store, it plans a new opening at the World Trade Center in August, Farinetti said.
A food store in Boston and one in Los Angeles will follow in October 2016 and March 2017 respectively, the entrepreneur said.
The Eataly restaurant inaugurated on Monday is located on a motorway near the northern city of Modena and is managed by Italian travel catering group Autogrill.
The initiative is part of a broader strategy by Autogrill to focus on more profitable restaurants on Italian motorways and offer its clients high-end products.
The caterer said it would decide whether to open another Eataly restaurant on Italian motorways after reviewing sales patterns in the next six to eight months.
"If I were Autogrill's CEO I would ask Eataly to open restaurants like these in the United States, where there is a strong demand for Italian food," Farinetti said. ($1 = 0.8977 euros) (Editing by Adrian Croft)