2014 RH 25: Vetri Family

Headquarters: Philadelphia

Annual Sales: $20 million

Units: 6

Key Personnel:
• Marc Vetri, c.e.o.
• Jeff Benjamin, c.o.o.
• Jeff Michaud, partner, culinary director
• Brad Spence, partner, culinary director

SINGLE CONCEPTS:
• Vetri (fine dining Italian)
• Amis Trattoria (food inspired by the rustic cooking of Rome)
• Alla Spina (an Italian gastropub)
• Pizzeria Vetri (wood-fired authentic Neapolitan-style Italian pizza)

MULTIPLE CONCEPTS:
• Osteria (less-formal Italian with units in both Philadelphia and Moorestown, NJ)

UPCOMING PROJECTS:
• Lo Spiedo (a neighborhood trattoria featuring slow-roasted meats)
• Pizzeria Vetri (more units of this concept will open in the near future)

WHY IT’S COOL: Whenever there is a cooking event that attracts the best chefs in the country, inevitably Marc Vetri will make pasta because no other chef there would dare do so for fear of being compared to him. Before famed Chicago chef Paul Kahan recently opened his outstanding Italian seafood restaurant, Nico Osteria, he sent his young chef de cuisine to Philadelphia to work with Vetri for a month. Vetri’s that good. What’s crazy is that the James Beard Foundation named one of Vetri’s partners, Jeff Michaud, Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2010. Another partner, Brad Spence, is also a world-class chef. Having Vetri, Michaud and Spence in the kitchen is like having Superman, Batman and Spiderman cooking together. It’s a justice league of unbeatable grace and talent that shows throughout their restaurants. What makes this group incredibly strong is the fact that they know what they do well—Italian food—and they don’t veer off course when creating a new concept. Each new Italian restaurant they open explores something different from Italy and serves as an inspirational benchmark for others who operate in the Italian arena.
 

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