2014 RH 25: Barbara Lynch Gruppo

Headquarters: Boston

Annual Sales: N/A

Units: 8

Key Personnel:
• Barbara Lynch, chef/owner
• Jefferson Macklin, president/c.o.o.
• Tanya Gray, controller
• Cat Silirie, executive wine director
• Kate Gilarde, group wine manager
• Colin Lynch, executive group chef
• Colin Capelle, director of operations

SINGLE CONCEPTS:
• No. 9 Park (upscale regional Italian and French)
• Menton (modern fine dining)
• B & G Oysters (classic oyster bar)
• Sportello (Italian-style diner with a bakery and retail area)
• The Butcher Shop (a tribute to European boucheries with a wine bar)
• Drink (craft cocktail bar)
• Stir (demonstration kitchen and cookbook store)
• 9 at Home (catering company)

UPCOMING PROJECTS:
• Lynch is working on a specialty food product line
• She is also working on her first memoir

WHY IT’S COOL: Hollywood needs new ideas and we’re suggesting that it make a movie about Barbara Lynch’s life. Here’s a woman who grew up in the projects of South Boston, the youngest of seven children. Her single mother had little time for her, which led to her running numbers for bookies and failing to graduate from high school. But it also made her one of the most determined people on the planet. She’s a tough nut with a refined culinary touch. Her first restaurant, No. 9 Park, opened in 1998 and was hailed by Bon Appetit as one of America’s best new restaurants. Food & Wine named her a best new chef. Since then she has gone on to open some of the coolest joints in the country, including Drink, which should be a benchmark for any would-be cocktail bar, and Sportello, a delightfully odd Italian “diner” with killer food. Everything she opens must elicit a why-didn’t-I-think-about-that from her peers. The truth of the matter: Barbara Lynch has few peers, which explains why The James Beard Foundation named her the country’s Outstanding Restaurateur earlier this year.

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